If you or your favorite young adult is a fan of Madeline L’Engle’s classic A Wrinkle In Time, I suggest you rush down to East Side Books and pick up our copy of the wonderful book When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Winner of the 2010 Newbery Award, When You Reach Me combines the ordinary with the mysterious. Throw in a few unsigned notes that predict the future and you have a fresh, thoughtful book that appeals to middle readers, teens, and adults.
Come and check out our shelf full of other Newbery Award winning books in our Children’s Section.
To celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday, March 2 is Read Across America Day. One way to get your kids excited about reading is to bring them into East Side Books and let them browse in our kid-friendly Children’s section.
We have a wide selection of picture books, early readers, children’s historical fiction, middle reader novels, and young adult fiction. We also have great resources to supplement school projects or homeschooling units. Our children’s books are an inexpensive treat, some as low as $1.
Our kid-oriented staff is happy to assist with reading suggestions. Kim and Jen are experienced homeschooling mothers, and can help compile resources for any kind of study course. Melissa taught junior high and high school English classes, and Lindsey worked with pre-readers. Diane is very knowledgeable in children’s illustrations and vintage children’s books. She can give you a wonderful tour of our excellent Children’s Collectible section.
In the further tribute to Jill Kilmont Boothe, who recently passed away, the movies The Other Side of the MountainPart 1 and Part 2 based on the biography of her life have been released on DVD. We have both DVDs available on our front table.
Come and pick up a DVD today, and be inspired all over again by Kilmont Boothe’s brave spirit.
This past month, Bishop lost one of our most inspiring locals. Jill Kinmont Boothe, at the age of 75, died of complications after a surgery. As a young girl, Kinmont Boothe was destined to become a world-class ski racer, but a crash during a race in Utah left her paralyzed from the shoulders down. She spent the rest of her life in a wheelchair.
But her life did not end there. The same spirit that drove her on the ski hill served her well during her recovery. Despite several more devastating losses–the deaths of three close friends–Boothe created a life for herself. She became a remedial reading teacher, first in Southern California and then later here in Bishop. She also became a passionate painter, rendering the landscapes of our area onto canvas.
Husband John Boothe was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying, “I think the thing that impressed me most the first time I met her was that after a few minutes you forgot all about her being in a wheelchair. She obviously isn’t preoccupied by it and pretty soon you’re not either.” (See Dave McCoy’s photo tribute to his friend Jill Kilmont Boothe. http://www.davemccoyphoto.com/247-a-tribute-to-jill-kinmont-boothe/)
Kinmont Boothe is deeply missed in our community by those who knew her and also by those who only knew of her. Her tenacious spirit was captured in the book Other Side of the Mountain by E. G. Valens, and is a reminder to us all that we can do more than we think we can. In honor of Kinmont Boothe, we have on display in the story an original 1955 Sports Illustrated with her lovely cover shot, the week before her accident, along with a read-to-death and discarded copy of The Other Side of the Mountain Part 2 from the Bishop Elementary Library. Inside the front cover, in a wobbly childish print, is written “She is great”. Documentation of yet another admirer, another young person she touched and inspired.
If you’ve missed reading it, we have a number of copies of Other Side of the Mountain available for purchase and always try to have them available. Boothe’s ability to inspire us will continue thanks to this biography and the many lives she’s touched.
Overcoming challenges is often the theme of biographies and memoirs. Whether you are needing courage, solace, or a good dose of gratitude for all you haven’t had to go through, pick up a copy of the following books from our Biography and Memoir Sections:
*Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
This coming-of-age memoir reveals the fierce spirit of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the foremost champions in the fight for rights of Muslim women. Raised in a strict Muslim family, she withstood civil war, female circumcision, and beatings. She sought asylum in the Netherlands and continues to be a controversial yet inspiring political figure.
*Blindsided by Richard M. Cohen
Cohen was blindsided at the age of twenty-five by a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. He would later endure two bouts of colon cancer. His memoir is the tale of living with illness and still managing to be a husband and father, and find enough hope to celebrate life.
*Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza
There are some books you read that you never forget. This is the case with Ilibagiza’s tale of the genocide that ripped apart her country of Rwanda. Ilibagiza’s family was brutally murdered, but she was miraculously spared and hid for ninety-one days with seven other women in a small bathroom. Unbelievably, she emerged stronger in her faith in God and her believe in the power of unconditional love.
