It’s going to be a pretty big week next week at Lemuria. It’s the week before Christmas, so please let us help you pick out books for your friends and family. We also have a whole bunch of book signings going on. Come get a book inscribed as a gift or for yourself. Here’s what is going on-

Monday:

From Bags to Riches by Jeff Duncan. Introduction by Deuce McAllister.

Yes, Deuce is going to be signing in the bookstore. Jeff Duncan is a reporter for the Times-Picayune in New Orleans and his new book covers the Saints’ rise from post-Katrina to Super Bowl Champs. Deuce, the former Ole Miss hero and Saints’ all time rushing leader, wrote the introduction. They both will be here Monday starting at 4:00 to sign From Bags to Riches. They promise to stay until everyone gets their book signed.

Tuesday:

Wild Abundance Edited by Susan Schadt. Photography by Lisa Buser

This is the hunting camp cookbook that everyone has been talking about. These are the same folks that put out the hunting camp book First Shooting Light two years ago. This book is a blend of great chiefs (some from Mississippi) with hunting camps and great photography. Our signing will feature the author and editor and Jackson’s Derek Emerson of Walker’s and Local 463 fame. They’ll be here starting at 5:00.

Wednesday:

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie

If you live in Mississippi and you don’t know about this one then you need to come out a little more often. This is Curtis Wilkie’s great new book about Dickie Scruggs. It’s a huge Mississippi bestseller and must-read. It’s not only a must-read, but a must-talk about book. Curtis will be back for his second signing for Zeus at Lemuria. He’ll be here at 4:00.

Thursday:

Gridiron Gold: Celebrating Over 100 Years of Mississippi High School Football

This is a great book for Mississippians. It’s photography from the past 100 years of High School football. In a way this is a sequel to the Frascogna’s book Gridiron Gold. While they were researching their earlier book about the rich High School football tradition in Mississippi, they came across so many great photographs that they decided to compile them into one really fun book. A great gift for husband, sons, or uncles. On Thursday evening starting at 4:00, many of the great coaches from Mississippi High School football will be here to sign.

Friday:

The Longview by Roger Parrott

We’re pleased to host Dr. Roger Parrott, president of Belhaven University, for his first book signing at Lemuria. His book The Longview is a book on leadership with a long term perspective.

Saturday:

Oh! That Reminds Me: More Mississippi Homegrown Stories by Walt Grayson

Everyone around here knows Walt. He’ll be back on Saturday morning at 11:00 to sign his most recent book. And of course he’ll be happy to sign any of his DVDs as well, or just sit and talk a while. Come see Walt at 11am.

Saturday:

Oxford in the Civil War by Stephen Enzweiler

Here’s a great little book by a Mississippi native that any Ole Miss grad is going to need. Stephen will sign at 1:00 on Saturday.

Saturday:

Seems to Me by Cary Hudson

No, this isn’t a book. This falls into the “anything can happen at Lemuria” category. Cary is known for his solo work and his work with alt-country band Blue Mountain. He’ll be playing live in our Dot Com building at 4:00 to promote his brand new CD. No question that this will be a fun time. Plus there is no cover and our famous $1 beer.

The Anatomy of Stretching

by Brad Walker

North Atlantic Books (2007)

Stretching is the process of placing particular parts of the body into a position that will lengthen the muscles and associated soft tissues.

Over 20 years ago, during the first karate kid era, my son Austin wanted to take karate. As a Pop always looking for physical activities to enjoy with Austin, I signed up, too. My sensei, Don Byington, started and ended each class with body stretching aimed at relaxation. From Don, I learned how to stretch and still enjoy my stretch routine today, almost every morning.

Walker’s book covers the anatomy and physiology behind stretching and flexibility. Exercises are indexed according to the part of the body being stretched and information on the targeted muscles. As we age, muscles and joints become stiffer and tighter, and stretching is the most effective way of developing and retaining muscles and tendons.

Seeing illustrations of each stretch and effect is interesting, informative and helpful in figuring out your own individual needs. Stretching gently while slowly relaxing our muscles make stretching more pleasurable and beneficial.

Waking up every morning with a positive frame of mind can be difficult, especially during intense periods of work or the pressures of the holiday season.  I’ve found stretching is my best way to start and end my morning workout. It helps me cope with stress and physical exhaustion.

I can truly say that most days I look forward to my stretches and can always say that I feel better when I am finished. My thanks goes to Don who years ago taught me this lifestyle habit which is now an integral part of my life.

