Blair Prepares for World Book Night by Shannon Pierce

An excited recipient from World Book Night 2012

This Tuesday, April 23, is the second annual World Book Night U.S. and Blair could not be more excited to be participating! Individual and groups of volunteers will head out into their communities armed with books and a passion to spread the love of reading.

April 23 was chosen for World Book Night as it corresponds with the UNESCO International Day of the Book, Shakespeare’s birthday, and the anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes’ death. Blair was thrilled to be a part of the initiative last year and we are eager to get out there again.

North Carolina rocks World Book Night.

Blair staffers aren’t the only North Carolinians who will be putting books into the hands of unlikely readers. The North Carolina Triangle area is the 7^th top region in the country by givers per capita. Way to go North Carolina!

Our books are ready and waiting for eager readers!

This year Blair staff members will be handing out copies of Fahrenheit 451 in front of the BB&T Ballpark before the Winston-Salem Dash baseball game. Check back with us here to hear how it goes!

Blair Staff Enjoys the BOOKMARKS Moveable Feast

Yesterday, Blair staff got together to celebrate Sunday literary-style! The BOOKMARKS’ Moveable Feast was held at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) and hosted 14 authors, including Blair’s own Judy Goldman, author of Losing My Sister. It was great catching up with our beloved author!

Blair Staff at the BOOKMARKS Moveable Feast

While munching on delicious snacks, we also got to chat with several other authors who visited our table:

• Penelope Niven, who promised a yet-to-be-determined prize to the first airline passenger she catches reading Thornton Wilder: A Life
• Emily Colin, who showed us the awesome trailer for her new novel, The Memory Thief
• Christopher Castellani, who gave us the inside scoop on how his new novel, All This Talk of Love, connects to his other books
• Wiley Cash, who told us all about A Land More Kind Than Home and growing up in North Carolina (snake-handlers and all)
• Holly Goddard Jones, whose new book, The Next Time You See Me, explores the disappearance of a woman before information moved at the speed of smartphones
• Dana Sachs, whose grandmother became a model at 97 and was the inspiration for Sachs’s new novel, The Secret of the Nightingale Palace

AND we won prizes! While Heath Simpson and Shannon Pierce got to take home giveaway books, I’m lucky enough to be dating the winner of two Isabel Allende tickets!

All in all, a pretty great way to spend a Sunday. Thanks to BOOKMARKS, SECCA, and all the authors who made it such a great event!

To learn more about BOOKMARKS and their events, visit http://www.bookmarksnc.org.

The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head | A Blog Post by Angela Harwood, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Blair

Angela Harwood, Vice President of Sales & Marketing

The summer before I started kindergarten, my father (a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy at that time who would soon be gone for six months on his own adventure) began reading a chapter of The Hobbit to me each night before putting me to bed. Yes, for a few glorious weeks of childhood, The Hobbit was my bedtime story. My father created a distinctive voice for each character, made up tunes for all the lyrics, and joyfully sang all the songs in his deep bass. He was (and still is) a self-taught Tolkien scholar, and throughout the narrative, he provided interesting facts gleaned from the appendix of The Lord of the Rings or other Tolkien books like The Silmarillion. He spoke in Elvish at times during the day or at dinner (and still does), and the story of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf, the 13 dwarves (not dwarfs—read your Tolkien), and the dragon Smaug became real to me, like an actual part of history.

Angela Harwood at five years old

This early introduction into all things fantasy encouraged me to develop quite an imagination. I no longer spent my time riding around on my Big Wheel or bicycle or roller-skating up and down the driveway. Instead, I set out alone or with friends and headed into any woods I could find. I fashioned a nice, long branch to be my walking stick/magical staff, and I called what I was doing exploring. I often got very lost. I had no sense of direction and paid little attention to my surroundings, and I certainly didn’t care where I was as long as I was home in time for dinner. I was armed with a slingshot and black walnuts (my father told me not to shoot people; my mother told me not to shoot animals), and I kept an eye out for snakes, fire-ant hills, and quicksand. I created my own imaginary scenarios: I would be the first to discover what lay at the bottom of that ditch (yellow jackets—36 stings); I would follow the secret trail across the river, which eventually led to a lumberyard guarded by a mean dog on a chain—Warg! “Fly, you fools!”

