The Birth of a Book Festival

Just three short months ago I travelled to snowy Minneapolis to attend the American Bookseller’s Association’s Winter Institute.  It was my first association meeting as a newly minted Bookseller, and it was a truly transformative week.  I’ve told you all about the meeting before – met bookstore owners from round the world who shared their advice, found new vendors for the shop and met Lots of authors including Andrew McCarthy – remember?  Well, among the sessions I chose to attend was one on hosting a Children’s Book Festival.   Before the session was even over I had written emails to a couple of my favorite Children’s Book authors that said something like “I am sitting in this session about starting a Children’s Book Festival and I want to do this, I thought you might have advice on what works and what doesn’t since you have taken part in book festivals in the past.  I wonder if we can meet so I can pick your brain”.   Then in early February I arrived back in the south and early in the next week I sent off another email, this one to Glenna Fallin of the West Feliciana Parish Library.  “Glenna, can we meet I have an idea I want to talk to you about.“  the email said.  And off I went to the Library.  I told Glenna of my idea and asked if the library wanted to be involved and guess what?  They did! 

Then we put a notice out on Facebook asking if there was interest from the community, and guess what?  There was!  Before too much time passed we had our first volunteers meeting and we were off to the races.  Our fabulous volunteers designed and developed a logo , gathered loaner tents from generous community members, signed up to man tents and organize face painters and the sidewalk chalk art contest and so much more.  We simply could not have done this and particularly not so quickly without these fabulous folks.

I got busy contacting authors and publishers, Glenna got busy contacting and organizing storytellers and more presenters and everyone started spreading the word.  And the First Annual West Feliciana Children’s Book festival was born.

All told we will have more than 15 authors, illustrators and storytellers taking part in the day’s events and another 16 authors and illustrators joining us in our Author’s Corner to talk about, sign and sell their books.

In addition to this we are lucky enough to have our local cheerleaders who will be doing face painting at the park grounds, a movie presentation, a birthday celebration for the 75th birthday of The Little Golden Books (happy Birthday poky little puppy), lots of book sales including a bargain book table, and of course the much anticipated town-wide sidewalk chalk art competition. 

One week to go before our first event is in the books and we already have authors, illustrators and storytellers inquiring about participating next year!

They say it takes a Village to raise a child, I say “It takes a ‘Ville to raise a Children’s Book Festival”.  This would not happen without all the help we have had so far and the help of those signed up to volunteer next weekend both setting up tents and running the actual festival.  To all of you I want to send out a HUGE THANK YOU in advance. 

And we are not done yet.  We can still use help spreading the word.  The newspaper and blog , website and Facebook coverage has been unbelievable ( Thank you, thank you, thank you) , and this week   Glenna and I will be on the WAFB morning news.   Keep on sharing the good news and spreading the word.  We have got everything in place, now we just need a park full of children to enjoy it!  I hope to see you on Saturday May 6, 2017 !

What a Pleasant Surprise!

Early this week I was greeted by a very happy surprise.  You see I am one of those people who love to read lists and plan my travels accordingly.  Where are the best vacation spots?  Surely I should go there.  What are the best hotels in the world?  A girl like me absolutely needs to stay there.  Well what a surprise to see a list of the Top 10 Book Stores in Louisiana and to find that my little bookstore- only in business now for a bit over a year- actually made the list!  I did not even know we had been nominated.  And then to read the article accompanying our listing  and see what a nice write up they had done we are just so excited and flattered.   Now I think all of the other list lovers out there should take a grand tour of the 10 Best Bookstores in Louisiana and come by and see us!

So while our reputation grows in a state wide kind of way,  the reputation of one of our friends and favorite authors grew in major nationwide ways this week. 

Rod Dreher has written a new book called The Benedict Option.  Since it’s release less than two weeks ago Rod has appeared on national interview shows like Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News .  There have been articles all over the place including The National Review.  David Brooks has written an op-ed piece about it for The New York Times calling The Benedict Option “already the most discussed and most important religious book of the decade”, and now we have news that the book has made it’s debut this week on The New York Times Best Seller list at # 7.   And yet with all this fame Rod was kind enough to meet me and personally signbooks while he was home between stops on his book tour,  signing amidst the pollen of a south Louisiana March afternoon. Because we are the only provider of signed copies currently on the internet  we have orders coming in through our web site  from such diverse places as Texas, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Missouri and of course, Louisiana.

