In 1974, the year before Lemuria opened, Michael Shaara published his now classic novel of the civil war, The Killer Angels. Killer Angels depicts the Battle of Gettysburg as told from the view points of Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet and some of the other men who fought there. Shaara wanted to know what it was like to be there, what the weather was like, what the men’s faces looked like. To understand this state of mind, he had to write it and a modern classic was the result. Through his own interpretation of character, he brought the battle to life. The reader is able to understand these men, the way they talked and thought. The Battle of Gettysburg comes alive within the pages of this great American novel.

Killer Angels won the Pulitzer Prize in 1974 and was also declared a must-read by all who discovered its truth and form. Published in a small edition by a non-literary publisher, David McKay, first editions of Killer Angels are rare and valuable today in nice condition. I found my copy in my own library, laid in with an enclosed inscription from my dear friend Valerie Walley. Another reminder of the pleasure of maintaining a home library.

As Killer’s readership grew, more and more fans proclaimed the novel a must-read. Finally, I picked it up on vacation and read it as a birthday present to myself. Then I became a hand selling bookseller fan for Michael’s great work. In my opinion, Shaara created a new historical fiction art form.

Jeff Shaara is Michael’s son and he is extending his father’s legacy. Jeff visited Lemuria October 11, 1996 for his first novel Gods and Generals. Jeff now returns for his newest novel, A Blaze of Glory: A Novel of the Battle of Shiloh. Jeff has adopted his father’s style of character insight to record one of the bloodiest battles fought on American soil.

I’m finding Blaze of Glory to be as battlefield insightful as his father’s first novel many years ago. The quality of research and writing demands that Lemuria choose Blaze of Glory as our May First Editions Club pick. For those who might dismiss this book as war fiction, don’t be so quick. Jeff’s character development and plot progression possess literary essence while stimulating the reader’s interest. Shiloh becomes people and people convey the battle’s character. It is the fiction of life in difficult and demanding circumstances.

For those of you who read and enjoy Blaze, you will be pleased to know that it is volume one of a trilogy, with the Battle of Vicksburg being volume 2 and Georgia and the Carolinas being volume 3. I have no doubt that this trilogy will stand the test of time, just as Michael Shaara’s novels have done. Shelby Foote’s civil war trilogy will never be replaced, however, I feel that Michael and Jeff’s civil war writings will be on the same book shelf in many reader’s libraries.

As a last thought, one other title should be on the shelf with Foote and Michael and Jeff Shaara: The Civil War Battlefield Guide. This book is essential in understanding the flow of battle. Concise essays and easy to read maps explain the timelines of troop movement. These maps give you a guide to what actually happened as men gave up their lives for a cause they believed in.

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Jeff Shaara will be at Lemuria Thursday, May 31 for a 5:00 signing & 5:30 reading.

For More Info: Mississippi Institute of Arts & Letters 2012

Greetings parents! So, school is finally out and now you’ve got to figure out what to do with your kids for the next few months? Bring them by Lemuria Saturday mornings at 11:00 to hear a story and participate in a fun craft. Here’s the line-up for the month of June:

June 2nd- Lady Bug Girl and Bingo by David Soman.  This week we will be making Bingo ears!

June 9th- Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin. We will be learning a new song about Pete’s groooovy buttons!

June 16th- When Dads Don’t Grow Up by Marjorie Blain Parker. Celebrate Dad’s Day by hearing a wonderful story and making a special card for your dad with us!

June 23rd- Duck Sock Hop by Jane Kohuth. Come and learn a sock hop dance and color some silly pictures of ducks in socks!

June 30th- You Will Be My Friend! by Peter Brown. Loveable Lucy is back and wants to make a friend! Come hear this funny story and color a picture of your best friend with us!

**Be sure to be on the lookout for upcoming information on our website and blog about a Where’s Waldo event that Lemuria is hosting with other local Jackson businesses throughout the month of July!!

by Anna

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” -Picasso

For those striving to create in any capacity of life, it is often helpful to track down a good book on the particular topic by someone experienced. I’ve blogged about books on creative writing, and underscored the fact that plenty of books on the topic retrace the same territory again and again, making the reading of an essential and exceptional book on the subject more of a necessity. But even after owning and reading a remarkable book on a creative subject, there is no substitute for sitting down and doing the work, or, as Annie Dillard says in The Writing Life, letting the blank page teach you.

