Philipp Meyer’s most recent novel, The Son, is a multi-generational saga documents the breaking of the American West. The country is violent–Comanches take scalps, settlers murder their neighbors, Mexicans are pushed from their land, children are kidnapped; the land is washed in blood.

The novel follows three narrators–Colonel Eli McCullough, a character of mythological proportions, his more reserved son, and his great-granddaughter.

Meyers plumbs our American mythology–the spirit of a people pushing upwards. But what is captivating in Eli McCullough–the boy stolen from his own family and raised as a Comanche, surviving only to watch those he loves caught in the cross-fire of the battle for land–is weakened by the ease of life later on. His son is more compassionate and the voice of reason, yes, but he is incapable of taking action.

Reading The Son, I was reminded of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. Meyers does not write as politically as Rand–his voice is notably absent from the novel–but their books share strong characters that live outside morality. They are fallen characters whose faults are also their successes.

It was prophesied I would live to see one hundred and having achieved that age I see no reason to doubt it. I am not dying a Christian though my scalp is intact and if there is an eternal hunting ground, that is where I am headed. That or the river Styx. My opinion at this moment is my life has been far too short: the good I could do if given another year on my feet. Instead I am strapped to this bed, fouling myself like an infant.

The Son is this month’s First Edition Club pick. Philipp Meyer will be here June 26th at 5 PM to sign and read.

Don your stripes and thick black glasses y’all, Waldo season is upon us. Last year, Waldo hid stealthily in twenty local businesses all throughout the month of July and (hold on to your red hats people) we’ll be doing it again this July!

Here’s how it works: You and your family begin by picking up a passport.

A passport has the names and addresses of all twenty participating businesses on it, and each time you find Waldo (you’ll have to be willing to look hard though!) an employee from the business where you found him will sign off on your sheet.

Then you move on to the next spot where Waldo is hiding!

You guys will have a whole month, so take your time and get to know all of the cool people who live and work around you. Want to get to know Fondren better? Stop by Brent’s Drugs and get a milkshake and sip while you search. Or pop over to Belhaven and explore the Eudora Welty house with your kids and chances are you’ll find Waldo sneaking around!

If you and yours find the ever-elusive Waldo in at least ten locations, come by the store and get a prize! Here’s a little incentive to not give up on the search though- if you find Waldo in all twenty businesses you will get a bigger prize and also have your name entered for the grand prize drawing at the end of the month. The grand prize is awesome y’all- an amazing collector’s set of Waldo books that I would give anything to have in my own library. The grand prize drawing will be at a giant Waldo hooplah that we’ll be hosting at our store on Saturday, July 27 at 11:00, so make sure you don’t miss it! You have to be present to collect the prize if your name is drawn.

We’ll be kicking off on Monday, July 1st first thing in the morning and you can come by the store to pick up a passport (don’t forget to look for Waldo here in Lemuria) or you can start your hunt at any of the twenty businesses! We are so excited to be hosting such a cool event that encourages us to really get to know the city that we live in. So get ready to get hunting, make amazing memories, and get to know the amazing Jackson, Mississippi.

Participating Businesses:

Lemuria, Mississippi Children’s Museum, Polka Dot Pony, Pop Fizz, Fresh Ink, Eudora Welty House, Brent’s Drugs, Broad Street Bakery, Sneaky Beans, Nandy’s Candy, Jackson Zoo, Sal and Mookies, Museum of Art, Basil’s Belhaven, Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Crazy Cat Bakers, Old Tyme Commissary, Buffalo Peak, Mississippi Craft Center, Campbell’s Bakery

The title, The Happiness Diet, did not lead me to believe there was much to this book. My first impression was that it was just going to tell me a lot of fluff about some foods believed to make you happy. Well, I was wrong. This book is an easy-to-read, in-depth yet pragmatic look at the ills of the Modern American Diet (MAD) and how we got there, an explanation of how nutrients work together to do wonderful things for our bodies, and solutions to leave behind the MADness.

The Modern American Diet (MAD) consists largely one of simple sugars and refined carbohydrates which fool us into thinking we’re hungry when we’re not. MAD’s second largest source of calories are from refined vegetable and seed oils which have been linked to increased risk for depression. Another contributor to our MADness is factory farmed meat pumped full of antibiotics and hormones. With MAD you can “expand your waistline and starve your brain at the same time.” Studies are also showing that individuals on MAD have increased levels of depression, anxiety, mood swings, hyperactivity and a broad range of mental and emotional problems.

I have been carrying this book around with me for about two weeks. I have enjoyed it so much because it reaffirms the healthy choices I already make. One of my favorite parts of this book explains how different nutrients work together and the subsequent suggestions on food pairings. It also gave me new ideas on healthy eating as the last part of the book contains a diet plan and recipes. For example, I made hummus with red beans (antioxidant champions) instead of chick peas.

Yesterday I went to the Mississippi Farmer’s Market to get fresh veggies as our garden is not quite in full production yet. Here is a list of places to get Local Happy Foods. Each of these markets is unique.

If you know of any other markets in the area you like to go to, please add a comment.

 Mississippi Farmer’s Market Facebook Page

Located in Downtown Jackson off High Street.

Open every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from 8 am until 2 pm.

Fresh eggs on Saturday!

Fresh Local Produce in Fondren

3139 North State Street

I think this market is open almost every day. I have not been yet!

Livingston Farmer’s Market Facebook Page

129 Mannsdale Road, Madison, Mississippi 39110

Thursdays 4-8, May – October

Fresh produce, music, wine garden, kid fun!

Psychiatrist and award-winning author Andrew Solomon spent years interviewing families with children who are deaf, children conceived in rape, children who are transgender, children who are prodigies, children who became criminals, children with mental and developmental disorders. Each chapter in Far from the Tree explores a different group of families and the challenges they face. Any of these families can be terribly isolated because of their situations, but they show us all what it means to be a family. Some families come to embrace what they once feared, others become advocates, some families grow closer. Each family is so different but the one thing they have in common is compassion. Besides sharing these stories, Solomon takes a gracious step forward into his own exploration of being a son and of his hope to one day be a father.

You will also think, as Solomon does, of your own journey as a child, your journey into parenthood–or not. You will remember that child in your life who is different. You will consider the degree of acceptance and prejudice our society has for those that “fall far from the tree”, for those who gain their identity not just from their vertical parents but from a broader, or horizontal, culture and genetics. In exploring family after family, Solomon does a great deal to show the love despite the difficulties:

“For some parents of children with horizontal identities, acceptance reaches its apogee when parents conclude that while they supposed that they were pinioned by a great and catastrophic lost of hope, they were in fact falling in love with someone they didn’t yet know enough to want. As such parents look back, they see how every stage of loving their child enriched them in ways they never would have conceived, ways that are incalculably precious. Rumi said that the light enters you at the bandaged place. This book’s conundrum is that most of the families described here have ended up grateful for experiences they would have done anything to avoid.”

I tried to ignore this book, but every where I turned someone was talking about it. I tried to think that it was too long for me to read, but it’s not. Even it takes you a year, take it slow and read this book one chapter at a time.