All posts by Diane

Local Foods, Local Gardens, Local Books on all of them!

Book Reviews, Events, Latest Finds

I was thrilled last Friday evening after closing the store to actually remember and then to not have other obligations that required scurrying off somewhere – I  got to shop our new Friday Farmer’s Market!  Still small, but wonderful all the same. I am glad it is on Friday’s now!  I bought beautiful beets from Bishop Creek Farms and spinach from Banner Springs.  Their arugula looked great too, but that is flourishing in my garden.   I also tasted salad offerings from TheSecretSandwichSociety, yummy.  If that society is still secret to you, you need to check out their website and order some lunches to be delivered in Bishop via bicycle.  Their menu has vegan choices and is all healthy and conscientious, as well as delicious. Make sure to use The in the web address or you will be ordering from New Hampshire or someplace, which defeats the whole local concept!

We had such a late spring that my own garden is slow and looking a little stunted.  Just last night though, we ate our first little squash in a quiche also made with our own ham and eggs. We also had a nice arugula salad, which my kids were not crazy about, but I liked.  I get tired and frustrated with my gardening efforts sometimes, but when most of the meal was produced by me or people I know, it really does make me feel happy and a little virtuous.  I am also happy, ecstatic actually, to see more and more local food options popping up around the Owens Valley.  Check out the UCCE Master Gardener’s of Inyo Mono handbook for a nice list if you’ve missed them.  Bishop Creek Farms mentioned a Facebook page as well to check out.  Of course you can come by the Farmer’s Market tomorrow night and talk to Master Gardeners in person (you can get started on a fall garden you know) and the other producers as well as craftspeople.  Mammoth’s Farmer’s Market is on Wednesday nights if you live to the north.

Do I have a book tie-in?  Of course I do!  If you have not yet read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle, come pick up the one copy we still have on the shelf.  She is just a wonderful writer, and even vegans I know loved her chapter on butchering turkeys!  While her current location in rural Virginia makes eating locally (food produced within 100 miles) a little easier than in the Owens Valley, she makes the effort seem worthwhile, or more like essential, and very doable.  Plus she includes recipes! Another writer who beautifully inspires us to treasure those heirlooms and regional specialties is David Mas Masumoto, a peach grower in the Fresno area (Fresno is within 100 miles as the crow flies…..).  He wrote the classic An Epitaph for a Peach, as well as Letters to the Valley (signed copy on the shelf now) and Harvest Son.  Well worth reading.  Also pulled from the shelf, Fading Feast by Raymond Sokolov looks fascinating as well.  It is “a compendium of disappearing American regional foods”,  things like Smithfield Ham, Minnesota Wild rice and abalone from La Jolla.  It has recipes and pictures, and is part travel memoir to boot!  The Omnivore’s Dilemma  by Michael Pollan has been making news for quite some time on the scary science behind the other end of the food spectrum, we also have High Tech Harvest by Paul Lurquin and similar titles if you need more convincing.  More fun reading looks like Blithe Tomato by Mike Madison, “an insider’s wry look at farmers’ market society”.  I don’t think our Bishop Farmer’s Market has quite reached society status yet, but it is fun and shopping feels like joining a burgeoning movement.

Don’t forget all of the excellent gardening books on our shelves as well, from Sunset Western Gardening to classics on pruning and JI Rodale’s Earthworm’s are Our Friends.  I am sorely tempted to take that one home every time I see it, so please come rescue it !

Not sure what to do with some of those beautiful beets?  Here is a favorite recipe from Nigella Lawson’s Forever Summer cookbook.  Her cookbooks are a pure joy to read, and laugh-out-loud funny at times.  (We have her memoir on the shelf too, did I mention that?)  She says this recipe is vaguely Scandinavian, to be served with Hasselback Potatoes and salmon, which I of course do.

Raw Beet, Dill and Mustard Seed Salad
 
big bunch fresh dill (apx 6 T when chopped)
18 oz raw beets ( I have no idea how much  is 18 oz of beets, I use about 4-5 med to large beets per recipe)
juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 TS mustard seeds
a spoonful or so of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley for garnish
 
 
Blitz dill in food processor to chop.  Use julienne or grating disc in food processor to grate peeled, raw beets.  (Nigella’s quote here on peeling beets – “I use rubber gloves for this, so I’m not like Lady Macbeth with my incarnadined hands forever.”  Personally I never have rubber gloves handy, so live with red hands, it does not last forever!)
 
Turn beets into bowl with dill and toss.  Squeeze the lemon juice over, drizzle in the olive oil and toss again.  Use a nonstick or heavy frying pan (cast iron works great) to toast the mustard seeds for a couple of minutes.  Add to beet and dill salad and toss again.  Sprinkle with some reserved dill and/or parsley for a “final uplifting hit of more vibrant green”.  (Gotta love Nigella’s use of language!:)
 
She says you can use parsley or any herby combination you are in the mood for if you can’t find fresh dill, but I would not give up the dill.