Still, even when we are before the blank page, canvas, or even a business meeting yet to begin, much more is going on internally than we realize. Being a good steward of our own mental faculties and/or of those with whom we work during a project is crucial for creativity to take place. We can attempt to create all day long; and again, a book on our particular area of focus is often helpful, but such books rarely address the minutiae, details, and difficulties that take place in the work of creating. Jonah Lehrer’s Imagine: How Creativity Works fills this gap in terms of books about creativity.

Quite possibly my favorite book of 2012, Imagine is a book that reads so well I felt like I was watching a good documentary. Make no mistake about it: this book is for everyone. From the businessperson to the theater director, writer to computer programmer, Imagine weaves together what all of us have in common as people trying to do something original. Lehrer highlights the fact that there is no special creative gene, but that our creative capacity is something we are all born with and that many of us leave untapped.

In terms of our untapped potential, Imagine is a book on the neuroscience of creativity, but fear not laypeople, Lehrer is such a good writer and his prose so clean and lucid that the chapters on the brain are utterly fascinating. Alongside the parts about the brain, Lehrer interviews and researches a great number of people from all walks of the creative life: Bob Dylan, Yo-Yo Ma, surfer Clay Marzo, and the creative team of Pixar to name a few, making Imagine an expansive and encompassing look at the work of creativity.

One thing you will learn is the necessity of mental blocks, and how relaxation or focusing on another topic altogether allows for an insight. For me, if I am stuck on a story that just won’t work, I’ll break out my manual on auto repair and mess around with the tubes, valves, and belts on my car. When we are trying to create, working on something completely unrelated to our project allows us to make a connection that we otherwise would not have made when we stick close to the subject that is giving us a hard time.

Lehrer shows how some companies urge their employees to take breaks involving napping, ping-pong, or even a stint in another department unrelated to their own in order to give them space from their work. Doing this allows room for necessary connections and insights. For example, those employees struggling with computer programming would be moved to a department such as model trains. To encounter something so completely different from one’s area of expertise provides a different perspective. We see how model trains work, and so we apply those principles to our area of expertise, which often leads to a connection we did not see previously because the characteristics of our subject did not allow for such a window.

Lehrer covers a whole spectrum of matters in the work of creativity. I hope you will purchase this book and apply it to your own life. We are all here to build and to create, and Lehrer has provided a window by which to see our potential and to step into the necessary actions to cultivate our creative drives. I’m not sure I’ve read a better book this year.  -Ellis

Enjoy Jonah Lehrer’s book trailer on Imagine: How Creativity Works.

Read more. Check out Jonah’s website: www.jonahlehrer.com

Diet books are a tricky genre. Customers can sometimes be fickle or impatient. I have several diet books on the shelf in the health section claiming that if you read them you may “lose 10 pounds in 10 days!” or that they can “make you hot.” Discerning which diet books possess the potential to become staples in the genre or become another of-the-moment fad book is not always the easiest task.

I had a customer call the other day and ask for help selecting a health-related book for a book club, preferably a recent book that had been selling well. As I racked my brain for books that fit this criteria, it didn’t take me long to come up with a suggestion.

The Blood Sugar Solution by Mark Hyman, MD, touts itself as “the ultrahealthy program for losing weight, preventing disease, and feeling great now!” In the beginning of the book, Dr. Hyman introduces the term “diabesity,” which he explains is the combination of “our current global epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes.” If you are at risk for “diabesity” or just want to get your blood sugar under control (even if you are not overweight or feel like a reasonably healthy individual, your blood sugar levels may be much higher than you think), this is the book for you.

I especially enjoyed and could relate to the chapter “How Big Food, Big Farming, and Big Pharma Are Killing Us.” Processed foods are a body’s number one enemy when it comes to health and weight. By making junk or processed foods cheap and widely available, the food industry, government and pharmacy companies are preventing Americans from leading healthy, productive lives.

It’s not a coincidence that the poorest states, such as Mississippi, in our country are also the fattest. Poverty makes it impossible to make the best food choices, and poverty rates are higher than they have been in a generation. Not only are healthier foods almost always more expensive, they are often not available in poorer neighborhoods. This combination of factors is a direct link to obesity and diabetes.

The Blood Sugar Solution  has been on USA Today’s Best Selling Books list since its debut in March for good reason. Hyman presents a sensible and manageable plan for lowering your blood sugar and getting back your health.

by Anna