What Title to Give This Posting about Holiday Gift Ideas?

First, the reminder that Sunday afternoon is our bookstore event with Traverse City artist Glenn Wolff. Again, that's from noon to 2 p.m. Books, notecards, posters, and a gift to each Wolff book purchaser. See right-hand column for details, if you’ve somehow missed the blitz of publicity on my blog recently. As Northporters and 2013 bookstore visitors know, I don’t have quite the space up front for holiday decorating that I’ve had in years past, so this year my “tree” (thanks, Mom!) is not quite 11 inches tall. It does light up though (from the inside), and the even light changes color. (Don't ask me how.) I’ll try to make up for the absence of a real tree on Sunday (and that good spicy fir tree smell) with the presence of home-baked cookies. (Blogger, what is it with you and the parentheses today, anyway?)

Looking at another bookseller’s blog earlier today, I realized I’ve been rather neglecting the historic nature of my larger collection, so that’s where I want to put the focus today. Old books. To me, they're treasures, and sometimes I don’t do enough to showcase them to casual browsers. I mean, a lot of these  are classics!  To begin under a fairly broad umbrella of what constitutes a classic, for example, how about the two children’s books below?

You remember Eloise, don’t you? She lives -- by herself, mind you -- in the Plaza Hotel in New York City.

Book cover

Detail of book illustration

The Eloise book is pretty pricey, but The Littlest Christmas Tree can be taken home, tax included, for under $10. And can you believe no child has yet written his or her name inside this 1954 Wonder Book by popular children's author Thornton W. Burgess?

Book cover

Illustrated endpapers

Book slides in and out of slipcase

Moving on to more adult fare (and staying with bargains), here's the kind of books I love to find under my tree (or wherever!). First, Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s A Gift From the Sea, illustrated and in a slipcase. I love slipcases! Tucking the book into own little bed is a delicious thing to do.

Chapter illustration

Then a sweet old volume of essays by the incomparable Charles Lamb. Book spines and covers just don't look like this any more, more's the pity.

Pretty spine

Ordinary old book cover

Or any of the little Peter Pauper Press editions shown below, all with original dust jackets. Yes, I do have a thing for small books, as well as for slipcases....

Books from Peter Pauper Press

But my big excitement earlier this week was taking delivery of a mammoth box of old books on Michigan. Unpacking, pricing, shelving -- such are the joys of a seller of used books, and great her satisfaction as she stands back to admire newly restocked shelves.

Partial view of overflowing Michigan section

Small AND local!

There are three of the Great Lakes series (Michigan, Superior, Huron – i.e., our western lakes), several titles on early days when timber was Michigan’s main attraction, and many books, large and small, on various Michigan cities and villages and islands.

David and I were saying only this morning how fortunate we feel not to have workplace politics as part of our lives. Neither of us -- he, the artist, and I, the bookseller – have either bosses to please or employees to oversee. Sometimes, though, I sigh over the concept of retirement. Yes, it’s only a concept, as far as my life is concerned, but I would love to spend a year reading in a more focused and continuous way, being transported back 50 or 75 or 100 years to Michigan’s past.

I live on my own little Treasure Island!

A Winner! And, Let's Meet Across the Street

We only had six names, so we put everyone's name in Bruce's hat twice. I hope no one minds that it is a University of Michigan cap.

The fickle hand of fate --. Oops, sorry, Bruce! Bruce's hand reaches out....

Whose name is it?

It's Karen! Karen wins the free book! I would have made a little video of the drawing but have had trouble uploading videos so tried to squeak a little drama out of it in this cheap, old-fashioned way.

And now for today: It's raining, but the fierce overnight winds have settled down, so it's not a bad day, as I can attest from my morning errands around town under an umbrella, which came after an earlier dog walk without umbrella, as old coat and hood were easier to manage in the fields and woods.

Walking is our theme for the day, as our first 2013 Dog Ears Books guest author -- the first guest author of our 20th anniversary year! -- comes to Northport to read from her new book and answer questions about her latest long adventure on foot. I'm saying that Loreen walked 2,000 miles to get to Northport, because her first book was an account of a 1,000-mile circuit of Lake Michigan, and her new book tells of walks taken on all five Great Lakes, for a total of a second 1,000 miles. She walked in all kinds of weather, too, so no fair anyone complaining to her about today's rain!

Just remember, the bookstore will not be at the bookstore today. Instead we will gather at Brew North coffee house, across the street, courtesy of the ever genial and generous Erik and Deirdre Owen. Come around noon, get a cuppa, and make yourself comfortable before the 12:15-2:15 event. Books will be available, cash or check only, and the author will be happy to sign them for you.

So don't let a little rain keep you home. As my grandmother used to say complacently when I worried that she would get wet without an umbrella, "I'm not sugar! I won't melt!"

Where Is Benjamin Busch These Days?

It's been three years since Ben appeared on my radar. First came discovery. Then eager anticipation. Finally, reality. For the sake of accuracy, perhaps I should note that Ben preceded his book, when I invited him up before it was even finished to have a conversation in the bookstore with essayist Anne-Marie Oomen in front of a fascinated public. That was when he still had his ponytail. But I digress. 

It's hard to keep track of such an active, creative person as Benjamin Busch. If he isn't making a movie or taking it around to film festivals or exhibiting photographs, he's on a book tour, so I guess my subject heading today was kind of misleading, because I don't know exactly where he is this month. I do know that Dust to Dust was named one of the Top 5 memoirs of 2012 by Library Journal, has been named a Michigan Notable Book for 2013, and received the 2013 GLCA Award for Nonfiction. If you have yet to make the acquaintance of this very memorable, beautifully written memoir, please visit Dog Ears Books and let me introduce you soon. You won’t be sorry.

Take a close look at that Michigan Notable Book list, and you'll also see Michigan authors,  Jeff Vande Zande and  Laurie Sommers, visiting authors at Dog Ears Books now receiving state-wide recognition. Northport is almost at the end of the road, but we don't take a literary back seat.