Congratulations and thanks to Rod, we can’t wait to see where you end up next in this whirlwind!

And finally;  in my last blog I mentioned that we are expanding our borders as we do more and more pop-up book sales at events.  Since then we had such fun selling bird and plantation books at the John James Audubon exhibit of the Audubon Pilgrimage, then we traveled a few miles east to bring The Asphodel Cookbook  and my brother-in-law’s novel The Face of his Brother  to the Jackson Assembly.  For those of you who did not  know my mother-in-law she  was very active in promoting tourism to the Feliciana’s and this year’s event  was particularly appropriate for us to make the cookbook  available as The Levy House (the building that housed her restaurant at Asphodel Village ) was on tour.  Pair that with Mark’s book being set partially in Clinton,  and as you can imagine,  we were very warmly received.  We spent the days hearing stories of Nootsie and her brood from days gone by. 

 So where will we “pop – up” next you may ask?  Well the Dave Fest of course, the annual celebration of writer  James Lee Burke’s  favorite character Dave Robicheaux which is being held this year on Saturday April 1, 2017 in New Iberia – No Fooling, ma chere, we will see you there !

Giving Thanks and Reflecting on the Year that has Gone By

One year ago this weekend we hosted our first storytime.  We had booked the author earlier in the year and since we had originally thought we would open our shop in late October 2015 we figured booking authors for late November was no problem.  Well, if you have ever opened a shop, or indeed expected any project to go according to schedule you know that did not happen.  We were delayed by leaks , causing the painting to be delayed and of course if the painting is delayed you can’t install the bookshelves, and if the bookshelves are delayed you postpone delivery of the inventory.  So the last weekend of November and the scheduled date for the first storytime arrives and we open the doors, smelling strongly of paint and with empty bookshelves most of which did not even have the shelves installed yet.  But we opened the doors and actually held a very successful event as Steven Spires the author of the children’s books Three Little Shrimp and The Oak Tree read his delightful books and entertained the children while I bustled around and tried to get some things organized.   For your understanding that first day we are Thankful.

A lot has changed since that day.  Most notably the bookshelves that on that first day seemed to swallow the books we had ordered whole and appeared empty no matter how many I added are today fully stocked and I am actually bringing in additional shelves to make room for even more inventory. 

We have been blessed with support both local, and by authors (and by local authors) that has helped us to grow and granted us their patience while we learned.  The parade of authors to grace our doorways over the past year is unbelievable to me.  We have been visited by Jeffrey Marx, Mark Couhig, Rod Dreher ,  Leif Pederson, CC Lockwood , Shelley Tomlinson, Anne Butler, Gail Chisum, Chere Dastugue Coen, Michael H. Rubin, Gwen Roland,  Martin Hawkins, Mona Lisa Saloy, Margaret McMullan, Philip Gould, Jason Berry,  Johnette Downing, Cynthia LeJeune Nobles, Laurie Parker, and Mrs. Genevieve Trimble.  (and I am quite sure I am forgetting to list someone, and my apologies for that even if you are not listed I am thankful you visited).   And we are not done yet!  Before we reach our One year Anniversary Celebration during Christmas in the Country we will have also hosted children’s authors Tracey Koch  and illustrator Lauren Hawthorn and Susie Marie PhD; as well as Kathy Finn with her new Tom Benson book , Marie Constantin who will bring her beautiful book of photographs of Mother Theresa , and a joint signing with CC Lockwood and Cyril Vetter.  And for every one of you we are Thankful. 

I mentioned that the community has been supportive and really that is an understatement!  This community has welcomed us with open arms, participated in book clubs, attended signings, brought their children to storytime (and let’s be honest, I am most thankful for an excuse to wear a crown and call myself “Missy the Story Telling Princess”) and invited us to participate in their events both literary and otherwise.   They have recommended books, sent us their summer reading lists and welcomed us into their daily lives.   They have even come out to eat Harry Potter’s  birthday cake and drink butter beer while awaiting  the midnight release of The Cursed Child – and I actually stayed awake the entire time! And for all of these things we are Thankful.

Most of all I realize almost daily that I am actually living the dream.  I spend my days in my own independent bookstore meeting authors and ordering new books.  Every day I get to open a new box of books and for a moment pretend they are all coming home with me.  I get to hang out among book shelves with my dog while he greets customers and I get to talk about what book I am reading.  For all of this unbelievableness I am so Thankful .

