“Mr. and Mrs. Fang called it art. Their children called it mischief. ‘You make a mess and then you walk away from it,’ their daughter, Annie, told them. ‘It’s a lot more complicated than that, honey,’ Mrs. Fang said as she handed detailed breakdowns of the event to each member of the family. ‘But there’s a simplicity in what we do as well,’ Mr. Fang said. ‘Yes, there is that, too,’ his wife replied. Annie and her younger brother, Buster, said nothing.”

And so begins the story of the Family Fang. Mr. and Mrs. Fang are award-winning performance artists, meaning they stage “events,” by which I mean upsetting, but humorous, public displays, and their best props are their two children Child A and Child B, otherwise known as Annie and Buster. After this particular “event” in which the children help their parents stage a candy store robbery, you find Annie and Buster, waiting for their parents to extricate themselves from trouble, tossing pennies into the mall’s fountain “each making wishes that they hoped were simple enough to come true.”

The Family Fang is a novel about, well, a family, and while I don’t think Wilson generalizes with his characters (the Fangs are a very unique family and I don’t think many of us can compare our childhoods to those of the Fang children), Annie and Buster do make us realize the extent to which our parents can affect us—even as adults. Sure, the Fang events are ridiculous and it might be good fun to watch one happen in a shopping mall near you, but at what cost to the young Fangs? I don’t want to give away too much, but let’s just say that this black comedy does not have a fluffy ending tied up with a bow. Wilson’s humorous tale does have real substance and questions the consequences of raising children in a household where art is placed above all else. I particularly like the way Janet Maslin, in the NY Times review, phrased it: “All children eventually question lies their parents have told them, but the Fangs take that chicanery to a whole new level.”

Wilson has been a Lemuria favorite since the 2009 release of his short story collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (a collection that I personally feel like I could re-read an infinite number of times without tiring of it), and we cannot wait to welcome him back to the store on August 18 at 5pm.

I also have to add that the cover art for The Family Fang was done by one of my favorite illustrators Julie Morstad (who I wrote about a few months ago), which only adds to my love of this book.

See Emily’s blog on her love for The Family Fang and Kevin Wilson here.  -Kaycie

Being a first time blogger, I have to admit that I am a little on the nervous side. Did I ever believe I would be posting my thoughts out there in the blogosphere for all of the world wide web to see? Definitely not.

Aside from feeling nervous, I am also genuinely excited to be a new member of the staff at Lemuria. Having worked at Square Books in Oxford, MS, throughout college, I am an avid lover of books and am so pumped to be back in the world of book selling. For the past week, my first blog post has constantly been on the back of my mind, and I was having trouble deciding what exactly to write about.

On Sunday, I received an email from my dad with a link to the following article from pcmag.com about Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos and his pending patent that was just made public. Basically, Jeff Bezos is trying to patent this fancy new airbag thingy for portable devices. No, “fancy new airbag thingy” is not the technology’s official name, but close enough.

Jeff Bezos really is trying to place an airbag into your smart phone, e-reader, laptop, etc. I have to admit, that does sound pretty cool. Who doesn’t wish that you could reverse the damage inflicted upon your poor smart devices after imbibing one too many alcoholic beverages? Or, perhaps, just from one’s own clumsy tendencies?

However, after reading the article, I had a moment of clarity. While my smart phone may benefit from an airbag “thingy,” my beloved books – actual books with spines and pages that you turn by hand – don’t need a silly airbag. You drop a book and you don’t lose all of your contacts or crack a screen, you simply pick it up (maybe check the spine for damage) and resume reading! I found a lot of comfort in this realization and have set aside my qualms over the e-reader vs. book debate for now, knowing that as technology moves forward I can still enjoy holding a physical book in my hand – even if it has fallen on the floor a few times…

by Anna

I’m here to tell you all about a happening that I am extremely excited about and feel pretty damn lucky and  thankful to be a part of. Chuck Palahniuk is coming to Jackson!  It’s true, he really is coming. Chuck Palahniuk has been one of my favorite authors for many years now so I intend to make his visit to Jackson memorable.