*A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar
John Nash was a mathematical genius who at age thirty descended into mental illness. With the help of a his wife and the loyalty of the math community, he emerged later to win a Nobel Prize. An inspiring and triumphant look at a life affected by mental illness.
Please ask one of our staff for assistance if you need help finding any of the above mentioned titles.
The early reviews of Behind the Beautiful Forevers are declaring it THE book of the year. Slate.com called it “spellbinding.” Oprah picked it as a must-read for February. The New York Times published a glowing profile of author Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and winner of a MacArthur “Genius” grant. A review in The Washington Post opened with the line, “This is an astonishing book.”
Despite all the accolades, I approached Behind the Beautiful Forevers with trepidation. Boo reports on the people who live, work, and survive in Annawadi, a makeshift slum in India that sits on the edge of the Mumbai airport. Boo’s brother, Tom, who happens to be a family care physician at our local Rural Health Clinic, emailed me the following. “Hope you like the book. The people’s stories are compellingly told and the writing good, but it can still be a tough read.”
Tom is right. Behind the Beautiful Forevers, and books like it, are hard to read. They make us feel guilty about our bright and shiny lives of privilege. They make us feel powerless to loosen the complicated ropes of poverty, hunger, and suffering that have a stranglehold on much of humankind.
So why do it? Why read Behind the Beautiful Forevers?
After finishing the first two chapters, I can give you three reasons.
First, Behind the Beautiful Forevers is exquisitely written. Boo weaves words with such tenderness and beauty that her book reads like a novel, which is part of the reason why it delivers such an emotional wallop. Her descriptions are at once lyrical and gritty, firmly planting each character in your mind. Before you know it, they’ve made a space for themselves in your heart, and that makes it all the more painful when you remember that this is not a made-up tale. Their experiences are very real, and are continuing to unfold halfway across the world even after we close the covers of the book.
Which leads to the second reason why you should read Behind the Beautiful Forevers. It is a book that can change everything.
I read the line “Every house was off-kilter, so less off-kilter looked like straight. Sewage and sickness looked like life,” and I began to see my own world differently. When I broadened my perspective to include the slums of Mumbai, petty irritations instantly dissolved. Minor misfortunes became easily manageable. In the days after beginning Behind the Beautiful Forevers, I was humbly grateful for the conveniences and Levitra 10mg privileges that cushion my life. I complained less. I appreciated more.
I have to wonder if an appreciation for this broader perspective is what compels Boo to do her work. Although she rarely speaks of it publicly, Boo was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in her late teens. It affects her mobility and compromises her immune system. She used the money from her MacArthur grant to help pay for a surgery to repair her hands so she could continue to type.
Author photo by Heleen Welvaart
But despite what she refers to in her Author’s Notes as her “lousy health,” Boo spent months at a time over a four-year period among the residents of Annawadi conducting interviews, recording video footage, and snapping photos. She hired interpreters to bridge the language barrier. She raised the ire of the local police. She hung around so much that she says the residents became bored with her. She even took a tumble into the nearby sewage lake. But Boo persisted, even when the stories she was recording tore at her heart. She told National Public Radio, “There were so many times when I was reporting in Annawadi that I would just come home and cry, because I didn’t think that I was going to be able to bring the stories to the page in a way that would make other people care.”
And that is the last and most important reason for reading Behind the Beautiful Forevers. In spite of her doubts, Boo wrote a book that makes us care. A book that renews our compassion and empathy. As challenging as it is to look suffering in the eye, it is of the utmost importance that we attach a face to the rising poverty statistics, that we humanize the poor. If we don’t, it is too easy to close our heart, snap shut our perspective, and shrink our compassion to a pitiful thimbleful. It is simpler to forget, but it is crucial to remember. To remember is to connect us as human beings.
And that is why I am deeply thankful to Katherine Boo for pushing past her own challenges to beautifully shape a vivid portrayal of a life in Annawadi. And that is why I will read Behind the Beautiful Forevers to the last page. Because even as painful as it is, I don’t want to forget. Ever.
East Side Books has signed copies of Behind the Beautiful Forevers for sale while supplies last.
The sky is gray and the days are short. Mid-winter is upon us and spring is yet a far-away dream. You want to escape, but money is tight and time is short. Here at East Side Books, we may not to be able to send you on the trip of your dreams, but we can transport you to far away places for an hour or two. All you have to do is pick up one of the great travel memoirs in our Travel Memoirs section, and you will be whisked away to a whole new world.
