Da Vinci Decoded

It's finally here, the moment you've all been waiting for. Dan Brown's follow up to The Da Vinci Code finally has a release date -- September 15. And whether you regarded Tom Hanks' lank haired portrayal of Robert Langdon as box office death or you have already pre-ordered tickets for the upcoming theatrical release of Angels & Demons, the publishing industry is expecting a major response to The Lost Symbol. So major, in fact, that their initial print run will produce no fewer than 5 million copies. When you consider that The Da Vinci Code had an initial print run of 260,000 -- by most standards, an enormous first printing -- 5 million becomes something of a mind boggling number. Read the whole story from the New York Times.

-Rachel

Amazon Rage

There's been a huge amount of Internet buzz over the Amazon.com controversy that sprung up over the weekend. However, I think it's worthwhile to highlight one very well-written blog entry about it from Vroman's Bookstore. Whether you believe that the incident was simply a clerical error, or whether you believe it was deliberate censorship is ultimately irrelevant: in a marketplace that lacks diversity, you will ultimately make huge sacrifices.



- Rachel

Twilight

However you feel about it, it certainly stirs up controversy. There are even entire sites on the Internet dedicated to lambasting the series. Take this story, for example, from Edward Arrington's story in Associated Content.

Oh this is going to be great fun. I have, unfortunately, read all four of those ridiculous Twilight books, and absolutely hated them all. Admittedly, there were several parts that were entertaining, but they were few and far between, and were greatly over-shadowed by the horrendous writing of Stephanie Meyer. So, I have decided that since I am bored beyond almost all human measure, I will write my opinions in a very clear list. Or at least I'll try; I might get carried away. Also, to any reading this, please understand that this is MEANT to be somewhat malicious, mostly because I enjoy it. So just try not to get all protective and offended and personal. It isn't meant to be personal, it's just my opinion. And some fact.

Feel free to read the entire story here.

Personally, I have yet to read Twilight, its successors, or even watch the movie. What do you think -- is it worth it, or not?

- Rachel

Guide to Etiquette?

I’ve now been married for nearly two years – I’ll pause here for your applause – and one might think that means that the wedding loot has been nearly exhausted. You might be shocked to learn that yesterday’s mail included a fresh wedding gift, complete with the following note from my 2^nd cousin, twice removed:

“At some point, I read that even Emily Post says you get two years to send a gift.”

Which, aside from the defensive subtext, begs the important question of etiquette. Do I now get two years to send a thank you note? And, if so, should I use it to apologize for the prank phone calls they’ve been receiving since the honeymoon? According to this instructional video I should ooh and ahh over the price of the gift, which seems a little déclassé. Doesn’t the gift’s value lie in the sentiment and not the cost?

I couldn’t help but think about in kindergarten, when my teacher taught us to say thank you, and then, inexplicably, “thank you for the thank you.” It inevitably created an endless loop which would eventually devolve into tears – a habit that really should have been addressed during Ed School. Of the thank you notes I’ve received, I always feel somehow guilty when I do not respond in kind. Do you write a thank you note for the thank you note, begging a thank you for the thank you for the thank you, until eventually you have simply acquired a pen pal? Perhaps the gift is really an overture to a long and fruitful correspondence.

Or, at the very least, I suppose I’ll have to put said 2^nd cousin back on the Christmas Card list…

- Rachel

Geriatric Sexcapades

Today in Tempe, Arizona, it was 88 degrees. The orange blossoms are still blooming, the birds are still singing – but I recognize that this is a temporary condition. When temperatures are above 80 in early April, it’s impossible to pretend that Spring is anything other than fleeting. In a matter of weeks, the Sonoran desert will revert to a desiccated wasteland capable of causing heat stroke in a matter of moments.

But for now, Tempe is practically oozing vitality and romance – I catch teenagers necking in my neighborhood, customers are holding hands in the store, and I keep reading novels filled with geriatric sexcapades.

Nothing screams Spring like elder-love.