Thank you for being a part of year one.  I, for one, can’t wait to see what year two will bring.

You know you are now in the retail business when…

I am an extremely organized person…usually .  But there is one glaring exception.  I love Christmas and all things Christmas but I am a horrible Christmas procrastinator.  I mean terrible.  I have been known to be out buying wine, groceries and even Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve.  And this has not happened just once but instead it is a normal course of events every year.  Just ask my family.  I love to host the annual Christmas Day gathering for our large clan but drive my Aunts crazy by not sending out invitations or announcements early or circulating a list of what foods everyone is bringing or what is needed.  It has gotten so late that on occasion my Aunts have taken matters into their own hands and started circulating the list for me!  So as you may assume though I love Christmas I have a hard and fast rule that there can be no Christmas music played or decoration hung before the day after Thanksgiving.

Well,  Welcome to The Retail World!   Suddenly I found myself browsing catalogs of book relatedChristmas gifts and decorations in the 100 degree heat of summer!!! How am I supposed to be in the mood for this?  And what am  supposed to do in December ?  I mean in my mind half the fun of December is the stressful run to the Christmas Day finish line!

Here I am thinking “What puzzles would people like to give as gifts?” (I decided on Fine Art Reproductions – even included The Last Supper!) , and “what books will make nice gifts?” (we have a lovely embossed boxed copy of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on the way.  – Which reminds methose who know of my husband’s favorite Christmas night activity will understand when I suddenly realize I must immediately order copies of Shakespeare’s Henry V).  We just received new South Louisiana styled blank cards perfect for holiday greetings and lots of story books and coloring books with Louisiana Christmas themes. 

So life has changed, but it was bound to happen eventually so I guess I may as well join the crowd and let you knowTHERE ARE ONLY 58 DAYS LEFT UNTIL CHRISTMAS!  (I’m sorry that still sounds like forever to me, I’ll get there – but you better start shopping!)

P.S.:  As if Christmas planning in September and October isn’t weird, enough guess what arrived today?  Oh, that’s right, it was 2017 planners.  (Actually some really cool ones with inspirational quotes and others that are adult coloring books made into planners so you can “Color me Organized” every day of the year…but I digress.) .  Anyway, yes, so not only am I planning Christmas while still wearing sleeveless blouses but I actually have a planner before New Years Day – and you can too!

The Asphodel Cook Box and Cookbook Comes Home

This is an odyssey that began before we even opened our bookstore.  It started in much the same way the bookstore itself started.  It started as a “what if” conversation, not much more than a day dream that we were willing to put some effort behind.  You know those conversations:  “What if we open our own independent bookstore”, “What if we choose every book in our shop individually”, and “What if we re-acquire the rights to your Mom’s cookbook and bring it back as the cornerstone for our cookbook section”.   You see  my husband Rob’s mother,  Marcelle Reese Couhig (Nootisie),  ran a very well known restaurant at The Asphodel Plantation here in The Felicianas and she had written a Cook Book originally sold as recipe cards in a Cook Box which contained her most popular recipes complete with dinner recommendations, and tips on hosting a dinner parties, brunches etc.  Well it took more than a little bit of effort and a whole lot of time but a bit over a year after our first inquiry to the publisher The Asphodel Cook Book , The Asphodel Cook Box and all of the remaining inventory held by the publisher has come home to The Conundrum. 

This Cook Book / Box is not simply a list of ingredients.  Every card starts with a few sentences about how Ms. Nootise found the recipe, why she likes it or how to use it.  It is written very much in her voice so that as you read the card you feel like you are having a conversation with a friend about what to serve for dinner.  I particularly appreciate this because I never had the privilege of knowing my Mother-in-Law and since I was taught to cook by my Italian Mother I did not have a whole lot of French or Creole cooking in my repertoire when I first married.  It became almost humorous (almost) at first.  In the first year or two of our marriage every time we had anyone over for dinner, it was always commented that they were so surprised I did not serve Asphodel Bread.  Twice, I came home from work to find copies of The Asphodel Cookbook or Box on my front porch with notes saying things like “Thought Rob might like this”.  So the recipes from Ms. Nootsie’s cookbook became part of my life as well.  I cannot tell you how many people over the years have contacted me to ask for the recipe for Asphodel Bread or Ida’s Biscuits.  Now we have the entire collection in its original, unique format. 

