It's Not Too Late

 

Let me explain. It's too late to ask me to order a book you want to have by Christmas or by the end of Hanukkah, but it is not too late to come shopping for books. There are great ones in the store all the time--classics, local authors and subjects, and wonderful titles you didn't even know existed. One of my customers this week told me she has a formula for buying gifts for her children. Each child receives for the holiday:

Something they want;

Something they need;

Something to wear;

and

Something to READ!

That mother certainly had her shopping figured out.

Whether it's young ones or a partner you are looking to surprise, there's no going wrong with classics.

New books aren't the only treasures available on Waukazoo Street.

Lovingly worn...

or very gently used

or take your pick -- new or old.

There are exciting newer releases, too, nonfiction and fiction:

Finally, if the idea of sending out holiday cards has you overwhelmed and feeling too late to catch up, think postcards. "Greetings from Northport" are appropriate for New Year's and beyond.

Nothing is easier to wrap than a book!

 

Leelanau treasures

Here are just a few ideas

of the many possibilities available

at your local bookstore in Northport.

A couple books here on the table are just newly published titles from Leelanau Press. Edward Beebe’s Historic Leelanau Photographs: Leland, Suttons Bay, and North Manitou Island 1909-1915, by Jack Hobey, is much more than a coffee table picture book. The history of our county is here, along with the life of the photographer and details of his work. And the photographs themselves are magnificent! There is plenty here to lose yourself in on long winter evenings.

Frederick W. Dickinson: Sleeping Bear Dunes Pioneer Photographer, compiled by Grace Dickinson Johnson (and the copies I have are signed by her), takes us from Leland down to Glen Arbor and gives a history of our county newspaper, The Leelanau Enterprise, Leland’s Fishtown, and Glen Arbor’s Studio Art Galleries on Glen Lake—all that before the hauntingly beautiful photographs of the dunes themselves. 

Both these new books, as well as every other book on the round table, belong in every Up North home. Or, if Up North is vacationland for you, you’ll want the books wherever you live the rest of the year to learn more about your “home away from home.”

Focus on DOGS!

How it came to be --

To whet children's anticipation --

Local and Signed Books Make Special Gifts

From Traverse City -- chickadees!

When restocking Bill O. Smith's latest book, A Chickadee Year, I also restocked Chickadees in December. Doesn't that make sense? So glad to have Bill's beautiful, educational, and very entertaining -- fun! -- books in my shop!
 

From Cathead Bay -- new perspective --

"Wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger," the angel told the shepherds. But where was that manger? Author Gary Ross brought imagination to add to the research he did into the Bible story to offer a new perspective on the birth of Jesus.

From Leland, magic and the moon for kids --

Artist, musician, and writer Tobin Sprout has redesigned and reissued two of his lovely children's books in time for the holidays. Elliott is a story about magic and where we find it, while little Tinky works hard to figure out how to "put the moon to bed." 

Why fight crowds in Traverse City when you can shop in your own little village? No traffic snarls, plenty of parking...

(See? Plenty of on-street parking available!)

...and on Saturday the horses will return! 

Horses in the snow

Horses in the window

Newly arrived in the shop!

I Wasn't Kidding (About Perfect Gifts)

When I post a photograph of a table of new books in my shop, with other tables and shelves in the background showing more books (new and used), beautiful notecards, and cool Michigan jigsaw puzzles, and my caption for the photo reads, “The gifts you need to find are here,” I’m not kidding. Be more specific? Okay, I can do that, too.

 

Robin Kimmerer’s third book, Serviceberry, is THE book of the season, bar none. If you loved Braiding Sweetgrass and Gathering Moss, you will love Serviceberry. 

Readers in Michigan and around the world have fallen in love with Bonnie Jo Campbell’s latest novel, The Waters, a luxuriously immersive reading experience, out in paper in time for the holidays.

