Tobias Wolff - "Our Story Begins"

Tobias Wolff came to Kepler's on April 28. Bookseller/blogger extraordinaire, Terry Meagher, hosted the evening. In case you couldn't make it, here's how the evening went in Terry's words.~~

It's always interesting to contrast the store's peaceful atmosphere during those waning moments prior to closing - when the last handful of stubborn patrons are slowly lulled to the exit by that rhythmically croaking chorus of frogs that night manager Chuck insists on playing - with the energetic ambience of a packed house at one of our author events. I'm referring here not to that crazed excitement of a maddening, midnight-sale crowd at some big-box retailer, but rather to the civilized, expectant energy of a community of readers gathered to show its appreciation: in this case, for one of our foremost practitioners of the short story form, Tobias (a.k.a Toby) Wolff and his collection of new stories and selected classics "Our Story Begins".

Tobias arrived promptly at 7P and despite the darkly unnerving quality of his fiction, the author was hardly the brooding figure, but a rather robust, nearly "happy-go-lucky" kind'a guy. He made a pit stop in the Ordering department, merrily signing stock and discussing with Frank - our Head Buyer - the finer points of Denis Johnson's National Book Award winning novel Tree of Smoke (while I dutifully flapped book jackets to the title page).

I began with an introduction, highlighting a few of Toby's stories that particularly moved me, but was - and this is a first - interrupted at the mention of his new story "Her Dog" by the hand waving author himself "No further, please!" The censure was legit, as the story was one of two he planned to read that evening. (After a flustered moment or two, I regrouped, and the evening proceeded normally)

Tobias read two stories: "Say Yes", ostensibly a conversation about race between a husband and wife, and the aforementioned "Her Dog", an inventive narrative that evolves into an imagined dialogue between a dog and its negligent owner. Toby was quite forthcoming during Q&A. He spoke of the early influences on his decision to pursue writing. One inspiration was the author Albert Terhune, a writer who wrote a great many books all from the point of view of collie, stories that Toby, as a child, found fascinating (perhaps this explains the recurrence of dogs in his own stories). Also, he just loved to write stories as a kid, bartering with lazy classmates: "you write my story and I'll give you my lunch candy for a week" kind'a deals. His confidence was shaken when one of his ghost written stories received a "C" (a "C"?!) and quickly restored, enhanced even, when the teacher revealed she was simply punishing the student for cheating, knowing full well the exceptional story had been by Tobias.

Toby is attracted to the short story form because it allows him to work "under the illusion" of perfecting something. He is not unlike the sculptor; paring down, polishing until all that remains is the story's absolute essence. Unlike some other writers - Joyce Carol Oates, perhaps even Alexander McCall Smith? (see Bobbi Emel's event report of 4/22) - from whom the words just seem to flow endlessly and easily, Toby must constantly rewrite - which he actually loves - because at this point he is over his anxiety of getting the full idea of the story on paper. Toby also pointed out that once a story is published, out there in the world, it really does assume a life of its own; meanings and interpretations are now in the hands of readers. A high school teacher eagerly popped up from his chair and wanted to know about the symbolism of the wife's bleeding finger in "Say Yes" - "I tell my students it represents the idea that regardless of skin color we all bleed red". Toby is fine with this interpretation, though it was his intention that story be not about race at all, but rather about the wife discovering that her husband's love is conditional.

Bringing this same concentrated attention of short story writing to the novel is somewhat intimidating for Tobias. Old School took 4 1/2 years to write, and given Toby's "high sensitivity to mortality" he often feared "what if I'm struck by a bus? Two whole years of work for naught! Speaking of Old School, Toby went on at some length when someone posed a question about the novel's narrator, who apparently comes under the spell of that founder of Objectivism, philosopher Ayn Rand, author of the still briskly selling The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and the un-ironic Virtue of Selfishness. Toby admitted having been under the sway of the philosopher himself during his younger days, much to the consternation of friends. While Toby feels Rand perhaps originally had a point, he eventually dismissed the philosophy of the woman who proudly "has never been helped by anyone in my life" as ridiculous and somewhat mean-spirited. Read her biography, Toby said, and you'll see she was blatantly helped left and right all her life. (Apparently, the intransigent Ms. Rand was known to publicly reduce to tears her own supporters who - perhaps in an enlightened "What's wrong with this picture?" moment, dared to challenge her philosophical precepts. Tobias slyly mentioned that the Ayn Rand Institute itself eventually reasoned - coldly and correctly, of course - that it would be in the organization's own selfish, best interest if Ms. Rand cease all public engagement with her disciples, insisting she stick to pen and paper..... Alas, what a great blogger that Ms. Rand would have made!)

