Fine Bainbridge Island’s New community & Used bookstore Books since 1970 recommendations new releases SUMMER 2010 events, book groups & offerings ENJOY RECEIVING BOOKSTORE NEWS? FROM BAD TO VERSE: SUBSCRIBE TO OUR LIMERICK ANTHOLOGY E-NEWSLETTER FOR FINALLY OFF THE PRESS! BI-WEEKLY UPDATES! The wait is over for the versifiers and fans of the three-year-old Bainbridge Island Limerick Contest. The anthology From Bad to TO SIGN UP, Verse: Celebrating Three Years of Bainbridge Island Limericks is finally off the presses. VISIT From Bad to Verse weighs in at 104 pages and, in addition to www.eagleharborbooks.com winners, honorable mentions, and editors’ choice selections from the contest’s first three years starting in 2008, there are illustrations and prefatory notes for all three contests. a handful of staff picks: see inside for more! The idea for a limerick competition around Bainbridge places grew from a pipe dream of staff members Ann Combs and John BLOOD MERIDIAN: OR THE EVENING REDNESS IN THE WEST Willson during their dark hours closing Monday nights at the store. by Cormac McCarthy (Vintage) The project took on a life of its own, and in the first three years, “The greatest living American writer of fiction,” my long-suffering colleagues at we’ve received over 250 submissions from an enthusiastic commu- the bookstore keep hearing me say of Cormac McCarthy. Almost as often, they nity. alert me to a new book whose publishers advertise that it “brings to mind the To physically bring the book into the work of Cormac McCarthy.” Those books never measure up. Published in 1985 world, we dipped into the new technology and singled out by many as McCarthy’s masterpiece, Blood Meridian exemplifies available to the book industry for print-on- characteristics found in the more widely read later books of his Border Trilogy demand books, availing ourselves of the (All the Pretty Horses, Cities of the Plain, The Crossing): a setting that ranges across the American Southwest and Mexico, lyrical prose that often feels Biblical Espresso Book Machine (EBM) belong- in cadence and tone, characters that come alive in the mind’s eye, compelling ing to our estimable colleagues at Village dialogue, the heft of myth. This book charts a dark and violent journey. In my second reading the Books, a Bellingham indie bookstore character of The Judge especially intrigued me; he reminds me of the mysterious Kurtz in Conrad’s celebrating 30 years in business. The The Heart of Darkness, as well as another Kurtz in a film rendition of the same novel: Marlon EBM can have a 200+ page paperback Brando’s role in Apocalypse Now. Not for everyone, Blood Meridian is a difficult challenge that re- printed, bound, and ready for sale in wards its readers well. ~ John minutes. We hope to use this marvel of the book world in support of other worthy local publishing projects. THE MARITIME NORTHWEST GARDEN GUIDE From Bad to Verse is available at the store for the modest price produced by Seattle Tilth of $9.95. Proceeds from the sale of the book benefit Stephens House This publication is a great planting calendar for year-round gardening. It lets you and the Bainbridge Island Special Needs Foundation. know what flowers, herbs, and veggies grow best, when they should be planted and Of the bounty of wonderful verse this year, several efforts by John how to care for them. A wonderful reference for the Northwest gardener! ~ Kelly Morrow received Honorable Mentions. We got an extra chuckle from his second Chilly Hilly-themed poem on page 87, and feel that MAKING TOAST by Roger Rosenblatt (Ecco) this piece is pointing the contest in encouraging new directions. Roger Rosenblatt admits to having a talent for one domestic chore—that of breakfast Here is the winning limerick from this year’s competition, penned by duty and the ability to make the perfect piece of toast for each of his grandchildren. Al Gunby: He is called upon to practice this art after the sudden death of his daughter, Amy. A young man once sailed Agate Pass Rosenblatt and his wife, Ginny, leave home and move in with their son-in-law, Har- Along with his favorite lass; ris, and their three grandchildren. In Making Toast they are still there. This is a gen- In a clinch, he misjudged tle book peppered with fond memories of Amy, with instances of healing as each of and the bridge wouldn’t budge, them deals with his grief, and with the adjustments they all go through as the three generations learn to live together. Through it all, Rosenblatt’s skill with language and So his boat joined the cod and the bass. form prevents this eulogy from being either too stark or too sentimental. Instead, it’s