Lemuria is two times lucky: one to have Chuck Palahniuk and two to have The New Orleans Bingo! Show make their Jackson debut at Hal & Mals on Thursday, October 20th.

With many of the band members being Chuck Palahniuk fans, they were eager to send a shout out before the event. Here’s what The New Orleans Bingo! Show has to say:

We at The New Orleans Bingo! Show cannot be more excited about performing at Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night in Jackson, MS.  As purveyors of oddities in our own right, we’re honored to be included alongside Mr. Palahniuk for a night of  transgressive revelry.

Several members of the group are big fans of Chuck.  For literary insight into what we like best about his work we go to our resident bookworm and bass player for The New Orleans Bingo! Show, Mr. Michael “Bones” Miller:

“The idea of personal and subjective realities are supremely crafted into lived-in and fleshed out experiences.  Palahniuk’s major strength is his ability to tap into a character’s id, memory, wishes or fantasy and fully develop each scenario.  For each person, those inner thoughts and musings are true, colorful realities… and in Palahniuk’s work, we get to play around inside the minds of those who do not self-censor.”

We’re equally as excited to bring our performance to Jackson for the first time.  It floors us that in our 7 years of existence that we haven’t paid a visit to the City of Soul.  We believe the show is a perfect fit, as we’re estimating that Chuck’s fans that are attending have a certain taste for irreverence and the unconventional.  We’re also hoping that Jackson will be a continued destination for Bingo!.  I mean heck, you’re only 3 hours away!

Check out official website for The New Orleans Bingo! Show here.

Chuck will begin his reading at about 8:00 with The New Orleans Bingo! Show to follow. Click here for more details about Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night.

We cannot wait to meet you New Orleans Bingo! Show!

Love,

Lemuria & Friends

JX///RX

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When I think about books that stick with me, often I think of those books in school that made me fall in love with books (Wuthering Heights), or the ones that sparked my interest to begin with in childhood (Shiloh, The Borrowers), or the ones that I have devoured because of their amazing stories and worlds (Harry Potter, The Hunger Games).

Now, imagine a book that could have been all of those things and you have The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. I took this picture of my advanced reading copy in April, and although the cover has changed since then, my enthusiasm for this book hasn’t wavered since I first cracked it open. Erin Morgenstern has created a magically amazing world that I lingered in over a month for fear of finding myself on the last page of The Night Circus.

It is at magical Le Cirque des Rêves that most of this story takes place. A circus that opens at nightfall and closes at dawn. A world in which the only colors are black and white, where the figments of your imagination are no longer figments, and where Celia and Marco play in a game of magic they were chosen for as children.

Much like a tennis game is played on a tennis court, this magical match takes place within the night circus. Each player tries to outdo the other with their creations within the circus. From a garden made of ice to a maze made of clouds, these two magicians make their moves in the public arena of Le Cirque des Rêves. But as they get to know each other by their magic, they begin to fall for each other.

Celia and Marco are not the only ones to fall in love while at the night circus. Many become enchanted with the circus itself and although Le Cirque des Rêves never announces where it will show up next, they have created a network in which they can follow the circus from place to place. These enthusiasts are called rêveurs. They dress in black and white when they attend the circus, except for one dash of red. They want to pay homage to the circus, but yet stand apart from it. Over time, this guise becomes how rêveurs identify each other while at the circus.

Much like our friend Emily Crowe (check out her blog on their Night Circus event), many of us at Lemuria feel the same enchantment for Le Cirque des Rêves as the rêveurs in The Night Circus do. Therefore, on Monday, October 3rd the date The Night Circus author Erin Morgenstern comes to Lemuria, we will all be dressed accordingly in our black and white with a dash of red. We cordially invite you to come experience the magic and excitement for yourself.

Many of us at Lemuria go pretty wild over our DIY and craft books. One of the latest to excite us is Design*Sponge at Home by Grace Bonney, the first book be published from the blog of the same name. Grace started the blog in 2004 and since then it has grown to a daily readership of over 75,000, along with over 121,000 RSS readers, 315,000 Twitter followers, and 30,000 Facebook followers.

On the blog there are tons of step-by-step DIY projects for crafting and improvements around the house and decorating ideas in many formats. The book is largely comprised of the most popular features of the website: the “Sneak Peek,” the “DIY,” and the “Before and After.”