The signing went smoothly. Toby kindly offered to personalize books, even signing those stacks of backlist titles that a couple of deadly serious collectors brought in. (Even I had fun meeting our customers while writing out personalized messages on slips of paper - though I felt oddly waiter-like, my post-it pad and pen in hand, held up to my face, as I went through the long line, half wanting to say " and our Special tonight is "Our Story Begins...".) I also got to chat with Toby's friendly spouse, Catherine, while handing copy after copy of Old School, This Boys Life, etc., to Tobias to sign.

Terry (left) with Tobias Wolff (right)

Alexander McCall Smith at Kepler's!

A crowd of 350 fans came to Kepler's for a night with Alexander McCall Smith, author of more than 50 books, including the bestselling No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and Isabel Dalhousie series. On April 22nd, he was in town to talk about his newest novel, The Miracle at Speedy Motors. And as event host and bookseller, Bobbi Emel, reports, it was indeed an evening to remember. ~

Mr. McCall Smith is a very courteous, charming, and funny man. He offered to sign stock while waiting for the event to begin and also met with a few fans privately, including my mother who came down from the great state of Washington for the event. Mrs. McCall Smith and friend wanted to browse and shop in the store and were very impressed with the layout and selection at Kepler's.

Meanwhile, the crowd waited patiently outside and staff distributed colored tickets for them to use for the book-signing procedure. Finally, they were brought in and we ended up with quite a large audience.

They waited patiently as I extolled the virtues of literary circle membership, talked up the Kepler's Blog, touted upcoming events, and reviewed basics about keeping the aisles clear and signing line procedures. Spontaneous applause from the audience was, alas, not for my thorough pre-intro but for Mr. McCall Smith who had left the green room and appeared to my right. I provided a brief introduction about the author (which was a little difficult given his extensive education, wide range of interests, and multiple ongoing series of stories) and then he took the podium. Almost instantly, he had the audience laughing with delight.

Mr. McCall Smith (AMS) picked up on something I had mentioned in the intro, the fact that he and his wife had created a musical group called "The Really Terrible Orchestra" in which he plays bassoon and Elizabeth plays the horn. AMS said, in his very droll manner, that I had misspoken. Although he does play the bassoon it must be said more accurately that he only plays "half the bassoon. The high notes are very hard to play so when the music gets to a D, I stop. Of course, most of the players in The Really Terrible Orchestra also employ this procedure when their music goes too high, as well, so really, we are simply, simply awful."

AMS continued on in this manner, speaking without notes, telling stories on himself that were extremely funny and kind-heartedly making fun of people he has met throughout his life. (A story about a trip to Santa Barbara was told with AMS gently recalling the denizens of that fair city as "Santa Barbarians.") He quickly reviewed the status of the storylines in his No. 1 Detective Ladies' Agency series as well as in his other series and then confessed to the audience that he has a serious condition known as "serial novelism." (He has written over 50 books.)

After 30 minutes of highly entertaining speaking (loud guffawing could be heard from Receiving where the host and Pam were sitting in the wings, watching), AMS took questions from the audience. An extremely polite man, he thanked each person for his/her question but could not help laughing at one woman's query. Referring to his "Scotland Yard" series, the woman noted that it was implied that one of the characters, Pat, had been through a traumatic experience in her past. The woman then earnestly asked, "So...do you know what happened to Pat?"

Answering another question, he revealed that he writes for 3 hours every day and writes 1000 words per hour. He also does not edit his work or change the story in any way, it just flows out of him. My mother had asked him previously how he was able [in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series] to write from the perspective of a "middle-aged, Botswanian woman of traditional build" to which he simply answered "imagination."

Truly, Mr. McCall Smith held the imaginations of all of us in the audience that night.

He preferred to stand while signing books and was very quick about it while making each customer feel that s/he was the only person in the room with him.

As you can tell from this report, I was delighted with AMS and the event as a whole. And one of the great things about being a host is writing these reports and being able to insert pictures of yourself, your mom, and the author.

Special thanks to Cynthia and Mom for the photos.

Additional thanks go out to Pam, Frank, Jeff, Noam, the night crew, volunteer Pam, Ann Dreeszen and her mom, Jean, Cynthia, Marilyn A. for manning the outside Mobi, and Jonathan for setting up the AV. Sincere apologies to anyone I may have overlooked.

