Borders has missed its deadline of May 6th for bids that would keep the company operating. B & N expressed interest to buy 10 stores. Another offer is rumored to buy 200 stores. This unknown company seems to be interested in the large retails outlets that garner the bulk of the company revenues.

Borders may be forced to close all of its remaining stores if no bidder is found in the next few weeks. With this news and lots of other things on our minds, we’re headed to New York to attend our once-a-year trade show. Many of you may wonder how Lemuria can bring so many first class writers to a small community like Jackson. The answer starts next week when Joe and I land in NYC. The 2011 show should be especially interesting with Borders declining in the brick model and the rapid emergence of the e-book.

Our challenge will be to find  out which publishers are interested in working directly with Lemuria to enhance our reading community. We’ll be exploring what the future will hold for Lemuria’s work with the nation’s top publishers.

Lemuria is particularly challenged by this opportunity with our industry’s change. We want to come out of this paradigm shift giving Jackson a better and more successful bookstore. Our work next week will be important in determining if that quality growth will actually come about.

Lemuria doesn’t know what attitude the publishers will have toward our work. Will publishers and authors care about the physical book or just put up a smoke screen? Will the overall focus be on the e-book? I expect we will be shined with both attitudes. However, I’m encouraged that our good publishers will still want quality physical books to thrive and will need local booksellers and plan to enhance their efforts.

On this trip, I’m out to catch these three big fish:

1. Jim Harrison’s new book The Great Leader, published by Grove.

The word is that our longtime favorite, Big Jim, is not coming South. But that is not going to stop me from trying to get a Dixie trip out of the Old Bear. I just started reading Great Leader yesterday. Fans, get ready for Jim’s new counter ego hero. He’s grand again.

2. Michael Ondaatje’s The Cat’s Table, published by Knopf

Michael Ondaatje has never been to our bookstore. A Jax trip is a long shot we hear, however, we are going to try for it. I have read all of Ondaatje’s novels and a goodly bit his nonfiction and poetry. He is one of my favorites and we will work hard to lure Ondaatje South. This is an author whose market size hurts us, but we’re going to let out a lion’s roar for a Mississippi trip.

3. Paul Hendrickson’s Hemingway’s Boat 1934-1961. Five hundred and sixty pages about Papa and Pilar sharing everything Papa loved in life and lost.

Well, that’s just a taste. Watch out for Joe’s round up of our upcoming work in New York in a couple of days. We will share some of the authors who have already made it to our events list and other writers with new books coming out this fall.

We will also be giving you a preview to some of the projects we have in the works for our local community. We’re planning to enhance our physical book reading community this fall through our efforts in the Big Apple. Stay tuned.

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The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry

Barnes & Noble Bankrupt? (April 28) Decluttering the Book Market: Ads on the latest Kindle (April 14) Independents on the Exposed End of the Titantic? (April 6th) Border’s Bonuses (March 30) The Experience of Holding a Book (March15) Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)

Be forewarned–this is a book for the bike geek. As the title, It’s All About the Bike suggests, the bicycle itself is the subject, the story, not just the background for a morality tale or narrative of human struggle and inspiration. Avid cyclists are prone to imbue their bikes with mythical qualities, to treat them as loyal companions and friends rather than as machines built for a purpose. Robert Penn doesn’t pick a side in this argument so much as he connects them together. Each component, each simple machine is crafted with as much art as science and combines to form something greater than the sum of its parts.

I will admit that part of the appeal of this book is that the author does what the vast majority of cyclists can only dream of doing: building his dream bike, part by part, selecting carefully only the best and most appropriate pieces, cost be damned. The purpose wasn’t to build the lightest, fastest bike (any number of bike manufacturers can sell you a near-perfect replica of their Tour de France race bikes for a princely sum), nor to experiment with the newest and most advanced bike technology (on the contrary, certain aspects of the author’s dream bike are nearly anachronistic), nor to pursue individuality for the sake of individuality (many of the components selected are off-the-shelf parts available to anyone).

