Jackson Street Books Bids Adieu After Four Year Run!

Closing Party!
And what better reason to have a party than to say goodbye to our friends, neighbors, customers and colleagues.

Mark Saturday May 24th on your calendar to come say goodbye with fine refreshments and the sound stylings of Tim Scallon and the Beneficiaries, beginning at about three p.m. Please join us.

The Sale Continues!
All new books (except special orders) are 30% off cover price. All used books (except collectibles) are 20% off! The less we have to move, so much the better.

What’s Up Next?
If the real estate gods are with us, the sale of our house will close on May 28th; the purchase of our new Hoquiam home will close the next day. Then begins the move. Our last official day will be May 31st. However, throughout June, we will be at the store packing boxes and we will be available if you want to buy some books. What those days are, well, we’re not quite sure. When we have a better sense of our schedule, we will post it on the store door and on the phone answering machine.
We’ve already have some volunteers to help us pack. If you would like to help, please let us know. If nothing else, we will feed you.
And if you’d like us to stay in touch, please reply by email or calling us at 206.324.7000.
Soon we should have a new and improved website with a shopping cart at www.jacksonst-books.com. And our musings about books, politics, the arts and other announcements can be found at our blog http://jacksonstreetbooks.blogspot.com.

Dan and Tammy


Thanks for everything! Remember to support your independent retailers!

Nixonland

Rick Perlstein’s Nixonland (Scribner Book Company $37.50) is far and away the most absorbing and fascinating history I have read in a long while. Of course, I came of age during the period he describes so well, and it resonates for me. At times, while reading, I’m embarrassed by the exuberance of my youth; at other times I remember the passion of my youth fondly. But even if you missed the sixties, you will also be transfixed by this narrative.

Beginning with the apotheosis of Lyndon Johnson and his social agenda in 1964, and the debacle of the Goldwater candidacy, Perlstein moves onto the social forces that ultimately brought down his presidency. At center stage is Richard Nixon, carefully repairing his reputation after the 1960 presidential race and his loss to Pat Brown for Governor of California in 1962, and exploiting every fissure that surfaced in American society to his advantage.

The social movements are there: the growing Anti-war movement and the Civil Rights movement that morphed into a different kind of thing after the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and the Voting Rights Act of ’65, both ultimately coalescing in Martin Luther King, hated and vilified by many, loved and sainted by others. Both merge in the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and the police riot that ensued.

The personalities are there too: a young Nixon speechwriter, Pat Buchanan; Timothy Leary; Richard Speck; Senator Edward Brooke; Eugene McCarthy; Robert Kennedy; George Romney; Seymour Hersh; Norman Mailer; the Berrigan Brothers; Abbie Hoffman; Ronald Reagan; Barry Goldwater; Nelson Rockefeller. The list goes on.

And ironies are noted. Humphrey’s staunchest supporters are the southern delegates; many were the same ones who walked out on his brave Civil Rights speech in 1948 and began the Dixiecrat party with Strom Thurmond at its head. That would be the same Strom Thurmond who made secret deals with Nixon before the GOP convention in 1968, ensuring a Nixon candidacy.

Perlstein’s contention is that the United States was about as close at this time to civil war as it had been since the 1860’s. He reminds us why. It was a time that the conservative Chicago Tribune could editorialize on the day of Martin Luther King’s funeral that “ The murder of Dr, King was a crime and the sin of an individual…The man who committed the act must come to terms with him maker..(The) rest of us (are) not contributory to this particular crime”. It was this kind of fine analysis that could drive any red-blooded human being to rebellion.

This book is 748 pages long in text, with an additional 100+ in notes and index. I am about half way through and will follow up this report with another next week. In the meantime, go get a copy and read this work. It’s worth the money.


Rick Perstein will be interviewed by Jimbo Hoyer at Virtually Speaking in Second Life 6 pm PST/SLT, May 29th.

Department of Book Reports 65: The Art of Racing in the Rain

UPDATE: The Art of Racing in the Rain has been chosen as the #1 Booksense Pick for June! My faith in my fellow indies is restored! The book is available at all bookstores now, but I urge you to buy it from an indie and help drive up those bestseller numbers!




