2008 National Book Festival

Better than expected weather at this year’s National Book Festival.  2008 marks the sixth consecutive year my wife and I have attended.  This year, we found more overlap than usual in our schedules.  Mine is below with her deviations in parens.

• 10-10:30am – Gordon S. Wood, author of The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History. (Alexander McCall Smith, author of The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday.)
• 10:35-11:05am – Francie Prose, author of Goldengrove. (Tony Horwitz, author of A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World.)
• 11:15am-12noon – Arthur and Pauline Frommer, authors of tons of travel books.
• 12:20-12:50pm – Salman Rushdie, author of The Enchantress of Florence. (Daniel Schorr, author of Come to Think of It: Notes on the Turn of the Millennium.)
• Lunch at Chipotle
• 2:10-2:40pm – Warren Brown, author of Cake Love: How to Bake Cakes from Scratch.

There were a couple of people we had tentatively planned to see in the later afternoon, but the rain clouds seemed to have been delayed long enough and began to form overhead.  We took our new teal bags and walked home.

I always enjoy exploring new authors at the festival, but I enjoy even more hearing those I’ve read.  I’ve not read Gordon Wood, but thoroughly intend to after his fascinating talk and Q&A session.  I’ve read some of Francine Prose’s short work and confess to being ambivalent toward it.  After her brief reading and talk, I’ll probably not seek out her longer work.  The Frommer session was just packed with useful hints for future travels.  Skipping ahead, I enjoyed Warren Brown’s session, but not as much as I enjoy his baking.  Still, it’s always good to hear of a lawyer breaking free from the chains.

The most interesting session I saw was Rushdie’s.  When the prior speaker finished, people flooded the aisles to fill the seats those planning to leave would soon be vacating.  But few were leaving.  When Marie Arana began to introduce Rushdie the aisles were still packed with standing people.  In short order those whose views were blocked by the standees were shouting for them to sit!  Arana and Rushdie couldn’t initially hear what was being shouted and assumed the uproar was from people unable to hear.  Eventually they understood and asked those standing to have a seat on the ground (Rushdie comparing it to Woodstock).  At last, with order restored, the session began as Arana interviewed Rushdie – briefly about life under and out from under fatwa, and in more detail about his newest book.  I left a bit early due to difficulty hearing from my spot on the periphery, but intend to try Rushdie again one of these days (I’ve only ever tried The Satanic Verses and gave up about halfway through).

A few things disappointed about this year’s fair.  First, the venues seemed more cramped than in past years.  I wonder if some of the tents were not smaller than in past years.  If not, the feeling may have been caused by the most popular tents being placed close together.  Also, I believe there were separate tents for literary fiction and mystery/thrillers in past years.  I enjoy authors from both areas, so my complaint is that the combination reduces the number of authors – not that Salman Rushdie and Brad Meltzer should not be under the same tent.  Though they should not be.  Finally, there seemed (perhaps for the reason above) a decline in the number of quality fiction authors.

But it’s always a Saturday well spent.  As several speakers and introducers through the day expressed, hopefully the fair will continue under a new administration next year.

Reading Weather

Looking out the window today, I noticed the stiff wind and light rain.  Stepping out, I felt the slight chill of early fall.  Fall is easily my favorite season to be outside and I wondered about my favorite season for reading.

I came to the conclusion that I have no favorite season for reading.  The weather is not the key – the setting is.  So, what are the perfect reading settings for the various seasons?

• Spring – Out of doors on a park bench or on a blanket in the grass. 
• Summer – By the pool or on the beach.  Sunglasses required or white pages will blind you.
• Fall – In a comfortable chair with a snack nearby.
• Winter – In front of a roaring fire in a cabin tucked away in the woods.

I remember the disappointment as a kid that attended the end of summer.  Evenings spent doing homework instead of playing ball in the street.  Friends cooped up in houses instead of running around the neighborhood.  Early sunsets forcing you inside before you were ready.  But it never took long to discover the special pleasure of reading that made tolerable the long wait until the next game of ditch or home run derby.

Childhood Favorites: The Bobbsey Twins

I recently received an email update from a friend in London and was reminded of my first exposure to that city.  In early grade school, I was already drawn to sets of books in the school library.  Those long rows of books with matching spines were seduced this burgeoning bibliophile. 

The books in the school library were ordered by reading difficulty; easier books along the west wall, more difficult books along the east wall.  All of the sets were on the east wall.  We weren’t supposed to be able to check out big kid books until third or fourth grade, but the librarian made an exception for me (she also allowed me to check out more books than the normal limit since I was a fairly fast reader).  At first, she wouldn’t let me check out the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, or Cherry Ames, but the Bobbsey Twins were fair game.

I worked my way through the entire series (at least, all of the volumes in my school library) and quickly graduated to those other series.  But the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Cherry Ames never worked their way quite as deeply into my memory as the Bobbsey Twins.

To this day, London for me is dodging traffic at Piccadilly Circus with Burt and Nan, Freddie and Flossie.  It’s a stern Beefeater ignoring the childish antics of Flossie.  It’s stolen jewels and adorable dollhouse furniture.  I need to visit London soon to remedy these childish ideas!

Amazingly, my memories from The Bobbsey Twins at London Tower and other books read in childhood are more vivid than most of my memories of people, places, and events.  So, thanks Mrs. W for making a few exceptions.  It has been nearly thirty years since I read my first Bobbsey Twin book and my appreciation of books (and sets!) hasn’t dimmed.

Perseverance

Last night I was complaining to my wife about a book I am reading.  I believe I described the writer’s style as both florid and lifeless.  While I’m still not prepared to embrace the author’s voice, my perseverance paid off over lunch as I began to run across arresting arguments like these:

That American Protestants [in the mid-1800s] thought their exclusive faith could provide the moral standard for a republic conceived in religious neutrality is one of the more surprising twists in the history of biblical religion.  Not only was the misunderstanding of religious liberty in the United States glaring, the distortion of the Christian religion was enormous.

 A Secular Faith by Darryl Hart, p. 93

On the previous page, Hart quotes Jaroslav Pelikan

For historical reasons alone, and according to the Bible itself, for more than historical reasons, biblical morality is inseparable from biblical doctrine and biblical doctrin is inseparable from the community of believers.  If the faith is broken off from its context in the community, and if morality is broken from its context in the faith, the result is a double fracture. 

How quickly a book can go from the bottom to the top of your reading pile!  It’s amazing, and refreshing, to see an issue that is part of the political and religious landscape suddenly approached from an angle you’ve not previously heard or considered.

Childhood Favorites: Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard

I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about some of my favorite books from childhood, so I’ll start today with Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard. Most of these books were read multiple times, but I probably read and dipped into Big Red more than any other. In fact, the last time I saw my copy of the book, its cover was in approximately the same condition as the one in this post!

Big Red is the story of a boy of modest means who is given responsibility for training a purebred Irish Setter (Red). Red’s owner introduces the boy to a world beyond his own reach and the boy does the same for Red as he introduces the show dog to the outdoors with its attendant dangers and lessons.

I was immediately seized with an unbelievable desire for an Irish Setter from the first time I read the book; that desire remained for years after the last time I read it. Looking back, I suspect that the book’s themes of loyalty and bravery most attracted me.

Although I’ve not reread the book in probably two decades, based on fond memories I recommend it highly for children of the appropriate age. If you’re an adult who enjoyed Big Red, I highly recommend David Wroblewski’s sophisticated and highly acclaimed debut novel The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.