The purpose was to construct piece-by-piece the single best riding bike for the author. Not for long-distance touring, not for racing, not for commuting–simply for the joy of riding, built just for the enjoyment of being in the saddle and spinning away the miles.

The danger in a book like this is self-indulgence. Ultimately, I wouldn’t really care to read 200 pages of information about someone else’s bike. It would be a bit like looking at someone else’s vacation pictures or listening to stories about someone else’s grandkids. You might be happy to share in their enjoyment, but you aren’t going to borrow the photos or ask them to write down their stories for your later perusal. The author avoids this by using the construction of his dream bike as the structure for discussing the early history of the bicycle, the development through the industrial boom, and the modern-day mish-mash of cottage industry artisans and aerospace-inspired high technology. Each chapter becomes the story of a different component of the bicycle, from the classic, hand-welded Brian Rourke steel frame to the Cinelli carbon-fiber handlebars to the traditional Brooks leather saddle.

A minor quibble: the book is peppered with small, black-and-white illustrations and photos of individual components, but at no point is the reader treated to a full-color shot of the author’s dream bike. This oversight becomes particularly glaring when the reader finishes the chapter in which the author describes in great detail his struggle to pick a color scheme for the frame. Perhaps the decision was intentional; maybe the author felt that a tiny photo in a book couldn’t convey the great care and craftsmanship that went into his bike, and that the reader would find the bike somehow diminished by the photo. I have no compulsion to protect the mythology of the author’s bike, however, and so I’ll cap off this post with the payoff.

Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t 

by John Sullivan (Penguin, 2010)

Booksellers are in a unique position in that they constantly watch what people read and get new ideas for reading adventures from their customers. I had a fun experience learning about the latest book by Paul Sullivan.

My first encounter with Clutch was in September at a Texas airport having a beer. The young pretty gal next to me was reading it and so of course I took notice.

Some time later, an old youth baseball coaching pal came in and bought a copy. He then came back and ordered eight more copies. That caught my attention. I got a copy and laid it on the pile until the time was right.

Clutch is having the ability to do what you can do normally while under immense pressure. Success under intensity is hard work. Sullivan’s goal with Clutch was to find people who were clutch and deconstruct what made them so good. By using two areas, money and sports, where people choke the most, the author explains how we can make better decisions under pressure. Sullivan wants to show people how to become better while under pressure and avoid the simple mistakes that cause most of us to choke.

Sullivan asserts that there are several traits which make an individual clutch.

1) Focus: The basis for all great performers under pressure. Focus is not just about concentration. It’s about trusting yourself and allowing your hard work and assets to come forward when situations get tough.

2) Discipline: This is the battle within yourself. Through discipline, set up a strong foundation in your work instead of giving into neurosis and the demands of the ego.

3) Adaptability: When your plan fails, focus on the intent and an outcome based on solutions. The focus must be outward and big picture and not inward on emotions and details.

4) Be present: This involves being ready for whatever comes your way and developing a heightened awareness that prepares you to respond.

5) Fear and Desire: Carry your drama and recycle it into discipline. Learn big picture, macro not micro. Shape your destiny.

Why do people choke? Part of success may involve how people perceive their actions. Take responsibility and learning from your mistakes. Be accountable for your actions. My actions = my results. On the other hand, Sullivan also explores the dangers of over thinking and over confidence traps.

Finally Sullivan analyzes how to be clutch and what it can teach you. Clutch awareness allows you to enjoy your pleasures fully as the opportunity presents itself. Being prepared mentally and enjoying the process naturally.

Being a bookseller in 2011, I found reading Clutch helpful as I prepare mentally for this time of publishing change. Clutch decisions for small bookstores are critical as we try to stay in business as the recession subsides. Understanding your clutch strengths and weaknesses are a good tool in the work toward success and survival. Move forward without fear and haste; utilize your strengths to increase the endurance of your business.