In the “Sneak Peek” part of the book, we get a two or four page tour of the homes of some of the designers that have been featured on the Design*Sponge blog, including its editors. These glimpses, just like those on the blog, are packed with photos accompanied by captions that almost always say “refurbished piece from thrift store.” That’s one of the best things about Design*Sponge — all of the amazing design ideas are completely doable on a budget.

The “Before and After” section rivals the “Sneak Peek” for being the most fun to look at: before and after photographs that people have submitted to Design*Sponge of refurbish or repurpose projects.

This is a project I’ve been inspired to undertake, from the “DIY” section, the rolling storage bench.

I found this crate at an antique mall, and couldn’t pass it up because it was marked with the location where whatever “goods” it originally transported were delivered: Crystal Springs, Miss. I decided to pass on the “rolling” part of the project; for now, at least, I think I’ll prefer a stationary bench. The previous owner already made “improvements” on this crate to make it functional — the lid has a hinge. So all I have to do is create a cushion for the top and I’ll have a rustic entryway or foot-of-the-bed storage bench.

Recently married, there are a number of favorite moments I have collected over the past five months. My sister, who knows me so well, threw me a book shower. Those invited were asked to “bring a book that reminds you of the bride for her library.” I drove home with a large stack of new books for my personal library. What a dream, right?

With a thankful heart and a bit teary eyed, I went through each book and read who they were from and why that friend thought I needed it for my collection. There were a few beach books–perfect for the honeymoon. There were several children’s books-some favorite ones that keep me reminded of my time at Kirkpatrick Elementary. There were a few faith books–something I always need to keep me in check. And then….there were several decorating books. Just. what. I. need.

Setting up a house can be a tricky thing. It can be even trickier if you are trying to mesh two different people’s styles and pieces of furniture. Bradley and I are having a great time trying to get things just where they should be. Slowly but surely it will be just as we hope. To say it’s a work in progress is an understatement.

As I look at  all the boxes, furniture and hanging things, I turn around and walk out of the room. I sit down with my stack of decorating books and hope to get an idea that will get me on my feet again. Here are the books I am relying on. With these, I do believe I’ll pull together a house I can only dream of.

Domino the Book of Decorating by Domino Magazine

If you are like me, you were sad to see Domino the Magazine go under. This fabulous book came out a few years ago. I do believe it has some ideas that are fresh and different. Not sure your style type? This book can help you determine your style. Domino will point you in the direction of who you are-in a decorating sense, of course.

Modern Vintage Style by Emily Chalmers

Vintage is in style these days. It’s almost as if people strive to make recently purchased items look vintage. If only my mother or grandmother had saved more things, I feel certain they would be just what I need in my house. This book puts a twist on it: modern vintage. This book is divided into two sections. The first is pure inspiration. The second section guides you how to pull it all together “so you can cook and eat, live and sleep and bathe in modern vintage style.”

Scrapbook for Living by Bunny Williams

This beautiful book takes you on a tour of several rooms from a variety of her client’s homes. There are so many details of each room to soak in. In addition to the pictures, she also gives advice on a little bit of everything you may have in your house. There are notes on how to best use anything from a bedside table to a small flat screen television. She also gives you a run down of must haves for your guest bedroom and bathroom. If you are looking for a small change to make a big impact in one of your rooms, this book may give your house the uplift it needs.

These books are so nice to have in your house to get your creative juices going. However, if I do say so myself, they make wonderful gifts! With Christmas around the corner, consider these ideas!  -Quinn

“Luce’s new stranger children were small and beautiful and violent”

The first line of the shiny new Charles Frazier novel that we’ll have the pleasure of selling on Tuesday. And a great line it is. As a parent of small children I at first thought that these children surely aren’t so different from all small children, but, well, they are. The next line:

“She learned early that it wasn’t smart to leave them unattended in the yard with the chickens. Later she’d find feathers, a scaled yellow foot with its toes clenched.”

No, Frazier’s protagonist in his third novel, Nightwoods, is in deep. She believes that “you take care of whatever needy things present themselves to you otherwise you’re worthless.”

Nightwoods is very different from Frazier’s earlier work. Set in the early sixties with bootlegging, juke joints, and mountains as a backdrop the reader might think of Thunder Road or the fiction of Ron Rash or even Tom Franklin’s Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. The plot is one that builds in suspense as Luce finds that she loves these new stranger children and that she is at risk of losing them.

Join us on Tuesday, October 11th for a signing and reading with Charles Frazier at 5:00 and 5:30.