Northtownbooks

John Ross Reading and Memorial April 29

2011-04-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

Northtown Books will host a reading of poems and stories in memory of John Ross on Friday, April 29th from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The well-known journalist, who died this past winter in Mexico, has been celebrated in Mexico City and San Francisco’s Mission District, both for his writing and his devotion to be-bop and rebellion.

John Ross lived in Humboldt County for a decade beginning in the mid ‘70’s, mostly in the three or four blocks of downtown Arcata. His first poetry chapbooks were read and published on H Street, and while others were issued from San Francisco and Mexico City and his journalism brought him international renown, the poems and stories of those years appear throughout his work.

The event will be hosted by Jerry Martien and will feature old friends and fellow writers reading from John’s work, followed by a performance of some of his poems set to the music of SquarPeg.

A memorial ceremony will take place the following Sunday, May 1, in Trinidad. Meet in front of the elementary school at 2 PM, rain or shine. Bring a single red flower. Be prepared to walk to the cemetery (about a quarter mile). Arrangements will be made for anyone unable to walk this distance (email cemone@reninet.com in advance).

For much more about John and his life and work, go here.

Benjamin Ross presents The Polluters April 13

2011-04-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

In conjunction with Humboldt Baykeeper, Northtown Books welcomes Oxford University Press author Benjamin Ross Wednesday, April 13th at 7 p.m. for a presentation on his book The Polluters: The Making of Our Chemically Altered Environment.

The Polluters reveals at last the crucial decisions that allowed environmental issues to be trumped by political agendas. It spotlights the leaders of the chemical industry and describes how the...y applied their economic and political power to prevent the creation of an effective system of environmental regulation. Research was slanted, unwelcome discoveries were suppressed, and friendly experts were placed in positions of influence, as science was subverted to serve the interests of business. The story of The Polluters is one that needs to be told, an unflinching depiction of the onslaught of chemical pollution and the chemical industry's unwillingness to face up to its devastating effects.

"The engrossing, infuriating history of American pollution... An important, disheartening account of widespread willful ignorance."--Kirkus Reviews

"Startling, intense, and brilliantly elucidated... sharply relevant to the present-day disasters of the BP oil spill and the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion... an unlikely page-turner."--Booklist

"The Polluters documents how the strategies used by today's polluters to duck regulation of their toxic chemicals were pioneered by polluters who poisoned the American landscape and killed hundreds of Americans in the early twentieth century. For nearly one-hundred years, corporate polluters have subverted democracy and corrupted public officials to control government regulation of toxic chemicals maximizing profits at the expense of public health."--Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Sharon Levy Friday, April 8

2011-04-02T11:25:00.000-07:00

Sharon Levy brings her new popular science book from Oxford University Press, Once and Future Giants: What Ice Age Extinctions Tell Us About the Fate of Earth’s Largest Animals, to Northtown Books on Friday, April 8 at 7 p.m.

Mammoths, camels and saber-toothed cats once walked the ground that has become Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, and foraged on the marsh land now buried beneath Chicago’s streets. Then, just as the first humans reached the Americas, these Ice Age giants vanished forever. Today great beasts like elephants, lions and grizzly bears are threatened worldwide. Sharon’s talk will explore relationships between people and big wild animals, past and present, and the vital lessons ancient extinctions can hold for modern conservation.

Sharon is a veteran science journalist and biologist who covers conservation and biology for OnEarth, New Scientist, BioScience, Audubon, Nature, and other magazines. She has lived in Arcata since 1994.

For more info on Sharon and her work, please go here.

Novelist Summer Wood February 26

2011-02-23T14:36:00.000-08:00

Summer Wood presents her new novel Wrecker, set in part in the Mattole Valley, at Northtown Books Saturday, February 26 at 7 pm.

It’s June of 1965 when Wrecker enters the world. The war is raging in Vietnam, San Francisco is tripping toward flower power, and Lisa Fay – a young innocent from a family farm down south – is knocked nearly sideways by life as a single mother in a city she could barely manage to navigate as just one.

Three years later, she’s alone again. Kids aren’t allowed in prison. And Wrecker, scared silent, furious, and hell-bent on breaking every last thing that crosses his path, is shipped off to live with distant relatives in the wilds of Humboldt County.

“Wrecker is a wonderful portrait of a California long lost, but still alive here. Wrecker will wreck your heart and then put it back together again, with the big heart of a chosen family.” —Susan Straight, author of Highwire Moon and Take One Candle Light a Room

“This novel is a love song to well intentioned, wholly dedicated, and deeply flawed motherhood. Summer Wood creates more than just a great story, deftly, elegantly, and intricately told. She broadens both our notion of family, and our appreciation for whatever we call our own. Wrecker is a big-hearted, big-loving compassionate book.” — Pam Houston, author of Cowboys Are My Weakness

Nicholas Karavatos returns February 3

2011-01-26T17:31:00.000-08:00

Briefly returning to the United States from the United Arab Emirates, poet Nicholas Karavatos will be performing in spontaneous collaboration with electric guitarist Jeff Kelley Thursday, February 3 at Northtown Books at 7 pm.

In December 2009, Amendment Nine published Karavatos' first book, titled No Asylum, designed by Richard LaPreziosa and printed by Robert Arena at Bug Press in Arcata.

Nicholas Karavatos lives near Dubai, teaching literature and writing at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. He’s been an Assistant Professor there since 2006. He taught general studies at a small private college in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman from 2001 to 2006.

Jeff Kelley will be playing guitar in spontaneous collaboration with Nick. These spoken word performances are the latest phase in an aural collaboration that dates from 1983.

“Nicholas Karavatos is a poet of great range and clarity. This book is an amazing collection of smart sharp political poetry in tandem with astute and tender love lyrics. All of it voiced with an impressive singularity.” - David Meltzer

John Ross 1938-2011

2011-01-20T15:02:00.002-08:00

We're very sad to note the recent passing of poet and journalist John Ross, a longtime friend of Northtown Books.

John was a fixture on the poetry scene in Arcata in the 70s, and after he moved his home base to Mexico he'd still make regular stops in Humboldt on his various book tours. We'll miss him.

His friend Frank Bardacke gives a good account of John's life and work at Counterpunch.

Photo from the North Coast Journal Blogthing.

Cannabiz author John Geluardi November 5

2010-10-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

November 5th at 7 pm, journalist John Geluardi comes to Northtown Books.

His new book Cannabiz tells one the most important political and business stories of our generation: the transformation of a counterculture movement into a growth industry with staggering potential. Charting the rise of medical marijuana in California and 14 other states, award-winning journalist John Geluardi vividly recounts the movement’s early activism, its legal challenges and victories, and its emergence as a commercial and political force.

Tracing the history of marijuana in the United States, Cannabiz also reports on the industry’s key players, political allies and opponents, internal strife, and audacious aspirations—including a 2010 ballot initiative to legalize the adult use of marijuana in California. Along the way, Geluardi describes local efforts to regulate dispensaries, ranging from workable ordinances in some cities to bureaucratic paralysis in Los Angeles, where dispensaries came to outnumber McDonalds franchises. He also reports on efforts in our own Humboldt County to keep pot illegal—and prices high.

Adroitly profiling this unique industry, Cannabiz tells a distinctively American story—one whose colorful characters and fascinating details evoke Prohibition and the Gold Rush.

John Geluardi is a veteran Bay Area reporter. A staff writer for SF Weekly, he wrote features on crime, local and national politics, and culture. In 2008, he received three first-place awards from the San Francisco Penninsula Press Club for his stories on vice presidential candidate Matt Gonzalez, the legendary Caffe Trieste, and a series of San Francisco homicides the police falsely classified as suicides.

Praise for Cannabiz

“Cannabiz fully captures the vibrant and ever-evolving political and economic landscape of the budding medical marijuana industry. Geluardi accurately paints the City of Oakland as a leader in legitimizing the industry and as the Silicon Valley of cannabis.”
—Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Councilmember

“Cannabiz is politically informative and culturally astute. Geluardi paints a complex picture of a transitional moment—one in which the nation’s kneejerk anti-marijuana politics and criminal justice sanctions are falling out of favor. He shows how medical marijuana, a once outlandish idea, has become mainstream, and how quickly America’s economic and political culture has adapted to this new reality.”
—Sasha Abramsky, Inside Obama’s Brain and Breadline USA

Jerry Martien: At the School of Doors September 17th

2010-09-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Jerry Martien will read and sign copies of his poetry chapbook, At the School of Doors, on Friday, September 17, at Northtown Books in Arcata at 7 pm.

The six-page poem draws on the author’s experience as a poet and teacher, a carpenter, and a doorman at Arcata’s Jambalaya Club. It is printed, folded and sewn (all by hand) so its cover and two sheets of paper open and close like doors. The edition of 150 copies is issued by Tangram, the small press imprint of Berkeley printer Jerry Reddan, who began his trade at Eureka Printing in the 1970’s.

