Tonight's Discussion ... THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE

Monday night in the store (10/27 @ 6:30) we discuss THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE, which was our October book club pick. It is quite a long book at over 500 pages. All are welcome.

As is always the case, I am up against the wall and rushing to finish the book in time for the discussion. And this is why I struggle with book clubs in general … I rarely choose to read a book that large groups are interested in reading, perhaps because I am, in no small measure, obstinate. So when compelled—shall we say—to read a book as part of a group "project" I fall woefully behind. I always have three to four books going at once and somehow manage to move the required reading to the bottom of the stack. All of which makes me a very, very bad candidate for book club leader … I fully admit this. So after this month Deirdre takes over book club duties and I'm happy to hand it over to her; and I'm quite sure everyone will be much happier with her as leader/organizer as opposed to me. I'll likely participate in discussions, but I think (I know) she is much more congenially suited to a book club than me.

With all of that said, I think Deirdre does have some good ones in the queue for the coming months, including:

* LOVING FRANK (November)

* HANNAH'S DREAM (December, with author Diane Hammond joining the discussion)

* CHURCH OF THE DOG (early 2009, with author Kaya McLaren visiting the store on May 28!)

But back to THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE. So many people have read the book, and any and all are welcome to join in the discussion. Don't get me wrong ... I am not panning the book. I'm just being a grump who wishes the book was perhaps 100+ pages shorter. It's a very ambitious first novel, and one that deserves much of the attention it is receiving. The supernatural and suspenseful elements of the book make me think it is well suited to people who liked THE LIFE OF PI. Very different books, but there's something there that connects the two somehow. If you can pull through the first 100 pages, you will undoubtedly go on to finish the book ... but in my opinion it's getting through those first 100 that provides the challenge. Some editing could have been done. It was likely a skilled editor that once said something along the lines of "in every fat book there is a thin book trying to get out." THE STORY OF EDGAR SAWTELLE is a good read that could have been made even better if that thinner book had been allowed to come through.

Camalli Downtown Tonight for Art Walk

Tina will be downtown tonight at UMPQUA BANK as author Thor Hanson discusses and signs his book THE IMPENETRABLE FOREST: MY GORILLA YEARS IN UGANDA.  I'll be selling copies of his book and partaking in the free wine ;-)

If you're out and about please stop in and say hi!  I'll be handing out special store bookmarks that have a 20% off coupon.

Did I mention the wine?

Special Story Time

Thursday, October 2, we have a GREAT story time with KINDERMUSIK! Bring the kid(s) in and enjoy music and motion. Starts at 10:00 a.m. ...

Fundraiser for THE NATURE OF WORDS

Ales for Authors!

Enjoy great beer, catch some open mic performances and support The Nature of Words at "Ales for Authors" this Wednesday, October 1, at Bend's Silver Moon Brewing. The evening's $3.00 cover charge will go to benefit Central Oregon's premier literary festival, scheduled for November 5-9, 2008. Local slam poet Jason Graham will emcee the Open Mic from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (Silver Moon Brewing is located at 24 NW Greenwood Avenue.)

Camalli Book Co. will definitely be there! Come on out and hear about The Nature of Words 2008, featuring eight guest authors, including Patricia Smith, four-time national individual poetry slam champion. The author roster also includes Ursula K. Le Guin, icon of the science fiction and fantasy genre; Craig Childs, adventure travel writer and desert ecologist; Charles Bowden, journalist and essayist who writes about the environment and social issues along the U.S.-Mexico border; Luis Urrea, 2005 Pulitzer Prize nominee whose dual-culture heritage influences his themes in fiction and literary non-fiction; Ekiwah Adler-Belendez, 19-year old poet prodigy from Mexico; Pam Houston, award-winning short story writer and novelist; and Judith Barrington, internationally known poet and memoirist.

Bring your own work to share at the Open Mic, or just come to listen and learn about The Nature of Words.

Monday Night Book Club - 9/29, 6:00 p.m.

