There’s a lot to be said about Winter Institute 7, a conference attended by booksellers, publishers and authors this past week in New Orleans, but one thing is for sure: it was a literary love fest. There were so many people talking about the books they love, and for a change, Kelly, Emily and I were hand sold books for the upcoming season. One of the most talked about books right now is The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson. It was great to meet Adam at the conference. Adam came to the bookstore in 2003 for his novel Parasites Like Us, and he’ll be here Friday to sign his new book at 5:00 with a reading/talk to follow at 5.30. He loves Lemuria so let’s love him back! Come over for a $1 beer and a book!

That’s Nathan Englander on the right of Adam signing copies of his new book What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank. Look for it in February!

Previous Lemuria Blogs on The Orphan Master’s Son:

The Story behind the Pick: The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson

More Praise for The Orphan Master’s Son

Get more buzz from the book’s Facebook Page.

‘”What about mamma?”  The woman psychiatrist asks her patient, another woman, who is lying on a divan in the early 1960s.  “What about mamma been doing to you, dear?  I know she’s given you the enemas,”  the psychiatrist continues.  “And filled your bladder up with cold water, and I know she used the flashlight on you, and I know she stuck the washcloth in your mouth, cotton in your nose so you couldn’t breathe…What else did she do to you?  It’s all right to talk about it now.”

“My mommy,” the patient answers groggily.  She is in a hypnotic trance, induced with the help of the psychiatrist.

“Yes.”

“My mommy said I was bad, and…my lips were too big…she slapped me…with her knuckles…she said don’t tell Daddy.  She said to keep my mouth shut.”

“Mommy isn’t going to ever hurt you again,” the psychiatrist answers.  “Do you want to know something, Sweety?  I’m stronger than mother.”‘

These are the opening lines of Sybil Exposed by Debbie Nathan a book about the three (or nineteen) women behind one of the most famous multiple personality cases in history.

Meet Shirley A Mason from Dodge Center, Minnesota: artist from a young age, only child in a devout Seventh-Day Adventist family with a nervous, controlling mother.  This is the young woman who would later claim to have sixteen different personalities while in the care of the famous Dr. Connie Wilbur.

Sybil Exposed takes you through Shirley’s life, Dr. Wilbur’s psychiatric practices and the writing career of Flora Schreiber, author of Sybil.  The book tells the story of how these three women meet and end up in business together to create the cultural phenomenon of Sybil.

You the reader get to decide if Shirley really did indeed suffer from multiple personalities or if these women were only out to get their own.

by Zita

[This blog is posted under my name, but was written by my wife Lizby.  — Mark]

Because my husband works at Lemuria, my addiction to reading has a constant stream of books to feed it. Needless to say, I read quite a bit, and it’s always easy to choose my next indulgence, because my husband picks out books for me. He’s awfully good at it, but recently he outdid himself when he placed a book in my hand called Following Atticus. He bought it because the pictures on the cover and in the center fold were so darn cute, but as soon as I began to read, I realized what a gem he’d hit on.

Every once in a while, I find a book so compelling, that once I’ve read it I find myself unable to stop pestering friends to read it, too. This is one of those books. This true story is about a twenty pound miniature schnauzer and a middle-aged, overweight man and their attempt to hike all forty-eight of the deadly four-thousand foot white mountains in New Hampshire. In the wrong hands this could have been a sappy, cliched, cloyingly sweet story perfect for Disney to take on as their next animated feature. Fortunately, when Tom Ryan authored this book, he did it so masterfully that it transcends the simple plot and becomes so much more than a book about a little dog climbing big mountains.

What made the book so good was the love that Ryan clearly has for three things: literature, nature, and, of course, man’s best friend. As I read, I put a sticky note on every page with a quotation from other authors. By the time I was done there were so many bits of paper sticking up out of the top of the book that it looked like it had a mohawk. I got the sense that Ryan was so intimately familiar with the works of Kipling, Lewis, Frost, Emerson, Thoreau, and countless others, that quoting their words came as naturally as breathing. His descriptions of the mountains made me long to be back in my native New England, and see the those mountains again for myself. His account of his faithful companion captured the essence of “dog-ness” as only a real dog lover could.