Martien will read this and other poems of passage, followed by a discussion of art and craft, writing and earning a living, and the role of metaphor in making sense of our lives.

Martien is the author of several Tangram chapbooks and broadsides, and a collection of poetry, Pieces in Place. He has recorded two CDs, Jerry Martien and the Band of Angels, and recently The Road to Heaven with bass player Shao Way Wu. Besides his door jobs and brief stints as a nighwatchman and truck driver, he has edited small magazines, worked at Northtown Books, and taught in rural classrooms with California Poets in the Schools and in Humboldt State’s creative writing program.

The reading and discussion is free to the public.

Joesph Mattson reads from Empty the Sun, Thursday September 9th

2010-09-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

"Here I was, doing ninety on the Santa Monica Freeway with a quart of whiskey shoved into my crotch and my dead neighbor in the trunk. It had come time to leave Los Angeles"

Thus begins Joseph Mattson's new post apocalyptic whiskey drenched novel, which culminates in a shotgun battle with God.

Thursday September 9th at 7 pm, Northtown Books welcomes Joseph Mattson to read from his new novel, Empty the Sun. The novel includes a CD soundtrack by former Humboldtian Ben Chasny (aka Six Organs of Admittance).

"Joseph Mattson writes like a guitar player with nineteen fingers - everywhere at once, stinging, dark, and beautiful."

--Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight

"Several passages induced the shiver of aesthetic bliss in my spine that Nabokov famously described as the indicator of good and true writing."

--James Greer, author of Guided by Voices: A Brief History

"Joseph Mattson is a monster of a writer"

--Beth Lisick, author of Everybody Into the Pool.

For more on the book go here.

See Joseph Mattson battle Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin for watermelon supremacy with music from the soundtrack for Empty the Sun by Six Organs of Admittance:

Sanae, Senryu Poet: Her Life in 5-7-5

2010-08-26T16:12:00.000-07:00

Friday August 27th at 7 pm, Northtown Books welcome Amy and Aiko Uyeki to Northtown Books to read and sign their new book 'Sanae, Senryu Poet: Her Life in 5-7-5'.

Shizue Harada came to the United States in the 1920s following her husband in arranged marriage. She didn’t become Sanae, a writer of a Japanese poetry form called senryu, un...til she had lived a full life, working factory jobs and raising two children.

Sanae’s daughter, Aiko Uyeki, has compiled her poetry in a collection that captures Sanae’s strong Buddhist faith, her wry humor and simple wisdom, her musings about growing old and her approaching death.

Complementing these poems is the artwork of Amy Uyeki, Sanae’s granddaughter. With word and image, a picture is painted of the life of Shizue Harada, a Meiji era wife whose story mirrors many first generation Japanese Americans who left familiar shores to seek the American dream.

Please join us for this special event.

William Ayers returns Wednesday, August 18th

2010-08-16T14:49:00.000-07:00

William Ayers returns to Northtown Books with his new graphic novel To Teach Wednesday, August 18th at 7 pm. He'll be joined by his partner Bernardine Dohrn.

This new graphic novel brings to life William Ayers’s bestselling memoir To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher. From Ayers’s early days teaching kindergarten, readers follow this renowned educational theorist on his “voyage of discovery and surprise.” We meet fellow travelers f...rom schools across the country and watch students grow across a year and a lifetime.

To Teach is a vivid, honest portrayal of the everyday magic of teaching, and what it means to be a “good” teacher—debunking myths perpetuated on film and other starry-eyed hero/teacher fictions. Illuminated by the evocative and wry drawings of Ryan Alexander-Tanner, this graphic version of To Teach will engage while it instructs. It is a much-needed reminder of how curiosity, a sense of adventure, and a healthy dose of reflection can guide us all to learn the most from this world as we educate the next generation. Teacher educators and professional developers will want to use this dynamic graphic novel alongside the traditional text for a unique teaching and learning experience.

“To Teach is hilarious serious and fabulous! A broad manifesto that will change many people’s lives.”
—Laurie Anderson, artist and musician

“Bill Ayers’s theories about teaching reform rest on at least two foundations. One is that the hierarchical relationship between the student and teacher should be moved out of the way, followed by simultaneous learning by teacher and student. The second is to demonstrate how some subjects blend with others (math with science) and all should be taught with their relationship in mind. Sounds good to me. A serious book, but laced with humor. It will strike most readers as a novel approach. Required reading for all educators.”
—Harvey Pekar, author, American Splendor series

Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak and Friends

2010-08-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

Join us at this Friday at 7 pm as Vanessa Pike-Vrtiak reads from her new book of poetry, The Thunderbird Extinction: Acapella Remedies for the Heart. She'll be raising funds to represent Humboldt at the Individual World Slam Poetry competition.

There will also be performances from Travis Lockwood, Therese FitzMaurice, David Holper, Melanie Quillen, Megan Davis, the Johnson Brothers, Hula Hoop performers, and live music.

Poet Jacqueline Suskin reads Friday, July 9th for Arts Arcata

2010-07-01T17:14:00.000-07:00

Jacqueline Suskin, proprietor of Poem Store, brings her first book of poetry, The Collected, to Northtown Books. The event on Friday July 9th, during Arts Arcata, will include a reading by Jacqueline at 7pm.

The book is a collection of snapshots found in Florida flea markets, roadside ditches, junk shops, and trash bins. 23 poems are printed opposite the original photographs that inspired their creation. Please come and join in the celebration.

For more info on Jacqueline, go here.

Jerry Martien and Shao Way Wu June 11 at 7 pm

2010-06-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

Poet Jerry Martien will perform selections from his new CD release 'The Road To Heaven' Friday, June 11 at 7 pm at Northtown Books. He will be accompanied by Shao Way Wu on stand up bass.

Get a taste of what they'll do here at the archives of the Mad River Anthology. The photo below is from that session.

Jerry Martien has published several books of poetry, the most recent being Pieces in Place. He is also the author of Shell Game: A True Account of Beads and Money in North America.

"Lyrics, philosophy, regional politics, ecstatic understated invocations! Finding where we stand. All with a sardonic but compassionate eye. I am deeply pleased that the poetry of Jerry Martien - I have admired it for years - is now available." Gary Snyder

Katy Tahja here Friday, May 14

2010-05-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

At Northtown Books on Friday, May 14 at 7 pm, Katy M. Tahja will sign and talk about her new book Humboldt State University, a photographic essay on the history of HSU from Arcadia Publishing.

Covering almost 100 years, the book shares the growth of the college through the years. Tahja hand-picked more than 200 vintage images, many from the HSU library's Humboldt Room archive, to depict a century of changes. The book is arranged with chapters featuring the six presidents who guided Humboldt over the decades, areas of study, professors, social life on campus, sports, and the physical beauty of the area.

Katy M. Tahja is also the author of Rails Across the Noyo: A Rider's Guide to the Skunk Train and All Roads Lead to Comptche, and she has been a librarian and local historian on the Mendocino Coast for 35 years. Katy, husband David, and daughter Fern all graduated from Humboldt State University of a 37-year span.

Pie and Poetry!

2010-04-29T21:10:00.001-07:00

Saturday, April 24th Northtown hosted Pie & Poetry in honor of National Poetry month.

Poet Jacqueline Suskin wrote poems to order for some, and a good time was had by all.

(Photos courtesy of Terrence McNally and the Arcata Eye).

Wherever There's A Fight - Saturday May 1st 7pm

2010-04-26T13:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 1st at 7 pm, Northtown Books will host an event celebrating the release of Wherever There’s a Fight: How Runaway Slaves, Suffragists, Immigrants, Strikers, and Poets Shaped Civil Liberties in California by Elaine Elinson and Stan Yogi.

Wherever There's a Fight captures the sweeping story of how freedom and equality have grown in California, from the gold rush right up to the precarious post-9/11 era. The book tells the stories of the brave individuals who have stood up for their rights in the face of social hostility, physical violence, economic hardship, and political stonewalling.

The book connects the experiences of early Chinese immigrants subjected to discriminatory laws to those of professionals who challenged McCarthyism and those of people who have fought to gain equal rights in California schools: people of color, people with disabilities, and people standing up for their religious freedom. The authors bring a special focus to the World War II internment of Japanese Americans, focusing on the infamous Korematsu case, which was foreshadowed by a century of civil liberties violations and reverberates in more recent times—regrettably, even today in the Patriot Act. And they follow the ongoing struggles for workers' rights and same-sex marriage.

State and federal constitutions spell out many liberties and rights, but it is the people who challenge prejudice and discrimination that transform those lofty ideals into practical realities. Wherever There's a Fight paints vivid portraits of these people and brings to light their often hidden stories.