 

James, by Percival Everett, the well-known Huckleberry Finn story told by Jim, the man who ran away from slavery, is on everyone’s lists for best books of 2024. (I love these reworkings of familiar novels, with the “same” events seen through another’s eyes. Sarah Shoemaker’s Mr. Rochester and Jo Baker’s Longbourn are other novels that give us new perspectives on old classics.) Other novels big novels of the year include Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner and Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, the latter set in Traverse City’s cherry-growing country.

North Woods, by Daniel Mason, one of my stepdaughter’s favorites this year, is a book I may give myself as a gift. It is the story of a house through successive owners, which must be more exciting than that capsule summary makes it sound, because my stepdaughter said when she finished the last page, she was ready to turn back to the beginning and start reading it again immediately.

Poetry! How about poetry by Jim Harrison, Fleda Brown, John Kropf, Michael Delp, and others, and also some new, tempting collections? You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World, edited and introduced by Ada Limon; Dog Songs, by Mary Oliver; and Eat the World, by Marina Diamandis, all invite you to take the plunge. Another book of poems, entitled The Smell of Wet Dogs (see top image again) is one for the whole family to enjoy together.

The foregoing are only a very few selections from my new book section, with lots, lots more available in the shop. Also, as you know, used books here range from signed first editions and matched sets of beautifully bound volumes to all manner of surprises in a wide variety of categories. (Hint: If you aren’t sure what your friend or family member would choose, a gift certificate is a good idea for locals or regular Northport visitors.) 

You can't go wrong with Jerry Dennis

or signed Jim Harrison

or classic Dickens tin beautiful bindings.

Also, whether you are a year-round local or far from northern Michigan in winter, remember you can follow me not only on this blog (where I don’t post as often as I should), but also on Books in Northport, my discursive, free-form blog that covers books and a whole lot more. 

Thank you for visiting today!

The Days Are Dwindling Down to a Precious Few!

Dear, dear bookstore friends!

It’s looking as if Halloween, Saturday, October 31, may be the last day of my 2020 bookstore season. We hope to be back in May and open before Memorial Day, with a longer season than we had in this strange year (not opening to the public until July first!), but since "the future’s not ours to see,” the year 2021 remains shrouded in mystery for now.

One bookseller has stated that “October is the new December,” meaning that now is not too early to shop for holiday gifts. I will not shock or upset you with holiday decorations, never fear! On the other hand, if you do want to give books as gifts I’m happy to help you out. 

I always have a wide selection of new and used titles at Dog Ears Books, and will be processing one last new book order — going out next Monday -- so let me know by Saturday, Oct. 17, if there is anything you want me to add to that list! Be aware, however, that many backlist titles (classics, etc.) are not currently available, as paper shortages and disruptions in supply and distribution chains have affected the book business, too. Sigh!

Although it’s been a short season this year — and we had, with regret, to cancel our Thursday Evening Author events — I’m very grateful for the support my local customers and visitors to the area have shown Dog Ears Books. And with everyone's cooperation with mask-wearing and hand-sanitizing and being mindful of social distances, too! I was nervous about opening for the summer but happy with the way it turned out. Thank you all so much!

So now, if you possibly can, come in and visit us in the next couple of weeks. October is beautiful in and around Northport, and Sarah is always happy to welcome company (unless she is napping). She also urges you to follow her Arizona adventures again this winter (during our "seasonal retirement") on “Books in Northport” — because I call it that wherever I write from, connecting with book friends I’ve made back home as well as online. 

And the late November News Is ...

Little time remains in the 2019 Dog Ears Books season! Saturday, November 30, will be our last day of business until spring. With that in mind, you'll want to get yourselves through the bookstore door soon, because even if you don't exchange gifts with grownup friends and family, and even if you think you don't deserve much yourself but a lump of coal, surely you'll want to treat the little ones to colorful, page-turning joys of the season. But hey! As for that lump of coal? You do deserve something more than that, and we have treasures for big people, too!