Garden fresh, it is one of the best parts of summer.  Along with reading a great book, or reading a great book about gardening.    And do you have any ideas for arugula?  Come see us.

Newly filled shelves – great summer reading!

Latest Finds

The benefit of having SO many books coming in recently is some newly well stocked sections.  Need some fun, light summer reading?  The Romance corner has been completely reworked and restocked.  We have an amazing selection of Nora Roberts, Nicole Jordan, Joan Johnston, Debbie Macomber, Linda Lael Miller, and many more popular authors.  Plus the Regency Romance Shelf, the Paranormal Romance Shelf, and the Vintage Gothic Romance section are filled with new titles, although they are still lacking signs, so just ask if you don’t see them!

If you are in the mood for self improvement, Self Help, Spirituality and Health sections have many new titles as well, can’t go wrong there!

Thanks for checking them out.

Do We Have Anything on the Napoleanic Wars? Yes!

Uncategorized

Thanks to a wonderful batch of books recently delivered, we now have a wealth of history on Napolean and Imperial France, plus some interesting titles on medieval and ancient warfare.  Military history is always a popular topic, so I am not expecting these to last long – come see if we can fill any gaps in your knowledge!

If you are looking for the new stash, check France – history, and General Military history.  If you don’t see them, we may still be covering or listing them, so please ask!  Here is a sample to tempt you:

Towers and Piles and Stacks of Books, Oh MY!

Book-Buying Policies

Yesterday I reached a decision…. although I am always the one that says you can’t have too many books, our store has too many books.  It is a fact.  And unfortunately, they seem to be taking up permanent residence in the store and growing roots rather than finding new and happier homes.

What does this mean for our customers?  It means I will NOT be buying more books in July, and possibly August either.  I need to focus on selling books rather than buying books and stuffing more into our already overstuffed store.  I am sorry for any inconvenience, but really I see no option.  If you have an estate or some special situation, please feel free to contact me, but I cannot promise to take any more or buy any books for cash.  I am hopeful that backpacks full of summer reading material leaving the store will solve the problem and we will resume our buying schedule in a month or two.

Thanks for your support.

Diane

What's Your Inspiration Gift Book of Choice?

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It’s graduation time, and the perfect chance to impart a little wisdom to all those young people who’ve reached a significant milestone and are ready to take a new direction, if they can only decide which one!  Since I gift books for every gift giving occasion, of course I give books for graduations too, but I really want to hear your favorites.  I’ll be posting up some I’ve pulled in the store in the next day or two….  but help me out please!

Children's Book Sale, Plus Great New Stock!

Latest Finds, Sales

If you are filling up a summer reading bag, now is the perfect time to come in.  Our children’s room is stuffed to the gills with new material, especially hard to find Newbery Award winners, high quality picture books, and a wonderful selection of children’s history.  While Nancy Drew is still a little thin (on the shelf of course), we have many other great series to investigate.  And the best news?  We’ve put all Children’s and Young Adult books on sale for June!  You will save 10% on any Children’s books, or a big 20% if you buy 8 or more titles! 

Here are some of the recent history acquisitions to entice you….

Summer Reading Bags

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I have been giving my kids a bag of books to celebrate the end of school every year since they were in preschool.  Sometimes I put in art supplies and treats, or other little things that reflect their current interest, but there is always a good stack of books.  I don’t remember exactly how I got started doing this, but it has always been my theory that having books available to read is the first step (or maybe the second after reading to them) to getting them to read on their own and for pleasure.  My kids would have been surrounded by books even without the gift bags, and even before I bought the store, but it was still seemed worthwhile to me to pick out some things that I thought reflected their new interests, might inspire them, and were hopefully just fun to read.  Of course some books went unread and were probably “wasted”, especially as my kids got older, the books longer, their interests more specific, and mom more clueless.  Oh well.  My kids are good readers and enjoy reading, which I am very thankful for.

My first year college student has not been able to read a single thing for pleasure, how well I remember that feeling!  But maybe he will find some time this summer after his long list of delayed projects and work responsibilities.  I just found a biography on Chris Ledoux whom he admires that may spark his interest.  I will probably try another Elmer Kelton book too, it is relatively short and a fun read. Those will go into his bag.  My second son appreciates fine sports writing, and I found another great collection to add to his collection.  I am not sure what fun fiction to try out for him, but I have some time still.  My daughter is an opinionated 13 year old, who reads voraciously.  My challenge  is to nudge her towards some books I consider good literature, throw in some fun adolescent chick lit that is still age appropriate, and find interesting books that address tough issues or historical issues that I believe she needs to know about.  Whew, that may be a full bag!  She is also completing a church confirmation class and I would love to nourish her interest in spiritual growth, but have not found anything suitable just yet.

