Go Enzo!
In This Issue
Paperback Cover Unveiled!
ARR Wins PNBA Award
Indie Bookseller Thanks
Enzo Goes Dutch
On The Road
Speak Italian?
Lessons from Enzo
Challenge Spotlight
Enzo's Challenge

Garth's Event Calendar

 
Hope to see you there!  
 
Turin Book Fair
12 pm, May 15
Turin, Italy
 
Books, Inc 
 7:30 pm, June 9
San Francisco, CA
 
Borders Books and Music
7 pm, June 12
Sacramento, CA
 
Bookworm of Edwards
6 pm, June 15
Edwards, CO
 
The Tattered Cover
7:30 pm, June 16
Highlands Ranch, CO
 
Boulder Bookstore
7:30 pm, June 17
Boulder, CO
 
Blue Willow Bookshop
7 pm, June 18
Houston, TX
 
Bookpeople
3 pm, June 20
Austin, TX
 

Check Garth's website for further event updates. 
 
Enzo In Real Life
 
Will the real Enzo please stand up?
 
Do you actually know a dog named Enzo?  Garth's website will soon host a contest for you to send in pictures and stories of real life Enzos. 
 
Readers' Two Cents
 
 My dear friend presented me with this book and said it would have a profound impact on my life.  How right she was!  I had to write to tell you that it now in the top five list of books I have loved through the years....and I am nearly 65 years of age.  I loved, loved, loved it and want to thank you Garth bringing the characters to life and making them a part of mine!  Don't know how you will top this but I am looking forward to your next project!  
 
All the best,  Fern Aron (Louisville)
Join Our Mailing List!
Paperback Cover Unveiled Here!
 
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The wait will soon be over. The trade paperback version of The Art of Racing in the Rain will fill bookstore shelves on June 9th, just in time to become your favorite summer read.
 
The much anticipated new cover will soon be revealed, but subscribers to this newsletter are getting a first look at it now! Let us know what you think about the new face of Enzo.
 
Great,  Another Award For The Wall!
   
Garth receiving his PNBA awardEvery year, the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association bestows awards on the best five books from the region, which  independent booksellers of the Pacific Northwest vote on.  Garth has now won his second such award as The Art of Racing in the Rain was the fiction winner for 2008.
 
A PNBA award is a rare honor, and the winners spend hours coming up with the perfect, memorable acceptance speech that will remain in the annals of history forever. 

Or not.
 
We wanted to share Garth's acceptance speech with you in this newsletter.  Unfortunately, the notes for Garth's speech - jotted on hotel stationary - are now somewhere in the Portland landfill.  Fortunately, there is a video of Garth accepting his award  available on YouTube.
 
Garth previously won a PNBA award for How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets. During the award ceremony in Portland, Garth ran into a familiar face among his fellow award winners - Floyd Skloot(poetry). Coincidentally, Floyd also won another PNBA award the same year Garth won for How Evan Broke His Head.  As Floyd put it - tongue in cheek - he now realizes the only time he wins is when Garth wins.
 
Garth signing at PNBA
 
Stealing the Show at PNBA Awards
 
Note from a bookseller:  There's an old adage in show business that you should never share the stage with children or animals. Granted, the Pacific Northwest Book Awards is NOT show business, but when Alexandra Day showed up with her "Good Dog" Carl to accept her Lifetime Achievement Award, we all expected him to steal the show. However, it was an entirely different dog that touched the audience that evening and brought anyone with a modicum of sensitivity to tears: Garth Stein's Enzo from The Art of Racing in the Rain. Acceptance speeches that express appreciation for independent bookstores are the norm at such an occasion, although never so heartfelt, funny and eloquent as Garth's.  His words were a validation for booksellers who often toil in anonymity and work to hand-sell their favorite titles "book by book" (to extend Annie Lamott's metaphor). Then when Garth opened an envelope to read a fan letter he'd received, we didn't know what to expect. Adoring stalker? Pernicious hack-writer? No. Garth shared with us the story of a family whose life had changed so significantly by reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, that I'm welling up once again in recollection. (Read the story by "P.F." here) A writer dreams of making such a connection with a reader, of affecting a person on such a profound and lasting level. And a bookseller who embraces a work and shares it with his community has the same aspiration.  Thank you, Garth, for reminding us why we all do what we do.
 
Paul Hanson
Manager
Eagle Harbor Book Co.
 
Enzo Goes Dutch
 
Dutch Website
Speak Dutch?  Now you can visit a new website for The Art of Racing in the Rain, courtesy of the book's Dutch publisher: www.wieisjouwenzo.nl.  The website's address means "Who is your Enzo?"

The Art of Racing in the Rain has now been translated into 30 languages, spreading Enzo's voice across the globe. "Gestures are all that I have: sometimes they must be grand in nature"...
On The Road
 
Charles Wright AcademyGarth is constantly on the go - visiting book clubs and bookstores, or speaking to fans via iChat.  In fact, sometimes he seems to have too much fun talking to fans.  In April, he finally took some time off for a family vacation...and promptly scheduled a special appearance in the middle of it.  No, Garth doesn't know how to take a break. 
 Charles Wright Academy

 
 
In December, Garth visited Charles Wright Academy and visited with students for a reading and Q & A. 
 

 
 
Gabriel's Angels
 
 
Garth also took the time to help out Gabriel's Angels with their Pets Helping Kids Breakfast.  Gabriel's Angels uses pet therapy to help abused, neglected, and at-risk children.  Hanging out with Garth are some Arizona friends: (left to right) Judy from In The Raw, Stephanie from Changing Hands bookstore, and Zee from Gabriel's Angels.
 
