How I Spent #NationalIndependentBookstoreDay!

In case you missed it, yesterday - Saturday, April 30th - was National Independent Bookstore Day, and a sunny Seattle Spring made for the perfect kind of weather for my sister, our friend Keller, and I, to venture out to Capitol Hill, in order to celebrate the occasion properly at Elliot Bay Book Company!

Elliot Bay Book Company is one of the best places in Seattle to peruse popular titles or pick up a new novel, because of its fun atmosphere, incredibly engaging and knowledgeable staff, and wide selection. I've wanted to make a day of venturing there for a long time, so I figured that a day dedicated to independent bookstores was the perfect excuse to take the Link train off of campus, and into the sunshine. 

There was both a Sounders soccer game and Mariners baseball game going on yesterday, so the Link ride down was a little crowded! But that's okay, because we easily got off at the Westlake Station stop... only to realize that we should have gotten off one stop before, for Capitol Hill (Oops). A 20-minute walk uphill notwithstanding, the transportation was fairly easy to maneuver, and it was a sunny day anyways, so no one was hurting for a good time regardless. Our city is full of plenty of gorgeous scenery! 

Once we finally made it to the correct neighborhood, it was obvious that Cap Hill was hopping. Plenty of people were walking around, and nearby cafes had an outpouring of people into the streets. We nudged our way through to get to Elliot Bay, and quickly entered paradise! 

We spent about an hour milling around and peeking at interesting things on shelves, and picking out books we thought the others would like. There were fun events going on in-store, and the vibe was honestly infectious: this store was obviously filled with people who loved books. I combed my way through tantalizing New Releases - obviously - as well as the Bargain, Biography, Humor, YA, and General Fiction sections. Of course, I inevitably returned to my usual aisles to find the real books I wanted - Science Fiction and Fantasy! 

 Other fun stuff we found: Literary Temporary Tattoos (our favorites were Jane Eyre and Hamlet; Paddywax Library Candles (I desperately wanted to pick one up, but they were $20!); and a card game called Marrying Mr. Darcy (which my sister thinks we're going to have to return for someday soon)! 

Keller found some titles she liked, too, but the only book Delaney wanted was a little out of her price range (Justin Trudeau's book, Common Ground, was almost $30!). After we checked out, we were informed that there was a special prize wheel we could spin towards the center of the store, because Keller and I had each spent over $40 that day. I got some cute chocolates from a local chocolatier, from Mercer Island, while Keller walked away with a reusable tote. 

While we were absorbed in admiring our new prizes, my sister heard the woman running the prize station tell us to hang around for a few more minutes for something cool. A few seconds later, a woman took to the central platform in the middle of the store's stairs to announce a Blind Date with a Book happening! 

We circled up with another one of the store's patrons, when the storewoman gave us some tantalizing hints about each of the books up for offer. I'd done these kinds of things at our local library before to check out new titles, but this was different: after the woman read off all of the bookish facts, she asked us a little bit about ourselves, so that she could set up the right people to read the right thing! 

Our Blind Book Dates: my sister's, Keller's, and mine!
They turned out to be A Hanging at Cinder Bottom by Glenn Taylor, What's Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi, and Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel. 

Keller, my sister, and I all walked away with a brown-wrapped book, and I made them promise to not open it or take a peek before we were all able to sit down over mammoth slices of pizza at Sizzle Pie nearby. Unwrapping ensued, and each of us found ourselves in possession of an ARC for different recently published book! 

All in all, it was an amazing day spent in the sunshine, complete with a walk in the sun, exploring new places, picking up new titles, and eating some seriously delicious pizza. 

How did you spend #NationalIndependentBookstoreDay ? Let me know, in the comments below! 

Enough is Enough: The Earth-Friendly Reader

Reading for school can be a significant drag, especially when the topics you're covering in lecture seem to have no influence on your own intended career direction. I'm a Poli Sci minor, so the topic of the economy has come up in my sphere of study before, but it wasn't exactly something I was enthused about (Math hates me, and I reciprocate).

