Indy Book Store Day

Today is Independent Book Store Day, according to whoever determines these things. And while I usually ignore such marketing ploys, on this one I will bite. I mean, who doesn't love an independent book store?

In keeping with the theme, I'm gonna note some of the best bookstores I have visited, including two in my hometown. I am sure there are more and better ones out there, but I just haven't been to them.

Yet.

So here goes.

                                         The Book Loft in Columbus, Ohio

The Book Loft, located in the German Village section of Columbus, Ohio, is a marvel. It takes up several floors of an old house and spreads out way beyond the gardens. A brick path takes you to the entrance, and you mosey through dozens of large and small rooms that house thousands of books in any genre you can think of. And if you cannot find what you are looking for, rest assured you likely will pick up something even better. That has happened to me every time I've been there.

In Morehead, a block from the state university, you will find the largest independent bookstore in Eastern Kentucky, CoffeeTree Books. Part of the pleasure of this store is its location behind the more whimsically named Fuzzy Duck Coffee shop. It's a small shop in a small town that I visit because my daughter goes to college there. But the selection is incredible -- I have found books there that have become some of my favorites -- and the staff is helpful and smart.

Sometimes, I think Millerton, N.Y., may be the perfect small town for me. As you enter the main street -- coincidently named Main Street -- you come across the finest tea shop in the land, Harney & Sons. A quick walk down the block is Oblong Books & Music, perhaps the best bookstore I have ever visited. In between is the Harlem Valley Rail Trail, which I have not yet run, but which seems amazing.

                                My daughter and I at the Millerton trailhead,
                                       between the tea store and bookstore

Anyway, back to the main point -- the bookstore. What I really like is its selection. It's a normal-sized store, but instead of having many copies of every book by popular authors clogging the shelves, it has one or two books by a wide variety of authors, known and unknown. It has a good selection of feminist books, and promotes works of fiction you just won't find anywhere else. It has a wonderful children's section, with -- at least when I was there -- a Harry Potter wall in which people could write about what attracted them to the series.

Two more independents to mention: The Booksellers on Fountain Square in Cincinnati, Ohio, has a surprisingly wide selection in a small spot. And while Roebling Point Books and Coffee in Covington, Ky., specializes in local books, it maintains a large selection of national titles. It regularly hosts book signings and discussions by and with local authors.

Book Review: The Casual Vacancy

The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling

Interesting read about shenanigans in a small English town after the death of a member of the Parish Council, and the plotting and scheming of the rest of the government officials in naming his replacement.

But the drawback of the book is its number of characters -- far more than needed. I found it difficult to keep track of who was who, and who was related to whom, until at least midway through the book. Often, I found myself flipping back while asking, "Now, who is Colin again?" Complicating the matter is that several of the characters have nicknames, which were used seemingly at random. And none of them was likable. It's hard to keep track of and root for a group of people you really don't like.

The description of the town made it seem wonderful, if not for the people living there.

That being said, I still enjoyed the book. The story was engaging, and it was well written.

A trip to the Boston Marathon

So, I spent a few days last week up in Boston, watching the Marathon, exploring bookstores, and seeing the sights. Unfortunately, time did not allow for a full viewing of the available bookstores. But I did enjoy the marathon and other activities, and here are some of the thoughts I came away with.

Boston is a long drive: On the way back, I broke the 1,000-mile-a-day barrier. I drove 1,000.1 miles from our hotel in the suburb of Braintree, Mass., to drop off my daughter at college in Morehead, Ky., and then home to Edgewood, Ky. It took 19 1/2 hours, from 4 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.Two of those hours were spent sitting in a traffic jam in Nitro, W.Va.

 My mileage, just down the block from my home in Edgewood, Ky.

The MBTA: What a great public transportation system. The trains run constantly, and the routes are easy to navigate.

The Charlie Card:  I love the fact that the system's pass, which you can buy anywhere, for any amount of cash, and use it to pay your fare, is named after the old folk song, "Charlie on the MTA"  Signs in every station explain the history of the song and its connection with the system.

Mile 17: The purpose of my family trip was to see my daughter run the Boston Marathon. We decided to watch from the Newton Fire Station at the corner of Route 16, where the runners turn onto Commonwealth Avenue just after the 17-mile mark. It was a great choice -- just before Heartbreak Hill, two-thirds of the way through, and my daughter was happy to see familiar faces. It was easy to get there on the MBTA, had a nice, but not overwhelming crowd, and snacks and portaporties were available at the fire department.

  The elite men -- including winner Geoffrey Kirui (far left) and runner-up Galen Rupp (middle) -- just past Mile 17

Crazy streets: While the public transit was great, the surface streets are incomprehensible. Narrow and winding, with five- and six-way intersections, it's easy to get lost, and easy to understand the city's massive traffic problems. We chose not to drive in the city. Another good choice.