I didn’t set out to read multiple books on passion in the 70+ set, which makes it somewhat stranger that I coincidentally selected three successive books that featured wrinkled gymnastics. Other people have pointed out that the publishing world sometimes releases multiple titles on similar themes, but nursing home nookie seems a little more bizarre than usual. But what I discovered was that, contrary to my youth-centric stereotypes, these depictions of amorous seniors have a lot to teach even a jaded 20-something like myself. For example: life is too short to waste it on petty lies, deceits, and disagreements. It is important to be honest to yourself and to those around you. Be confident in your physical appearance, because it will only get worse over time and nobody really cares anyway. And, finally, it is never too late to find love, no matter how many wrinkles and sags you might have.

Aren’t those nice messages?

So if you find yourself lovelorn this Spring, I recommend checking out one of the following titles:

The Little Book, by Selden Edwards.

Sima’s Undergarments for Women, by Ilana Stanger-Ross.

Valeria’s Last Stand, by Marc Fitten (this one isn’t coming out until May, so write it down. It’s worth the wait).

These are the perfect books to read during these ephemeral temperate days. And don’t worry, they’re about more than just aged ardor.

- Rachel

Gaiman and Colbert

In case you missed it, Neil Gaiman was on The Colbert Report last night, talking about his Newbery Award-winning novel The Graveyard Book. Hee-larious . . .

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Neil Gaiman
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

Former Changing Hands Bookseller Returns with Carnival of Vulgarities

Nina arm-wrestles the poet.

D. Hamilton Doggett. Now that’s a name worthy of an immense granite tombstone. Of course, the man behind the name isn’t anywhere near extinction, and even if he were, he’d likely prefer his ashes resting in an urn on his mantel, in snug proximity to his homemade samurai armor. Until he gives up the ghost, though, he’ll continue his pursuits as writer, poet, and master of the stutter-step.

Carnival of Vulgarities (2008) is Doggett’s most recent book, bringing together a collection of thirteen poems spawned over the last decade. From ghosts of war, erotic demons, and Edgar Allan Poe dying in a ditch, his work is “a conjoining of verse and myth that seeks to entertain, instruct, astonish, amuse and lay bare the commonalities that bind us all.” With diverse themes encompassing love, death, and war, Doggett borrows widely from history and mythology, but recasts characters with plebeian empathy. In response to why his work is laden with historical references, Doggett explains that he has always had an interest in retelling stories from the bottom up. By lending an ear to the lesser characters of major opuses, he draws out their narratives and embellishes their literary lives. The poem "The Illiad of Elpenor Ithakasios," for example, expounds upon Elpenor, a mere soldier of Odysseus’, who fell to his death from a roof in drunken squalor. As with Doggett’s obsession with the bizarre myth surrounding Poe’s death (which, in reality, was quite mundane), the piece demonstrates his attention to the unrecorded potentialities of moments past.

On having self-published the work, Doggett admits, “I love the control. I think a lot of people lose sight of that. They want to be that writer. I want people to like what I write." Of course he wouldn’t turn down publishers’ interest, but that Lone Ranger appeal of independently seeing through his own project would stand undiminished. He knows he’ll be compelled to write whether or not there is public interest, and this is what makes him a writer’s writer.

For more of Doggett’s writing, check out his novella The Evangelists (1998) and his short story "Clockwork Betty" (featured in the Maple/Ash Literary Review #2), both available at Changing Hands Bookstore. Also keep a lookout for Ghost of Iga, the first book in his forthcoming ninja saga.

Doggett will appear at Changing Hands on Friday, March 6 at 7pm. Read his blog, DOGGEREL, here.

-Nina

Gayle Greets President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter visited the bookstore last Friday with his book, We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work. Changing Hands co-owner and American Booksellers Association President Gayle Shanks offered him a warm welcome:

Flap Copy Interview: Christian Lander

Last Tuesday, we hosted a booksigning for Christian Lander, author of the blog and subsequent book Stuff White People Like. A sizable and enthusiastic crowd stopped in to hear Lander talk about his unexpected rise to Internet fame, and then joined him afterward for drinks next door at Mac's Broiler & Tap, and even later at Four Peaks Brewery. He was generous enough to sit down with us pre-booksigning to answer a few questions about his taste in literature, Xbox, and the future for white people in a floundering economy.