However, Rob Dietz & Dan O'Niell's book Enough is Enough: Building a Stable Economy in a World of Finite Resources, makes the subject a lot easier to understand, by orienting the subject into the realm of how the economy interacts with the environment. The relationship makes it a lot easier for me to see the direct consequences of economic trends, which makes them more of a real concept, than just a lot of numbers on the Dow Jones. 

How best to accompany an eco-econ afternoon of reading? With eco-sustainable sushi! 

Of course, the ecological component is what really has my attention; specifically, how personal consumer choices can also have collective effects that directly influence our natural resources. At first, I felt pretty good at a lot of the choices I make as a consumer... I don't go shopping a lot, I love buying things secondhand, and the grand ol' PNW in general has a pretty good handle on what kinds of foods are sustainable for our region of the country.

But then, I saw the stacks of books and papers around my room, and the numerous notebooks I use to store all of the things I randomly jot down throughout the day. I didn't just think of how my nail polish was locally produced, I thought about how I ordered it online and got it shipped to my house instead of walking down to the Julep bar in UVille to pick it up myself. And most importantly, it got me thinking about how being a book fiend might not be the most earth-friendly lifestyle choice... 

Here are just a couple of examples about why being such a book fanatic isn't always the most Earth-friendly option: 

• We're driven to pick up the newest materials, even if we don't really want them. We're always on the hunt for the next big thing. Between ARCs and numerous new releases simply picked up from a table in the checkout line of Barnes and Noble, we're consuming books all the time, and at a quick pace... which doesn't really lend itself to thinking we're making the best use of our resources. 
• The actual material we're buying leaves a significant carbon footprint. You don't just measure the paper and ink in a book. You measure how long the drive was between the forest to the paper maker, to the manufacturing plant, to the warehouses, to the bookstore, to your home. That's a hefty amount of travel and development, and a lot of natural resources consumed and affected! 
• Self-publishing can be much more environmentally friendly, but we focus pretty exclusively on Big Publishers. With one of the Big Publishers, there are huge production schedules, massive amounts of materials printed, millions of miles traveled to deliver those books to customers, etc. With self-publishers or independents, things are much more locally sourced, and cheaply (which usually means more ecologically-friendly) printed and distributed. 
• We're not making the most of the materials we have already. I'm constantly in awe of the stacked shelves I see on bookstagrams on the daily... but how many of those are read regularly? Are they just showpieces, or are these books actually serving their primary purpose... being read? And why is there this severe social penalty for recycling and reusing old or damaged books, to make crafts or notebooks? If you're not using them, then why are they there? 

However, don't fret! This also got me into thinking about how there are still ways we can turn our hyper-consumer ways around... 

• Buy an e-reader. Digital books still leave an ecological impact - it takes something to process those Kindles out of a factory! - but they don't require massive amounts of manufacturing or transportation costs to deliver a book into your waiting hands. 
• Trade books with friends. I love the idea of a little lending library between friends. This way, not everyone has to shell out massive amounts of money for the titles they want, and you all have something to talk about in common! 
• Make better use of your local library system. The library is a magical, wonderful place, and sharing their copies is much more eco-friendly than buying your own. Besides, you can often rent their e-copies through your own e-reader as well! 
• Treat your books nicely... but also reduce, reuse, and recycle. Of course, one of the best ways to lower your consumer and carbon footprints with books is to love them well... re-read your favorites, and treat them carefully, so you don't have to buy secondary copies. That being said, if there are books that are just a little too loved - or too hated! - send those puppies out in the recycling... or give them to Goodwill, so some enterprising Etsy aficianado can fashion them into something awesome! 

Do you think that the environmental costs of popular book consumers is an issue? Is this something you've heard bloggers talk about before? Do you have any other tips for lessening our ecological impact? Let me know, in the comments below! 

SEAHAWKS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!!!

{Straight from ABC News (who took the best of the approximately million or so versions of this picture, of the incomparable Pete Carroll being celebratorily doused with Gatorade at the conclusion of the historic game)}

SEATTLE REIGNS SUPREME AS THE SEAHAWKS TAKE THE ULTIMATE TITLE IN FOOTBALL WITH A THIRTY-FIVE POINT LEAD, FINAL SCORE 43-8! GO SEAHAWKS, AND WHAT A GREAT SEASON! 