I had to submit my Booksense blurb for this book back in March, and I just can't wait on this book report any longer!
The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein (Harper, $24.95) Narrated by the big hearted Enzo, this story reminds us of the grace of everyday, the preciousness of each moment. “In Mongolia, when a dog dies, he is buried high in the hills so people cannot walk on his grave. The dog's master whispers into the dog's ear his wishes that the dog will return as a man in his next life." Enzo, watches everything, the untimely death of Denny's wife and the 3 year battle with his inlaws for custody of their daughter, doing all he can to keep this family intact. Heartbreaking and achingly perfect this book is really impossible to describe. Enzo is a dog who can explain what it is to be human.

This is a book I'm going to be evangelical about! Really. You must read this one. Yes, it's about car racing. Yes, it's narrated by the dog. Trust me here. There is plenty of heart in this novel, and a compelling story with characters that will stay with you long after the read. Don't forget the Kleenex™.

The Northwest Booksellers gave Garth the annual book award for his last novel, How Evan Broke his Head. That's another recommended read. We usually run into Garth at our regional trade shows, in the bar at the end of the day. Last year, he was in Portland to race the next day and stopped by with his dad to see the booksellers. There was finally good news about his manuscript, after much passing around publishers, HarperCollins had bought the English only rights. For a nice chunk of change. It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

My friend Jenn over at Shelf Awareness is also a fan and has a video trailer. Click on: "The Art of Meeting an Author in a Cafe" or scroll to the bottom for her article.


I was disappointed they didn't pick my Booksense blurb, and also surprised that The Art of Racing in the Rain wasn't even on the list. More people need to be told to read this one and I want to go on record as having told you first, before you see this book in every Sta®bu©ks™ in the universe next month.


UPDATE: SeattleDan has been quoted in the paper!

P.S.: Celebrating with Kevin O'Brien after Garth's wonderful May 13th signing launch in Madison Park.

Register!

I'd like to thank these three ladies for setting up their table and registering voters. What I really like about the Obama campaign is that folks are willing to give up a Saturday to help change this country. Because it isn't Barack the man that's going to get that change, the people need to work to get that change and they are.

And, I find that very exciting!

Coco T Baracks the Vote!

Ja, mon Peace out!

I Been Healed and so can you!

We were out beating back teh Islamofascist Blackberry bushes and Virulent Yuccas that encroach our front sidewalk. We suffered many pricks, and were vexedly sore by the end of the day. Upon applying Healin' Hollers ™©® Miracle Salves, our symptoms were instantly relieved!

I thank Sister Alice for her amazing potions. I urge all of you to purchase said salves and ointments from Miz Alice!

In the latest, second 100 year storm last month in Arkansas, Miz Alice was STRUCK by lightning, so you know her shit is sanctified! This is her front room and you know insurance didn't cover all of that!

The World Without Us

The title reminds the cynic in me of the question asked of Gandhi: “What do you think of Western Civilization”, to which he replied, “I think it would be a good idea”.

Alan Weisman’s natural history, The World Without Us (St. Martins Press $24.95) attempts to discover what exactly would happen if all the human beings disappeared from the planet.

Weisman begins by examining what would happen to our homes and buildings if we weren’t here to maintain them (keep your home repairs going folks!); to the New York subway system (it would flood within days); how cities would crumble; how billions of birds would flourish without glass to fly into, breaking their necks: and, really, how cockroaches would perish without heated homes for them to nest in. Without us, nature would reclaim the abandoned areas of the world like Chernoybl, and the Mayan Empire that so mysteriously disappeared.
The author has traveled throughout the world in search of his answers. He takes us to the Guatemalan jungle, the DMZ in Korea, the last remnant of the primeval European forest in Poland, the Chunnel between France and England and the devastation of the man-made disaster in Cyprus. Along the way, he interviews engineers, biologists, astrophysicists, ethicists and religious leaders. Paleontologists recreate the world of megafauna, like the giant sloths, larger than mammoths, who lived before the coming of homo sapiens, and who could re-emerge were we not here to hunt them into extinction.
Weisman is a very good writer. All the concepts he presents are done so in a lucid and accessible manner. The book reads much like a non-fiction thriller, a veritable page-turner. As a natural history, it has much to teach us; as a prophecy, it has much to frighten us. And the main lesson? Without us, nature will heal what we have done to it.