For more info, go here:
http://www.wherevertheresafight.com/

About the Authors

Elaine Elinson was the communications director of the ACLU of Northern California and editor of the ACLU News for more than two decades. She is a coauthor of Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines, which was banned by the Marcos regime. Her articles have been published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Nation, Poets and Writers, and numerous other periodicals. She is married to journalist Rene CiriaCruz and they have one son.

Stan Yogi has managed development programs for the ACLU of Northern California since 1997. He is the coeditor of two books, Highway 99: A Literary Journey through California's Great Central Valley and Asian American Literature: An Annotated Bibliography. His work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, MELUS, Los Angeles Daily Journal, and several anthologies. He is married to nonprofit administrator David Carroll and lives in Oakland.

DIGITAL BURN: the Remaking of the Independent Bookseller

2010-04-26T13:03:00.000-07:00

by A. Bitterman, Feb. 2010

“But before I let your steam drill beat me down, I’d die with a hammer in my hand, lord, lord. I’d die with a hammer in my hand…”

Nearly 20 years ago, publishing companies made a decision to tilt the scales of supply and demand knowing full well that in the process they would devastate the independent bookselling industry for years to come. Maybe even destroy it. The promise of unprecedented profits was too much to ignore.

In order to endorse and sustain the superstore model put forth by companies like Borders and Barnes & Noble, publishers employed a strategy of over-production in order to supply enough books to cover the miles and miles of new book shelves that far exceeded actual customer demand.

To make it work, publishers needed to establish an asymmetric retail environment that would function as a safety net to capture the inevitably large returns that would result from over-supplying the big box stores.
This meant creating a new kind of bargain book market that would not only offer breathtaking discounts on out-of-print remainders but on new books as well, books that were over-printed and were still being sold at the cover price in most of the traditional independent retail outlets.

The coincident emergence of online retailing helped fuel publisher confidence in the new model. Independents were caught in a death grip, wedged between the superstore and the bargain book, an unsustainable position that immediately rendered them old-fashioned, inconvenient, and over-priced in the public’s mind.

Obediently, independent booksellers pitted themselves against the superstore, in many cases because they really thought that was the enemy, but ultimately because they had no choice. How could they assail the real enemy, the publishers - their masters - who supplied them, extended credit to them, sent authors to them?

What was once a legitimate playing field for independent booksellers became a plantation almost overnight. Publishers no longer needed them and if they were to survive it would be by their own sheer grit and determination, nothing more or less. The master looked away while thousands perished.

Between 1993 and 2003, the number of independent book retailers diminished by more than half, and their consumer market share dwindled from 30+% to less than 10%. The downward trend continues, albeit more slowly, accompanied by the sound of fingernails dragging across loose rock.

But there is hope on the horizon for the independent bookseller, and it comes in a strange and perhaps unexpected form - the e-book.

Reflexively, independent booksellers by and large view the digital book as a threat not just to their livelihood but to the legacy of which they perceive themselves a vital part. It is an affront to what they have been fighting for and dying for all along.

Unlike chain stores and online retailers, independent booksellers have a sensual relationship with their product. They like real books - the way they feel, the way they smell, the way they fit in your hand. They like the history that an actual book possesses, even a bad one. A digital book has no inherent sensual value. It is like the difference between going to a baseball game and watching the game day version on your computer. There is no comparison, and the hot dogs will never taste the same.

Nonetheless, independent booksellers should be rooting for electronic media. Their survival may depend on it.

The digital book has rapidly become a source of both profit and high anxiety in recent years for all sectors of the publishing industry. With Google attempting to digitize the universe and e-book platforms multiplying seemingly day-by-day, digital piracy plagues the publishers to the tune of a billion dollars a year.

With that kind of hemorrhaging, publishers can no longer afford to accommodate the price wars they instigated back in the 90’s with printed matter. There is no safety net with digital media. It’s a high wire act with high stakes. And with no net there is no room for error when it comes to the bottom line.

With this in mind, Macmillan Publishers, with the support of their counterparts in “the big six”, recently fired a shot across the bow by fixing prices on their electronic media so that vendors like Amazon.com would no longer be able to slash prices and undercut their competitors. This way, publishers can ensure maximum returns regardless of their distribution outlet.

In response, Amazon issued one of the most brilliantly absurd statements in the history of public relations: “Macmillan has a monopoly over its own titles.” Which is like saying Coke has a monopoly over Coke products, or that Jesus has a monopoly over his disciples. It would be funny if it wasn’t so telling of the sort of delusional thinking that has come into fashion, particularly among online retailers and their consumers, that everything is for the taking and that nothing, including provenance, is above the market.

In any case, while industry insiders spin the Macmillan incident as a shift in power from distributors to content providers, what this really means to traditional booksellers is that publishers are finally feeling the edges of their superstore model and it’s about to bite them in the ass. They’re afraid of the what’s coming. It may have taken 20+ years, but the independent bookseller may yet be rewarded for its tenacity.

As digital media proliferates, the market share for printed material will naturally decrease over time, rendering the superstore model ineffective. It’s already happening, with Borders on life support (and no hope of recovering) and Barnes and Noble trending flat on in-store sales. One can reasonably expect to see Barnes and Noble reining in and streamlining its bricks and mortar operations in the coming years, (boasting efficiency and a new kind of “knowledge & service” that makes their new smaller stores superior to their behemoth ancestors,) and turning its attention more fully to its online retail efforts.

This will open more markets for independents already on the ground. Specialty stores will become more viable. As the weight shifts to the e-book, publishers may well choose to fix prices on printed books as well in order to protect profits in both sectors. This too will help independents gain advantage in what remains of the printed book market.

It’s worth noting here that several countries in Europe have always required fixed pricing on printed books and that the result has been the coexistence of a thriving independent bookselling industry alongside a healthy online and chain store market.

Historically, America has resisted market controls like fixed pricing because, well, it’s unAmerican. Our entire notion of freedom and progress derives from a slavish belief in free markets. We would rather see John Henry die with a hammer in his hand, and hold him up as a hero, than make room for both him and the steam drill. It’s a pathology that constantly pits old against new, and allows us to believe that the future is inevitable in whatever form it takes. We know deep down that this is not really the case because radio didn’t die with the advent of television, nor did home video replace the movie house, and bicycles are still being manufactured.

The notion that digital and printed media are mutually exclusive is a mythology better left alone. What’s really happening now is that e-books are giving new life to the printed word. Fewer and better books will be brought to press. New markets will open as the superstores retract. Small retailers will rise up and in turn provide new opportunities for publishers to really diversify their product in ways not seen for over a decade.

The temptation to engage digital media as the enemy is self-defeating. History need not be repeated. John Henry need not die. For independent booksellers, now is the time for a quiet smile and a pat on the back as publishers are forced to come to terms with the monster in the (big) box.

A. Bitterman
Reading Reptile
328 W. 63rd St.
Kansas City, MO 64113
816-753-0441
pete@readingreptile.com

MARCH READING GROUP

2010-02-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter is our March reading group selection. Our next meeting will be on March 14th at 5:30 here at the bookstore. Books are in and behind the counter at a 10% discount.

Here's a reading guide for the book.

DOUGLAS BEVINGTON

2010-02-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

In association with EPIC, Northtown Books will host Douglas Bevington, author of The Rebirth of Environmentalism: Grassroots Activism from the Spotted Owl to the Polar Bear, for a discussion and signing Friday February 19th at 7 pm.

Bevington offers engaging case studies of three of the most influential biodiversity protection campaigns—the Headwaters Forest campaign, the “zero cut” campaign on national forests, and the endangered species litigation campaign exemplified by the Center for Biological Diversity—providing the reader with an in-depth understanding of the experience of being involved in grassroots activism.

Based on first-person interviews with key activists in these campaigns, the author explores the role of tactics, strategy, funding, organization, movement culture, and political conditions in shaping the influence of the groups. He also examines the challenging relationship between radicals and moderate groups within the environmental movement, and addresses how grassroots organizations were able to overcome constraints that had limited the advocacy of other environmental organizations.

Filled with inspiring stories of activists, groups, and campaigns that most readers will not have encountered before, The Rebirth of Environmentalism explores how grassroots biodiversity groups have had such a big impact despite their scant resources, and presents valuable lessons that can help the environmental movement as a whole—as well as other social movements—become more effective.

Here's a recent piece Bevington wrote for Counterpunch.

January Reading Group

2009-12-21T11:32:00.000-08:00

We have selected Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for our next book. Copies are available now, behind the counter, at a 10% discount.

We also decided to reschedule our next meeting to the second MONDAY of the month, so we will be meeting at 6:00 on the 11th of January, 2010 here at Northtown Books.

Don't forget to check out our (fairly) new Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Northtown-Books/172333521554?ref=ts

And here are a couple of relevant links:

http://colummccann.com/
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2009_f_mccann.html

And here's Mr. McCann himself talking about the book:

LOCALLY DELICIOUS

2009-12-02T15:15:00.001-08:00

Friday December 4th at 7 pm, Northtown Books hosts an event celebrating a new book: Locally Delicious: Recipes and Resources for Eating on the North Coast.