Middle Earth

From The Hobbit, I learned the importance of being clever, and I worked logic puzzles and brain teasers to strengthen my wit. (I must be prepared to solve riddles at the drop of a hat!) I kept an eye out for secret passages and hidden doors. My father told me that if the measurements of the outside of the house came out to be larger than the inside measurements, then there was likely a secret passage to be discovered inside. I was disappointed when all those tiny doors and panels in the backs of closets or under the stairs led only to plumbing, hot water heaters, or electrical wiring. My father was disappointed when he could never find his tape measure.

Angela with her dad (before she was book-smacked by The Hobbit)

As an adult, I am aware that nothing I do in life will ever live up to the more important and dramatic things I can imagine. I likely won’t save the world from an evil necromancer, or even save a small village from a dragon. I probably won’t find a secret passageway. (I may make one of my own someday when I’m not worried about the resale value of my home.) Instead, I have embraced the next best occupation within my capabilities: publishing. Perhaps a ghost-story collection or a history book about the real-life explorer and adventurer Daniel Boone will alter or influence someone else’s path in life. After all, as Tolkien says, “All have their worth, and each contributes to the worth of others” (The Silmarillion).

The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head | A Guest Blog Post by Debbie Hampton, Director of Design & Production at Blair

At age three, I drew big black stick figures on my parents’ living-room wall as high as my little toes could get me. I actually remember the whole thing—the color of the wall and even the texture of it showing through the stroke of the crayon. The memory is that vivid. What I don’t remember is what happened once the masterpiece was discovered.

But whatever did happen didn’t leave me with a fear of crayons. My childhood and teenage years were spent with pencil, pastel, charcoal, or paintbrush in hand; I was the strange one in the neighborhood who sat outside for hours, drawing or painting anything that caught my eye. I even attended private art lessons given by a resident crazy lady. I should’ve had a beret. In high school, it was pretty evident that I was headed toward art school. There was never a question in anyone’s mind, from friends, teachers, or especially my parents. So off I went.

But I started to have big doubts. What kind of career could I have? Would an art degree give me enough money to support myself? I presented another career plan to my parents on a weekend home, and it was quickly nixed. Defeated, I went back to Art History 101, a freshman requirement that demanded the purchase of some monstrous books, namely H. H. Arnason’s History of Modern Art.

This book changed everything. It sealed the deal for me. I took every art history course I could for the next four years, exploring painting, life drawing, sculpture, graphic design, calligraphy, bookmaking, etc. There is something about the curiosity that arises from any work of art—what the artist was like, what kind of life he or she lived, and what in that life influenced every nuance of the work. It didn’t matter if it was Manet or Warhol; I was enthralled.

To this day, that book has a special place in my home, on a shelf with others that have meaning for me. And still it provides inspiration—to my teenage daughter, who dreams of fashion design, and to me, as I have finally gotten back to the easel and, alas, even the wall, where I paint murals! Because being creative is a way of life in our house.

Look for another installment of The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head next week!

The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head | A Guest Blog Post by Heath Simpson, Warehouse Manager at Blair

On my first doctor’s visit, a stern pediatrician administered a series of painful shots. The surroundings, I enjoyed more. The office was in an elegant, modern ’50s-era building. The lobby featured an amazing, bubbly aquarium. And the library was all Dr. Seuss.

Any Dr. Seuss book was magic. All he needed was paper, a marker, and a few words. He made beauty and fun—really a new parallel universe. The cartoon changed my life.

Later, when I went to the dentist, I was surprised and delighted. They had their own copy of Green Eggs and Ham!

Look for another installment of The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head next week!

The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head | A Guest Blog Post by Steve Kirk, Editor-in-Chief at Blair

January Term junior year, I believe it was. Modern German Literature in Translation.

I was a painfully slow reader back then. Knowing I’d never get through nine novels in one month, I perused the campus bookstore before Christmas break for the most magnum opus on the class list. And there I met my fate—Herman Hesse’s masterwork, Magister Ludi: The Glass Bead Game.

