LitMinds Blog and Interviews

In San Francisco’s South of Market, amongst warehouses converted to chic loft-style homes and 21st century office spaces, lies a unique haven for authors and writerly types.  The Grotto is a "collective workspace and community for writers, filmmakers and other narrative artists."  Started in 1994 by Ethan Canin, Po Bronson, and Ethan Watters, The Grotto provides a wonderful ecosystem for nurturing the lives of writing professionals.

I had the chance to eat lunch there recently and meet a handful of the few dozen authors who have work spaces here.  One of the wonderful experiences that The Grotto provides is a communal work environment to balance the solitary act of writing.  Writers can share ideas with one another and create a collaborative atmosphere that encourages the writing process for many authors.

The Grotto also has regular events, including Grotto Nights and parties that bring together “eclectic, themed evenings of literature, film, art, and marching bands.”  The next event, Driving Obsessions, will be held Monday, February 5th at 7pm at Mezzanine Bar (444 Jessie Street@ Mint, San Francisco 94103).  It is free with first come first served seating and a party to follow the performances.  Check out the details and lineup: http://www.sfgrotto.org/events.html

Posted by Carrie at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

In all the hoopla surrounding the movie industry this time of year (Oscar nominations, Golden Globe winners, Sundance Film Festival) you might be missing out on the star-studded affair of the 2007 Puddly Awards put on by Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon.  Looks like the winners get an ultra-sexy statue of golden galoshes (man, they are so lucky)!

Powell’s invites readers to vote on the best books they read in 2006. Voting ends on January 30th with the winners in fiction and non-fiction being announced shortly thereafter, along with the top 50 book nominations.  You can even when a $250 gift certificate for participating (personally, I really want those golden galoshes…).  Last year’s winners were The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (fiction) and Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking (nonfiction).

Here's the link to vote and read about the Puddly Awards:
http://www.powells.com/contestpuddlys2007.html

Posted by Carrie at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As requested, I have added reader’s comments to the Grand Prize shortlist (those books recommended by multiple readers) of LitMinds’ Best Reads of 2006.  There has been one addition, a nonfiction book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (Fiction)
“I read this over the summer when I was in Oxford and it was an interesting take on Arthur Conan Doyle, whom I've never really given a second thought.  Great use of different perspectives of characters.”

Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin (Fiction)
“Hysterical as in laugh out loud, and any book that can get you to do that is worth kudos in my book. Very funny story and so well written.”

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Fiction)
“This book covers topics and details you often don’t consider, like the dynamics of a zoo or survival on a boat stranded in the ocean.  At the same time, Life of Pi raises major issues around morality, philosophy, and religion in new and unexpected ways.”

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan (Nonfiction)
“Pollan traces the origins of four meals, explaining how the food was produced and how each method of production has different social and environmental consequences. He also eats each meal himself, and the book is full of funny anecdotes about his family's food experiences. I loved it!”

"Whether you like his journalistic style of writing or not, it will definitely make you think about how you eat and your next trip to the grocery..."

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (Fiction)
“A fictionalized and believable look into life at a very elite prep school and an adolescent girl’s intriguing mind and behaviors. I devoured the novel in three days”

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters (Fiction)
“I love Sarah Waters and her stories, and she does amazing things in her stories with passage of time and flashbacks, and the women who are the leading characters are wonderful, strong women with real weaknesses.”

Posted by Carrie at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The December 19th issue of The Economist had an interesting article on the value of reading and recent literacy efforts, entitled “What to do about children who don’t like books.” 

The Bad News:
The British-focused article discussed the alarming trend of an increasing number of children who lack interest in reading.  A study in 2003 by the National Foundation for Education Research found that 35% of children “said they didn’t like reading at all,” up markedly from 23% in 1997.  That is more than 1 in 3 children.

The (Potentially) Good News:
Britain plans to implement Reading Recovery, a literacy program that matches six year olds with a specialist teacher for four months of individual, 30 minute reading sessions.  This program will replace past efforts of rigidly structured lessons focused on the mechanics of reading.

Given my childhood experiences as a reader, I am hopeful for the Reading Recovery program and its ability to instill reading as a lifetime interest for this generation of students.  I loved the evening ritual with my mom of sitting in bed and listening as she read to me.  This soon led to me reading on my own, going nearly everywhere with a book in my hands.  At the same time, I despised the reading sets in my 1st and 2nd grade classroom that we had to read and progress through.  A checkbox for each one: 1A, 1B,…8D.  They were bland.  I was scarfing down Beverly Cleary’s stuff and lots of other children’s books, but I avoided these prescribed classroom reading sets like the plague.  Turns out, it hurt my reading grade (I got an S for Satisfactory) but not my lifelong passion for reading something good.

And if we didn’t need more incentive to inspire the next set of young readers, the Economist article also points out that “being a regular and enthusiastic reader is more of an advantage (for future educational success) than having well-educated parents in good jobs.”

Click here to link to the article (registration is required to access the full article):
http://www.economist.com/world/britain/displaystory.cfm?story_id=E1_RQGNNJD

Posted by Carrie at 06:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Who knew a layover at Houston Airport could be so book-filled? 

Recently on the way to visit family over the holidays, Praveen and I had a brief 1.5-hour stopover at Houston George Bush Intercontinental airport. Both directions -- coming and going.

Since we flew Continental airlines we spent most of our time in the "C" and "E" terminals.  Both contained a smattering of Hudson newstands which contain the typical air travel fare: daily newspapers, weekly magazines, sodas, water bottles (now profibited from being carried on board), candy and the latest thrillers and a few leftover literary bestsellers next to the chewing gum.