The book describes where to find local food and gives ideas for eating locally on a budget and offers a regional agricultural history along with a discussion of issues that are restricting local agriculture.

For more info, go here.

DECEMBER READING GROUP: MY STROKE OF INSIGHT

2009-11-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

The second Sunday of each month, Northtown Books hosts its own book group. Next month's selection is My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. Taylor writes about her experience of a stroke from the perspective of an expert.

Our next meeting will be December 13th at 5:30 here at the bookstore. Books are available behind the counter for a 10% discount.

Here's a TED talk by Jill Bolte Taylor:

JOHN ROSS

2009-11-10T09:42:00.000-08:00

John Ross will read, sign and discuss his new book El Monstruo: Dread and Redemption in Mexico City Friday, November 13 at 7 pm, kicking off his book tour in his old stomping grounds here in Humboldt County.

Ross—poet, journalist, and globetrotting troublemaker—has lived in what the Aztec-Mexicas described as "the umbilicus of the universe" since the great Mexico City earthquake of 1985 crushed out as many as 30,000 lives. Over the years, he has watched the city—El Monstruo—pick itself up, bury its dead, and come battling back. But he is filled with a gnawing unease that Mexico City's days as the most gargantuan, chaotic, crime-ridden, toxically contaminated urban stain in the Western world is doomed, that the monster he has grown to know and love through a quarter of a century of reporting on its foibles and tragedies and festering blight will be globalized into one more McCity.

Covering 4,000,000,000 years of history from the primal broth that first spewed out the monster to the Aztec-Mexica oblivion through centuries of rapine and revolution all the way to the Great Swine Flu Panic of 2009, El Monstruois a phantasmagoric retelling of the story of Mexico City, with which Ross's own history has become hopelessly entwined.

In the tradition of Suketu Mehta's Maximum City, Roberto Bolaño's The Savage Detectives and Joseph Mitchell's Up At The Old Hotel, Ross's El Monstruo is a unique exploration of the mother of all mega-cities. Never before has anyone told from ground level the gritty, vibrant histories of this left city of 23 million faceless, fearless souls, listened to the stories of those who have not been crushed by the Monster, deconstructed the Monstruo's very monstrousness and lived to tell its secrets.

John Ross is the author of the acclaimed memoir Murdered by Capitalism, which was praised by Thomas Pynchon and chosen as a San Francisco Chronicle Book of the Year. Based in Mexico City for the last two decades, Ross's reporting has appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian, The Nation, Texas Observer, and Counterpunch, to name a few. He is the winner of an Upton Sinclair Award and an American Book Award. His books include Rebellion from the Roots, The Annexation of Mexico and the novel Tonatiuh's People.

To read an excerpt from the book, go here.

For John's most recent dispatch from Mexico in Counterpunch, go here.

John will also be presenting a book he co-edited and wrote the introduction for, IraqiGirl: Diary of a Teenage Girl in Iraq, the story of a teenager who was fifteen years old when she began blogging from her home city of Mosul, Iraq, in July 2004.

THE CRYING TREE

2009-11-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

Saturday, November 7th at 6 pm Naseem Rakha will sign her novel The Crying Tree at Northtown Books.

Naseem is an award-winning journalist whose stories have been heard on NPR’s All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace Radio, Christian Science Monitor, and Living on Earth.

Here's what the author herself says about the book:

The murder of a child dredges up the most painful emotions. There is no justicein it, no justification, and no way to find solace. Remorse and vengeance become inseparable from the souls of the people left behind. Yet, somehow there are inspirational stories of those who have come to forgiveness.

I found this baffling situation as a reporter covering an execution for public radio and then later in interviews with the parents of murder victims. I wanted to understand how an individual can move from one place to another – hate to forgiveness, despondency to hope – what that road looks like, and what toll it must exact.

The Crying Tree is that story, told through the lives of two main characters: Irene Stanley, the mother of slain 15-year-old Steven Joseph Stanley, and Tab Mason, the stoic and determined superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary who is preparing to execute the boy’s murderer.

Here's an interview with Naseem:

MEDICINE TRAILS

2009-10-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

Karuk medicine woman Mavis McCovey and cultural anthropologist John F. Salter will make an appearance at Northtown Books in conjunction with their new book Medicine Trails, Monday, November 2nd at 6:30 pm.

Sometime in 1933 here in Humboldt County, a Karuk medicine woman named Daisy Jones had a vision identifying the tribe's next medicine woman. Later that year, Mavis Smither (McCovey) was born, and in the first twelve years of her life she was groomed by a designated group of medicine women to become a spiritual healer.

Medicine Trails is Mavis McCovey's honest and lively account of the many worlds in which she moves: the Indian and white cultural worlds, and the day-to-day and visionary reality of the medicine woman's world, as well as trips to what she calls "the other side": one of the responsibilities of a medicine woman is to bring back a medicine man's soul if he gets lost on the trails of the world beyond—a task McCovey has been called upon to do.

One of very few first-person accounts of Native American healers, Medicine Trails is invaluable for its insights into the experiences of a modern-day medicine woman. And McCovey is a warm and engaging guide not only to her life, but also her family's history and the history of the Karuk, Yurok, and Hupa peoples of the region.

Mavis McCovey has lived along the Klamath River in northwestern California all her life. Trained as a child to be a medicine woman, she assists with the traditional ceremonies of her tribe, the Karuk. The mother of five children, she has also worked as a community health representative and a nurse, and she has been an advocate on issues affecting the health and well-being of the native people of her region.

Dr. John Salter is a cultural anthropologist, teacher, and writer who has worked intermittently with the Karuk Tribe of California and Karuk people since 1968. Trained by Gregory Bateson, Salter received his Ph.D. for a study of the social ecology of the Salmon and Klamath River area. He currently lives in Sacramento, California.

Mavis McCovey makes no exotic claims about her powers, but describes those functions as seamlessly integrated in Karuk culture. More importantly, she describes a living contemporary culture, enriching the melancholy beauty of our shared world
—Freeman House, from the foreword

NATASHA WING

2009-09-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

Natasha Wing presents her new children's book An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers Friday, September 11 at 7 pm at Northtown Books.

Her book is about a neighbor of hers when she was growing up in Connecticut, the artist of the "Homage to the Square" series who studied color for 25 years and changed how teachers taught color. The book features art by Julia Breckenreid.

Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about the book:

This creative biography explores how Albers, perhaps best known for his paintings of squares in different color combinations, “saw art in the simplest things.” Albers is pictured rummaging for scrap materials in a dump, which he turns into “collages that shined like jewels.” As a teacher, Albers told his students, “Watch what’s going on... and capture the accident.” After visiting Mexico—Albers is shown climbing an abstract temple-like structure of colorful rectangles—he reflects on the effects of combining different colors: “Colors came to life like actors on a stage!” An accessible and lively introduction to this artist and to color theory.

Natasha Wing is best known for her paperback series based on the popular story, The Night Before Christmas. The stories are about families celebrating holidays and other big events in kids’ lives such as the first day of school and losing a tooth. Her titles include The Night Before Easter, the original book in the series which was published in 1999, and The Night Before Kindergarten, the highest-selling title which has regularly been on bestseller lists since its publication in 2001.

Wing’s multicultural book, Jalapeño Bagels, is a favorite among second grade teachers and students since it is included in several textbook series. The story is based on Los Bagels in Arcata.

Wing is a graduate of Arizona State University and has been writing children’s books and articles since 1991.

For more info on Natasha and her books, visit her website.

SEPTEMBER READING GROUP

2009-08-19T17:33:00.000-07:00

Our next book club selection is Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. As usual, it's available for a 10 % discount.

Here's an NPR story on the book.

The next meeting will be Sunday, September 13th at 5:30. It will be our fifth year anniversary, so there's a good chance of celebratory cake.

Please join us.

BILL AYERS AND BERNARDINE DOHRN

2009-08-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 14 at 7 pm educator/activists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn present their new book Race Course Against White Supremacy at Northtown Books.

White supremacy and its troubling endurance in American life is debated in these personal essays by two American veteran political activists. Arguing that white supremacy has been the dominant political system in the United States since its earliest days and that it is still very much with us. The discussion points to unexamined bigotry in the criminal justice system, election processes, war policy, and education. The book draws upon the authors' own confrontations with authorities during the Vietnam era, reasserts their belief that racism and war are interwoven issues, and offers personal stories about their lives today as parents, teachers, and reformers.

Reactionaries stuck in the 60s conjure Scooby-doo ghosts to chase. But the real William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are fully in the present, fighting on behalf of the disempowered and dispossessed.