What're They Teaching Us: ENGL 307, Cultural Studies

It is now officially the third day of the new quarter, and I'm beginning to get better acquainted with the specific brand of academic variety that I've chosen for myself for the next ten weeks. I've got a normal lecture class, with Pscyhology, and a super-crazy experimental class, with Informatics, and I thought I'd go ahead and round out the quarter with just a nice, solid English class. Books, as you may have noticed, happen to be my favorite, and I was looking forward to reading some new ones. 

Imagine my everlasting surprise when I checked the Amazon listings for the titles in my textbooks section for English 307. 

The class, Cultural Studies, has taken many forms over the past couple of years, covering everything from the highbrow - GeoPolitical Theory in Literature, or some mumbo jumbo like that - to the more easily accessible - How Tolkien Changed the Fantasy Game, anyone? - but all retaining the singular focus of Cultural Studies, in seeing how ideas presented in novels can affect and reflect the world around them. Then again, remember that cultural studies counts anything and everything as text, from governmentally-regulated street signs to the graffiti that covers them.   

As you might easily be able to tell with a glimpse at the images below, my English 307 Cultural Studies course is organized around a similar mix between the artistically elevated and the typically lowbrow, with our studies being specifically emphasized in graphic novels and literature's ties to imagery and the object world... whatever that means. I'll probably be much better at articulating the objectives of the class by the time I'm done with it, so check back in with me later. 

Anyways, here's my booklist for English 307 for Winter 2014 (I added in some of the different covers and excerpts, just so you can see how much of a time I'm going to have with this quarter...): 

Palestine (Joe Sacco)

Fun House (Alison Bechdel) - pictured at top of post

Black Hole (Charles Burns)

Epileptic (David B)

Jimmy Corrigan (Chris Ware)

So, hopefully this quarter will be an interesting one, one that expands my knowledge of literature, cultural studies, and graphic novel styles... but even if none of those things happen, I sure wouldn't be getting this kind of an education anywhere else. What's up, Winter Quarter 2014! 

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: A Celebration of Mystery Writers in Washington State

I truly believe that it should be a well known fact, that just like our apples, Washington makes great mystery writers, better than anywhere else. 

Let me explain: our state already has our specific library shelf's full of truly great authors. Sherman Alexie, champion of Native American youthful voice, through novels like The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, is one of my personal favorites, and currently lives in Seattle. Others, like Frank Herbert, author of (in my personal opinion) the greatest science fiction epic of all time, Dune, hails from my own home city of Tacoma. We already know that some truly great authors are grown right here, in the best part of the PNW.

However, there's a distinct subset within that canon that stands out to me, in the mystery section of the library. Therefore, in an attempt to convince you, here are some of my favorite masters of intrigue, straight from our gorgeously green state!

TROUBLE IN TACOMA

For starters, let's take it back to T-Town with Erik Hanberg: City of Tacoma Parks Commissioner by day, author of the "Arthur Beautyman" series by night. His novels have followed the titular computer-hacker-slash-detective through three novels already, with The Saints Go Dying released in 2010, The Marinara Murders in 2011, and The Con Before Christmas in 2012; all self-published, and all marked with quick pace, realistic dialogue, character interest, and unpredictable plot turns (check out my review of The Marinara Murders back in January 2012!).

Erik gets bonus points for his other projects, too, including the books The Little Book of Gold and The Little Book of Likes, nonfiction guides involving fundraising and social media (respectively) for small, nonprofit organizations, as well as his newest novel, The Lead Cloak, a science fiction adventure that debuts on October 15th (which is my birthday, in case anyone's forgotten).

**Also, Tacoma's elected officials get a second honorable mention of sorts with Mark Lindquist, City of Tacoma Prosecutor and part-time author, whose book The King of Methlehem (published by Simon and Schuster in 2007) is quite thrilling, but doesn't necessarily qualify as a straight-shot mystery to me. Still, he's got some serious resume: Sad Movies (1987, Atlantic Monthly Press), Carnival Desires (1990, Atlantic Monthly Press), and Never Mind Nirvana (2001, Random House) all did pretty well for themselves.