In the Prologue of Following Atticus, Ryan says “I have come to judge a good story as one that makes me feel as if I’m losing a friend when I read the final page, close the book, and put it down for the last time”. This was one of those books for me. But here’s the best news – when I finished reading, I discovered that it wasn’t actually over. Little Atticus is still climbing mountains, and he has a blog with beautiful writing and photographs. So buy the book, check out the blog for pictures of all of Atticus’ adventures, and I hope you will be as enchanted by Following Atticus as I was.

I have been reading some great thrillers so far in 2012.  I really enjoyed this one from Penguin,  Dark Revelations by Anthony E. Zuiker, the conclusion of the Level 26 Trilogy.

I became interested in this trilogy because I love CSI and Anthony E. Zuiker is the creator of the television series.  I was introduced to Steve Dark when I read Dark Origins and thought and still think he is a total bad ass and I was introduced to Sqweegel, who is one of my favorite ‘bad guys’ of all time.  I absolutely loved that book.  I was equally excited when Dark Prophecy came out and then couldn’t wait for Dark Revelations.  Dark is still chasing bad guys and has somewhat figured out how to balance that with being a father because he works from home with state of the art equipment in his basement.   Steve Dark has been asked to join an elite special force that come together to capture Level 26 killers.  This group has been able to capture killers that government agencies and even Special Circs have been unable to solve in the past.  The killer on the loose now is known as “Labyrinth” and he uses riddles, puzzles and wordplay to announce who his next victims will be.  With the use of social media he has created a media sensation and has followers from all around the world.  People are almost seeing him as a modern day Robin Hood because of the political and social messages that are behind his killings. Can Steve Dark and his elite team of crime fighters stay a step ahead of “Labyrinth” and stop him before he kills again?

If you are interested in a really good fast paced thriller then I would recommend this entire trilogy.  What is really cool is that this is a digi-novel.  As you read these books books will you will come across codes to access a cyber bridge that will allow you to watch a mini-movie on your computer to give you a little more of Steve Dark’s story.  I have enjoyed watching those as much as reading the books!

Dear Listener,

I reckon the idea of a rapture-like event has existed for a while.  I’m not an expert on The Rapture, or even Christianity for that matter, but I have always been aware of the possibility of waking up to find the world picked of its morally elite.  The circumstances of such an event have always been mysterious to me, even pondering the idea of a sky engulfed in flame and menacing creatures torturing the remaining.  What seems unanswered is the question as to how long it will take for the world to end after millions of people suddenly disappear. Having never read any Tom Perrotta, I was very welcoming to the idea of starting with his post-rapture story laced with suburban trends. 

I found exactly what I was looking for with The Leftovers.  Beginning three years after the Sudden Departure, Perrotta follows a family who have fallen apart due to differing personal beliefs concerning the missing.  The son joins a cult, the mother joins a creepier cult, the daughter shaves her head, and the father becomes mayor.  The problems of a normal family are magnified by the lack of knowledge concerning why people of all nationalities, religions, and beliefs suddenly disappear.  After three years, some people in the town are beginning to build a life that they once knew, equipped with softball leagues and white collar jobs.  But as Stephen King wrote in his review for the New York Times, “The Leftovers is, simply put, the best Twilight Zone episode you never saw.”  While some are searching once again for suburban happiness, there is a group known as the Guilty Remnant who stalk the town’s most morally questionable while wearing all white and maintaining a vow of silence.  And just like the Twilight Zone, Perotta juxtaposes the wrecked with the rebuilt so beautifully, you can’t help but shut the book and giggle.

As if a fun, different read weren’t enough, Perrotta mapped out just how people would react to such a change.  While reading it, I felt if there were such an event like the Sudden Departure, everything that happened in the novel probably wouldn’t be that far off.  It just wasn’t that far-fetched, which really is quite terrifying.  I’m relieved to know Harold Camping was wrong.  Let’s see how wrong the Mayans are, huh?

You can read Stephen King’s review here.  Below is a song by a duo from San Francisco called Two Gallants that deals with a rapturous breakup.

by Simon