-Jeff Chang, author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation

"Having made an extraordinary journey together from Sixties militants to accomplished scholars, Bernardine Dohrn and William Ayers bring to the subject of race a special sensibility. Their work is a troubling challenge to white people to
examine, not only the world round them, but their own psyche, their own behavior, and to act accordingly."

-Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

UPDATE: Heidi Walters of The North Coast Journal recently interviewed Bill and Bernardine.

AUGUST BOOK GROUP

2009-07-15T12:24:00.000-07:00

We have chosen The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria for our August meeting. Copies are available behind the counter at a 10% discount.

Here are some links to peruse from the New Yorker, Wikipedia, and our local North Coast Journal on the book.

And here's a BBC interview with Zakaria:

Join us to discuss foreign affairs here at Northtown Books August 9th, the second Sunday of the month, at 5:30.

Image of a typical reader of the book from The NY Times book blog, Paper Cuts.

URSULA OSBOURNE

2009-07-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday, July 10 at 7 pm, Northtown Books welcomes Ursula Osbourne, who will talk about her translation of Heinrich F. Liebrecht's memoir, Not To Hate But To Love, That Is What I Am Here For: My Path Through The Hell Of The Third Reich.

She recently talked to the Times-Standard about the book:

Liebrecht became a friend of Osborne's parents in Hamburg, after she and her two younger siblings had been sent to safety in England. Her parents were fortunate: In 1941 they obtained a U.S. visa and left Germany, among the very last Jews to escape Nazi-occupied Europe. For Liebrecht and his family, the border was sealed.

A long search for legal and illegal escape proved futile for Liebrecht, his wife, Lies, and their infant daughter, Eva-Maria. Liebrecht was arrested. Lies placed Eva-Maria with a trusted friend, then committed suicide.

During interrogations, Liebrecht endured brutal beatings and near starvation until he was sent to the concentration camp Theresienstadt. There, as was to prove true throughout his entire ordeal, he found inspiration. Even though many -- Germans and prisoners alike -- sank to subhuman levels, others displayed courage and humanity amid the deprivation and disorder.

”Despite these miserable circumstances,” Liebrecht wrote, “the accomplishments
by camp inmates are as worthy of remembrance as any other honorable acts of this war.”

Physicians stemmed the tide of epidemics, youth leaders schooled children, and workers of all descriptions strove to improve physical conditions. Musicians, writers and other artists, along with philosophers and clergy, nurtured spiritual and artistic enlightenment.

Among them was the kind-hearted chief rabbi of Germany, Dr. Leo Baeck, to whom Liebrecht, a Jew who converted to Catholicism, was most grateful. It was Baeck's philosophical lectures that were known for their depth and clarity that helped him stay connected to faith and reason -- reason to stay alive.

”That is where the wellsprings of our strength lay, that is where the conviction grew that we still had some kind of calling,” he wrote. “From here came the impulse to really endure, and the belief that we were able to do so.”

Liebrecht's mother arrived in the camp, unwell but content to spend her last days near her son. Later, his toddler daughter and her caretaker also arrived at Theresienstadt, affording a brief family reunion before Liebrecht's mother died in the infirmary.

Eva-Maria -- whom most at the camp endearingly called “little fawn” -- became sickly when the caretaker was sent to Auschwitz. Again, the determined effort of a fellow camp inmate, a nurse named Böszi, helped the child recover and thrive.

The family's next destination was Auschwitz, where father and daughter were separated. Liebrecht was among the men who avoided the gas ovens and was sent to hard labor at yet another camp -- but only after a dehumanizing physical inspection by the infamous SS physician Josef Mengele.

Life for the survivors was one of unending burden.

”We were no longer human individuals,” Liebrecht wrote. “We were merely numbers ... sad humans, sights of misery.”

In time, rumors of the war's end mounted as refugees flooded past the camp and gunfire grew ever closer. Meager food and medical supplies dwindled even further, weakening the disheartened prisoners. Liebrecht found himself in a sick room with a severely infected foot.

”I saw black in front of my eyes. I lost consciousness,” he wrote. “Then I caught myself: This is not how the end is supposed to be! See it through! Don't give up! Not now -- perhaps it's only a few more weeks before our liberation!”

He was right. The Holocaust ended with the Russians liberating the camp. The grief, however, was not over for Liebrecht: He learned of the death of his “little fawn.” She had been gassed at Auschwitz, along with her beloved Böszi, who despite the opportunity, refused to leave the child's side.

It was a chance reunion with Dr. Leo Baeck, and an in-depth, thought-provoking discussion on vengeance and forgiveness, that lead Liebrecht to find renewed faith to continue on. Yes, Hitler's influence was like an infectious disease that made “the real Germany into an unworthy nation,” Baeck told Liebrecht. But, he added, “injustice cannot be healed by injustice.”

Liebrecht took these words to heart. There was something extraordinary about the man, remembers Osborne, who met him in person in 1969 in Freiburg, Germany, while she and her family lived in Germany for a year.

”He was such a pleasant man,” she said. “Not only my husband and I, but our two sons, aged 14 and 16 at the time, became friends with him. Each of them went back to visit him again.”

Twenty-five years later, a few years after Liebrecht's death, Osborne received a copy of his memoir, which had been published posthumously. Widowed by then, Osborne was temporarily away from her Arcata home, serving in the Peace Corps in Papua New Guinea. There, the book gained popularity with her German-speaking colleagues.

In 2003, Osborne formed a California public benefit nonprofit corporation in order to save documentation concerning her family's dispersal all over the globe after Hitler came to power. One of the volunteers helping with this archive expressed interest in writing a book about the family's history. Osborne thought the volunteer would benefit from reading Liebrecht's book.

”So, in January 2008, I started translating it for her, and while working on the translation, I began to realize the book's wider importance and decided I'd like to publish it,” she said.

Osborne believes this memoir will be especially helpful as supplementary reading for college students in a variety of courses. She believes its lessons are as timeless as the advice Baeck gave Liebrecht more than 60 years ago:

”Your task, the purpose of your life,” he said, “is to participate, to the best of your ability, so that brute force, force of any type, is not ever the victor.”

JULY BOOK GROUP

2009-06-17T17:55:00.001-07:00

We have chosen Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov for our next book group meeting. The books are available behind the counter for a 10% discount and our next meeting will be July 12th at 5:30 here at Northtown Books.

Here are some links to augment your reading experience or help you make a more informed decision about your participation:

Random House's official site for the book.

Martin Amis on Lolita.

The Lit Lover's guide to Lolita.

A video interview from Canadian television with Vladimir Nabokov about Lolita:

RAY RAPHAEL AND JAIMAL YOGIS

2009-06-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend brings two author events to Northtown Books.

Ray Raphael will present his new book, Founders: The People Who Brought You a Nation, at Northtown Books on Friday, June 12 at 7 pm.

Founders is Raphael’s largest and most ambitious book, a daring attempt to recreate an “honest history” of our nation’s founding by skipping over nineteenth century distortions and returning to primary sources from Revolutionary times. It’s a sweeping narrative, starting with the beginnings of unrest in 1761 and ending with the ratification of the Bill of Rights thirty years later. To keep his rendition intimate, Raphael focuses of seven lead characters — not the usual cast, but a far more diverse lot. For the first time, Raphael interweaves the new bottom-up approach, the favorite of social historians in recent years, with traditional top-down history, moving back and forth between leading figures inside chambers and the people “out-of-doors.”

Ray Raphael has written many books, several of which are about local Humboldt history. His first book, An Everyday History of Somewhere, won the Commonwealth Club award for the best book of the year about California. He recently collaborated with Freeman House on the first part of a projected multi-volume history of Humboldt County, Two Peoples, One Place.

For more info on Ray Raphael, go here.

On the very next night, author Jaimal Yogis presents his new book, Saltwater Buddha: A Surfer’s Quest to Find Zen on the Sea, Saturday, June 13th at 7:30 at Northtown Books.

Here's what Publisher's Weekly had to say about it:

A journalist, photographer, surfer and Zen Master, Yogis began the life of a roving seeker his junior year of high school, when he ran away from his Sacramento, Calif. home to learn how to surf in Hawaii. His subsequent travels include a handful of prime surfing spots, but Yogis’s more arresting journey is spiritual, taking him to monasteries in France and Berkley, Calif., and deep into the living tradition of Zen Buddhism. Captured here in short chapters and wonderful, visual prose, Yogis’s coming-of-age odyssey also takes readers into the culture of indigenous Hawaiians, who believe the gods were surfers. Yogis’s long-time surfing mentor Rom provides insight into the science of surfing, ocean swells, the bathymetry of the continental shelf, deep water canyons and sea mounts. Even land lovers will find Yogis’s lessons resonant and entertaining, but surfers will find this a quick, surprisingly deep tribute to the quest for surf and serenity.

