I Was “Laid Up” a While, But Now I’m Back

First there was a twisted ankle that kept me off my feet as much as possible, also keeping me indoors. Sigh! Then there was the "technical difficulty" (failure to recharge) necessitating a total of three round trips to Traverse City. Good parts of all this bad stuff were getting more reading done, writing several letters and notes to friends, and having meals cooked and served to me, but I missed time outdoors with Sarah and my virtual connections. And photographs! Taking, reviewing, posting! So I have a lot of catching up to do.

This morning I got new posts up on “A Shot in the Light” and “Home Ground,” my photo and outdoor nature meditation blogs, respectively. Sarah’s cuteness (in case anyone missed it) served here on “Books in Northport.” She is more than filler, after all: she is, for many, the heart and soul of my bookstore, and certainly she is my constant companion here, as everywhere else. But what direction to take now as I get back into the groove? Maybe a partial review of what people are ordering these days at Dog Ears Books? Sure, why not?

Looking at my recent special order lists for new books, I see that they fall into a few unsurprising categories: fiction; food/health; and history/politics.

Under the fiction heading, here are some of the titles requested by customers since the first of the year: Betraya;, The Tenderness of Wolves; Dead Man’s Brother; and The Tiger’s Wife. In the food and health category, representative titles include Weightwatchers’ One Pot Cookbook; The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook; Healing Spices; and The Patient’s Checklist.  Among requested historical and political titles were In the Garden of the Beasts; The World America Made; and What It Is Like to Go to War.

A few people have ordered children’s books, including Extra Yarn and Brother Sun, Sister Moon, which was so charming that I put another copy on my next order to have on hand for someone else. I also ordered both hardcover and paperback 50^th anniversary edition copies of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.

Oh, and then there are the nature and nature drawing books I’ve written about before and ordered for store stock, hoping others will be enchanted by some of the same things that enchant me. And last but not least, by any means, let me mention the book I have presently in my new “Highlight” feature in the right-hand column, The Heirloom Life Gardener, by Jane and Emilee Gettle, cofounders of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. It’s food, it’s farming, it’s nature, it’s gardening! Sections on individual vegetables feature, besides growing advice, seed-saving tips and how this vegetable fits into meals. It’s a book and pursuit for the rest of your life! That’s how I feel about it, anyway.

Now, since I’ve made that smooth segue from books to gardening, let me close today’s post with more of the wisdom of Wendell Berry:

...In a healthy community, people will be richer in their neighbors, in neighborhood, in the health and pleasure of neighborhood, than in their bank accounts. It is better, therefore, even if the cost is greater, to buy near at hand than to buy at a distance. It is better to buy from a small, privately owned local store than from a chain store. It is better to buy a good product than a bad one. Don’t buy anything you don’t need. Do as much as you can for yourself. If you cannot do something for yourself, see if you have a neighbor who can do it for you. Do everything you can to see that your money stays as long as possible in your local community. If you have money to invest, try to invest it locally, both to help the local community and to keep from helping the larger economy that is destroying local communities....

 -      Well Berry, “Conservation Is Good Work” (1991)

We still have a local school and preschool in Northport. We have a hardware store and grocery store, a post office, bank, library, several churches, and many, many other businesses and services. Soon spring will be here, with the return of our local farm market, a sign both of dedicated new growers and a responsive local public. We are so, so fortunate! Becoming and remaining fortunate is in our hands to a greater extent than we sometimes think!


This message comes to you from your local neighborhood bookstore!