Penderwicks on the Plaza!

Kepler's was honored to welcome, Jeanne Birdsall, author of The Penderwicks series, to the Plaza on Monday, April 21. It was a cool April evening, but a family crowd gathered to celebrate her newest tale, The Penderwicks on Gardam Street.

Kepler's Children's Events Coordinator, Angela Kroner, is the artistic and talented mind behind all of our fabulous children's events. She recreated the Penderwicks world on the plaza - complete with piano music, butterfly wings, bunnies, brownies and more. Here's a recap of a magical evening, in Angela's words. ~
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This was our first attempt at an evening outdoor event. And, thanks to the tremendous effort of the people that helped me set up, I think that it works quite well. The traffic noise wasn’t too bad although the train was intrusive. We were able to fit quite a few chairs out there, so hopefully, we can start to considerate it for an alternative venue during the warmer summer months! It never hurts to have people driving by actually see what one of our events looks like! Here are some pictures of what it looked like:

Jeanne, of course, was a delight. (Angela Mann had the opportunity to conduct and interview with her prior to the event - keep checking the blog - we'll post that soon!) She started right off by saying that people needed to support their independent book stores because they are the ones that out there fighting the good fight. She was quick to point out that it was the independents that made her first book such a success and if it wasn’t for them, The Penderwicks may have languished. It was a nice message to convey to the kids, as they are the future customers and supporters of stores like ours!

She talked mostly about where the ideas for the story lines come from and it seems that she pulls quite a bit from the classics. Its obvious, really, but she still managed to write two books that have a modern, yet classic feel to them. The influences she cited were Nesbit, Alcott, Munro Leaf, and a score of others. She also pulled quite a bit from her own family—human and pets. (Her son…or was it step-son…is a student at Stanford and he was there. She kept on referring to him and the things that he and his siblings did while they were growing up, telling him to stand up and answer questions. He took this with much good humor.)

The questions from the audience were intelligent and she answered them with great honesty. Her favorite question came from a young man who started off his question with, “My mom says…” To which Jeanne replied, “Any question that starts off with that phrase is a good question.” (Or something along those lines.) He proceeded to say that his mom said that in order to have a good book, it’s a good idea to start off with some sort of tragedy like killing off a parent. This made the whole audience and Jeanne laugh hysterically. She said that this was a good theory, but that she certainly was not advocating killing parents.

One last side note: Author Robin Brande (Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature) was there and the two of them got along really well. Apparently, they have the same editor and spent the end of the night talking and laughing about the touring circuit. Here is a picture of them:

Finally, this was a very labor intensive event and I couldn’t have done it without the help of Frank, Antonia, Jeff, Sarah, Angela M., and Cressida. Thanks also to Mike F. for getting the MOBI up and running so that people could buy books outside. And finally, to Adrianna for playing piano for us and to Jason for building us the stage.

"The Mayor's Tongue": Nathaniel Rich

Nathaniel Rich came to Kepler's on April 19 to discuss his new book, The Mayor's Tongue. Our brilliant bookseller, Terry Meagher, hosted the event. In case you missed it, here's what happened in Terry's words.~
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Nathaniel is one of a cadre of emerging literary novelists hailing from NY; judging from his age (around 30), position as a Senior Editor of The Paris Review, his well-received book of film criticism San Francisco Noir, and quietly confident demeanor (not to mention a slightly unruly mop of black hair), he kind’a fits the bill.

Nathaniel began by sharing an anecdote during which he received a tip on how best to conduct an author reading. A couple years ago at a Paris Review event, the host approached “Nat” wondering if he could help an elderly, wheelchair-bound attendee who had arrived an hour early and appeared somewhat disoriented. The guest turned out to be The Naked and the Dead author Norman Mailer, who struck up a conversation with the aspiring author (The Mayor’s Tongue was then a work in progress). “You a drink’n man, son?” Nat, who sure was now, quickly fetched a pair of gin-and-tonics and chatted with the literary icon for over an hour. Perhaps flustered by the notorious provocateur, Nat didn’t recall much other than Mr. Mailer’s “sage” advice that if your book has a “sex scene”, by all means, be sure to read it at your event.

So, Nathaniel read an excerpt (funnier though less steamy than what Mr. Mailer probably would have preferred) during which the female protagonist, Sonia, courts lead character Eugene, luring him with two passes to the local mud spa “My Name is Mud”. The music issuing forth during this romantic interlude is overwhelmed by the cacophony of clanging pipes in the place and the overbearing presence of the stern, pock-marked, staff attendant, Stanka. Nat freely admitted that the scene was in fact inspired by his own quirky family outing to a similar mud spa. While the others found the place a near despicable pit – dated, odd, creepy even - Nat, ever the writer, found it strangely fascinating.

