—
image credit: grammarly.com
we began as a mixed group
of teachers and parents
and
became friends
stayed friends
formed
a book club
had
passionate discussions
about books
but
over time
it became
challenging
to get
everyone
in one place
on a regular basis
for hours at a time
on the same night
so
one day
we had an idea
and
decided
to meet
after work on fridays
at the end of each week
late in the afternoon
just for a bit
on a drop-in basis
whoever could make it was welecome
and we
talked about
books, life, family, loves, our news, the world
and we
listened
to each other
and
asked and answered questions
about things
in our lives
that made us happy
or
that made us sad
or
that we didn’t understand
or just
needed
to tell someone
and
wanted
the perspective
of others
we trusted
as we
shared our personal stories
and we
celebrated each other’s lives
and we all made a point
of being there
on a regular basis
and sometimes
husbands
kids
dates
visitors
popped in
and out
and soon
the books fell away
and
we met
just to
spend time together
so
one day
i had an idea
and
i gave us a name
on a shirt
as a christmas present
*h2.e.l.p.
*(happy hour extra large print)
book club
of ann arbor
and to
make it official
and it seemed
just the right name
for us
for more than one reason
and
a couple of times
each year
we kick it up a notch
when
we go
on an
overnight adventure
to a local hotel
or a cottage on a lake
where it feels
so far away from it all
yet
they’re
just
a
few miles away
no husbands
no kids
no dates
no visitors
and
we stay up
most of the night
with food and drink
and music
sharing our stories
and
our own
good company
and
sometimes
we sneak into the pool or take a dip in the lake
for some
late night swimming
and play games
and
all sorts
of
other antics
and merry-making
happen
it’s a slumber party
of the highest order
after all
and
i may even suggest
that we
read a book
one day soon
one that
that has it all
romance, mystery, action and adventure, travel, suspense, humor, friendship
and no vampires
it’s one of my favorites
and
it’s sure to
inspire a passionate discussion
about its surprise ending
—
“the first rule of book club – is that nobody wants to talk about book club.”
― douglas lewis
“if you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales.
if you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
― albert einstein
Under the Spell of the Moon: Art for Children from the World’s Great Illustrators
by Patricia Aldana (Editor), Various contributors (Illustrator), Stan Dragland (Translator), Katherine Patterson (Introduction)
The illustrated picture book is one of the most important genres of children’s literature. Great artists have devoted some or all of their working lives to creating art that accompanies a text written for children. While book illustration has been practiced for thousands of years, picture book illustration is a relatively new phenomena. This beautiful book is a collection of poetry from all around the world, illustrated by some of the finest picture book artists working today including Peter Sis, Anthony Browne and Quentin Blake.
IBBY (the International Board on Books for Children), at the heart of whose mandate lies the promotion of books of the highest quality, has been honoring illustrators through the Hans Christian Andersen Awards for nearly forty years. IBBY has also been helping to support the spread of book illustration for children to countries and cultures where such artistic activity is relatively new. In honor of IBBY’s work and to support its future work, many of the world’s greatest illustrators for children have donated art based on a text of their choice drawn from their childhood and culture. The result is a book that celebrates art created for children from around the world. The texts in the book are in both the original language and in English. Noted author and editor Stan Dragland has translated the texts.Groundwood Books will pay a royalty of 15% of all sales to IBBY.
I’ve never seen a moon in the sky that, if it didn’t take my breath away, at least misplaced it for a moment.
Colin Farrell
we discovered last fall, in blog world, that we were connected, through many different avenues,
and mutual close friends. amazingly, we had never crossed paths in real life. until…..
i attended a wonderful and unusual book signing at our local ann arbor senior center,
with guest author, susie sexton.
susie read and offered anecdotes from her book,
and local Roy Sexton, Susie Duncan Sexton’s son,
(known throughout Michigan for his cabaret style performances),
sang some of his mom’s favorite musical show tunes.
they kept the audience laughing and clapping.
and roy was there to support his mother’s wonderful endeavor.
Susie Duncan Sexton – is a writer, political pundit, arts critic, animal rights advocate, (and mother of Roy) – has her own column on Jennifer Zartman Romano’s “Talk of the Town.” The column offers observations of growing up in a small Indiana town – the culture, the anecdotes, the legends, the gossip, the joys, the heartaches – and what Sexton has learned about life ever since. She also writes a column “Homeward Angle” for the Columbia City Post and Mail, and she recently published two books, “Secrets of an Old Typewriter,” and “More Secrets of an Old Typewriter.”
and just yesterday, i attended son roy’s own book signing,
at a new ann arbor local independent community bookstore, bookbound.
and susie was there to return the favor.
as roy shares a piece from his book, about growing up with films all around him,
susie is happily surprised by a shared love of favorite movies,
with yet another closely connected audience member, john.
roy (snarky and smart blogging movie reviewer), sang,
(accompanied by his longtime friend and fellow theater musician, rebecca biber),
and read and answered questions.
and susie was there to support him.
book bound owners, megan and peter blackshear
(former borders bargain book-buyer extraordanaire)
graciously hosted the event
in support of local authors.
they may have to create a ‘sexton section’ in the store.
only open seven months,
this store has brought a much needed bookstore to the north side of ann arbor.
and roy’s first book,
Reel Roy Reviews Volume 1: Keepin’ it Real.
has been making it’s way around the world.
there were so many sextons, so little time……
and i was so happy to be a part of it all,
and in awe of the heartfelt and mutual support shared by all.