It’s a futuristic novel in which an order of monastic intellectuals perfects a game that synthesizes all forms of abstract knowledge. It’s also one of the foremost unreadable “great” novels in all of literature—or, in my own translation, 520 pages of soul-crushing misery.

I read the whole ponderous thing. Knowing my father would mock me for studying over holiday break, I holed up in my room, where Magister Ludi and I no doubt cut a lonely but comic figure, should anyone have been watching.

Of course, where misguided efforts go, irony follows. On the first day of class, the professor—nice guy, bushy beard, clinically bad breath—announced that he’d assigned too much reading and was dropping a novel from the list. I hardly need to say which one.

I have my copy of Magister Ludi still, on much the same urge that drives strange men to save their kidney stones in jars. But the experience taught me much. It taught me the perils of being a too-sincere student. It taught me that my fondness for reading could weather a hard kick to the groin. And it stuck a fork in my budding literary pretensions and sent me looking for books I could dance to.

Look for another installment of The Book That Smacked Me Upside the Head next week!

 

Blair’s holiday gift guide

For the holiday inspired

American Christmases
by Joanne Martell

The Angel Doll
by Jerry Bledsoe

A Gift of Angels
by Jerry Bledsoe

Mama’s Wreaths
by Julia Taylor Ebel with M. Joann Moretz

The Christmas Bus
by Robert Inman, illustrated by Lyle Baskin

For Mom

A Guide to North Carolina’s Wineries
by Joseph Mills & Danielle Tarmey

I Love You—Now Hush
by Melinda Rainey Thompson and Morgan Murphy

I’ve Had It Up to Here with Teenagers
by Melinda Rainey Thompson

In a Magnolia Minute
by Nan Graham

Losing My Sister
by Judy Goldman

SWAG
by Melinda Rainey Thompson

The SWAG Life
by Melinda Rainey Thompson

For Dad

Bob Garner’s Book of Barbecue
by Bob Garner

Murder on Music Row
by Stuart Dill

The Politics of Barbecue
by Blake Fontenay

North Carolina Craft Beer & Breweries
by Erik Lars Myers

They Tore My Heart Out and Stomped That Sucker Flat
by Lewis Grizzard

Rockin’ a Hard Place
by John Jeter

For gardeners and nature lovers

Becoming Elizabeth Lawrence
edited by Emily Herring Wilson

Rain Gardening in the South
by Helen Kraus & Anne Spafford

Middlewood Journal
by Helen Scott Correll

The Successful Gardener Guide
by Leah Chester-Davis & Toby Bost

For sports fans

Chasing Moonlight
by Brett Friedlander & R. W. Reising

Hark the Sound of Tar Heel Voices
edited by Daniel W. Barefoot

Instant Replay: 365 Days of North Carolina Sports Trivia
by Jimmy Tomlin

Woody Durham: A Tar Heel Voice
by Woody Durham with Adam Lucas

For the family chef

Chefs of the Mountains: Restaurants and Recipes from Western North Carolina
by John E. Batchelor

Tasia’s Table: Cooking with the Artisan Cheesemaker at Belle Chevre
by Tasia Malakasis

Well, Shut My Mouth! The Sweet Potatoes Restaurant Cookbook
by Stephanie L. Tyson

For avid readers

Binocular Vision
by Edith Pearlman

The Books That Mattered
by Frye Gaillard

Captivity
by Debbie Lee Wesselmann

God Bless America: Stories
by Steve Almond

The Iguana Tree
by Michel Stone

Mercy Creek
by Matt Matthews

The Middle of the Air
by Kenneth Butcher

The Patron Saint of Dreams
by Philip Gerard

Through the Pale Door
by Brian Ray

For pet lovers

Ghost Cats of the South
by Randy Russell

Ghost Dogs of the South
by Randy Russell & Janet Barnett

Literary Dogs & Their South Carolina Writers
edited by John Lane and Betsy Wakefield Teter

For ghost lovers

Boogers & Boo Daddies
by the Staff of John F. Blair, Publisher

Ghost Cats of the South
by Randy Russell

Ghost Dogs of the South
by Randy Russell & Janet Barnett

Haunted Halls of Ivy
by Daniel W. Barefoot

For civil war buffs

Civil War Blunders
by Clint Johnson

So You Think You Know Antietam?
by James and Suzanne Gindlesperger

Stoneman’s Raid, 1865
by Chris J. Hartley

So You Think You Know Gettysburg?
by James and Suzanne Gindlesperger

Available through www.blairpub.com and wherever books are sold.