Finally, I give my kids books as a way to celebrate their hard work through the year, but also acknowledge that learning is really their own responsibility, in or out of school.  Plus, I struggle with transitions of all sorts, even though the end of school is usually one I am grateful for I still tend to regret the things I did not get accomplished during another school year and how quickly my kids are growing up and away.  My coping technique is to celebrate the transition and the changing season, which forces me to move on and be appreciative of the new season.  Like so many things we do with and for our kids, the summer  book bags are as much for me as for them!

If you too are looking for a way to celebrate the end of school with your kids, come in.  We’d love to help you put a bag together.

Happy summer.

Post Popcorn & Poetry Party Pictures

Events

My poetic capabilities don’t really get past alliterations, but, thankfully, that was not true for the poets and poem reciters at our 2011 Popcorn & Poetry Party!  We had an enthusiastic group who brought their favorites to read or wrote their own, one girl even made up masterpieces on the spot! 

As I said to one of my reading friends, I think it is very special to be part of a tradition more than a thousand years old to get together to listen to poems… and all the more fun over popcorn.  This year’s party could not have happened without the planning and preparation of Emma, Clara and Melissa Place, and I am very appreciative.  Thanks so much to all of you who came to celebrate National Poetry Month at East Side Books.  Start looking for your poems for next year’s readings!

Wonderful Vintage Girls Series Just In!

Latest Finds, Rare Books

Most of us (women anyway) grew up with Nancy Drew (although I confess a preference for  The Hardy Boys myself), but do you remember The Bobbsey Twins, Happy Hollisters, or maybe Trixie Belden or Cherry Ames?  Well the spunky mystery solving girl series are even older than those classics, and we just got a huge batch in of wonderful 1900 to 1930 editions.  We have 18 titles from  The Outdoor Girls by Laura Lee Hope and about ten volumes of  The Campfire Girls series by Hildegard G. Frey.  Numerous other authors wrote for the Campfire Girls, but we only have books by Frey.

As summarized in Manybooks.com, The Outdoor Girls series is a product of the Stratemeyer Syndicate and was published from 1913 to 1933 by Grosset & Dunlap and focuses on the various activities of a group of girls who form a Camping and Tramping Club.  As a result of the girls’ outdoor activities they become known as the “Outdoor Girls” in their city of Deepdale, a city located on the Argono River in New York.  Apparently tramping had a kinder connotation in those decades.  Laura Lee Hope, or the multiple writers using that penname, also wrote the Bobbsey Twins series, and while I have not yet read the Outdoor Girls, I imagine they share a similar sweetness and the demonstrations of good characters with those sets of twins.  The frontis piece art is wonderful, and portray some action packed adventures, in ladylike bloomers of course!  We have 17 great titles to choose from, a few loose hinges and frayed corners, but  generally in good  or good plus condition.

An ad for the Campfire Girls series from Grosset & Dunlap states:

These are the tales of the various adventures participated in by a group of bright, fun-loving, up-to-date girls who have a common bond in their fondness for outdoor life, camping, travel, and adventure.  They are clean and wholesome and free from sensationalism.

I’m not sure how “up to date” these girls will seem now, but they are still charming, and fairly spunky, and apparently clean despite their outdoor lifestyle.  Our 9 copies have a few loose pages, but again are generally in good condition with attractive covers and frontis piece art.  I particularly appreciate the alternate titles, The Campfire Girls Do their Bit, for example, is alternately titled Over the Top with the Winnebagos.  The frontis piece illustration shows a campfire girl rescuing a pilot from a plane crashed into a swamp…Now that title combination is intriguing! Most of these books are priced at $9.00.

Don’t you know someone who would love these series?  They are so much fun!

Woodworking Wonders – a great new batch!

Latest Finds

For the woodworking and carpentry aficionados, or the wannabees, we have just processed a great batch of books on home building, remodeling, carpentry, tools, and woodworking.  There is a nice selection from the Fine Woodworking series, such as Handtools, Proven Shop Tips, Refinishing and Woodworking Machines.  There are many more interesting titles on hand tools, including Sharpening Basics by Patrick Spielman, and the one I particularly like, Build Your Own Mobile Power Tool Centers, now that is efficiency!  For the more philosophical approach, you may want to read Woodworking Book 1; Plane Perfect by Ian J. Kirby, it really is a whole book on hand planes!  There are some excellent flyfishing books in this batch too….Fathers Day is coming up!