Dear Listener,

With Christmas season nearly upon us, I have been hard at work making our music section something quite shoppable and convenient.  Being well aware that most people have at least one music lover as a family member or friend, I thought I could take this post to outline some of the best books we have in stock.

With a preface from Keith Richards, an introduction by Mick Jagger, and an afterward by James Taylor, it is no surprise that All Access: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Photography of Ken Regan is getting a great deal of attention among music, book, and photography lovers.  Not just a photographer, but a fan and friend to musicians, Ken Regan captured decades of music from the folk scene of the 6os  to the British Invasion to Madonna to KISS and everything in between.  Keith Richards writes of Regan “to sense it, to feel it….Maybe like hearing a song before it has been written.  Whatever this intuitive sense, is what my longtime friend has.”  Below are several examples of the brilliance you can find hidden in this book.

The only introduction this next book needs is the quote on the front cover.  Dolly Parton writes “God bless America and God bless The Oxford American Book of Great Music Writing.”  Beginning in 1996, the Oxford American has been producing an annual Southern Music Issue that explores music from all genres and time periods with one idea in mind: The South. With contributions from Steve Martin, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Tom Piazza, Roy Blount, Jr., R. Crumb, and many others, this book is a must have among not just music fans, but faithful supporters of the Oxford American.

Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge edited by Mark Yarm (of no relation to Mudhoney’s Mark Arm) has quickly become one of my personal favorites.  Yarm takes from interviews from the more obvious bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, but also takes the time to recreate the scene not so clearly remembered.  There are interviews with Babes in Toyland, L7, and U-MEN, not to mention the interviews with DJ’s, roadies, record store employees, and people who happened to be around the scene.  This technique of inclusion stitches together what you may not remember from the time.  Stories are told from so many points of view, Yarm is creating legends that hadn’t yet been created.  The book loosely revolves around Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s fledgling relationship, with fact and myth being blurred as much as anyone should expect.  If your memories of this period are a little hazy, or you weren’t born yet (AHEM), this book will give you the feeling that the grunge scene is still in its heyday.

 John Szwed has written biographies on both Miles Davis and Sun Ra.  In his most recent book, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World, Szwed tackles the great figure who was Alan Lomax.  I could never say enough about Lomax, so here is the first paragraph of the synopsis:

Musicologist, archivist, anthropologist, political activist, singer, author, DJ, photographer, talent scout, filmmaker, concert and recording producer, television host – Alan Lomax was one of the most remarkable figures of the twentieth century, a man whose striking achievements in so many different areas of culture merited a front-page obituary in The New York Times upon his death in 2002.  No part of this staggering body of work, however, has proven to be as influential or as long-lasting as his introduction of folk music to a mass audience, changing not only how everyone in the country heard that music but how they viewed America itself.

Hopefully, these few ideas will get you started.  We have a great music selection with books about all different genres, as well as music culture books that will leave you gasping for air.  Come by and take a look for yourself.

We are now also very proud to offer music from Jackson’s own Esperanza Plantation Records.  You can pick up vinyl copies of Gutter Gaunt Gangster, the latest record from The Weeks, for just $10 and El Obo’s Oxford Basement Collection for $15.

We also have compact discs of the latest albums from Johnny Bertram & the Golden Bicycles, Wooden Finger, and Tommy Bryan Ledford for $10 apiece.

Below is the official video for El Obo’s Vrgn Evl animated by our friend Justin Schultz.

by Simon

I’m not a big science fiction fan. I haven’t ever read any Stephen King. As of a few days ago, I can scratch those first two sentences.

I’m new to the fiction room and one of the most fun things to do is shelve books. It is a pleasure to see new titles, flip through the books and see what I’d like to read. It’s a fun task but it’s also trouble. My ‘to read’ list is embarrassingly long.

When I shelved books last week, I came across 11-22-63 by Stephen King. The cover portrays a newspaper headliner: “JFK Slain in Dallas, LBJ Takes Oath.” I’m fascinated with anything Kennedy. So I looked through the book and read the front flap…and of course added to my ‘to read’ list.

Norma, a former Lemurian, was here Friday and mentioned she was reading it and couldn’t put it down. A recommendation was all I needed,  I moved it up on my list. I’m now reading it.

Jake Epping is a young English teacher who also teaches GED classes at a high school in Maine. His ex wife often ridiculed him for his lack of emotion: never crying. While reading a  moving story from one of this GED students late one night, his tears begin. He knows that his life is now different. This is a big moment.

Not as big as what follows. Jake has eaten many a meals at  Al’s Diner, owned by his friend Al. Shortly after Mr. Epping reads his student’s  life changing story, Al calls him to come quickly to the diner. When Jake arrives, Al (who is suddenly physically sick and not very recognizable to Jake) shows him his storeroom. In it is a portal to the year 1958. Al is determined to get Jake to help with with his mission: to stop the assassination of JFK. This is Al- a dying man’s- request.