Here's a short film on Jaimal and the book:

Max and Mandy at the Beach

2009-05-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

For those who wonder what Max is up to when he's not behind the counter at Northtown, here he is in action on Trinidad State Beach with his pal Mandy in a video filmed by Dante and edited by Ric.

WICKED PLANTS

2009-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

Local author Amy Stewart will discuss and sign her new book Wicked Plants: The Weed that Killed Lincoln's Mother & Other Botanical Atrocities at Northtown Books May 17th at 3 pm.

A tree that sheds poison daggers; a glistening red seed that stops the heart; a shrub that causes paralysis; a vine that strangles; and a leaf that triggered a war. Stewart takes on over two hundred of Mother Nature's most appalling creations in an A to Z of plants that kill, maim, intoxicate, and otherwise offend.

Menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings create a fascinating portrait of the evildoers that may be lurking in your own backyard. Drawing on history, medicine, science, and legend, this compendium of bloodcurdling botany will entertain, alarm, and enlighten even the most intrepid gardeners and nature lovers.

Here's a video preview of the book:

Please help us welcome Amy back to Northtown Books.

For much more information on this and Amy's other books and articles, go to her own website.

UPDATE: The New York Times comes to visit Amy in Eureka. (link via NCJ Blogthing)

BARBARA KERLEY

2009-04-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 8th at 6 pm, Northtown Books welcomes local author Barbara Kerley.

A former Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal, and a one-time resident of Guam, she brings a unique life experience to her work.

She's written a wide variety of books for young people, on subjects as various as Walt Whitman, the artist who introduced dinosaurs to the world, and the importance of water in the world.

Her new book from National Geographic Books, One World, One Day, follows children around the world as they get up, wash up, and start a new day. It's an elegant picture book with contributions from top international photographers.

Her book What to Do About Alice? was recently reviewed in the New York Times, and you can read an interview with her here.

NORTHTOWN BOOKS READING GROUP

2009-04-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

We have copies of our next selection for the Northtown Books Reading Group, The Persian Boy by Mary Renault, behind the counter for a 10% discounted price.

Our next meeting will be May 10th (Mother's Day!--let us know if anyone has a conflict with this date) at 5:30 here at Northtown Books.

In the meantime, here are some links to peruse.

STENCIL NATION

2009-03-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

Friday, April 10 at 7:30 pm, Russell Howze presents a slide show at Northtown Books from his book "Stencil Nation: Graffiti, Community, and Art", which features over 500 full-color photographs.

The book presents work by more than 350 artists from 28 countries, including Iran, Australia, Japan, Canada, Spain, Lebanon, Israel, and the United States. Featured artists include: Banksy, Jef Aerosol, Logan Hicks, Adam5100, Arofish, M-City, SWOON, Hao, John Fekner, Peat Wollaeger, Klutch, and others.

Russell Howze saw his first stencil in 1990, which was J. R. "Bob" Dobbs on an apartment wall in Clemson, SC. In 1995, Russell saw an amazing sight on the exterior wall of the Reichstag in Berlin: a huge stenciled Bertolt Brecht poem. He snapped a photo of that stencil, then found one in Budapest, Hungary. Then a few more stencils appeared in Basel, Switzerland. When he landed in San Francisco in 1997, he found dozens on the sidewalks of the Mission and Haight neighborhoods. He's never stopped photographing the sometimes temporary, always intriguing art form.

In 2002, Russell created the first version of Stencil Archive, thinking that he would have time to scan and upload his own collection before anyone discovered the site and submitted their own work. He was gladly mistaken, so Stencil Archive took off and ended up becoming a site with over 10,000 uploaded photographs. At the time of its inception, Stencil Archive was the only international stencil site out there (for a few months). Now there are dozens of sites with tens of thousands of photographs. Russell continues to curate his site, posting stencils from around the world and featuring dozens of amazing artists.

When not photographing, making, painting, and uploading stencils, Russell fills his time by doing one or more of the following fun things: being a carny for the Sustainable Living Roadshow, riding his bike, writing for his blog, cooking healthy food, creating vector art and putting it on stickers and buttons, producing events, puppeteering, listening to good music, traveling, and volunteering/protesting to make the world a better place.

He currently lives in San Francisco's Mission District, and is usually seen on his bike with his camera slung around his shoulder.

A "vibrant exploration of a sub-sub-genre.... [T]his volume crosses the globe for a swift tour of the world's best artists, making it a handsome and insightful introduction to the form." - Publishers Weekly, 10/16/2008

UPDATE: We had a packed house here at Northtown, and Russell enjoyed kicking off his tour here.

JJ SEMPLE

2009-03-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

In his latest book The Backward-Flowing Method: The Secret of Life and Death, JJ Semple examines the meditation techniques for activating the Kundalini-Life Force.

His previous book, Deciphering the Golden Flower One Secret at a Time, told the story of his Kundalini awakening.

In The Backward-Flowing Method, he examines the meditation techniques that led to his awakening, analyzes meditation practices across cultures and throughout the ages, and offers a method that has the following real world results:

Triggering autonomic self-healing mechanisms capable of correcting defects related to neural degeneration;
Rejuvenating the body, retarding the aging process, stimulating neuroplastic activity; Reversing self-destructive and addictive behavior;
Heightening and enhancing consciousness to effect release from Karmic bondage;
Facing death without fear and facilitating the transition into the next state of being.

Join JJ Semple Friday March 27th at 7 pm for this event.

For more information, go here.

ANNE IGOU

2009-03-11T15:30:00.000-07:00

On Friday March 13th AT 7 PM , local artist Anne Igou presents her new book I Can't Believe I'm Creating Millefiore, and shares her techniques for creating polymer clay jewelry.

Millefiore means "a thousand flowers" and imitates the look of intricate Italian glass art.

Anne has taught workshops all over the country, and has made appearances on several national television shows. At Northtown, she'll do a demonstration of how she creates her pieces.

Please join us this Friday.

GROUP PORTRAIT

2009-03-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

(l-r) Erik Syverson, Monika Zerzan, Jay Herzog, Dante Digenova, Deric Mendes, and standing in for Simone Goldenberg, Max (in front).

The staff at Northtown recently was asked, along with several other local independent bookstores, to help judge the North Coast Journal's flash fiction contest.

The group picture above was taken for the paper by Bob Doran.

Mexico Unconquered

2009-01-26T14:33:00.000-08:00

John Gibler presents his new book from City Lights, Mexico Unconquered: Chronicles of Power and Revolt, at
Northtown Books
February 4 at 5:30 pm.

Mexico Unconquered is an evocative report on the epic powers of violence and corruption in Mexico and the underdogs and rebels who put their lives on the line to build justice from the ground up.

Author John Gibler probes the overwhelming divisions in contemporary Mexico, home to the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, and to destitute millions. The book explores the concept of the Rule of Law in a land known for its implacable corruption and impunity; the political machinations behind Mexico's devastating economic disparities; the implications and consequences of the annual exodus of half a million Mexicans to the United States; the unprecedented civil disobedience uprising in Oaxaca state; and the continuing Indigenous Present that resists the government's attempts to confine Mexico's 10 million indigenous peoples to calm and controlled corners of the past.

Global Exchange supported John Gibler while writing Mexico Unconquered and reporting from Mexico from 2006-2008 with the Global Exchange Media Fellowship.

Read his dispatches at GlobalExchange.org.

Praise for Mexico Unconquered:

"In Mexico Unconquered John Gibler has produced an important new work focusing on Mexico's ongoing class struggles and the historical continuum of resistance, organizing, and revolt against the social injustices and official corruption evident at all levels of Mexican society. Gibler argues that the Conquest never quite finished, that colonialism from Spain evolved into a new, but equally violent form of internal domination. From the arrival of the first people in ancient Mesoamerica to the ongoing plague of narcotrafficking and feminicide in Ciudad Juarez, Gibler explores Mexico's current political undercurrents in a historical context. Through research, critical analysis, and superb first-hand reporting culled from years of living in Mexico, Gibler shares the voices, stories, and communal dignity of the ordinary Mexicans who are putting their lives at risk by challenging corrupt power as they build social movements for basic rights, justice, and autonomy. An exciting first book by an emerging young writer."— Howard Zinn

"Part journalism, part history, part call to action, John Gibler's book chronicles not only the continuing colonization of Mexico, but also the continuity of resistance to it. Revealing those forces of resistance, which sometimes take the form of mass explosions, and other times take the form of individual expressions of indignation and defiance, Gibler helps us see Mexico with new eyes—a Mexico that has always been constituted by revolutionary dreams of freedom and equality." —Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, co-authors of Empire and Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire

An insightful tour of the horror show next door, this book is full of shocking and distressing tales about the struggle and brutality of Mexican politics. It boggles the mind how close Mexico is, yet how overlooked their past and current history is. Gibler, burning with righteous anger, helps correct that." —Christian Parenti, author of The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucination in Occupied Iraq, The Soft Cage and Lockdown America

"Mexico Unconquered maps a complex and tangled territory stretched between two poles—on one side, a world driven by the logic of empire and the reality of possession, conquest, and occupation; on the other, a land of possibility animated by cooperation, mutual recognition, love, dignity, and sustainability. John Gibler plots the former with laser-like precision, and portrays the latter in vivid and urgent detail. What becomes clear is that the power of resistance today draws in the first place on human creativity and the collective power of our imaginations. Taking the long view—glancing back at the steps that led us to the place we are, and looking forward toward a new world in-the-making—this book is essential reading for activists and engaged citizens who want to make a difference here and now." —Bill Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education, UIC, author of Fugitive Days

Best Books of the Year

2008-12-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Here are links to a few best of the year lists from various sources, many found at Fimoculous's 2008 List of Lists:

Publisher's Weekly

The Village Voice

The New York Times

NPR's Maureen Corrigan.