For example, pick up a copy of Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island and not only will you know every thing there is to know about England, but you will find yourself laughing aloud at Bryson’s witty writing. On a more serious note, you might want to read The Songlines or What Am I Doing Here by Bruce Chatwin who is most well known for his tales of travel.
A personal favorite of mine is Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes. Mayes tells the story of buying a house in Italy and discovers herself along the way. This title was made into a popular movie staring Diane Lane. I was also inspired by One Year Off by David Elliot Cohen. This father of three traveled around the world with his family for twelve months. Their tale was refreshing and, at times, very entertaining.
If you are looking for something a little more exotic pick up a copy of The Lost Heart of Asia by Colin Thubron. This author explores the worlds of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kirghizstan. Or, for something a little different, read Glynis Ridley’s Clara’s Grand Tour: Travels with a Rhinoceros in Eighteenth-Century Europe.
If you want to travel, but don’t want someone else’s experience shaping your adventure, check out our wide selection of travel guides. We have guides for destinations as far away as Korea and Egypt, and as exotic as Costa Rica and Indonesia. We also have travel guides for most of the fifty states.
And if you can carve out a day or two of real time travel, check out our California Travel section for guides on quick weekend trips. You can’t go wrong with Adventure Guide to Southern California by Don and Marjorie Young, or A Traveler’s Guide to Historic California by Lynne Schaefer.
So come on down to East Side Books and plan your travel destination–imaginary or real. If you need any help locating one of these titles, please ask our staff for assistance. Bon Voyage!
The last time I studied philosophy with any serious intent was during a college course entitled Intro to Philosophy. There were eight women and one male professor. We were all eager and devoted students, but by the fourth class, we had reduced our professor to such a state that at one point, he repeatedly banged his head on the table in frustration. We just weren’t willing to think as linearly as the study of philosophy required, but it sure was an interesting class.
Lately, I’ve been thinking that I’d give philosophy another chance. Not wanting to drive a second professor to madness, I decided upon a self-directed course, and this led to me the shelves of East Side Books. I bet some of you, like me, are not even aware that East Side HAS a Philosophy section, but there it was tucked next to the Self-Help section (where I might be able to find something about coping with failure to send to my old professor.)
As I perused the shelves, I saw a number of old friends, beginning withThe Works of Plato, which I remember as required reading for all college freshman. I also recognized The Philosophy of John Stuart Mills, a philosopher I read during my brief stint as a Political Science major.
There were also a number of works by philosophers who’s names I recognized, but have not studied. For example, Negel’s Phenomenology of Spirit (am going to have to look up the word ‘phenomenology’) and works by Leviathan and Hobbes.
But since I’m just getting back into the science of philosophy, I think I will stick with a volume that will give me somewhat of an overview of the most popular great thinkers. One tome I might check out isThe English Philosophers from Bacon to Mills. Or I might try the enticing Ethics for Modern Life.
I think my professor would be proud of me for giving philosophy another try. Although, he might also slowly back away. Regardless, if you have an unfinished quest for knowledge in Philosophy or any other subject matter, stop by East Side Books and let us help educate you. We are happy to help guide you towards any kind of discovery you are interested in making.
Not to state the obvious, but the economy is not doing very well. What we hoped would be a year of economic recovery has been a continuation of an economic slump. We are well beyond pointing fingers or finding blame, and I am beginning to wonder if it is even possible for our monetary woes to be solved on a political level.
I think that perhaps our financial despair needs to be resolved by you, me, our neighbors, and our community. Perhaps it is as simple as each of us taking a number of small, fiscally conscious steps that will eventually lead us out of this crisis. Perhaps we need do to as my grandparents did when they weathered the Great Depression: simplify, reuse, and make do.
In 1981, Duane Elgin published the book Voluntary Simplicity: An Ecological Lifestyle that Promotes Personal and Social Renewal. Elgin says voluntary simplicity is “a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich; an integrative way of living that balances both inner and outer aspects of our lives; a deliberate choice to live with less in the belief that more will be returned to us in the process.”
But how to put voluntary simplicity and the wisdom of those who survived The Great Depression into action?