Compact city: It is, however, a great walking city. A couple of miles and you can see many of the attractions, from Fenway Park, to the Boston Commons, to Faneuil Hall, where I bought some tea at a store named Revolutionary Boston.

                                   The Irish Famine Memorial, not far from Faneuil Hall

My Thai Vegan Cafe: A great little restaurant we found in Chinatown, as we wandered around after the Marathon. My younger daughter, a vegan, was happy. She could eat everything on the menu, including the chocolate cake.

Book Review: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Funny and heart-rending, Alexie tells us the story of a year in his life growing up on an Indian reservation, with all of its glory, its poverty, and its cultural riches.

Written in the voice of a young teen-age boy who doesn't quite fit in -- do any of us? -- the diary's author is honest, touching, funny, and vulnerable. He describes living in poverty, and the consequences that can have. He describes the bad -- the alcoholism and the violence -- and the good -- the devotion to family and the tribe -- in Indian culture.

He gives us a brief look at life on the reservations, and the varying attempts people have to escape and move on.

Read the book. It's worth it. It was a National Book Award winner in 2007.

Book Review: A Week in Winter

A Week in Winter, by Maeve Binchy

This continues the trend of my reading books by women writers I am unfamiliar with. Binchy is an Irish born writer I was aware of, but always thought she was a romance writer.

Was I ever wrong. And for this book, I say, Well done.

It's a novel that weaves gracefully written tales of the lives of a dozen ordinary, decent people, whose come together at the opening of a bed and breakfast on the west coast of Ireland. It contains vivid descriptions of the people and the land, which is perhaps my favorite part of Ireland.

I am thinking perhaps that is why I enjoyed the book so much -- that it reached a longing in my soul to be part of the wind-swept coast, with the sea and the wind beside you every day.

Yamacraw 20K: A trail run in three halves

A running post on a books blog? Why not? trail running keeps you in shape and in focus for those long nights of reading.

Our running group at the start of the race

So this past weekend, I traveled down to Eastern Kentucky to run the Yamacraw 20K trail race in parts of the Daniel Boone National Forest. The race occurred mostly along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, starting near the old coal mining town of Stearns, and ending at the Blue Heron Mining Community in Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area.

It was a lovely race through devastatingly beautiful country. We ran along mostly single-track trails past massive trees and enormous rock formations. We saw waterfalls and wild animals, waded through numerous river and creek crossings, and climbed up the sides of steep hills.

It was a race in three halves.

  Big rocks and waterfalls added to the beauty

It started on a frosty morning, with the temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. But the sun was rising, and the chill was already dissipating. We took off down a short road before entering the Lick Creek Trailhead. For the first couple of miles, it was mostly flat or downhill, with several metal staircases and stone steps leading to the river valley. The views were breathtaking, with small creeks crisscrossing our route. Soon, we met up with the South Fork of the Cumberland River -- wide and crystal clear  -- which meandered through the woods and kept us company for most of the rest of the run. Before we knew it, we had completed this part, and came upon the first of the two aid stations on our course.

Actually, calling them aid stations would be a disservice. They were buffets of fruits and sandwiches, chips and pretzels, brownies and homemade treats. Usually, when I travel into rural areas of the country, I often wonder what people who live in the area actually do. Now, I know: They volunteer at aid stations during ultra trail races. They peeled oranges and bananas. They offered to refill our bottles with cold water or an energy drink. They pointed out the portapotties they had brought down with them. At one aid station on the 50K race, they cooked up grilled cheese sandwiches, warning the runners to be careful because the food was still warm.

And when you thanked them for their hospitality, they were taken aback, and said, “No, thank you. Thank you for coming out here and running for us.”

Well, back to that running -- across the Yamacraw Bridge, down a road, and back into the woods. This half was a bit tougher, featuring additional water crossings, including one through Rock Creek in which the water was thigh high, and required a rope strung from one bank to the other, lest the current should knock your legs out from underneath. Here, more than an hour into the race, the sun started to warm things up, and a stop was required to remove any long-sleeved shirts and gloves. Things warmed up a bit more once you started to climb a bit, through switchbacks and along the sides of narrow cliffs. Soon, you entered the second aid station, and fortified yourself for the third half of the race.

Sometimes, you have to stop and smell the wildflowers

It started with a long, steep climb up a gravel road. Eventually, you re-entered the woods, and feasted on a runnable, if narrow trail. But you also went through numerous crossings of small creeks, and through tight rock formations, sometimes barely squeezing through. Then it got weird. The path went into a steep downhill through a series of switchback. Then it widened, and undulated through a muddy field. You could hear the river, and sometimes catch a glimpse of it. Then through the mist, you saw the bridge. The bridge at the end. The bridge that would take you across the South Fork one last time, and to the finish line at Blue Heron.

