St. Johns Readers' Companion
the increasingly regular newsletter of St. Johns Books
June 2009
Table of Contents (click to read article)
New arrivals: Front & Center
Events in June
What's thrilling Nena?
Deals and recommendations for Northwest outdoors books
Booksellers respond to critics of Local First
In June as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them. --Aldo Leopold

Spring is well under way at last, just in time for summer to edge it out of the way.  Around chez Robins-Rawdah, this means grazing hens, a hot grill, blooming peonies, and seasonal allergies to keep it all in perspective.  In the bookstore, you'll find great summer reading, from thrillers to local hiking guides to Fathers' Day gifts--with a few of the best listed here.  And here's a new feature: you can now click the titles to order books right through this newsletter!  (Yes, we like our new technology.)

In June, we also celebrate our 4th anniversary.  While it's not one of those milestone years that would induce us to have T-shirts printed, we are happy to have made it this far, and in such times.  We owe it all to you.  Keep reading for details about our Customer Appreciation Day, and some deep thoughts on the State of Independent Business.

And finally: the answer to our May Quotation Quiz--with winner!
Our neighbor Sean H. provided the only correct response to May's contest.  We received no entirely complete responses, but Sean's was closest.  He didn't even cheat by reading the poster in the window, heh heh.  The task was to identify and translate the Italian quotation, "Non fate guerra il maggio," and name the character who misquotes it in a novel by E. M. Forster.  Sean's answer:
It's from: "Ben venga maggio" by Angelo Politziano. It is misquoted in A Room With A View (my favorite Merchant Ivory adaption, btw, I loved the book as well) by Mr. Eager saying "Non fate guerra al Maggio...." 
Sean didn't find a translation for the quotation, so here it is: "May goes not to war." Snooty Mr. Eager mistranslates it as "War not with the May," while bumbling but shrewd Mr. Emerson gives it as "Don't go fighting against the Spring."  Good advice all around.  Read to the bottom of this newsletter to find a new game for June!

 
Front & Center: The latest good reads
 
little stranger cover
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
I'm a sucker for historical fiction, and I loved Waters' first book, a portrayal of Edwardian mores and music halls evocatively titled  Tipping the Velvet.  My interest usually wanes, though, as hemlines rise and manners relax--and stops cold around 1914.  I'm delighted to say that Waters' new novel is an exception to this rule.  Set in a battered, grimy, postwar Britain, The Little Stranger introduces a country doctor who finds his life intertwined with those of the inhabitants of a once-grand mansion.  The suffering of the family's oldest son, a veteran of Britain's air war, is not the only thing contributing to the house's air of decay and sadness.  In order to begin to address his growing feelings for his patient's sister, Dr. Faraday must confront a dying class system, a family's desperate clinging to the old order, and a force even crueller than his patient's encroaching madness.  Creepy and engrossing, The Little Stranger reminds me of the best Gothic fiction, dressed in the best of modern writing.

duck that won the lottery coverThe Duck That Won the Lottery: 100 New Experiments for the Armchair Philosopher by Julian Baggini
Phrases like "strike a balance" and "slippery slope" crop up repeatedly in our public discourse, especially on the lips of our politicians.  Do you ever wish speakers would say clearly just what balance must be struck, or what is the likelihood of actually falling down that slippery slope? 
Now the author of The Pig That Wants to Be Eaten returns with a new collection of thought experiments--this time exposing the weaknesses of common tactics used in argument.  Baggini's gently witty exposure of the flaws in these rhetorical tricks will intrigue and entertain, even as it instructs.  You'll find yourself asking each time you watch the news, "What is this pundit really saying?"  While all of Baggini's books are excellent antidotes for fuzzy thinking, I especially recommend this one for writers, Toastmasters, and aspiring politicians.

day in the life of ancient rome coverA Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angela
I love reading history, but I prefer it on the intimate scale.  Troop movements, court politics?  Eeeh...but tell me about the daily routine of an individual soldier, courtier, or servant, and I am riveted.  I mean really, what happened in between major events--and where did these people go to the bathroom?  I first got hooked through books by Steven Ozment (early modern Germany) and Joseph and Frances Gies (high Middle Ages).  I love immersing myself in the little details that make our understanding of other times more complete.   Now I have a new author to appreciate.  Alongside full-length chapters about important locations (the Forum) and concepts (Family), Alberto Angela presents brief "Encounters" with individual Romans, detailing their positions, their activities, their possessions, their prospects.  Bathing and toilet customs have chapters of their own.  Sidebars called "Curiosities" give detailed explanations of Roman currency and other daily concerns that can slide under an author's radar, taken for grant
ed.  It's fun, solid reading.

Author events and more in June

Thursday, 4 June, 7:00pm: Benefit Book Talk for Physicians for Social Responsibility with Dr. Pamela Vergun
A Dimly Burning Wick is a powerful memoir of children's survival in the ruins of Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945. In this book, former schoolteacher Sadako Teiko Okuda shares her memories of not only her own struggle in those first terrible days, but also the terror and tenderness of children and teenagers who--even in their final hours--gently cared for their siblings, parents, grandparents, and friends. This moving book was released in English in 2008, with translation by Beaverton resident Dr. Pamela Bea Wilson Vergun.
This event is a benefit for Physicians for Social Responsibility. Tickets are available at St. Johns Booksellers by phone or e-mail; will-call is available. Tickets are $5, with ticket holders receiving $2 off the purchase price of A Dimly Burning Wick. Physicians for Social Responsibility will receive $3 from each ticket sold.