Nat also cited another real-life situation as inspiration for the relationship between Eugene, a young college grad and his fellow Dominican co-worker Alvaro, who speaks a Cibaeno dialect no one comprehends, instead relying strictly on physical gestures and an amazing elasticity of facial expression to communicate. Years ago, working as an intern in Italy, Nat suddenly found himself desperate for housing. A fellow worker kindly offered to put up the stranded American at his place. Though forced to sleep on a fold-out contraption in the cramped, rear kitchen (I’m thinking here of some portable device from that in-flight, Sky Mall catalogue), Nat thought the arrangement a “win-win”: both roommates could learn the other’s native tongue*. The Italian, while speaking only a “horrible” Pidgin English, instead insisted on conversing only in English. The upshot for Nat: his Italian improved not an iota, while his own command of English only worsened. Though for Nat the whole experience did point up our need as humans to communicate with one another, however desperately.

In a self-deprecating nod to the less than packed house, Nat began Q&A with a question to himself (“Better that way, you’ll get an answer you’ll know you’ll like!” laughingly piped up an attendee to my immediate left). He spoke of his current duties at the Paris Review, which include a ton of time wading through the slush pile of short stories; some are “really bad” but, his face brightening, “that rare “gem” of a story does eventually surface”. He is heavily involved in editing those famous Paris Review author interviews. He especially enjoyed working on an interview with poet August Kleinzahler and is currently at work editing an interview with Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk (Snow, My Name is Red).
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To read Terry's post on Russell Banks, click here.

Nick Taylor - "The Disagreement"

On April 17th, debut novelist, Nick Taylor, met up at Kepler's with first-time event host, Craig Beebe, and other historical fiction enthusiasts to discuss his Civil War novel, The Disagreement.

If you haven't heard of the book, here is a summary (ripped from the event page on Kepler's website, which is, by the way, where you should go for a calendar of future Kepler's events!)

"THE DISAGREEMENT begins on April 17, 1861, the day that Virginia secedes from the Union and the day that marks the sixteenth birthday of John Alan Muro. As the Commonwealth erupts in celebration, young Muro sees his dream of attending medical school in Philadelphia shattered by the sudden reality of war.

Muro’s father sends him to Charlottesville instead of Philadelphia, where Jefferson’s forty-year-old University of Virginia has become a haven of rogues and dilettantes. Soon, the war effort requires that medical students like Muro be pressed into service at the Charlottesville General Hospital, where the inexperienced Dr. Muro controversially saves the life of a Northern lieutenant.

Late in the war, now nineteen and married to his first love, Muro is forced to make a choice that will shape the rest of his life. In this story of unimaginable sacrifice, a doctor struggles to balance the passions of youth with the weight of responsibility.

Debut novelist Nick Taylor is an English professor at San Jose State University."

That's a summary of the book, now here's a recap of the evening from Craig. Craig is a new event host, but you probably know him as that friendly tall guy at the register who shouts "Hey! How's it goin?!" to customers entering the store. Take it away, Craig! ~
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This was a continually surprising evening for me. First, I was surprised and pleased to discover that not only does the author within walking distance of our store, he is a regular customer and a big fan. Then I was surprised to learn that he is not from Virginia, which I had assumed based on his short bio and the fact that his Civil War novel is very engrossingly told from the perspective of a young Virginian medical student. In fact, the only South that Nick Taylor hails from is that of California! Los Angeles, specifically, although he did live in Virginia for 13 years, received a B.A. and M.F.A. at UVA, and met his wife there. But he tells me he is happy to be in California again, and during his very interesting Q&A session, it emerged that he wasn't all that interested in the Civil War until just before he began working on this novel. That makes his achievement in the book all the more admirable, I think.

The final great surprise of the evening was the size and enthusiasm of our crowd, which defied my expectations and proved Rich to be rather prescient in his insistence on setting up all of our black chairs. To be truthful, many of the adoring fans were really Nick's friends, family, and colleagues, but still: they were, as I said, enthusiastic both in listening and in asking questions during a very interesting Q&A session.

I was also very interested in Nick's comments about writing historical fiction, being a first-time novelist, and discovering your subjects as a writer. His next work will be a telling of the Junipero Serra story, and I will definitely look forward to reading it. ~ Craig