BookStories Newsletter May 2010
| It’s hard to write a letter to you this month without acknowledging the raging immigration law issues. Over the years, Changing Hands, a community center and gathering place, has been the site of some hard conversations -- a place where ideas are exchanged, heated topics debated, petitions signed, controversy encouraged and differences of opinion tolerated. I hope this is always the case. If we lock ourselves into an idea without discussing it or learning more about it, we are succumbing to our own
The United States, settled initially by our Native American brothers and sisters, is made up almost entirely of immigrants. Whose family doesn’t have ancestors who date back to the earliest settlers or who came from Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, Australia? My concern about the bill passed recently by the Arizona legislature is that it oppresses so many innocent, hard-working people and their families, all under the guise of protecting the citizens of Arizona from the immigrants coming across our southern border. Darker skin color or an accent is not reason to fear someone, or, by our action or inaction, allow such a person to be harassed by local law enforcement agencies. But there is much fear in the air, some of which is understandable, but much of which is incited by unscrupulous, power-seeking individuals both in politics and the media. In some ways it’s an uncomfortable time for me to be an Arizona resident. With the passage of this bill, I regret that we are no longer the country that opens its arms to the poor, the hungry, those yearning to breathe free. We seem to be turning immigrants into scapegoats for every social and economic setback. Our borders need to be secure, but the good people who are already here should not be harassed as they walk our city streets, work at their jobs, drive their cars, play with their children. There was a bill in Congress last year, supported by many legislators, H.R. 4321, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security & Prosperity Act of 2009, that sought to protect our borders by requiring the development and implementation of border security initiatives. This included information-sharing, international and federal-state-local coordination, technology exchanges, anti-smuggling initiatives, and other actions to secure the borders. It would have created new opportunities for young people who were raised here, work hard in school, and want to pursue higher education or serve their country in the military to adjust their immigration status. And it would have created a path to legalization by requiring undocumented immigrants to register with the government, submit to a criminal background check, pay any back taxes and speak English.
I hope that you visit this month and talk with us about this important issue. It is complicated and there are no easy answers. When thinking about all this gets too hard, I give myself reading breaks. I’m reading Julie Orringer’s new book, The Invisible Bridge, which takes place during WWII and is filled with glimpses of Paris and Budapest. Although it depicts the horrors of war, there is also love and redemption, ballet and jazz and the power of friendship. Enjoy the rest of spring’s cool evenings. ~ Gayle ~ P. S., Happy Mother's Day to all the moms we know, all the children of moms, the friends of moms and those who don't have their own children but mother everyone else's. Enjoy your day tomorrow.
Our friends at Pages, a bookstore in Cave Creek, are having a huge sale starting on May 8.
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A fellow bookseller who was a passionate reader, beloved wife and mother and the heart of her community. She loved tennis, the warm waters around Hawaii, travelling to foreign countries, gourmet cooking, organic gardening and she especially loved her friends. She will be missed by all of us. | |||||
| The Book as 'Part of a Larger Process'
-- Jason Rovito, owner of the Toronto bookstore Of Swallows, Their Deeds, & the Winter Below, in the Star.com. | |||||
"HEMA" is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on 4th November, 1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands. Take a look at HEMA's product page. Don't try to order anything (it's in Dutch anyway), but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens. Don't click on any of the items in the picture, just wait and see what happens. This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer. Click here.
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| The Magicians by Lev Grossman / $16.00 / Paperback Mom by Dave Isay / $21.95 / Hardcover Sports From Hell by Rick Reilly / $26.00 / Hardcover
>>But wait, there's more! New Fiction & Nonfiction continues >>
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inner biases, or perhaps prejudices formed by being battered by media. We just hosted the author of 
I admit that I, too, have my own biases and opinions on the matter, and this note reflects them. I welcome your comments and dialogue. It’s personal for me because my grandparents on both sides of my family were immigrants -- two came from Poland, two from Russia. They arrived in the United States virtually penniless and lived on the charity of relatives and friends of friends and sometimes even strangers until they could learn English, find work, and repay this kindness by doing the same for others who came after them. They worked hard in sweatshops in New York City, they lived in 
scrimped and sent money to family members suffering under pogroms in Eastern Europe and Germany, often enabling those people to flee to a safer haven in the U.S., Canada, or South America. They had children, sent those children to college, helped them in business and worked to protect civil liberties for those who had ‘melted’ into the huge pot that was America. I am proud of my grandparents and grateful that they helped make our country what it is today. 
Why can’t we in Arizona join with our fellow citizens in every state to enact a fair and just law? A law that embraces and includes those who seek asylum, who seek a democratic way of life, who are looking for economic opportunity and are willing, like my grandparents, to give back tenfold to the country that accepts their differences and embraces all that they have to offer our community. 
"I think what the electronic bookselling model has revealed is that yes, the book can function as almost the ideal commodity.... The quintessential mass-marketed item. But what gets lost in the process, is everything that surrounds the book materially. I think it's an opportunity for us to think of a book as not a thing in and of itself, but as part of a larger process.... The act of actually browsing in a bookshop is just as valuable, or bumping into somebody and having a conversation about the books, or seeing two books together that you wouldn’t necessarily think of, and that creates a different relationship in your mind."
Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn't real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college-friendship, love, sex, and booze- and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn't bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin's yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they'd imagined. Psychologically piercing and dazzlingly inventive, The Magicians is an enthralling coming-of-age tale about magic practiced in the real world-where good and evil aren't black and white, and power comes at a terrible price.
In Mom, Dave Isay-StoryCorps's founder and the editor of the project's bestselling collection, Listening Is an Act of Love -- presents a celebration of American mothers. Featuring StoryCorps's most revelatory stories on the subject, Mom looks across a diversity of experience to present an entirely original portrait of motherhood.
What is the stupidest sport in the world? Not content to pontificate from the sidelines, Rick Reilly set out on a global journey—with stops in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark, England, and even a maximum security prison at Angola, Louisiana—to discover the answer to this enduring question.
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