A wide array of lists at the book blog The Millions.

And lastly, Northtown's own Jay Herzog lists his favorites in the North Coast Journal.

NORTHTOWN'S FIRST TV AD

2008-12-03T10:47:00.000-08:00

Northtown Books does a little couch potato outreach and airs a television ad.

Watch it below in all its glory.

JOHN ZERZAN

2008-12-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

John Zerzan, anti-civilization theorist and editor of Green Anarchy magazine will present his new book, Twilight of the Machines, at Northtown Books Friday, December 5 at 7 pm.

Zerzan offers a challenging, radical critique of modern society and techno-culture and argues for a radical reconstruction of society based on a rejection of alienation and an embracing of the wild.

His previous books Elements of Refusal, Future Primitive and Running on Emptiness have made Zerzan a leading voice in anarchist thought. Twilight of the Machines, his first book in six years, confronts civilization, the history of its developing crisis and the possibilities for human and humane solutions.

John Zerzan can now credibly claim the honor of being America's most famous anarchist. His writing is sharp, uncompromising, and tenacious.
- Derrick Jensen
Learn more about John Zerzan here.

THE TYRANNY OF OIL

2008-12-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Antonia Juhasz, author of The Bush Agenda, returns to Northtown Books to present her new book The Tyranny of Oil. The event happens Thursday, December 4, at 7 pm.

In her new book, Juhasz shows how Big Oil manages to hide its business dealings from policy makers, legislators, and most of all, consumers. She reveals exactly how Big Oil gets what it wants—through money, influence, and lies.

Drawing on considerable historical research, Juhasz explores the parallels between today’s companies and Standard Oil, the most powerful corporation of the early 20th century, whose stranglehold on the economy and government was broken only by the vision and persistence of activists and like-minded politicians. We are in a similar position today, she argues, with the 2008 elections offering a unique opportunity for ordinary Americans to come together, reclaim their voices, and shore up our nation’s crumbling democratic foundation.

Please join us for this timely event. For more information, check out her website.

She'll also be appearing the night before, December 3rd, in an event sponsored by the Humboldt Green Party at the Labor Temple in Eureka (840 E Street). It also takes place at 7 pm.

Juhasz was recently interviewed by Terry Gross for NPR's Fresh Air.

LLOYD KAHN

2008-11-13T16:23:00.000-08:00

Lloyd Kahn, author of the counter culture classics Shelter and Home Work, presents his new book, Builders of the Pacific Coast, at Northtown Books on Friday, November 21st at 7 pm.

In 2004, Kahn discovered a group of unique carpenters along the Pacific Coast of North America. Over a two-year period, he made four trips north from his home in the San Francisco Bay Area, up the coast, shooting the hundreds of photos that appear in this book. Kahn was the shelter editor of The Whole Earth Catalog in the 60s and 70s, and has had a keen interest in the art and craft of handbuilt homes for several decades.

To preserve homeowners' privacy, specific locations are not given, but the book focuses on the Pacific Coast north from San Francisco up to and around Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A few of the homes are located here in Humboldt County.

There are three featured builders: the aptly named Lloyd House, master craftsman and designer who has created a series of unique homes on a small island; Bruno Atkey, builder of a number of houses and lodges built of hand-split cedar on "The Wild Coast" (the Pacific Ocean side of Vancouver Island), and SunRay Kelley, barefoot builder tuned into Nature, who has designed and built wildly imaginative structures in Washington, California, and other parts of the country.

In addition, the book features working homesteads, sculptural buildings of driftwood, live-aboard boats, gypsy-type caravans, and examples of stunning architectural design.

You don't just read this visual extravaganza of Lloyd Kahn's magnificent discoveries of the homebuilder's art and imagination in the hidden byways and buried inlets of the Pacific Northwest. You deep-breathe your way through its full-color page-spreads with mounting delight, excitement, nostalgia, and a deepening admiration for the diversity of the unfettered expression of the human spirit that the much-distorted 1960's inspired and allowed, and with a re-fired commitment not to let that spirit wither.

– Peter Nabokov

Check out Lloyd Kahn's interesting blog too.

UPDATE: We had a great turnout, and it seems Lloyd enjoyed his time here in Arcata too.

CHANGE

2008-11-10T17:05:00.001-08:00

Image by Patrick Moberg (via Andrew Sullivan)

THREE POETS READ

2008-10-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 24th at 7:30 pm, Northtown Books hosts a poetry reading featuring three locally based poets: Therese Keslin, Vanessa Pike and Tim'm West.

Therese Keslin and Vanessa Pike are founders of the Humboldt poetry collective A Reason to Listen, which has hosted poetry slams at the Accident Gallery. They've also collaborated on a chapbook called Excavating the History of Love in addition to their own solo work.

Tim'm West is an educator, essayist, poet, and rapper educated at at Duke and Stanford Universities. He is the author of the poetic memoir Red Dirt Revival and recorded a CD to accompany it, Songs From Red Dirt. He's also recently released a new CD, Blakkboy Blue(s) and its literary complement Flirting.

November Reading Group Selection

2008-10-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

We will be reading Alice Munro's latest collection of short stories, The View from Castle Rock on the 9th of November.

Learn more about the book and view a brief reader's guide here.

We meet the second sunday of every month at 5:30 here at the bookstore. Reading group books receive a ten percent discount.

Walking with Nobby

2008-10-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

Friday, October 10th from 7 to 9 pm, author Dale Pendell signs his new book Walking with Nobby, an account of his conversations with the late philosopher Norman O. Brown on such various subjects as paganism, world religions, Dionysus, Marx, and Freud.

View a sample chapter here.

Pendell is perhaps best known for his Pharmako trilogy (PHARMAKO/GNOSIS, PHARMAKO/DYNAMIS, and PHARMAKO/POEIA) , an epic poetic study of botany, alchemy, spirituality, psychology, and history.

He's also written Inspired Madness, a nonfiction discussion of the Burning Man festival, and has been anthologized in the Wisdom Book of American Buddhist Poetry and Baby Beats.

For an L.A. Times interview with Pendell, go here.

On his previous books:

"Dale Pendell’s Inspired Madness confirms the gaiety and sprightly insight of our free human community, naked or clothed, muddy, dusty, clustered or soclitary, sharing and being. Is this old-time paganism or a hint of some future utopia? For sure it’s in the present moment and Dale brings it down to hearts and minds."
—Gary Snyder

“Pharmako/Poeia is an epic poem on plant humours, an abstruse alchemic treatise, an experiential narrative jigsaw puzzle, a hip and learned wild-nature reference text, a comic paean to cosmic consciousness, an ecological handbook, a dried-herb pastiche, a countercultural encyclopedia of ancient fact and lore that cuts through the present 'conservative' war-on-drugs psychobabble.”
— Allen Ginsberg

"Pendell's ongoing subjects are the botanical 'allies'; humans have always associated with, and the 'pharmakon', the drug that is both poison and cure. A poet, ethnobotanist, and amateur chemist, he's the best writer on drugs to come along since the late Terence McKenna."
— The Village Voice

A Strange Breed of Folks

2008-09-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

This Friday former Humboldt Times journalist Mel Lavine comes to Northtown to share stories from his recently published memoir, A Strange Breed of Folks: Tales from the World's Second Oldest Profession.

Lavine met and inteviewed many notables who passed through the area during his time in Humboldt in the fifties and early sixties - a down and out Billie Holliday, playing a week of shows in Eureka near the end of her life, Joe Louis (refereeing a wrestling match at the Eureka Muni), and Richard Nixon on a 1962 campaign stop here (seen on the cover of the book). He also was a pioneer in local network news here. The second part of Lavine's book deals with his later decades in network news in New York where he worked with Barbara Walters, Charles Kuralt and Walter Cronkite.

Help us welcome Mr. Lavine back to Humboldt this Friday, September 5th, from 7 to 9 pm.