RAINY CITY SAVIOR

Yet another Tacoma-born author, Earl Emerson, chose to focus his time, instead, on Seattle, with the Thomas Black mystery series. The Rainy City, the first of the series, was published in 1985, while the latest - the thirteenth in the series, Monica's Sister - was published just this past summer. His work features actual Pacific Northwest settings in all their gritty glamour, described on point, and main character - in the first few novels, at the very least - even lives in the University District! Dark and suspenseful, these mysteries are tensely realistic, and are notable for their dedication to the description of their setting.

Mr. Emerson also writes the "Mack Fontana"series, as well as the "Fire Thrillers" series, taken from his time spent as a lieutenant with the Seattle Fire Department.

ALPINE AUTHORESS

Mary Daheim, a Seattle-based mystery author, actually got her start in bodice-ripping historical romances. However, after a string of them proved unfulfilling to her writing talent, she started working in her favorite genre, and it's a good thing she did: her very first mystery novel - Just Desserts, from the "Bed and Breakfast series," starring Judith McMonigle - was nominated for an Agatha award! The series has continued onwards with 28 novels in total.

However, those aren't her only claim to mystery fame. Her "Alpine" series - starting with The Alpine Advocate in 1992, starring Emma Lord - has seen a total of 24 novels, set in the small town of Alpine, WA. Here's the catch: as of the time of her writing, the real Alpine no longer existed. She resurrected the town in her novels, and 2008, the old town itself was rediscovered... by a group who called themselves "the Alpine Advocates"! Talk about author loyalty.

She's also a University of Washington alumna, and was one of the first female editors of The Daily (the UW campus daily paper), which makes her one of the coolest people in the entire world, essentially. She was inducted into the UW Department of Communications Alumni Hall of Fame in 2008. Sounds like its time for a campus scavenger hunt, to me...

MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT

Finally, we'll finish off the list with one of my absolute favorites: Aaron Elkins, author of one of my favorite mystery series in the whole world, starring Gideon Oliver, the Skeleton Detective, a forensic anthropologist from Washington. Technically, Elkins himself ISN'T from our lovely state, but he lives here now, in Sequim, and that's a good enough reason for me to take a moment to talk about a super awesome author. 

So, how's this for story time: my dad actually was the first in my family to love this series, to the point where out of the thirteen or so copies we own, at least six of them are signed (if I'm remembering correctly, the legend goes that my dad sheepishly approached Elkins at a writer's conference or something or other with a couple of copies expressly purposed for the occasion, and Elkins patiently signed all of them for him). My dad passed on the copies - and the obsession - to me, and now I've got Fellowship of Fear - the first of them, from 1982- sitting on my desk right now, ready for a reread. Don't believe me?

"To Andrew - Here's to a skeleton in every closet. Aaron Elkins" 

Elkins has now retired this hero with the 17th novel in the series, Dying on the Vine, released in 2012. However, that doesn't mean he's done writing: he has also produced the "Chris Nordgren" novels, as well as the "Lee Ofsted" series, and is currently working on the "Alix London" series, as well, which he writes with his wife, Charlotte. He has also produced three stand alone novels, called Loot, Turncoat, and The Worst Thing.

***

So this October, if you're looking for some murder and mayhem to cozy up to the fire with on a windy day, might I recommend some homemade mysteries, fresh from your own beautiful backyard of Washington state?

Savannah's Back-to-School Shopping for Bookworms

Even though there's still a little bit of August left for most of us, before school and homework and rain and Fall come to claim us yet again, everyone knows that it's prime time for back-to-school shopping, and, most importantly, Fall fashion (yes, I can say "most importantly," because I write for a fashion website, remember?). 

Inspired by my increasingly frequent trips to Target, H&M, Nordstroms, Sephora, and thrift shops all around my beloved Tacoma, I decided to compile a list of the top ten necessary items for back-to-school shopping for my fellow bookworms! 