Free shipping on all website orders of $30 or more by individuals.

Father’s Day gift guide

A good book always makes a great gift, don’t you think? We at Blair sure do!  Here are a few suggestions for the pater familias in your life on Father’s Day this Sunday:

For the foodie:

It’s summertime! What man doesn’t love barbecue and beer? Bundle a copy of Erik Lars Myers’s North Carolina Craft Beer and Breweries with a six-pack or a growler from one of the brewpubs or breweries touted in the book. Or couple a copy of the new Bob Garner’s Book of Barbecue with a sample from one of the 100 barbecue establishments reviewed in the book? (Or make Dad’s day with both books, dinner at his favorite barbecue joint, and a pint of a North Carolina summer ale.)

For the musician:

If your dad loves the music of the “first” Hank Williams, give him a CD of the original Hank’s greatest hits along with a copy of Rheta Grimsley Johnson’s Hank Hung the Moon and Warmed our Cold, Cold Hearts (NewSouth Books). Johnson writes about Hank, his life, his music, and the influences his music had on the baby boomer generation.

For the amateur sleuth:

If your dad is looking for a good summer mystery, try Murder on the Outer Banks (Upper Ohio Valley Books) by Joe C. Ellis. The discovery of a drug designed to reverse the aging process in human cells leads to a trail of bodies from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to Washington, D.C., to the Upper Ohio Valley.

Music for your new year: “Murder on Music Row” soundtrack

Happy new year, blog readers! If you dove into 2012 headfirst–like we did–you might already need a break! So here’s a playlist to keep you entertained while you’re back at the grind.

Thanks to the folks at ParcBench and inspired by Murder on Music Row: A Music Industry Thriller, by Stuart Dill, this mix includes classic country tunes that are perfect for a murder-mystery-readin’ kind of day. And while there isn’t a Ripley Graham single in the mix, this playlist might just make you want to dance on your desk and slap your grandmaw.

“Pretty Polly” by the Patty Loveless & Ralph Stanley

“Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash

“L.A. County” by Lyle Lovett

“Pardon Me, I’ve Got Someone To Kill” by Johnny Paycheck

“The Cold Hard Facts of Life” by Porter Wagoner

“I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye” by Willie Nelson

“Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town” by Kenny Rogers

“The Thunder Rolls” by Tanya Tucker

“Delia’s Gone” by Johnny Cash

“Psycho” by Jack Kittel

BookMarks book club social and membership drive this week

One of our favorite things about Winston-Salem is the BookMarks Book Festival, an annual literary event where folks from the all over the Triad and beyond head to the Winston-Salem Arts District to meet authors, attend signings and readings, and just have a great time with books.

But BookMarks is more than just a festival–the group sponsors events all year long. This Thursday, Dec. 8, head to their first ever book club social at the Downtown Winston-Salem public library where you can meet local authors Rachel Keener and Jo Maeder. This book club social will offer new ideas for your book club, suggest books that make for great book club discussions, and talk about how your book club can benefit from being involved with BookMarks–for example, did you know that your book club has the opportunity to meet with BookMarks authors privately before their book signing events? Sounds good, doesn’t it? Blair President Carolyn Sakowksi will also be attending, so you don’t want to miss this meeting!

Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011, 4 p.m.-5 p.m.
Forsyth County Public Library
660 West 5th Street  
Winston-Salem, NC
More details

If you’re unable to attend, look for future events like a conversation with David McCullough or a discussion with Kim Edwards. And while you’re at it, become a member of BookMarks to support the organization and the festival. BookMarks’ membership drive runs from today, Dec. 5, through Friday, Dec. 9. The goal is to get 100 new members, who will help keep the festival free to people of all ages and backgrounds, bring focus on reading and literacy as priorities, and enhance our community’s quality of life. To become a member, you simply make a tax-deductible contribution to BookMarks.  As a member, you will receive many perks throughout the year–including being the first to know and register for author events. Check out the BookMarks website for more information.

See you at the book club social this Thursday!