When the inventory first arrived I was a bit daunted.  The boxes were printed 40 or more years ago and sat in a warehouse for the intervening years.  When we received them I seriously doubted we would have anything salvageable in the bunch.  I unpacked every box and book and wiped down each item individually.  I inspected and cleaned every Cook Box and re-packaged them in new tissue.  I organized them and brought a few to the shop to see what would happen.  Many of the boxes were damaged and we could not salvage every piece but we did end up with some Cook Boxes and a number of Cook Books which I considered to be in first rate “vintage” condition and ready for sale.  I say vintage because the recipe cards in the Cook Boxes are a bit yellowed at the edges due to age and I thought of this as a negative.  Well , immediately upon showing them to others in the shop,  everyone let me know Vintage and a bit yellow at the edges is cool! 

On Friday I brought a few boxes to the shop.   I had one sitting on a table when a publisher’s rep came in for a visit.  The rep remembered Ms. Nootisie’s book and cookbox from many years ago and predicted that our supply of the boxes would be 60% sold in less than 2 weeks.  He was a bit off.  Sixty percent of the boxes were sold or promised out in just over one week. 

So if you want a Vintage Cook Box or one of The Asphodel Cook Books from the last printing (Boxes last published in the 70’s;  the Cook Books we have were published in the mid 1980’s) get it soon either in store or online at www.conundrumbooks.com/shop  quantities are EXTREMELY limited and moving quickly!   So glad to have this little piece of Rob’s family history and Feliciana tradition home at The Conundrum.

For the Love of Independent Bookstores

As mentioned in a previous blog my husband and I always make it a point to visit independent bookstores in the towns we visit.  This is a tradition born long before we decided to open our own shop and probably the major motivation in doing so.   Well thanks to my ultra-observant husband I have now discovered there are entire tribes of people for whom this is a major aspect of travel planning.  You see we were in a lovely restaurant on the shore of Lake Superior, and if you are in the area I HIGHLY recommend you check out The New Scenic Café in Duluth, Minnesota – the food is FANTASTIC!  Anyway after waiting for our table while sitting outside enjoying the lovely weather and talking football with strangers we were shown to our table at the same time another traveling couple was shown to theirs adjacent to us.  Somehow or another my husband noticed the gentleman’s T-shirt , which from my view simply said “Prairie Lights” but apparently somewhere on the back he came to know that it was from an independent bookstore…  in Iowa.  So naturally conversation ensued.  They mentioned that they travel often and always visit independent bookstores, we responded that we did the same and actually had recently opened our own.  Turns out the lady’s father grew up in Lockport, Louisiana but neither has ever visited our state.  I am happy to say I think we are now on their bucket list!   AND, they told me about several more shops that are now on MY Bookstore Bucket List! 

This got me to thinking, even though we have visited quite a few independent bookstores I still have some pretty great ones on that list so I think it is time I publish the list here.  You know, once something is written down and put “Out There” I will have no choice but to actually go.  And, I welcome suggestions of bookstores to add to the list. Let’s make this interactive and maybe take a field trip or two!

So here it is So Far….

Missy’s Bookstore Bucket List:

Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee

Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

Lemuria Books in Jackson, Mississippi

The Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver, Colorado

I am SO willing to add to this list so send me your suggestions!

* I have plenty of other favorite shops : Garden District, Octavia and Faulkner House Books in New Orleans, Page & Palette in Fairhope, AL and Shakespeare & Company in Paris to name just a few but since I have visited them all in the past they no longer qualify – strictly speaking – for inclusion on my Bucket List of Book Shops  I have yet to visit.

And while we are talking about travel let’s talk about the books I read while traveling.  This trip was a very laid back, relaxing kind of trip with plenty of time for reading so my list for a trip of barely over a week is a bit long and rather varied. 

I started by reading Jenny Lawson’s “Let’s pretend This Never Happened”.  If you have not read anything by Jenny Lawson you are denying yourself a good laugh, this chick is FUNNY!   It is a very “stream of consciousness“ styled memoir , which makes sense when you realize she is a blogger.  She admits that this is only a “Mostly True Memoir” which is good because if this much ridiculousness happened to one person I would be seriously concerned for both their safety and sanity. 