I am just this far, not far along considering this is a 842 page book. You would never know. It flies by. It’s incredible writing. Each sentence leaves you on the edge of your seat. I’m anxious to know what happens on the next page.

Aren’t you dying to know if Jake can stop the assassination? If he is able, what does the rest of history look like?  -Quinn

I found myself with two books about Catherine the Great and was thrilled to have them because I didn’t know very much (besides the obvious) about her.  I always find it very interesting when different types of books come out on similar subjects.

The first book which is available for purchase now (and flying off the shelf) is Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.

This narrative biography is up to par with all the Russian histories that this Pulitzer Prize winning author has previously written, Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandraand The Romanovs.

We learn about Princess Sophia Augusta Fredericka of Germany’s not to happy childhood with a mother who never showed much interest in her daughter until the possibility of a marriage between Sophia and Peter, the Grand Duke of Russia, came up.  Sophia had a natural curiosity and constantly questioned her tutors about all subjects and continued this love of learning well into her adult years.

After marrying Peter and becoming Catherine her life did not become much happier.  Her new husband paid little to no attention to her after the marriage and a heir to the throne was slow in coming which Empress Elizabeth blamed Catherine for.  Catherine soon learned that things in life can be worked to her advantage and continued to study especially works of Enlightenment philosophers, foreign policy and the ways of the Russian court.  She used all this when she ‘took’ the Russian throne from Peter to guide her decisions while ruling the backward Russian empire.

You will meet all those who were Catherine’s friends, favorites, family, lovers and of course enemies and who had the most influence over the decisions that turned a minor German princess who rose to become one of the most powerful and captivating women in history.

Also be on the lookout in January 2012 for a wonder historical novel, The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak.  The story is told by Varvara and servant in the Russian court of Empress Elizabeth.  When Princess Sophie arrives at the Russian court Varvara (who is a spy or ‘tongue’) is given the task of befriending the young girl and reporting all she hears to the Empress. The two soon become fast friends and as the years go on Varvara makes the decision to side with the Grand Duchess as she makes her descent to the throne to become as we know her Catherine the Great.

Set in the 1950s, Booker Prize winning author of The English Patient, has written a compelling novel, titled The Cat’s Table.

Based on the experiences of an 11-year-old boy who embarks on a three week voyage on the cruiser “Oronsay” from Colombo to England, Ondaatje’s new novel grabbed me just as his Anil’s Ghost (2000), and Divisadero (2007) did.

As an Ondaatje follower, I was quickly reminded again within the first chapter of The Cat’s Table, of this author’s superb ability to grab me with his quiet, reflective, pensive  style.

Soon after the novel opens, the reader learns that the young boy, who tells this story from his point of view, is being sent from Colombo to England to reunite with his mother, whom he has not seen in four years. He is told, in a matter of fact way, that he will cross the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and then go through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean  before he arrives at his small port in England.  Although he does have a “semi” guardian on board the ship, he is not really controlled by her and is given a top bunk in a suite where a middle age bunk mate holds nightly bridge parties. The protagonist does enjoy the periodic company of Emily, a seventeen year old beauty, whom he knew in Colombo.

By the end of the first day, Michael learns that he has been assigned to Table 76, the “Cat’s Table”  in the dining room, the table farthest away from the Captain’s Table, which is reserved for the” insignificants” aboard. It is here that Michael meets two slightly older boys who become his friends, confidants, and pre-adolescent “partners in crime“. What these boys witness during the three week voyage–adult romances, the exotic  living garden hidden in the ship’s dark hold, a trapeze artist  performance, a shackled prisoner’s nightly parading, and even a possible murder–make the three week trip one which the narrator will reflect upon for his lifetime. What Ondaatje holds up in this book are two non-touchable human abilities, the ability of perception versus the ability of memory. Where they reside, overlap, or overrule each other in the impressionable mind of  an 11 year old boy, as he matures into his late twenties,  make this novel the masterpiece that it is, in my opinion.

The novel flashes forward as well as backward, another successful characteristic of  this respected Canadian writer, who was born in Sri Lanka. The lives of the three boys, who were best friends for the voyage, are loosely followed by the narrator, but it is from the point of view of the narrator that the reader begins to piece together the truth, but, of course, his fallible version of the truth. One of my favorite parts of the novel occurs close to the end when the protagonist gets a call from Emily, whom he has not seen for 15 years. As they visit at her Canadian cottage, they rehash some of the major events of the voyage, especially the suspected murder as well as the night the prisoner escaped overboard holding his mute daughter’s hand. Once again, the question or dilemma of memory versus perception comes into play, and this time, diverse emotions do as well.

The Cat’s Table is a cleverly written novel all about how a certain time period in a child’s life can affect him always. Also, the desire to reconnect with those who mutually shared this time takes precedence as well.  As I turned the last page of this novel late last night, I smiled with satisfaction knowing that this renowned author did “it” again and that I can look forward to another novel, hopefully not too far in the future.

To order signed copies, click here.

It’s now out in paperback, too. -August 2012

-Nan