——
links:
Susie’s blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5161078.Susie_Duncan_Sexton/blog
Roy’s Blog: http://www.reelroyreviews.com
Susie’s author website: http://www.susieduncansexton.com
Roy’s theatre group: http://www.pennyseats.org
Bookstore: http://www.bookboundbookstore.com
literati – my favorite local independent book store.
their first book club night ever.
that’s me, 3rd person on the left in a white sweater. so happy to be there.
so happy to support them.
they’ve made it. one full year.
and this is what they wrote about how happy they are.
—
One Year Anniversary Party!
March 28, 29, and 30th!
The end of March marks our One Year Anniversary! To celebrate, we’re throwing a party.
All. Weekend. Long.
All weekend will be treats, raffles, and fun. On Sunday, we’re donating 50% of proceeds to BINC, a locally-focused non-profit that supports booksellers across the country.
We are thrilled to be part of this community. It’s been a dream come true. We are proud to be Ann Arbor residents, to return to the area we were raised, and bring an independent bookstore that sells new books to the downtown area. One year down, and with your help, hopefully many more to come…
Lastly…
This year. It’s really hard to articulate how much gratitude and thanks we have to this community. We recently read the dialogue in the NYTimes about how bookstores can survive. It was more a question — “Can they survive?” Certainly, opening a small independent bookstore is not the safest way to ensure a long, viable career. There are concerns and fears about rising downtown rents, online booksellers, e-readers… to name a few.
But this first year proves to me one thing: People want books. People want an event space. People want a downtown location to browse books, share ideas, attend author events, book clubs, story times, and a safe, welcoming place to surprise themselves. We’ve seen so many surprises this year: A marriage proposal on our typewriter. A Halloween literary-themed costume contest. A violin monster and a 7-year-old beginning a pen pal relationship. Friends who hadn’t seen each other in 20 years bumping into each other, wildly enthusiastic, hugging. World War II veterans talking to 20-somethings about their experiences.
One year down. We are still here. We are still surviving. And it’s all because of you.
Sincerely, thank you.
-Mike and Hilary and the rest of the Literati staff
“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” ― Mark Twain
i have found my favorite bookstore, ‘literati,’ and feel happy each and every time i walk in there. it is independent, local, walkable, friendly, and welcoming. when i open the door and step in, i feel like cliff in the old show ‘cheers,’ but without the bar or the beer or boston.
winter comes to literati
one of my favorite pastimes is to spend time with books, reading, browsing, picking them up to see the cover, the text, reading the notes, and just hanging out among them. after the demise of borders, (created by the local borders brothers), which was based here and included the original store, a local couple decided to open ‘literati.’ a giant had fallen. and in it’s place, three lovely bookshops have come to the forefront here. one has held on throughout the mega-giant bookstore era, and been around for years, with the others, more recently arriving on the scene. each is wonderful, but something about the feeling of ‘literati’ has immediately grabbed me. the owners of the three have embraced and welcomed each other, and rather than be rivals, they’ve become friends and partners in the community.
on
downstairs at literati
in this, its first year, the store has supported and invited local authors to share their work, created nooks for reading, and spaces for browsing, provided a small staff that is well-read and friendly, a children’s story hour, a book club, a newsletter, took part in community charity events, and the place simply oozes with an amazing good feeling.
have an set up an old typewriter for people to leave notes and messages. here are a couple of them:
“To be in love gives you the ability to raise up the sky and see the whole world.”
-Note left on our typewriter
“I am 7 months sober today. I’m finally learning how to forgive. Not only those who hurt me, but myself. I’m forgiving myself…”
-Note left on our typewriter
a recent note from owners, mike and hillary, written in their newsletter to the community, shows a bit of who they are:
Happy New Year, everyone!
This past week, we’ve been feeling nostalgic. Since we signed the lease one year ago we’ve zoomed along with build-out, construction, opening, logistics, accounting, and the chaos of the holidays… Finally, we’ve had a chance to catch our breaths, pause, and reflect.
Thank you everyone who has bought a book from the store. You didn’t have to. You could have gone to Amazon, but you didn’t. You came to us.
A huge thank you to Jeremiah Chamberlin and this profile of our opening in the latest issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Jeremiah witnessed the store long before anyone else did. He was there when we painted the floors, for our shipment of boxes, for all those anxiety-producing pre-opening weeks… and then he wrote about it. We thank Jeremiah for taking an interest in telling our story and doing such a wonderful job.
Thank you all, again, for making our 2013 successful. It’s a scary time to open a bookstore. But everyone here made it much, much less scary. We have a lot of work to do. We are inspired by this year’s success, but there is a long road ahead.
Thank you again. -Mike, Hilary, and the rest of the Literati Book Ninjas.
It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it. ~Oscar Wilde
—-
image credits and links: http://literatibookstore.com
Advisory from the Office of the County Sheriff: Avoid MI Ave/US12, Tecumseh to Saline. 3-4′ snow drifts across road, it is impassable. No further information is available at this time.
here is the first book that i taught myself to read. and i shall read it again in its entirety today.
there was talk of ‘thunder-snow’
When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels. – Unknown quotes
I didn't have my glasses on.... 