Clutch by John Sullivan (Penguin, 2010)

If you have ever been back to the children’s area of Lemuria, lovingly known as Oz, you probably have heard us rave about Kate DiCamillo, if not by name, then by her book titles. Because of Winn-Dixie, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Tale of Despereaux, the Mercy Watson series, these books are just a few of the amazing works that Kate has given us.

In a blog I wrote last year, I discussed Kate’s 2010 Indies Choice Award “Most Engaging Author” and her love for indies. Well, I am here to say that we love you in return, Kate. One of the best parts of my day is handing a book to a child knowing that it will open their hearts and minds and leave them with that amazing tingly feeling you get when you finish a good book. Often, the author of that book in my hand is Kate DiCamillo.

Kate has won so many awards that it is hard to keep up, but just to name a few:

Newbery Honor for Because of Winn-Dixie (which was turned into a great live action film)
National Book Award Finalist for Tiger Rising
Newbery Medal for The Tales of Despereaux (which was also turned into an animated film)
Geisel Award for Bink and Gollie

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We recently read The Magician’s Elephant with my 5th grade girls book club. One of the girls described the language in the book as “layered,” and I couldn’t agree more, not just about The Magician’s Elephant, but about all of Kate’s books. These are books that you read to your small children and then give back to them when they are in second and third grade for them to read again and find their own magic. They connect with such a wide audience, from people such as myself, a twenty-something with no children, to grandmothers, and three-year-olds. In a blog I wrote last Christmas, I gushed about my love for her newest format of book, Bink and Gollie, which won the Geisel Award, an award given to books that encourages reluctant readers.

As you can see, I am in love with Kate DiCamillo works and what they do for children’s literature, but it’s not just me. Others at the store and in the community are in love with her books as well. She appears on more bookcases and on more summer reading lists in the area than any other writer. I am so excited that she will be here this Sunday, May 15th at 1:00! She will be signing and reading, so please come meet this amazing children’s writer!

There are some rules associated with this signing that you will need to be aware of:

• Kate will sign AND personalize one title per person and just sign up to two additional titles per person. So all in all, you will be allowed to get three books signed by Kate the day of the signing. Also, one of these books will need to be bought from Lemuria.
• Kate will NOT sign promotional items, posters, autograph books, personal items, etc.
• Kate will allow photos in progress, but there should be no posing or going  behind the signing table.

“A juke house was where anything goes.” – Jimmy “Duck” Holmes

There was a time when we went to a juke joint. And we used to go hear live blues and dance until the wee hours. In fact a few pictures of such activities have appeared on this blog. Now days we have little ones and if we’re up in the middle of the night it’s because someone has to go potty or because someone else is sick. Instead of juke joint pictures on the blog you get lots of pictures of cute kids.

And they are cute. And we don’t regret any of that. It’s ok. Really.

But wouldn’t it be nice if you could bring the kids to the juke joint? Or if you could have that same experience only not late at night?

This Friday Lemuria’s juke joint will be in effect. Always wanted to go over to Bentonia to Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ Blue Front Cafe, but never been able to? Well, Duck Holmes will be playing for free on Friday at our juke joint (dotcom building) starting at 5:00.

The occasion is the release of Roger Stolle’s new book Hidden History of Mississippi Blues. Roger is also one of Mississippi’s hidden secrets. (not so hidden actually) He is the owner of the Cat Head Delta Blues and Folk Art store in Clarksdale and an avid spokesperson for the blues. In his words:

I moved to Clarksdale to circle the wagons, to mount a defense, to help the last generation of cotton-farming, mule-driving, juke-joint playing bluesmen deeply inhale the final breath of this amazing tradition we call Delta blues. My idea was to help other like-minded individuals and entities organize and promote this uniquely American art form from within and by all means necessary.

So, Jimmy “Duck” Holmes will be playing, Roger will talk about his books, Duck will play some more, we’ll have beer for a buck, and to top it all off the event is co-sponsored by Mississippi’s own Cathead Vodka. We’ll see you Friday the 13th at 5:00, right?