 

Hudson News kiosk and newstands in IAH Terminal "E" and "C" 

 

More interesting though was the "independent bookstore" Fully Booked in terminal C with a larger selection of books including movies in DVD format to play on your laptop computer or portatable player.  It seems they've tried to be innovative in their design and layout of the store, a long sofa snakes between the shelves inviting browsers to take a load of their feet and sit awhile.  Heavily laden with bestsellers, you will find a decent sections for childrens, travel, and business books.  (Not surprising for an airport bookstore you suppose.)

 

In the more spacious terminal "E" terminal you can even find a half-scale sized Borders Books.  Although Borders initially started as an Independent bookstore back in Ann Arbor, MI -- we now identlfy them as a big bad chain making it harder for smaller independents to stay in business (along with Amazon and other pressures on mom & pop retail stores we all hear these days.)  But still it isn't a bad place to spend a few minutes if you didn't pack all of your desired reading material or want to browse for that next read.  They even have a Gloria Jeans coffee & sandwich kiosk attached if need to grab something to munch on your flight.

 

Authors note: from the Houston Airport System website it appears there may be a "Simply Books" in Terminals C & D.  Altough we didn't get a chance to peruse these, we did see that this is a concept store brought to you by HMS Host, the same company that brings you newstands, and other airport retail outlets across the globe.  You're welcome to send us a photo and review if you are familiiar with this one. 

Safe travels and happy reading! 

Posted by Christin at 08:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

 

Over the winter holidays, our family vacationed on the Mayan Riviera.  As part of the trip, I reconnected with an old friend from graduate school who lives in Playa del Carmen, Mexico and has opened an amazing bookstore there.

Libreria Mundo (or Small World Books) is a bookstore with tall wood bookshelves and colorful murals. The store is filled with Mayan art books and thousands of books published in Spanish.  There are also sections for books in English, French, and German and a special room devoted to children’s books with appropriately small chairs and inviting places to read.

My friend, Sonja, who is originally from Houston, Texas, moved to Mexico in 2003.  Along with her husband and his family who are from Playa del Carmen, they have built one of the largest bookstores in the region.  In the Yucatan Peninsula, an area where most residents have never before walked into a bookstore or library, Sonja’s vision is to make reading and literacy a greater part of people’s lives.  She hopes to encourage a lifestyle of reading books and organizes activities like storytelling for the children.  Sometimes, when bringing in their children to the store, parents are also discovering the new possibilities of literacy.

In addition to being an independent bookstore, Libreria Mundo has a nonprofit branch that supports literacy activities in the region.  Sales of the used books (mostly sold to tourists from U.S., Canada, and Europe) go to subsidize the price of textbooks for schoolchildren in the area.  And there are many more plans in the works at Libreria Mundo to improve the literacy and educational rates throughout the Yucatan Peninsula.

In a place where book-toting tourists, such as myself, are keenly aware of the economic inequities that exist in Mexico, Sonja’s work and the success of Libreria Mundo is something I could not be more thrilled about.

 

Sonja (right) and I at her bookstore, Libreria Mundo. 

Posted by Carrie at 03:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The LitMinds Best Reads of 2006 has arrived!  Together, we generated a list with 37 top book recommendations and an impressive mix of reading picks.  There were five “grand prize winners” or books nominated by multiple readers.  Notably, these books were all novels and included a Man Booker Prize and New York Times Top 10 Book of 2005.

Oh My, Memoirs: The LitMinds Best Reads of 2006 includes 20 fiction and 17 non-fiction selections.  Of the non-fiction category, seven of them were memoirs, supporting the theory that there has been a recent boon in memoir-style books.

Here is the list with specific comments from our LitMinds folks to follow shortly:

Grand Prize
Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
Freddy and Fredericka by Mark Helprin
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Fiction
March by Geraldine Brooks
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Frances Johnson by Stacey Levine
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
My Year of Meats by Cynthia Orzick
American Pastoral by Philip Roth
Empire Falls by Richard Russo

Memoir
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog by John Grogan
Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald
Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

Nonfiction
No Plot, No Problem by Chris Baty
How to Change the World by David Bornstein
From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman
Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgeman
The Present: The Secret to Enjoying Work and Life, Now! by Spencer Johnson
The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs

Posted by Carrie at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So many lists!  In Time's "Person of the year: You" issue, there is a list of 15 people who had their 15 minutes of fame (including the now infamous James Frey, author of the part-non-fictional "A Million Little Pieces"), as well as, 10 best sports moments, 10 best music albums, 10 best TV shows, 10 best movies, and of course...

Time had to weigh in with their list of 10 best books of 2006.  Not as literary as the NY Times and Washington Post lists, but these are presumably more popular reads ?!?!  Here they are numbered as Time has named them:

1. Alison Bechdel, "Fun Home"

2. Lawrence Wright, "The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11"

3. Cormac McCarthy, "The Road"

4. Bill Buford, "Heat"

5. Thomas E. Ricks, "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq"

6. Richard Ford, "The Lay of the Land"

7. Gary Shteyngart, "Absurdistan"

8. Hampton Sides, "Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West"

9. David Mitchell, "Black Swan Green"

10. Dave Eggers, "What is the What"

By my count, that's 4 non-fiction (including 1 memoir, 2 books on Al-Qaeda and Iraq, and 1 historical account of American History) and 6 fictional works.  One female author, 9 male. This list has two books in common with SF Chronicle's list, 3 each in common with NY Times and the Washington Post.  None made all four lists.

And who had the dubious honor of being selected Time's "Worst Book of 2006?" A.M. Homes' "This Book Will Save Your Life", says Time: "More densely packed with earnest twaddle - starting with the title - than any other [book] this year or maybe ever, this book won't save your life - unless your life is dangerously unexciting and you suffer from a chronic treacle deficiency."  Ouch!

Posted by Christin at 02:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)