Tessa: How would you define white people as they’re described in your book?

Christian Lander: You don’t have to be white to be "white," you just have to be rich. There’s the right kind of white people and the wrong kind of white people. Generally the white people I’m talking about are post-wealth. You don’t seriously worry about money if you spend your time pursuing being the most altruistic person possible or being artistic or being recognized as artistic.

Tessa: What are common misconceptions people read into the blog or book?

Lander: The people who need to have it cleared up are a really small minority. What’s amazing is that people look at the title and have one of two reactions. Either, “This is going to be really offensive and I’m going to get really upset” and then they look at it and they think “Oh shit, this is actually true,” or they look at it and they’re expecting “Stuff white people like: polo shirts, awkward dancing, mayonnaise.” You know what I mean? The old stereotypes that don’t apply or are so milked to death by really bad stand-up comics. And then they look at this and think “Oh, these aren’t the white people I’m used to seeing parodied; this is me.” Some people misinterpret it by thinking it means Stuff Only White People Can Like, implying this elitism. And that’s a mistake. Because this group I’m talking about are desperate to bring diversity into their friendships and into their class. They’re desperate to shed their elitist tag.

Tessa: But doesn’t the book also say that this group wants diversity, but only as long as they don’t have to step outside of their comfort zone? White people want diversity, but they don’t want to do anything too hard or painful to get it.

Lander: Yes, that's the hypocritical part that comes along with it. You always want to go to a place where you’re the only white person around -- except a nightclub.

Tessa: You said you didn’t meet your first Republican until you came to Arizona for graduate school. What are your experiences with the other half of white people, the social group your book doesn’t describe at all?

Lander: I also lived in Indiana, so I met a lot of other Republicans, and I met some eighteen-year-old Republicans. And that blew my mind. I didn’t understand how anyone can be 18 years old and that bitter. Don’t you want to save the world when you’re 18? I understand when you’re forty and sick of paying taxes. But at eighteen, don’t you want to help everybody? And I learned from my students really quickly -- no. So that was a bit of an eye-opener. And pretending to validate some of their opinions was very difficult. I had to be careful because if I attacked them instantly they were filled with this rage. Here’s this white liberal douchebag shutting me up. And then they get this feeling of victimhood again. I think that was what Sarah Palin was all about; about trying to tap into people who felt like they were being victimized by other white people. Victimized as stupid or as backwards or as racist, and they played into that. It worked, to an extent.

I have an entry in the book called "Knowing What’s Best for Poor People." That was what I learned living in Arizona and living in Indiana: that I really believed that if these people had the same education and money as me they’d be exactly like me. Its pretty fucking egotistical, right? My eyes were really opened to that, to the hypocrisy and ridiculousness of that, so that's why I try to point it out in the book.

Tessa: That was an entry that really stuck out for me. Most of the book is funny and light-hearted, but then every once in a while you point something out that rings as really uncomfortably true.

Lander: My favorite thing that someone can say about the book is I laughed at half of it and I cringed at the other half.

Tessa: Is the prognosis grim for white people now that the economy’s in a recession? They’ll have less money to spend on Apple products, and might suddenly be unable to afford being artists.

Lander: No this is perfect for white people, because its going to open up new neighborhoods to gentrify. And its going to drop property values, so you’re going to get more credibility for living in these neighborhoods again, and they’ll be gentrifying faster. Also, if you live in a city like New York or Chicago, you can stay while things get worse, while the other white people you hated leave to go back to the suburbs. So the neighborhoods will get rough again. White people want to be back in 1982 New York, and this is going to be the way to make it happen.

Tessa: What about white people in the age of Barack Obama? It was easy to be a white person during the Bush administration, when the country’s leader was a figure so easy to hate and want to distance yourself from. Now that person is Obama, who white people genuinely love but who they also aren’t allowed to hate.