Thursday, 18 June, 7:30pm: Rose St. John presents Fathers At Birth
Just in time for Fathers' Day--and for fathers in waiting--comes a childbirth book that wisely and compassionately addresses the role of man in the transformative process of birth.  Only a few generations ago, men were left to pace the waiting room anxiously while their children were born.  Times have changed, but many men are still at a loss when it comes to their part in the culmination of the process that they usually helped start!  This book offers men
  • a clear understanding of their role in labor and birth
  • simple concepts, tips, and tools to be a confident birth partner
  • understanding of how to care for a laboring woman 
Written by a doula with 25 years of experience, Fathers At Birth will help each man develop the insight and skills he needs to be a companion who makes a difference. 

Saturday, 20 June, 12:00 noon: Paul Riddell presents Greasing the Pan and The Savage Pen of Onan
Science fiction essayist Paul T. Riddell isn't the first to compare magazine writing to public self-abuse, but he's the first to practice what he preached and quit writing.  Before he did, he and cohort Edgar Harris (former sports editor of Science Fiction Age) spent thirteen years covering such diverse subjects as assistance to beginning writers ("I want to hunt down the idiot who came up with that 'writers make $37.50 an hour' story and let Whitley Strieber's aliens make him/her squeal like a pig") to Harlan Ellison's cybernetic history and how Canada formally apologized to the UN for the TV series Lexx. Put down the Edmond Scientific catalog, grab a UNIT recruiting flyer, and find out why Ellen Datlow referred to Riddell as ." . .unfailingly incendiary."

Thursday, 25 June, 5-9pm: Customer Appreciation Night/Anniversary
We're celebrating 4 years of being a part of St. Johns with a special sale for the people who have kept us going.  Watch your e-mail for an exclusive mailing list-only coupon.  And, as always, we will be giving 10% of the day's sales to Sisters of the Road.

Saturday, 27 June, 10:00am-noon and 3-4pm: NO Fest activities
Early Bird children's show hosted by Kelly
10:00-11:00am - Rookie Rock
11:00-noon - Jelly Jar Productions
3:00-4:00pm - The Neighborhood Diaries by Abraham Ingle
To learn more about NO Fest, visit them on Myspace.

What's thrilling Nena?

grave sight cover
Charlaine Harris has earned plenty of attention with her bestselling Southern Vampire mysteries, featuring barmaid-turned-supernatural-sleuth Sookie Stackhouse.  Her three other series have been overshadowed by Sookie's success.  Just lately, I had the fun of picking up Grave Sight, the first of three books about a woman who survives a lightning strike and finds that she suddenly has...abilities.  Harper Connolly can find the dead, and explain how they died.  Derided as a fraud by some, desperately sought out by others, Harper spends most of her time traveling from case to case with her stepbrother Tolliver.  She's travelled all over, but since she lives in the south, most of her clients are there.  In Harper's world, one corpse leads to another, and killers are usually not done with their ugly work.  Darker and less breezy than the Sookie books, the Harper Connolly series is a richer, more serious, pleasing drive into the creepy dark side of Small Town America.  Now I'm watching for the next title, Grave Secret, due this fall.  Try this for good summer reading!
 
Get out! Outdoor guides to get you moving
All Pacific Northwest books 20% off in June (in-store only)!

atlas of oregon wilderness cover
Hikers and backpackers will rejoice to see the latest offering from Navillus Press.  The Atlas of Oregon Wilderness has been updated to include over 200,000 acres of new wilderness areas recently designated by Congress.  Along with thorough directions and suggested hikes, author William Sullivan provides GPS information, equipment suggestions, and pages of photographs that will inspire readers to get out of town.  Also available: the newly updated edition of Sullivan's old reliable 100 Hikes in Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.

William Sullivan is one of our favorite resources for local outdoor guides.  See more of his work, plus other reliable and inspiring books of Oregoniana, in Adam's list of suggested Northwest titles, Knockin' about in the Pacific Northwest.  And visit our shelves to find more local history and travel titles, all at 20% off in June. 

 
Behind the counter with the booksellers:
Responding to critics of Local First

Click here for a little sample of the kind of discussion we booksellers and other independent business folks like to have among ourselves.  This article was included in our trade newsletter, Bookselling This Week.  It's not terribly new, but it addresses questions that are still being raised about the value of shopping local.  Give it a look, and remember it at the next Rotary Club or neighborhood association meeting you attend.    
 
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FIRST LINES
Correctly identify the title and author of the quotation below, which is the first line of a book that Peter Ustinov narrated for a recording in the 1960s.  Correct responses will be entered in a drawing to win a coupon good for up to $10 off any purchase at St. Johns Booksellers.  Entries due by store opening on Tuesday, 16 June.  The quote:

In the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes.