In the winter of 2006-2007, Lemuria’s book club, named “Atlantis”, came onto the scene at our book store. Created to give Lemuria readers a forum in which to delve into cutting edge literary releases, primarily fiction, the club has grown as each year passes. When I first came to work at Lemuria, I had asked our owner, John Evans, to tell me about the Lemuria book club. His response was, “We don’t have one. Why don’t you start it, Nan?” I was thrilled, having once been a member of a very vigorous book club, sadly disbanded when one of our primary members had moved from Jackson.

So, we began with maybe two or three members in attendance for each meeting. Our first title chosen was Margaret Atwood’s novel Oryx and Crake. From there we moved to other great titles, primarily literary or contemporary fiction, with a sprinkling of some noteworthy non-fiction titles such as Three Cups of Tea.

Our members show diversity both in their literary taste, as well as in their professional and personal lives. Age is not an issue, nor is gender. The common feature that we all share is a love of noteworthy literature. Multiple cities and states of origin promote interest and create diversity in thought and comment. Though primarily composed of local Mississippians, especially native Jacksonians, we also have members who are natives of Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan. To add to the mix, two members give us an international flair with their countries of origin being Germany and Brazil. Therefore, we gain a cultural diversity of thought and opinion and experience which adds to the richness of the group.

We meet the first Thursday of each month, year round, at 12 p.m. Discussions around a table or two kick off at 12:15 p.m, so being a little late creates no problem. Meeting at our dot.com building, which is just outside of the Broadstreet Bakery north, side door, we meet for an hour. Members are free to bring a snack or beverage of choice. Centered around tables, our diverse group of around 10-12 members thoroughly enjoys our provoking literary discussions.

Atlantis members also receive a 10% discount on Atlantis selections.

Contact Lisa Newman at Lemuria (601-366-7619), or by email: lisa@lemuriabooks.com

2007 Atlantis Book Club Selections

2008 Atlantis Book Club Selections

2009 Atlantis Book Club Selections

2010 Atlantis Book Club Selections

2011 Atlantis Book Club Selections

2012 Atlantis Book Club Selections

-Nan

Locavesting: The Revolution in Local Investing and How to Profit from It

by Amy Cortese

(John Wiley, 2011)

Having just completed in October my 36th year as a small business owner, I was interested in reading Cortese’s book as soon as I learned of it. Having always been interested in the promotion of importance and betterment of local business for my community, Locavesting caught my eye.

Locavesting is fundamentally about fixing our broken economic system. It’s about restoring a more just and participatory form of capitalism, one that allocates capital for productive use in the community. It’s about forming alternative ideas and practices rather than a win or take all economy. It’s about rebuilding our savings, our communities and strengthening the core of our culture, and hopefully about influencing the culture of our country, which I feel is being challenged by too much government influence. As announced this week, the U.S. debt is now equal to our economy which means our entire debt is as big as everything we produce in our country.

Locavesting emphasizes investing in what you know, local companies that you can see, touch and understand their community value and contribution. It’s about spending your dollars for services where service is strengthened and the dollar investment is recirculated in the local market, planting the seed for further growth equals a more self-reliant community.

As it seems to me, our government is intent on growing our dependency on manipulated entitlements. Locavesting is offering new considerations and explanations on how the work we do is one with ownership. A work lifestyle like this might help us make more of a difference. Perhaps the contributions we make for our community can somehow combat the reckless spending of “Too Big to Fail” business and government. Local business can at least take the bull by the horns in our communities and contribute to the local well-being day by day. We all know about the battle “Main Street” is fighting. It’s up to each of us to be a part of the solution. We don’t need to accept the malaise, and we must remember that our small steps can lead to a broader awareness.

Cortese presents arguments and statistics reinforcing the financial benefits of dollars being recirculated in the local markets. She explores which small businesses make a difference to our community culture. However, Locavesting is not anti-big business. The emphasis is on considering the implications of how our choices benefit local enterprises.

Reading Locavesting has enhanced my feelings as we move into 2012 on the importance of broadening this type of awareness. Not only do I want to be more aware of community from a personal standpoint, but also as a part of the Lemuria team as we broaden our outreach interests. We need to be more aware and more effective with our local community efforts and work with greater determination to achieve our outreach goals.

I was disappointed when I finished that Cortese does not have a two or three page suggested reading list. I feel that by not suggesting more reading on this subject, she missed the boat on further stimulating her message to her readers.

Consciously, Lemuria plans to utilize the core of our work to expand our mission into a larger community footprint. We welcome your input and participation.

JX//RX

Even if you have never heard of Mr. Fox, the design of the book cover should snare you into wanting to read this book, but the desire goes even further within the pages to keep you reading. To further interest the reader,  the type set changes often, moving from an old fashioned font of an antique typewriter, which designates the specific letters written between the two main characters, or to italics, or to basic modern day typeset. The author obviously uses the font changes to reflect the shifts in mood or perception of the two main characters.

Concerning the two main characters, one is a writer, hence the title: Mr. Fox, and the other, well, the other, is not real, but the reader comes to know her “as real”. Her name is Mary Fox, but she is of no relation to Mr. Fox. So, who is she? Well, to be precise, she is Mr. Fox’s muse, but not in your ordinary way, because, you see, Mary appears in the writer Mr. Fox’s short stories which are in essence what make up this book.This may sound confusing, and at the beginning of the book, things are rather confusing, even though the reader already knows the premise of the book. But, as the book flows along, one learns the power of the imagination which can summon or coax or even fear the muse. A third character, Daphne Fox, who is Mr. Fox’s wife, appears from time to time in the book. She is super jealous of Mary, even though Mr. Fox tells her that Mary is “not real”. Yet, Mary seems very real to Daphne who often loses her sanity due to her husband writer’s attention to Mary.

Once Mr. Fox tries to explain to his wife Daphne about Mary, “Daphne. There is no girl on the side….She’s  in my head…I know this sounds unlikely, but you’ve got to believe me. If you don’t, I’ve got nothing else to tell you. ….Not a lot to tell. Her name’s Mary. You’d like her, I think. She’s kind of direct. No-nonsense. I made her up during the war. She started off as nothing but a stern British accent saying things like, ‘Chin up, Fox,’ and ‘Where’s your pluck?’ Just a precaution for the times I came dangerously close to feeling sorry for myself. Don’t look like that D., I don’t need a doctor. Anyhow–you see now, don’t you, that she couldn’t possibly call the house? That’s just people getting wrong numbers, or one of your brothers phoning you up to ask for money and then losing his nerve. ”

The author of this clever little novel, Helen Oyeyemi, also wrote The Icarus Girl, The Opposite House, and White Is for Witching, which won a 2010 Somerset Maugham Award.  -Nan

Earlier in the week, I posted a blog about The Orphan Master’s Son:

Today is the official release to of what I believe to be one of the best books of the year, The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson.  (Yes, I know it is January 10th!) To add to the excitement, Adam Johnson will be at Lemuria for a signing and reading on Friday, January 27th. The Orphan Master’s Son is also our January First Editions Club pick.

Click here to read more.

Liz Sullivan, one of our Random House reps, posted her own blog the other day about The Orphan. Here’s what she says:

I’m calling it now–The Orphan Master’s Son is the best book of 2012.  Sure, we’re only nine days into the new year, but you’re going to have to take my word on this declaration.  I haven’t loved a book this much in about five years, and Adam Johnson’s new novel now ranks among my favorite books ever. It really is that spectacular.

The Orphan Master’s Son is set in North Korea, a location that is so foreign that it itself becomes the dominant player in this story of resilience and adversity.  I happened to be finishing OMS on the night that the news announced Kim Jong Il’s death, and the experience of watching the North Korean people mourn their Dear Leader with this book fresh in my mind was a bit uncanny.  The book makes clear how the North Korean people are trained from infancy to value the state over self, and the Dear Leader is the state.  The wailing mourners make sense in this context; their entire world was unhinged with Kim Jong Il’s death.  It’s a fascinating subject and location.

What’s the story, though?  Jun Do is, as the title suggests, the son of the orphan master.  His mother, vanished, was a singer.  Because he grows up among the orphans, though, everyone assumes that he too is an orphan.  He is put to work doing the jobs that orphans are given, the lowliest tasks in the country.  Eventually Jun Do is trained as a soldier and sent to patrol the pitch black tunnels running under the DMZ and over to South Korea. He learns to fight without seeing.  From there, Jun Do is recruited to become a professional kidnapper, stealing unlucky citizens from Japan.  He accomplishes his missions, but he also glimpses the world outside of North Korea, where the electricity doesn’t shut off in the evenings, where people are free to talk and play and go where they please.  Jun Do, though, returns to his homeland.

He works as an intelligence officer on a fishing vessel.  He travels to Texas as part of a delegation meeting with a Senator.  He suffers in a forced labor camp.  And Jun Do, the ultimate John Doe character, transforms himself into a completely different person and finds his way into Kim Jong Il’s inner circle.

The Orphan Master’s Son is a thriller, an epic adventure story, a cultural critique, a love story, a story of hope and transformation.  It is remarkable for its vibrant characters and plot, but it’s also a literary book.  This is a book into which you can happily lose yourself for a week, and about which you’ll think for weeks afterward.  Adam Johnson has written something brilliant.  The Orphan Master’s Son is one of those books where readers band together to share their love.  I can’t wait for everyone to read this book . . . -Liz Sullivan

This post originally appeared in Liz & Gianna’s Adventures in Book Land. Go there if you love books. You’ll find reviews on the latest books, their favorite books plus anecdotes from bookstores across the South, Texas, Oklahoma and Colorado.

To close this post, see the photos that Adam Johnson took on his trip to North Korea. Note that he has explanations with each photo and that if you choose the slideshow option you will not be able to see them. See the full set of photos here. -Lisa

My mother needed one more Christmas present for my husband. She had read somewhere of a new book titled Hunt, Gather, Cook by Hank Shaw. She asked me to order a copy and bring it home with me when we traveled there for the holiday weekend.

One week later, I found myself on my 2nd deer hunting trip…of my life. First trip was unsuccessful. This trip concluded with us bringing home some deer meat. I’ll spare you the details of this process. You should thank me.

On our way home, still a little unsure of what I just witnessed, I realized we could put Bradley’s new book to use! Hunt, Gather, Cook has so many great recipes in it. With dear meat in the freezer and this book in our hands, I do believe we have plans this weekend.

Should you hunt, cook game for others, or know someone that hunts, this is the perfect book. It truly is. BUT it is not only a cookbook for meat eaters. In addition to game, Shaw also provides recipes for anything you may gather in the wilderness. Wild greens, fruit/berries, wild plants are just a few other sections that are included.

There are a few perks of this books that should not be forgotten. One is the beautiful black and white photos taken by Holly Heyser that are sparingly added in. The black and white photos are so pure-which seems fitting for this book.  Fish and not hunt? Hunt, Gather Cook also includes some information and recipes for seafood.

Fire, a restaurant in Cleveland, Ohio recently hosted an evening with Hank Shaw. A few things on the menu?

Local greens, wild parsnips, apples, paprika syrup walnuts and maple ginger vinaigrette

Cattail pasta, curly dock, miller farm braised short rib ad quick pickled perslane

Venison, spiced bush berry rub, duck potatoes, sauteed spinach and nettles

Hank Shaw’s introduction ends like this: “Eating wild food is not only a rejection of industrial agriculture and the food manufacturing establishment, it is also a celebration of something truly magical: a meal you cannot buy in a store at any price. And what’s more:  You brought it home, all by yourself.”

And with that, Bradley and  I will enjoy a meal we brought home with our own hands!  -Quinn