I followed that book with one recommended by a friend recently. Mrs. Nancy Vinci was in the bookshop a couple of weeks ago and mentioned that she had been listening to “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole while on a recent road trip. When she told a friend she was laughing so hard she had to pull the car over her friend suggested she next check out “Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta” by Richard Grant, so naturally I immediately ordered it for the shop and took a copy with me on the trip.    Richard Grant is an Englishman and a journalist who had found himself living in New York and ends up travelling to the Mississippi Delta.  Of course he fell in love with the south and ends up buying an old plantation home and transplanting himself to The Delta, as you might imagine the cast of characters, the scenery and the culture clashes combine to make a truly enjoyable book.  So much so I found myself writing a fan note and asking the author if he is ever in our area before I even finished the book!  If you love southern literature like A Confederacy of Dunces, and the works of Walker Percy where wit combines with southern charm then this book is a MUST READ and I am including the synopsis from the publisher at the end of this blog to convince you!

After Dispatches I picked up a Bookshot, Bookshots are a series of short books James Patterson is putting out intended to be read in one sitting.  This one was an Alex Cross 150 page thriller called Cross Kill.  It lived up to its promise.  It was a fast paced, thrilling romp through the suburbs of DC with our favorite detective.  Of course it ended with lots of loose ends…but I am sure there will be a follow up.

Finally, the last book I started on the trip was “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed.  This book was turned into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon a couple of years ago, I like Reese so I decided to read the book.  I have still not finished the book so I cannot give you a full review but I can say that by page 50 I thought I might be forced to brake a long standing pet peeve and actually NOT FINISH a book I had started.  You see the writing and emotion is so raw in the opening chapters that I could not see the pages for the tears streaming down my face.  And not just happy, reading, cleansing tears – these were out loud, ugly cry tears.  The trauma that brings Ms. Strayed to decide to hike the Pacific Coast Trail threatened to keep me from finishing the book.  But I soldiered on, and I am happy to report that I am now at a point in the book where she is on the trail and hiking and I honestly cannot wait to read on and see what happens next.  I feel like I am on the trail with her – except without all the blisters, missing toenails, extreme weather, bears, etc. (Thank Heavens!). 

So don’t forget to send me your suggestions for my Book Store Bucket List by writing to me at : Missy@conundrumbooks.com  and here is the review of Dispatches from Pluto I promised:

Winner of the Pat Conroy Southern Book Prize
Mississippi's #1 Bestseller of 2015 (The Clarion-Ledger)
A New York Times Bestseller
In Dispatches from Pluto, adventure writer Richard Grant takes on the most American place on Earth the enigmatic, beautiful, often derided Mississippi Delta.
Richard Grant and his girlfriend were living in a shoebox apartment in New York City when they decided on a whim to buy an old plantation house in the Mississippi Delta. Dispatches from Pluto is their journey of discovery into this strange and wonderful American place. Imagine A Year In Provence with alligators and assassins, or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil with hunting scenes and swamp-to-table dining.
On a remote, isolated strip of land, three miles beyond the tiny community of Pluto, Richard and his girlfriend, Mariah, embark on a new life. They learn to hunt, grow their own food, and fend off alligators, snakes, and varmints galore. They befriend an array of unforgettable local characters blues legend T-Model Ford, cookbook maven Martha Foose, catfish farmers, eccentric millionaires, and the actor Morgan Freeman. Grant brings an adept, empathetic eye to the fascinating people he meets, capturing the rich, extraordinary culture of the Delta, while tracking its utterly bizarre and criminal extremes. Reporting from all angles as only an outsider can, Grant also delves deeply into the Delta s lingering racial tensions. He finds that de facto segregation continues. Yet even as he observes major structural problems, he encounters many close, loving, and interdependent relationships between black and white families and good reasons for hope.
Dispatches from Pluto is a book as unique as the Delta itself. It s lively, entertaining, and funny, containing a travel writer s flair for in-depth reporting alongside insightful reflections on poverty, community, and race. It s also a love story, as the nomadic Grant learns to settle down. He falls not just for his girlfriend but for the beguiling place they now call home. Mississippi, Grant concludes, is the best-kept secret in America."

Closing Thought :

“ If I died tonight, I can say that I have travelled this whole world over and got lost in many others.  I have explored space, fought in the Hunger Games with Katniss and defeated Lord Voldemort with Harry.  My life has been full of magic and adventure because of one thing: books.  They were the doors that took me anywhere and everywhere I wanted to go.”  

-        A Book Lover