1. The Cozy Cardi - perfect for all the time you'll be spending in drafty libraries on campus.  Aeropostale, $35.
2. The Knitted Beret - to hide yesterday's bed hair, so you can read tomorrow's big title. Charlotte Russe, $8.
3. Under-eye Concealer - for covering up the evidence of last night's cram session (or trip to Mordor. No judgement here). Sephora, $24.
4. The Messenger Bag - for carrying loads of books across the Quad. Tillys, currently sold out.
5. Hair Ties - for keeping your hair out of your face while you're reading. Pink Mascara, $14.
6. A Good Planner - to schedule more reading time into your suddenly-busy-again life. Target, $8.
7. Out of Print Clothing tees - Wear your heart on your sleeve, and your favorite book on your shirt. I really shouldn't have to sell you guys on this prospect. Out of Print Clothing, $28.
8. Two-In-One Lip & Cheek Stain - to allow for more reading time in your already-busy mornings. Sephora, $30.
9. Boyfriend Jeans - for loose and lazy lounging with a good book on a chilly afternoon. Aeropostale, $25.

...and Number 10. The Perfect Fall Novel!

10A. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. I read this book every Fall, just because I feel like while Summer is built for Americana, Autumn and Winter are designed for British Classics. Any classics fan or romance lover is, at some point or another, destined to read -and subsequently, fall in love with - this book.
10B. Crown of Midnight, Sarah J. Maas. Probably the most-anticipated release of August (it comes out on the 27th), I won't be able to read it until later in September, due to sorority-Recruitment-related activities. And it's totally killing me.
10C. Bitter River, Julia Keller. Another soon-to-be-released, but here's the coup: I have an ARC! Expect a review coming up on the blog shortly, and chances are, it's going to be good words, based on what I've heard of it so far.
10D. Brooklyn Girls, Gemma Burgess. I'm in the middle of this novel right now, and I'm pretty sure that there's going to be a permanent indent on my floor, due to how many times my jaw has hit it at this point. And I'm only on page 30! This book is hilarious.

Well, that concludes my list of Back to School Shopping for Bookworms. What's in your shopping cart for back to school? What great books are you looking forward to reading this Fall?

Ice Cubes Melt

Pardon me for the lack of updates in the past more-than month or so. Unfortunately, I've been busy making the most of my freshman and sorority experience, which requires copious amounts of laughing, hugging, chocolate-chip-cookie-consuming, belly-dancing, spandex-skirt-shopping, and all around fun (as well as trace amounts of other substances, like sequins, headbands, and crying). So, my work on this blog has been neglected. Now that I'm reasonably settled into my roles as class-goer, homework-doer, weekend-dancer, and new Sigma Kappa (one heart, one way!) member, I actually found the time to crack open a book I did NOT buy bound in cellophane from the basement of the University Bookstore, and relax. Between late-night runs to the kitchen for more apple cinnamon caffeine-free herbal tea, of course.

Now that I've got you all settled into the notion that my life has become some fairy-tale-worthy amalgamation of a Spice Girls music video and a tampon commercial, prepare for the pain, because this book packs a certain emotional "one-two" that left me reeling. Maybe it's because I'm a born-and-bred American living in a new century, one who grew up almost without the concept of skin color as a friendship barrier, or maybe it was the fact that this novel is set majorly within the very limits of the city I now call home. Whatever it was that left me sprawled across the study room couch, fighting back tears, it's not fading terribly fast. Not when I remember having walked across some of the very pavement on which such atrocities were committed.