For a moment, it disappeared. Then it returned, and you made the left-hand turn onto the solid wooden structure, where you saw dozens of spectators lined up, clapping and cheering, hootin’ and hollerin’, calling out your name, which was printed on your bib. The sheer exuberance of the crowd, coupled with the sight of the finish line at the other end of the bridge, couldn’t help but bring a smile to your face and momentarily make you forget the pains in your legs and in your lungs.

Then you were done. Another volunteer put the wooden medal around your neck and pointed you to the buffet table and water bottles. You greeted your friends who beat you to the finish lines, and congratulated everyone all around.

My shirt, bib, and medal

Presently, you hobbled down to the parking lot to await the shuttle bus ride back to your car. But as you were waiting, another volunteer pulled her van over, and asked who needed a ride. We hopped in, grateful and thankful to the wonderful people of Stearns. “Thank you so much,” I said.

“No,” she said. “Thank you for coming down here.”

Book Review: When Everything Changed

When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present, by Gail Collins

A good overview of how the last 50-odd years of history affected women, from the average homemaker to the candidate for president of the United States. 

I liked it. The basic premise of the book is that the life of the American woman has changed dramatically over the past half-century, so much that most people born during the period do not comprehend what life was like in the 1950s and before. Yes, not everything is perfect these days, and women still fight discrimination. But the basic acceptance of women as equals, and their abilities in all fields, has pretty much cancelled out the idea of "men's work," and "women's work."

Collins, a columnist for The New York Times, is know for her witty observations, and this book has no shartage of them. It drags, however, when she moves into historian mode, blandly reciting facts and anecdotes on various historical events. In her defense, however, some of those times were pretty bloody and sad, as when she relates the roles of women in the civil rights movements, and the deaths that occurred during that period.

But her book is full of actual women who caused and lived through many of the changes, and the effect it had on them. However. some of these women jump in and out of the narrative, making it hard to keep track of them as individuals. Collins does, however, brings us up to date on many of the women portrayed.

Beware, however. The book was written in 2009, so while it includes Hillary Clinton's 2008 run for president, her 2016 run is not reviewed.

This one is not my fault

Seriously, I blame this on a co-worker of mine, whom I will call Tina. I call her that because it's her name.

She knows about my tendency to read and buy too many books. She knows about my enjoyment of all things Irish. So, she asked, had I heard about or read anything by Maeve Binchy? Yes, I said, I have heard of her. But no, I had not read any of her works.

The next day, Tina brings in a stack of books: two works by Binchy, and another book about an Irish rebel by the name of John Devoy. (Ireland has a lot of rebels. This one I have not heard about. He came to America to fight for Ireland's freedom. I am interested in learning more.)

                                                           Adding more to the stack

This means I have three more books in my stack -- at a time I am seriously working to shrink it, rather than expand it. On the plus side, two of the books are written by a woman, at a time another goal of mine is to read more women authors -- especially ones I have not read before.

So my two goals are now in conflict -- subtract from the stack, but add more women writers. I guess I'll just have to read faster.

Reading more women authors

During Women's History Month, I read about an Ohio bookstore that decided to "silence men's voices" by turning around the spines of books written by men. And even though this was a feminist bookstore, the result was fascinating -- most of the books showed the white pages, rather than the titles on the spines.

Now, while I am not in favor of silencing anyone's voice, I am supportive of amplifying the voices of those from groups who are seldom heard. So, I decided to do a similar experiment in part of my home library. I choose the hardcover fiction section, because it was contained on one wall, and frankly, was easier to mess with.

The result was not encouraging.

                                                  Only the female authors can be seen

In fact, I was embarrassed and disappointed. Then I looked at part of my TBR Stack, and realized it had the same problem: Mostly books by men. Not much gender diversity. (I'm not going to even get into the lack of cultural diversity. That's a problem for another time.)

Now, in my defense, I do read and enjoy books written by women. Indeed, some of my favorite authors are women. (Yeah, I wrote that. But it's true.) There's Lisa Carey, Emma Donoghue. Barbara Kingsolver. Margaret Atwood. In fact, I realized, most of the books I have read that are written by women are by those few female authors.

So I am promising to branch out. I will make it a point to buy and read more books written by women. I will seek out female authors I have not read before. The next time I do this, fewer of the spines will be white.

                                        The same bookcases with all authors revealed

Just a small note about the above picture. Some of the female authors were moved to a new bookcase, dedicated to Irish novelists, poets, and playwrights.