Palahniuk uses shock and awe to make social commentary in his writing.  He tries to broaden what is culturally acceptable through exaggeration and abnormality.  By writing about situations or issues that make the general population uncomfortable or uneasy he makes those situations/issues more accessible and not quite so mysterious.

Chuck Palahniuk is the author of 12 novels and two collections of short stories.  He is best known for his 1996 novel, Fight Club, which was made into a movie staring Brad Pitt in 1999.  Palahniuk is more than just an author; he is what I refer to as a “rock star author.”  This is partly because he’s had two of his books made into movies and also partly due to the spectacle he creates at his readings.  According to Palahniuk’s Wikipedia page, his public readings of the story “Guts” (which is a chapter in his novel Haunted) caused a grand total of 73 people to faint.  Chuck Palahniuk commented in a interview with Downtown Express:

“At a reading a few weeks ago, we had thirteen people faint,” he says. “It was glorious.”

Fainting should be the least of your worries for the night we have planned.  Our event, Chuck Palahniuk’s Damned Book Night, will be taking place at Hal & Mal’s on Thursday October 20th 2011 and will get started at 5:30.

Here’s what you can expect:

* One night only art show hosted by Fischer Galleries featuring several local artists who created pieces specifically for this event starting at 5:30

* Musical performances by: Bloodbird (starting at 6:00 accompanying the art show), SPACEWOLF (starting at 7:00 on the patio) and The New Orleans Bingo! Show (starting at 9:30 on the main stage).

* Chuck Palahniuk will be on stage at 8:00. His schtick will include a reading of an original story, interactive games with the audience and question answering.

* Pre-signed copies of Chuck Palahniuk’s newest book Damned will be available for purchase. A limited number of back list titles will be available at the event.

* Musical performances by SPACEWOLF, Bloodbird and The New Orleans Bingo! Show.

* One night only art show hosted by Fischer Galleries featuring several local artists who created pieces specifically for this event.

* Hell themed specialty drinks provided by Cathead Vodka.

* Hell themed culinary delights will be provided by Parlor Market.

*** Please note that Chuck Palahniuk will not be signing books at the event (so please don’t bring books from home to get signed…it will not happen).  This is not a ticketed event.  Admission is free. This event is 21 and up!

Expect the unexpected and be warned, the popcorn balls on the floors and ceilings are not edible.

*     *     *

Get directions to Hal & Mal’s

Order your event t-shirt (your choice of gray or red)

Check out our Facebook event page.

Follow us on Twitter: @lemuriabooks And we’ll also be posting updates and all things Palahniuk under this hashtag: #palahniukatlemuria

If you are not attending the event, pre-order your signed copy of Damned here or call the bookstore at 800/601.366.7619.

The Official Chuck Palahniuk Website

cpcp

I first fell in love with Kevin Wilson’s writing in 2009. This quirky Harper paperback original caught my eye with its beautiful cover and then captivated me with its stories of lost and searching characters. A good short story collection is as congruous as a great album–each song is a gem in and of itself, but the real beauty of the collection is the way each song complements its counterparts and works together to create a perfect sum total of the parts, not just a good song. Tunneling to the Center of the Earth does just that: each story is good in and of itself, but the entire body of work jives. There is not a single story that needs skipping.

When Kevin was here for the release of his first book, I garnered a coveted Lemurian attendance to his reading. He surprised us all by reading a piece he had just written, and while I can’t remember what it was actually about, I do remember the feeling of sitting out on the Dot Com deck and realizing how fortunate I was because even then I just knew: Kevin was going places. His writing style is unique and refreshing and familiar all at the same time. In 2010, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth won the Shirley Jackson award and an Alex award, and every time I read of Kevin’s accolades I wanted to clap for him and say, ‘I knew it!’