Luckily, East Side Books has shelves of books devoted to the ideas of voluntary simplicity such as The Simple Living Guide by Janet Luhrs. This volume is full of strategies to make life easier, simpler, and cheaper. For example, Luhrs suggests a number of inexpensive date activities such as stargazing with a sale bottle of wine; creating a film fest by renting a series of movies like all the Star Wars films; and checking out free concerts at coffee bars, bookstores, and parks. Along these same lines but with more of a philosophical slant is the book The Yankee Way to Simplify Your Life by Jay Heinrichs and the Editors of Yankee Magazine.
If you are wanting to make do with what you have, check out Practical Problem Solver Reader’s Digest. Practical Problem Solver can help you find “substitutes, shortcuts, and ingenious solutions for making life easier.” Need to get rid of garden pest? Spray aphids, mealybugs, and other soft-bodied insects with full strength rubbing alcohol. If PMS has got you down, try 20 minutes of aerobic exercise Cialis. Remove wall paper with a 50-50 solution of white vinegar and warm water.
If money is tight, pick up Make It Last by the Editors of Yankee Magazine. This book will teach you “over 1,000 ingenious ways to extend the life of everything you own.” Bananas on the edge of turning brown can been thrown directly into the freezer, peel and all, until you need them for baking later on. (This works, I’ve tried it.) It is hard to resist the list for “12 Uses for Dead Panty Hose” including keeping a pair in the trunk of the car to use as an emergency replacement for a broken engine belt.
East Side Books also carries copies of How to Fix Damn Near Everything by Franklin Peterson and The Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual put out by Reader’s Digest.
If you need some ideas for how to make things stretch in the kitchen check out our numerous cookbooks by Frugal Gourmet Jeff Smith. Smith had a long running cooking show on PBS featuring inexpensive recipes. I have used a number of his cookbooks and find the recipes not only to be simple and cost effective, but tasty as well. We also have a cookbook by the famous chef James Beard entitled Eat Better for Less Money. He says that eating cheaply is a snap with “a little imagination.”
Sometimes a little support is helpful when making choices to do without. For encouragement, check out our Inspiration Section. Gifts of the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh is a beautifully written reminder to slow down and appreciate nature. I always find that my priorities are set straight after reading the short essays by Robert Fulghum in his bestselling book All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Plain and Simple by Sue Bender is one of my favorite books. Obsessed with the Amish, Bender left her busy life in California to go live with the Amish and learn their ways. If you need daily inspiration, check out Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
East Side Books is an excellent first stop on the road to economic recovery. Our gently used books are not only inexpensive, but also an excellent way to conserve and recycle.
If you need any assistance finding the above mentioned books, our staff is happy to help.
Are you in need of a good read but don’t have time to invest in a full-length novel? Do short stories leave you wanting more? If so, I suggest you try reading a novella.
Categorized as a fictional work of 60 to 130 pages, novellas often pack a powerful and unforgettable punch.
Some of the greatest writers of all time have produced excellent novellas. Robert Lewis Stevenson penned the novella Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Herman Melville wrote Billy Budd, Joseph Conrad authored Heart of Darkness, Albert Camus wroteThe Stranger, and Franz Kafka gave us the short but powerful Metamorphosis.
Most of us are familiar with the novella form from our school days. Novellas are an excellent way to get younger readers started on quality literature. Some favorite novellas used in junior high and high school curriculums are: Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I especially loved studying Ballad of a Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers.
Novellas stretch across every subject and every literary genre. Science fiction writer H.G. Wells wrote The Time Machine in novella form. Beat writer Jack Kerouac penned The Subterraneans. Phillip Roth, known for his portrayal of the Jewish-American experience, won the National Book Award for his novella Goodbye, Columbus. The novellas Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote Cialis, A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, and Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King were made into popular movies. The most prolific novella writer of all time is Henry James who called this short form “the beautiful and blest novella.” Hismost popular novellas are the not-to-be-missed Daisy Miller and The Turn of the Screw. For more contemporary novellas, check out Steve Martian’s Shop Girl,Grendel by John Gardner, and The Age of Grief by Jane Smiley.
I have a number of favorite novellas. I love Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, a departure in style and subject matter from her other work, as well as The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Sparks. I am still haunted by the powerful novellasThe Shawl by Cynthia Ozick, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and Chronicles of a Death Foretold by Gabriela Garcia Marquez. I didn’t think that author E. Annie Proulx could write anything better than the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning novel The Shipping News until I read her novella Brokeback Mountain.
The most well-known novella of all time is surely The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
If you are unfamiliar with the novella form, stop in at East Side Books today and check the above mentioned short works. If you need assistance locating a title, please ask one of our staff for help.