As always, procrastination wins and I'm once again rushing to finish the book club selection for this month. But reading Ursula LeGuin's LAVINIA has been a treat. Lavinia comes from Virgil's (or Vergil's, depending on your source) 2000-year-old epic poem THE AENEID, where she is given ever-so-brief treatment and truly does not speak a word (though, her hair does catch fire most impressively). Lavinia is the daughter of King Latinus, and a plethora of men are doomed to die over who will eventually marry her. Her eventual marriage to Aeneas (after whom, of course, the epic is titled) signals the founding of the Roman race.

LeGuin weaves a story that imagines Lavinia's life as a young girl, her courting by that asshole Turnus, her eventual marriage to Aeneas--which leads to the war between the Trojans and the Latins--and on to the end of her life.

I do like feminine takes on old tales ... such as Marion Zimmer Bradley's MISTS OF AVALON ... but LAVINIA is more than a "feminist" tale. As one reviewer stated: "The three characters [Lavinia, Latinus, Aeneas] together embody the Roman belief in fate as it relates to the virtue of pietas (dutifulness, spiritual awareness, a deep listening for and acceptance of the truth at the heart of the matter)." It is a novel for anyone interested in classic mythology, and of course for anyone fascinated by the story of the Trojan War.

I don't think having read THE AENEID is essential, but it would certainly enrich the experience. For a translation, I'd suggest Robert Fagles's, which is now out in paperback.

ANYWAY ... book club discussion Monday night (9/29) at the store at 6:00. Wine flows freely, of course.

Great Event Thursday . . .

Locals Love Locals!

Hi Folks! We're happy to announce that Camalli Book Co. just got the Honorable Mention award for Best Bookstore by The Source Weekly! Our friends over at Between the Covers won top prize. We got Best Bookstore by Bend Living, and they got the honorable mention in that one. So, we're sharing awards. We have a great relationship with Between the Covers, and we all just want everyone to SHOP LOCAL! Buy here, buy there ... just buy at a local store! Thanks to everyone for your support over the last year; it's hard to believe we've been open for almost 13 months!

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Thursday, August 14 ... Join us at 7:00 p.m. for a reading and release party celebrating Jonathan Ludwig's first chapbook of poetry and short stories, FALSE STARTS, FRAGMENTS & FALSEHOODS. Ludwig's chapbook is published locally by THROWBACK BOOKS ... you may have seen the article about THROWBACK in the August 9 Bend Bulletin. Ludwig is a member of the 2006 and 2007 Bend Poetry Slam Teams. Either everything in this new chapbook is a lie or the title is--it is tough to tell. The content is difficult to believe: buying bits of a woman's body, making molotov cocktails for our generation out of Hostess Pink Snowballs and chopsticks, late night bottles of booze that have more of a social life than the author. But each becomes difficult to discount after reading these maybe-autobiographical stories. Typed in the font of a classic Oliver No. 5 with its butterfly falling keys, these textured stories will have you rereading each cryptic line to try to find a lie or a truth within it. This is a FREE event, open to all. Guests over 21 can enjoy complimentary wine or beer; those under 21 are welcome to soda or water.

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Thursday, August 21 ... THIRD THURSDAY WORDS in the store at 7:00! This Thursday we're lucky to have in a team of talented local poets: Pete Lovering, John Martin, Judy Montgomery and Ellen Waterston. They will read nothing but short poems (their own and others’), from haiku to limerick to sonnet. Peter is celebrating the publication of a new hand-produced book of haiku, INNERVOICE/OPEN SPACE. John, inspired by a month-long poetry residency at Caldera, will read new work and poems from his chapbook, NICK OF TIME. Ellen will read from her prize-winning chapbook, I AM MADAGASCAR, and give us a taste of work from her soon-to-be-published new book of poems. And Judy, just returned from a poetry getaway, will read some of her new (short!) poems and work from her recent chapbook, PULSE & CONSTELLATION. Join us—and if you'd like, bring a short poem (yours or one of your favorites) to read aloud! This, also, is a FREE event and open to all. Guests over 21 can enjoy complimentary wine or beer; those under 21 are welcome to soda or water.