the story of a ~~~~~ family dealing with tragedy one day, one crisis and one piece of toast at a time. ~ Ann We thank all those who shared their work! summer,1 2010 page celebrating 40 years of bookselling on bainbridge island PERMIT # 91 91 # PERMIT LYNNWOOD, WA WA LYNNWOOD, Bainbridge Island, Washington 98110 98110 Washington Island, Bainbridge PAID PAID 157 Winslow Way East East Way Winslow 157 U.S. POSTAGE POSTAGE U.S. Eagle Harbor Book Co. Co. Book Harbor Eagle PRSRT STD STD PRSRT what we’re reading, what we’re LOVING! poetry: news that stays new true grit: THE GRACE OF NECESSITY: POEMS adventures in mystery & speculative fiction by Samuel Green (Carnegie Mellon) Precise observations and illuminating reflections DOG ON IT by Spencer Quinn (Atria) THE FANTASY WRITER’S arising from points of contact between the realms Imagine a combination of Hank the Cow Dog and Rin Tin Tin ASSISTANT & OTHER STORIES of nature and humankind lay the groundwork for meeting The Rockford Files. Down-on-his- by Jeffrey Ford (Golden Gryphon Press) much of Samuel Green’s poetry. A longtime resi- luck PI Bernie Little and his canine sidekick If you pride yourself on discovering dent of a log home on Waldron Island and co- Chet prove to be an unbeatable team in this great writers off the beaten trail, then publisher, with his wife, of Brooding Heron first installment of the Chet and Bernie mys- Ford is for you. This is, hands down, Press, Green also brings to bear on these graceful tery series. Dog On It was such clever page- the best (and consistently great) collec- poems the redemptive power of working with one’s hands. To gain a turning fun I immediately read the second in tion of speculative fiction short stories sense of whether your library has a place for this volume, take time the series, Thereby Hangs a Tail, and am anx- I’ve come across. Ford, evading the to read “Laying Stone,” page 25, and “Old Man Folding a Kerchief iously awaiting the third. As Chet would say, trap of being “clever” that many short in the Supermarket,” page 105. Then dip into the marvelous, post “If you know of something more fun than this, story writers fall into, delivers wholly card-sized pieces—each one a gem—that comprise the section let me in on the secret.” ~ Ranae original and unpredictable tales. Each “Daily Practice, 2001-2002.” ~ John story is accompanied JOHANNES CABAL THE NECROMANCER by a brief insight WHITE EGRETS: POEMS by Jonathan Howard (Doubleday) from Ford, furthering (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux) by Derek Walcott Cabal—a necromancer of supreme skill, in- the reader’s under- Derek Walcott, winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in telligence, discipline, and social ineptitude— standing and enjoy- literature, is a poet who gives his readers a new yet sold his soul to the devil because it was ment. There are a familiar world on which to ruminate. In this, his skewing his experiments. Now, finding that couple of experimen- fourteenth collection of poetry, he writes of the truth he misses it more than he expected, he wants tal stories—admitted of time, the stubbornness of lust, and the grace of it back. But, oh, the task he must perform is as such by the love—all presented against the backdrop of the Car- nigh impossible! This Faustian tale is eru- author— that may ibbean. This is destined to be one of my favorite col- dite, wise, and more than a just little funny. leave you scratching your head, but lections of poetry for 2010. ~ Janis they do not detract in the least from But wrapped in this vastly entertaining pack- age is a finely wrought gift of a story with a one’s enjoyment of the whole. But, THE DEAD AND THE LIVING: POEMS heart. A rollicking good read and I can’t wait for JOHANNES shhhh, don’t tell anyone about Ford. by Sharon Olds (Knopf) CABAL THE DETECTIVE coming in July! ~ Paul He’ll be our little secret. ~ Paul I frequently use this exceptional early collection by Olds in my poetry writing workshop to demon- MR. PEANUT by Adam Ross (Knopf) strate the power of visual imagery. In Olds’ hands, At first it intrigued me, at times it repulsed me (as I’m sure it was meant to), and in the end it floored the 1905 black and white photograph serving as the me. In his first novel, Ross has conducted this symphony of a story with the skill of a veteran writer. source of “Ideographs,” page five, becomes a stage Ross reveals the deepest, darkest, guiltiest thoughts that men will never admit to and holds them up to on which figures in the photo beautifully and tragi- the light. Women may think it misogynist, but sometimes we learn the most from cautionary tales.