I don't call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" (yuck! hate that phrase!), but we will be open all day on Friday, and if you want to avoid crowds, that may be the day for you to come to Northport, because on Saturday, November 30 (remember: the last day of the bookstore season!), the entire village will be in festival mode, including an arts and crafts sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Santa at the village hall from 4 to 5:30, and the lighting of the village tree at 6 p.m. Pending weather and confirmation, there may also be -- fingers crossed! -- horse-drawn carriage rides, 3-7 p.m., and strolling carolers in Victorian costume 4-5:30 p.m.

So you see, maintaining a Scrooge- or Grinch-like attitude is going to be mighty difficult. I myself could not have fought against holiday joy this morning even if I'd wanted to. My heartfelt pleasure came from watching a little one-year-old booklover almost take her first independent steps in my bookstore! 

I've read about marriage proposals and weddings in bookstores, but wouldn't a baby's first steps be the most special event possible? Lure that child with a colorful board book or story book, I say! It will make the whole family happy!

Two New Novels I Highly Recommend

I have reviewed these two fine, important, and compellingly written novels on Books in Northport, Moon of the Crusted Snow here, Still Come Home here, so please take a look at those posts if you haven't already. 

Whether you look to fiction for the pleasure of beautiful written language, engaging and memorable characters, armchair travel, a greater knowledge of the world, or deeper understanding of other cultures, both these books fit all those requirements. And both, while new, are available in paper, making them budget- and space-friendly. Easy to mail, too. Think of that as December holidays come closer. 

Dog Ears will be open through Saturday, Nov. 30, and then closed for the winter.

Still Come Home, 

by Katey Schultz

Paper, 250pp

$16.99

Moon of the Crusted Snow, 

by Waubgeshig Rice

Paper, 218pp

$14.95

Compassion – Not Just for Christmas

Karen Anderson, called “one of the most original thinkers on the role of religion in the modern world,” observed that while all faiths stress compassion, it seems to be sorely lacking in today’s societies. Even religious leaders seem to have other more urgent axes to grind.

Yet it is hard to think of a time when the compassionate voice of religion has been so sorely needed. Our world is dangerously polarized. ... And yet at the same time we are bound together more closely than ever before through the electronic media. 

 -      Karen Anderson, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

What can we do to bring more compassion to our world? 

Anderson decided that not practicing compassion was a habit that could be changed, and she realized that 12-step programs are familiar to Americans wanting to change from bad habits to good. Becoming compassionate, she warns, is not something we can accomplish overnight, but we can work toward compassion, taking one step, making one change, at a time. This book is a gift to give oneself.

Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

by Karen Armstrong

Paper, 222pp with suggestions for further reading

$14.95

Have You Met Roger Duvoisin?

One of the pleasures of having children is that the parents have the best possible excuse to revisit favorite books from their own childhoods. Another is discovering new children’s books. When my son was little, he and I fell in love with Roger Duvoisin’s Petunia books. All the Petunia books are delightful, but in this first one the silly goose’s discovery of a book and her adventures and misadventures with the strange object are guaranteed to warm hearts and bring smiles to booklovers young and old.

Favorite Stories of Roger Duvoisin presents three different stories new to me, while White Snow, Bright Snow is illustrated by DuVoisin but written by Alvin Tresselt. White Snow, Bright Snow was awarded the Caldecott Medal (“most distinguished American picture book for children) in 1948.

If you have children or grandchildren and have not yet been introduced to Roger Duvoisin, this holiday season could be your perfect opportunity.

Petunia, written and illustrated by Roger Duvoisin

Hardcover with dust jacket

50^th anniversary edition

$16.99

Favorite Stories of Roger Duvoisin

Paper, 122pp

$14.99

White Snow, Bright Snow

By Alvin Tresselt

Illustrated by Roger Duvoisin

Hardcover with dust jacket

$17.99