Lander: The Bush thing is funny, because for eight years, white people felt oppressed. They felt like, I am oppressed in my own country, I’m not represented by my government, I’m going to pretend I’m Canadian when I go to Europe. So this one’s going to be interesting, it’s like you’ve got everything you want, and white people are never happy when they get everything they want. We have to wait just a little bit of time. Some people will figure out when they really push Obama on gay marriage that he never really supported it. Like, Oh my God, I wasn’t listening, I was too busy looking at the stickers. So the honeymoon will be over eventually.

Tessa: Would you mind telling us, since this is a bookstore blog, what you like to read?

Lander: It’s going to be as pretentious as you’d expect. I just read all the Douglas Coupland books: Generation X and Microserfs, Eleanor Rigby and Girlfriend in a Coma. I loved William Burroughs’ stuff before he started taking acid. If you read the compiled work of William Burroughs, you can see when he took his first hit of acid. Curtis Sittenfeld, who wrote American Wife. She’s amazing. On the literature side I like really unpretentious writers who write in a really straightforward way that tells a story. Of course I read Michael Pollan’s stuff and Barbara Ehrenreich’s stuff. And I read a lot of books on Los Angeles history. Mike Davis wrote some books -- City of Quartz and Ecology of Fear. No one in L.A. cares about L.A. history. L.A. history is like if a gas stationed opened in ’82. George Saunders, I like some of his stuff, sometimes it’s just a little too whimsical for me. Kurt Andersen -- I absolutely adore Kurt Andersen. He’s the guy who did Heyday and he was an editor at Spy back in the ‘80s. Spy magazine was The Onion before The Onion. It's beyond brilliant. And it’s actually discouraging to read because it’s so smart and bang-on hilarious.

Tessa: Give us an honest assessment of how white you are.

Lander: I wrote the book.

Tessa: So you would say most of the stuff applies to you?

Lander: Everything in there except the nature stuff. I don’t like camping or outdoor performance gear. I hate North Face stuff with a passion.

Tessa: Do you like expensive sandwiches?

Lander: I love expensive sandwiches. Tucson has some awesome expensive sandwiches. Bison Witches, that’s my favorite expensive sandwich in Tucson.

Tessa: Do you own a TV?

Lander: Of course. I play Xbox all the time.

Tessa: Do you have any entries on your blog on Xbox? Is that a white person thing?

Lander: Nintendo Wii is in there, that's a white person thing. Xbox bridges all cultures.

(Thanks for the photo, Sara!)

Evidently Danielle Steel Stinks

In his Scent Notes blog, New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr (yeah, me neither) lowers the boom on Danielle Steel, queen of the bodice-busting romance novel. He gives her fragrance, “Danielle,” a zero-star, Do Not Inhale rating, describing the juice thusly:

“For the first four seconds it smelled sort of vaguely like a kind of flower that you get in a gallon of floral-scented laundry detergent, and then for five seconds it reminded you of Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream.’ Then it evaporated, like the prose in a novel by Danielle Steel evaporated from your memory the moment you read it. It was a perfume that, instead of being made by human beings, was made by a faceless, soulless committee like Elizabeth Arden Internal Creative Team. And at that point there was nothing more to say about it.”

I know, I know: Danielle Steel is easy to mock. So let’s continue. Here’s how the Arden copywriters describe the fragrance on Steel's official website:

“This lush, fresh floriental opens with a fresh burst of watery green notes, moves into an ultra-feminine floral heart, and has a rech base that slowly reveals darker facets.”

First of all: floriental? Secondly, it seems to me that anything that “opens with a fresh burst of watery green” should be avoided at all costs, particularly in public. And finally, what’s a “rech base,” and should a perfume have one? I Googled the term and came up with bupkis, so until someone tells me differently, I’ll assume a rech base (retch base?) is a kind of Gag Reflex Inducer Scale, which in this case is apparently off the charts.

Pee-yew.

- Brandon