 
 
Still dreaming of midwinter sunshine (a tad bit rare in Seattle), Garth visited Southern California for a Studio City book group.

Dear Garth,
I just want to thank you so much for taking the time to chat with our book club on Tuesday night. We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, and appreciated your candor, reflections and stories. You are definitely a storyteller. Your book received 8s, 9s and 10s from the group - our highest rating for a book since we read The Shadow of the Wind (great book if you haven't read it).

The other thing was your 'closing statement'. I'm a big proponent of buy local, and the arts, have spent many years fundraising for our elementary school's literacy, music, and art programs, and believe that it's all tied together. Local businesses are much more likely to fund a school's arts program than a big chain. As the director of a chamber of commerce, I see first hand the effect the one clicks have on local communities, and it's not good. So thank you for making the statement.

Thanks again for a great evening.
Esther Walker (and the book club)
 
Speak Italian?
 
Not all of us took Italian in high school, and the Italian phrases in The Art of Racing in the Rain's final chapter baffle us.  Not anymore!  Here is the translation of the Italian conversation between Denny, the human Enzo, and Enzo's Italian father.
 
"Speravamo di trovarla qui!"  They told us we could find you here!
"Eccomi." I am here.
"Quanti anni hai?" How old are you?  (or, for the literalists: How many years do you have?)
"Cinque."  Five.
"Bene, che bello."  Nice, very good.
"Certo."  Certainly.
"Come ti chiami?"  What is your name?  (How are you called?)
"Mi chiamo Enzo.  Anch'io voglio diventare un campione."  My name is Enzo.  When I grow up, I want to be a champion!
"Ottima idea."  Optimal idea!
"Mi scusi."  Excuse me.
"Che cos'e?"  What's this?
"Grazie!  Grazie mille!"  Thanks!  Thanks a thousand times!
"La macchina va dove vanno gli occhi."  The car goes where the eyes go.  (again, for the literalists: The car goes where go the eyes.)
"Si." Yes.
 
Lessons from Enzo: Chapter 8 
  
"It's only unpredictable if I'm not...possessing...it."
 
Rain is an unpredictable, uncontrollable element.  Drivers fear it.  The rain makes their flaws and mistakes larger and visible, and those mistakes can lose the race or cause the driver to crash.  So the drivers let their fear of the rain, their fear of mistakes, and their fears of failure control them.
 
Enzo sees this as a metaphor for how fear can control him in other parts of his life.  His own fear of how Eve might react to him or what she thinks of him controls how he relates to her.  She is the unpredictable element in his life.    
 
Denny's strategy for racing in the rain teaches Enzo a different way to handle risks and the potential of harmful mistakes.  Denny doesn't hold back out of fear.  Instead of driving to avoid mistakes, he drives as though skids and small mistakes will happen - and he drives ready to correct them when they do.  He knows that there are some things that he has no control over, so he merely controls the things he can: his own fear, and his own reactions to the problems.
 
Enzo decides to try the same strategy with Eve.  He can't control her reactions to him.  But Enzo CAN control his own actions towards her.  In order to manifest a good relationship between both of them, Enzo does what he can to start good feelings and trust between them, without letting his fear of Eve's unknown reactions hold him back.
 
Are there any fears in your own experiences, like Enzo's fear of Eve's unknown attitude toward him, that have prevented you from trying to achieve something you want to achieve?  How can fear control you in your own day-to-day choices?  What do you think you could gain or accomplish if you didn't have those fears?  What can you do to ignore those controlling fears and start manifesting the good things you want to achieve?
 
Continue this conversation with other fans at www.garthstein.com/forum/!
 Segment authored by Sarah Walker.
Challenge Spotlight 
 
Sara and FamilyThe winner of last month's challenge was Sara J. Henry, who lives in Vermont with her four canine friends Monty, Bridget, Emma, and Lucy.  Sara also keeps a regular blog journal about the amusing events of living, writing, and raising dogs in Vermont.  She even has some special comments on Garth on her blog at   
 
 
 

Also, we'd like to congratulate the first human-canine team to work on the Enzo's challenge.  Corey (canine) helps his human Arlene with his insights into the challenge). 

 

"Corey is a whiz
At Enzo's monthly quiz
He digs right in
With vigor and vim!"
Enzo's Challenge
 
In this issue's challenge, use the clue to find the word that will fit in the crossword.  Send in all ten words to be entered in a drawing for a gift bag, including one of the ARR audiobooks! 
 
Down
1. The name of Eve's father
2. Candidate for dumbest species on the planet, because it makes its den underwater even though it breathes air
3. Where Enzo wants to give evidence with a voice synthesizer
4. Enzo thinks that this driver isn't a favorite champion because he's too perfect 
5. Denny's friend...and Enzo's occasional babysitter
 
Across
1. Another candidate for dumbest species.  Enzo wants its thumbs
2. Enzo's emergency toilet, when left at home all alone
3. At Zoe's second birthday party, Enzo gets to help Eve clean this up
4. Zoe really wants to order this kind of food in Italy
5. Where the evil plan was hatched to keep dogs from evolving into the equals - or superiors - of humans
 
 
Crossword
 

 
 
We would appreciate your feedback about this newsletter. Please feel free to contact us if you have any comments or suggestions! Thanks again for your support! We hope that Enzo's insightful words continue to inspire greatness in your life and love among your friends and family.

Sincerely,
Garth Stein, Terra Communications, Inc., and the Go Enzo Team
Contact Us