I knew about the evacuation from the West Coast, and the Japanese internment camps during WWII, because our teachers glossed over what bare bits of it we discussed about our WA state history, all the way back to the first grade. When you stand by the bridge near the Japanese Pagoda at Point Defiance at night, so I was told in whispers, behind the wooden shed on our Montessori-school playground, you can hear the quick patter of ghostly footsteps, of someone fleeing, someone who didn't want to be taken away. They were shot, and now, they'll be forever running. Grave and sinister, for someone so young, but we did what we could to understand that which we couldn't understand, subjecting it simply to the stuff of ghost stories, and moving on (completely dismissing the fact that the Park, and the Pagoda, are definitely closed to the public at night). I grew up side-by-side with those kids, whose parents spoke a different language, liked different foods, dressed a different way, or prayed to a different God, and it was never a problem. We weren't bred to war, so we simply couldn't comprehend. These weren't things we were taught in Molly's American Girl series. It wasn't until public school that I realized just how cruel people could be, and why no one in Tacoma ever wanted to talk about it.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford (Ballantine Books, 2009), is set halfway in the 1940s, when those unjust sanctions against Japanese Americans were enforced, and halfway in the 1980s, when the repercussions of those actions are still being felt, by Mr. Henry Lee, a recent widower with a tenuous relationship with his grad-school son, and leftover memories of a girl named Keiko Okabe. Throughout the novel, the threads unwind to find that Lee had deeper ties to her than his son ever knew, and his son comes to realize that his father was less like his father than he had previously thought. It's a beautiful and moving love story, set across the backdrop of two different timelines, where two different people can find an imperfect love in their own hostile nation, and still feel the effects of that love after all the smoke has cleared.

An imperfect novel as well, as the presence of some anachronisms within the story pointed out. But I'll let 'em slide (still less cringe-worthy writing than my Architecture textbook. Yikes).

Whatever the case, the true takeaway from this novel, for me, was the fact that I was already so familiar with the setting. I've been to the Puyallup Fairgrounds, I've seen where they keep the livestock. Imagining a family of four, trying to live within the bounds of one horse stall? Not pleasant, not easy. Now take this description:

"...the quaint town of Puyallup, a small farming community surrounded by lush acres of daffodils." (Pg 153).

Holy hell. I'm a Daffodil Princess. Our HQ is in Puyallup. We're the Daffodil Princesses BECAUSE of that agriculture in the Puyallup Valley. This is all within a half hour of my house! Oh my gosh! (Describing my train of thought, here.) How horrifying is that? All of this kind of thing occurred within 50 miles (and about 60 years) of my doorstep! Not to mention Seattle... the entire reason my mom had me read this novel is because I'm now LIVING in Seattle as a student! She wants to have a field trip day with me, to go explore some of the real-life inspiration down in the international district, the streets named IN THIS BOOK.

How sad.

I'm not sure what it would be like for those who DON'T live in this city I've grown to care so much about since the advent of higher learning, but for me, it really struck home. Literally. My appreciation for the history of where I came from, and where I am now, is ever-increasing. I love it when a novel can involve you so deeply, that you feel the need to do extra background work afterwards, almost like you don't want the story to end, so you need to find out more of its beginning. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more locally-set works now, and my interest in the racism of WWII isn't dying down either. Sure, awful, truly-terrible, no-good things happened here, in Seattle, but bad things happen everywhere. I'm still just learning to appreciate the past, and how it relates to where I am now. And this novel definitely helped.



Note: Look out for my favorite character, the son, and the quote of his from which this post title was taken. It's been ringing in my head since finishing the novel, and I don't know why. :) 

Goodbye to Stadium

Reflecting on my travels and my path of education
Past the past four grueling years of my enduring application
To my textbooks, pencils, papers; to my hard work, pains and stresses;
To my teachers; to twenty-four golden Daffy dresses.
My FOUR years, my THREE siblings, my TOO short time spent here
All add up to ONE school - Stadium - I'll always hold near
To my heart, 'cuz in my history, this landscape served to be
The place where I found what it meant to simply just be me.
So as I take the further step, to Seattle now I go,
Stadium's imprint on my heart and mind will surely show.
I've traveled down a treacherous path - high school's tough terrain -
And I emerge with stronger self and even stronger brain.
So after years of obeying a Public School Board's laws
I feel - now that we've reached the end - we all deserve applause!
Hip hip hooray! Three Cheers for the Tigers! Forever stands the castle!
I say goodbye - a fond farewell - and now, I flip the tassel!

Congratulations to the Stadium High School Graduates of 2012! I won't ever forget the wonderful time I've spent with you. Best luck and wishes for the future!