Well, it seems as though Cleopatra has finally met her match and her name is Stacy Schiff. In case that name doesn’t ring a bell, let me enlighten you. Schiff is the author of Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov), winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Saint-Exupéry, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; and A Great Improvisation, winner of the George Washington Book Prize and the Ambassador Book Award. She has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a fellow at the center for Scholars & Writers, and received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

And to put the icing on the cake, yesterday, the New York Times came out with their list of the Top Ten Best Books of 2010 and Cleopatra was right there!

As Schiff said in a recent interview:

“Cleopatra was born a goddess, became a queen at 18 and at the height of her power she controlled virtually the entire eastern Mediterranean coast, the last great kingdom of any Egyptian ruler. For a fleeting moment she held the fate of the Western world in her hands. Having inherited a kingdom in decline, Cleopatra would go on to lose it, regain it, nearly lose it again, amass an empire and then lose it all.”

She continued:

“I wanted to take a story we have completely mangled – few as effectively as Cleopatra – and make this both a factual book and a readable book, for people who are not trained historians. I wanted to make her approachable but also strip away the incredible gossamer myth floating around her all the time. After Eve and Mary, Cleopatra may be the most written about woman ever.”

I think it’s fabulous when such a well known, respected writer takes on a person whose life has been completely misunderstood and gives them their due. Certainly, we all think we know a lot about Cleopatra; she looks like Elizabeth Taylor; wore an incredible amount of eye liner and seduced a lot of really famous men–Julius Caesar and Marc Antony for starters. And oh yeah, she committed suicide by bringing a poisonous asp (snake) into her bed. Truth is, only the barest of facts are known about her and from an historical perspective, her life can be proven in only the tiniest of bits and pieces. Schiff has uncovered every one and the result is a definitive biography on a truly fascinating woman. -Norma

Question 3: How long have you collected first editions?

Answer: I bought my first one from Lemuria 10-12 years ago. I look for Faulkners, Hemingways, Steinbecks, and the occasional Mark Twain. The market for these has held up extremely well. Plus, they’re great to touch and look at.

Question 4: Do you have any first editions of A Time To Kill?

Answer: Yep, buried in the back yard. At one time I owned 1000 of the 5000 firsts, and I was desperately trying to sell them. This was back in 1989. I stopped when I had about a 100 left.

Question 5: So you collect your own books?

Answer: Only the first three have any real value as first editions – A Time To Kill, The Firm, and The Pelican Brief. After that, the first printings were large and killed any chance of owning a rare book. A keep a stash of all my books. I enjoy giving them away.

Stay tuned to the blog over the coming weeks: John Grisham will be answering more of his own questions no one has ever asked him before.

See if you can correctly answer Question #1 to win signed first editions and other goodies. (By the way, John Evans, has added one more prize to the pot: A signed first edition of King of Torts—click here to find out more.) This first question will be answered at the end of Grisham’s question series.

Click here for Question 2 on Mississippi Politics.

I like the idea of giving big books for Christmas — big glossy books seem slightly extravagant, something you might not buy for yourself very often, but would be happy once you owned it. DK books make some of the best “big books” on the market, and I often can’t help but flip through them when we get a DK order in. And this last time, after flipping through them, I decided I had to take a couple of them home with me. I think either would make a great Christmas gift.

My wife and I became first-time homeowners a year ago, and since then I’ve started collecting books about home repair and home improvement (it’s slightly cheaper and infinitely easier to buy books about a subject than to actually do that thing). What I’ve found is that pretty much all the books cover about 90% of the same material, but each book will have something unique — maybe a topic that isn’t covered in the other books, or a set of instructions that are slightly more in depth than the other books, or even just a single photograph or illustration that saves the day when you are well past the point of no return in a repair or project.

DK’s Do It Yourself: Home Improvement is one of the best guides I’ve seen. Every repair or project has full-color photographs for every step in the process. Materials, tools, construction…everything is laid out with clear, concise descriptions and instructions. Whether you need your first home improvement guide, or just want to add another to your library, this is a great choice.

The title on the cover reads Natural History, but it’s the subtitle that gives it away: “The Ultimate Visual Guide to Everything on Earth”. Rocks and minerals, bacteria, plant life, and the entire spectrum of the animal kingdom is contained in this book, with sharp full-color photos and descriptions. This is the kind of book that I would flip through for hours as a kid, though I don’t remember any books that looked this good or were this complete. I bought this as a Christmas present for my intensely inquisitive nephew (nobody tell him!), and my hope is that he will find a lot of answers and a lot of new questions in this book.