During that same visit, Kevin also told us that he had been signed to write a short story collection and a novel. So when I first heard last fall that he had finished his novel, I was ecstatic. It was finally here. I snagged an advanced copy from Joe’s desk and then promptly came down with the flu. Now, the flu part of that week, as you can guess, was horrible. But Kevin’s novel, The Family Fang, made my week. I couldn’t read it fast enough and I couldn’t bear to finish it; it was just that good.

The Fangs are quite different than your average family. Think Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums or the dysfunctional family in Margot at the Wedding. The parents, Caleb and Camille Fang, are performance artist who believe that chaos is the highest form of art. They wish to disrupt the world, to pull it from its malaise and elevate it with their art. They use their own children as props in their public art events, which often occur in shopping malls full of the Fang’s unsuspecting audience.

Child A and Child B, also known by their true names Annie and Buster, participate in their parents’ mad schemes for a time. But as all children do, Annie and Buster grow up and begin to realize the absurdity of their parents’ art, and it’s that same realization that makes reading this novel both entertaining and sobering. Without their child props, Caleb and Camille try to continue their art performances, but as shopping malls become outdated and social media devices more prevalent, their ‘events’ fall flat. They begin searching for the ultimate ‘Fang event,’ something that will solidify their place in history. I can’t tell you much more without giving away a large portion of the plot, but I must say that the ending was just as surprising and well written as I had hoped it would be.

I cannot wait to hear Kevin’s thoughts on his newest novel and to hear him read on Thursday, August 18th at 5:00. Much like Kevin’s last visit did, his signing this Thursday is sure to add an invaluable element to my reading and remembrance of The Family Fang. I honestly believe that you will regret not coming to Lemuria for Kevin’s visit. His contribution to Southern literature is brilliant.

See Kaycie’s blog on her love for The Family Fang and Kevin Wilson here.

I don’t really ever work in Oz but Kaycie’s blogs about children’s books have me reminiscing about the books I loved as a child.

When I was little my dad took me to the library every weekend, and he remembers “graduating” me from picture to chapter books with The Mystery of the Green Cat by Phyllis Whitney, a book he read as a child.

I think I must have liked it; I don’t really remember the story or anything, but I was at least convinced that I was ready for more meaty reading fare because I went back to that section to find another chapter book. I picked Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, and loved that so much that I think I must have checked it out several more times that year. I remember that story well; as an adult I now own a copy and recently reread it.

One Christmas I unwrapped boxed sets of Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mysteries and plowed through them, thrilled that they belonged to me and could be read again and again. My dad continues to be an avid mystery reader, and because of his influence I enjoy them as well. From mysteries like The Green Cat and Hardy Boys I graduated to Agatha Christie and Shirley Jackson. Now, along with the rest of the world, I’ve been on the Swedish mystery kick, enjoying Larsson’s Girl books and, most recently, The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler.

But I really love to read all genres of fiction, a preference which I believe is directly related to the variety of books I devoured as a child. From the word play of The Phantom Tollbooth and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, I grew up to love books like Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn and Adverbs by Daniel Handler.

Being immersed in the fantasy worlds of The Neverending Story, The Hobbit, and The Chronicles of Narnia drew me to Neil Gaiman, and I think even my adoration for surrealist novelists like Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell comes from this influence.

When I was young I read Little Women and The Secret Garden, more “straight” novels, and as an adult I love the novels of authors like John Irving and Jeffrey Eugenides.

As a youngster the library’s amount of books was overwhelming. I know ours was a rather small library in a rather small town but to me it looked like this:

The first time I set foot in Lemuria I thought the same thing; we do have an incredible amount of titles, considering our space. I’ve overheard kids tell their moms as they walk through Oz, which is really the smallest space in the store, that there are more books there than they’ve seen anywhere. “Books and books and books and books,” one little girl happily sang. It’s really a store unto itself, where readers of any age can find something to nurture their love of books.