Humboldt Wild

2008-08-12T17:19:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 15th from 7 to 9 pm, Photographer Arleen Olson will be at Northtown Books to debut her new book of photographs, Humboldt Wild.

Check out some of her work here.

Here's what a few folks have to say about the book:

In our travels, we seek the last, best, wild places on Earth. It is always a joy to return to Humboldt County. The stunning beauty of Humboldt Wild will show you why.

Michael Muir, great-grandson of John Muir and Executive Director of Access Adventure

Take a walk on the wild side of Humboldt through Arleen’s lens, from the black sand beaches to the snow peaked mountains, with stops in between for a walk in the woods, for flowers, birds, festivals and frolicking. Arleen has an eye for color and composition, and knows to click the shutter at that moment when magic happens.

Bob Doran , arts and culture writer and editor for the North Coast Journal

Two Bobbies

2008-07-23T16:31:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 8th, at 7 pm, Northtown Books hosts local author Mary Nethery, in honor of her new book, Two Bobbies, co-written with Kirby Larson. The true story of a dog and cat who survive Hurricane Katrina, it also features vivid illustrations by Jean Cassels.

About two-and-a-half dog years ago, Mary and Kirby met at a writing conference led by Jane Yolen. Right away they discovered many things in common: they both had cats, sweet tooths, and a passion to write books for children. Since that first meeting, the two friends have written many books on their own. Mary's titles include Hannah and Jack, Mary Veronica's Egg, Orange Cat Goes to Market, and the forthcoming The Famous Nini: The Mostly True Story of a Plain White Cat Who Becomes a Star! Kirby's titles include Hattie Big Sky, a 2007 Newbery Honor book, and The Magic Kerchief.

Two years ago, they decided to try collaborating on a book. They were pretty sure the story would involve animals but that was all they knew. Then Hurricane Katrina hit. Mary watched CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 and learned about Bobbi and Bob Cat. "When I saw that interview," said Mary, "I knew the Bobbies' story of friendship and survival was a story of hope for all of us."

She called Kirby right away. "It was easy to say yes," said Kirby. After going to Louisiana and Mississippi to help with clean-up and rebuilding efforts, "I wanted to use my writing skills to bring attention to the overwhelming needs of the Gulf coast region," she said.

Both Mary and Kirby agree that the story of Bobbi and Bob Cat, animal best friends, was the perfect one for them, human best friends, to tell.

For more about Mary and her other books, please visit www.marynethery.com.

Find out more about Kirby and her other books by visiting www.kirbylarson.com.

To see a trailer for the book, go here.

Ten percent of author proceeds from the book go to Best Friends Animal Society, and Northtown Books will donate a portion of sales to local animal rescue efforts.

Please join us Friday, August 8 from 7 to 9 pm.

Compulsory Reading

2008-06-30T14:18:00.000-07:00

Alison (Fun Home) Bechdel shows why compulsory lists kill the love of reading.

Life, Money & Illusion

2008-06-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, July 3rd, Northtown Books hosts an appearance by Mike Nickerson, author of Life, Money & Illusion: Living On Earth As If We Want to Stay.

Nickerson has spent 35 years studying cultural evolution and communicating a sustainability message. His writings include: Bakavi: Change the World I Want to Stay On (1977), Let's Talk About Sustainability (1987), and Planning for Seven Generations (1993)

From Life, Money & Illusion:

Money is the life blood of civilization. Without money it would be very difficult for any but small communities to work together in mutual provision. By enabling millions of people to cooperate, money provides a great service. With this service, however, comes danger. Money gathers and flows in economic streams. The greater these flows, the greater the temptation to tap in and drink deeply.

Nickerson's latest book tracks how economic patterns change as the communities they serve grow from extended families, through local populations and nations, to global civilization. While there are advantages to large-scale production, the potential for participants to be alienated from each other and from the natural environment grows with the size of the system. With alienation come opportunities for unfortunate advantages to be taken.

Please join us July 3rd at 5 pm for an enlightening discussion.

For more information, visit http://www.flora.org/sustain//

A Book of Local Interest

2008-05-31T11:09:00.000-07:00

Working the Woods, Working the Sea, a new anthology of poems and prose from the Pacific Northwest, has a connection to Northown Books above and beyond the fact that work by longtime local authors Jim Dodge, Jerry Martien and Freeman House are prominently featured.

It's co-edited by Jerry Gorsline, who founded Northtown Books (originally just called "The Bookstore") in 1965 before selling it to Jack Hitt a year later (the store was actually located in the north part of town back then).

As with many of the publications from Empty Bowl Press, a sense of place is integral to the pieces included here, and as the title might suggest, it favors writing about lived experience and a physical connection to the landscape over heady abstraction.

The book also includes work by Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and numerous others, and is available now here at Northtown Books.

Northtown Books Reading Group

2008-05-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Northtown Books reading group is for anyone who is interested in reading and discussing our monthly selections. The group will choose books and they’ll be available behind the counter at a 10% discount. The meetings take place the second Sunday of each month from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at the store. Please come prepared to participate in a lively, friendly and respectful discussion. We would like all members of the community to feel welcome.

Our next meeting will take place Sunday, June 8th. Check here at our blog for future book group selections. Our next selection is Radical Hope by Jonathan Lear. It discusses Plenty Coups, the last great chief of the Crow Nation, and his response to a complete change of life for his people. Seems very timely to discuss how to cope when the conditions of life are radically altered. Not just how to adapt, how to remain hopeful.

An alternate selection is A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. This book would be interesting to discuss in tandem with our main selection. Absolutely optional, but so many people are reading this, so it would be interesting to see what it's all about.

Sold by Patricia McCormick

2008-05-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

Thirteen year old Lakshmi has grown up in poverty. When the monsoons wipe out her family's crops she must work to ensure their survival. Tricked by a glamorous stranger, she finds herself in India, sold into prostitution. This is a very painful topic, but Patricia McCormick manages to infuse her verse novel with grace and flickering hope.

A Bottle in the Gaza Sea

2008-05-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

From Valerie Zenatti, winner of the Batchelder Honor for When I was a Soldier, a modern story of love from across a hostile divide: Tal is a seventeen year old girl living in Jerusalem who throws a bottle into the Gaza Sea, hoping to connect with a Palestinian girl of her own age. Instead, she receives an email from someone calling himself Gazaman who angrily denounces her naive hope, yet continues to reply to her emails. Gradually their correspondence deepens their understanding of each other.

The book itself deepens the reader's understanding of what it might be like to live under such violent and repressive circumstances. Very well written and engaging, could snag a reluctant reader or two.

Here's a clip from a French play based on A Bottle in the Gaza Sea:

Some Literary Links

2008-05-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

Below are links to a few of the better online literary sites we can recommend (besides the local ones on our blogroll to the right).

Galleycat

Bookslut

The Literary Saloon

Arts & Letters Daily

Bookforum

If you know of any others, please leave them in the comments.

Wholphin Screening this Friday

2008-05-10T15:05:00.000-07:00

This Friday May 16th, Northtown Books will be hosting another screening of films from McSweeney's DVD Journal Wholphin, this time from the recently released fifth issue.

Among the films to be screened is an except from American Outrage, a documentary about two elderly Shoshone sisters who have been battling the U.S. government for 35 years over rights to their land.

Please join us for this event Friday, May 16th at 7:30.

YETI FIVE

2008-05-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

One of the more interesting journals I've come across in the last year or so is Yeti, an irregularly published magazine out of Portland.

Though it comes with a CD, it's not just another music mag - there's a piece on traveling in the Western Sahara, short photo inspired pieces by Luc Sante, and art by various artists including Saul Chernick, who provided the arresting cover image.

But music is indeed its main focus, and the wide ranging articles include an exploration of metal music and myth by Scott Seward, a quirky interview with Will Oldham, Mike McGonigal on Blind Willie Johnson, and Erik Davis on P.G. Six.

The CD included is just as eclectic, with live cuts from Deerhoof and Akron/Family, an annotated selection by Jeff (Neutral Milk Hotel) Mangum of his favorite 78s, and snippets from Radio Sumatra.

Yeti Five is a available now at Northtown Books, along with the previous issue.

John C. Morrison reads this Friday

2008-04-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

John C. Morrison reads from Heaven of the Moment, his award winning collection of poems Friday, May 2 at 7 pm at Northtown Books.

John C. Morrison earned his MFA from the University of Alabama and received the 2004 C. Hamilton Bailey Poetry Fellowship from Literary Arts, Portland, OR. His poems have appeared in numerous journals including the Seattle Review, NaturalBridge, Cimarron Review, Southern Poetry Review, Good Foot, Poet Lore, The Sycamore Review and Hubbub. His poem “One Hundred Years Ago” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. He directs the Writers in the Schools program for Literary Arts, and also teaches poetry at Washington State University, Vancouver. This is his first collection of poetry.