While visiting Kalamazoo, MI for the show, Last Comic Standing, at Western Michigan University, I came across a gem of a bookstore: The Bookbug.
Located in a plaza, the Bookbug is an independently owned store in an area with one other bookstore, Barnes and Noble. This can make survival of a small business challenging. Yet, on entering the store, I immediately felt like I was in a cozy warm café, where I could sample some books and find the one or few to purchase for home. Full disclosure: there is no café in the store. It just has that inviting feeling to relax and read. The selections are quite wide so as to satisfy any type of reader. There is a fun area for little ones to explore many treasures.
The owner started the store because of her passion for bookstores along her travels. Settled in Kalamazoo, she found the courage to start Bookbug. It’s a worthy store whose qualities would easily compete with many bookstores across the country.
If you pass through Kalamazoo, stop in at Bookbug. You will be refreshed and inspired.
On this blog, I’ve written about journal writing. I’ve written about reading books. There was a time when I did both: I read books and journaled about them. Go figure.
After last month’s journal expedition, I wandered through my bookshelf and discovered a journal wherein I reviewed books for myself as a reminder of what I read and what I thought. I forgot I had done that.
My inspiration came from those funky “record your recollections” books found in your bookstore’s gift section. The fun titles and decorative covers invite you to review wines, where you drank them and save the wine labels. You could write about the places you traveled and significant snippets of the journey. Journal titles encouraged memories of meals and restaurants, favorite songs, meaningful quotes, garden plantings, lists and more. Since my two main interests were books and movies, I decided I would chronicle my impressions of each.
Rather than pay for a fancy-schmancy, pretentious book with pages too small for a proper review, I could make my own book better than any preprinted book. Besides, I found a pair of regal spiral bound notebooks, elegant in their 8″x10″ stature. The simple black hardcover was perfect for a funky, relevant, inspirational postcard. I clipped identical, important-looking blue gel pens in the rings. I was set to write whether at home or on-the-go.
I recorded each book in the same look, manner, and design: “The Title” by Author; Month and year I finished reading, and my review.
It was the prehistoric equivalent of modern day Goodreads.
I tabbed four sections. The front main pages were reviews of the books I read. The second tabbed section I reserved for books recommended to me or that I wanted to read. The last section has some pencil scribblings on the first page; it looks like I planned a “books I borrowed or loaned.” I didn’t know enough people who read books. There is a third section tabbed off but with nothing written on those pages I have no clue what I intended.
I reviewed books from July 1999 through September 2002. My first reviewed book will remain nameless because it is so horrible. I wrote: “College life…here was my chance to see how someone else does it. I’ve learned how not to do it. I have no idea what any of the characters look like. Everyone swore, drank and got drunk. C’mon, a keg at your final? A torture to read but I had to finish it for story’s sake. I forgot that there had been a framing structure at the beginning. Events just end and everything is summed up neatly, compactly, and smoothly like the end of the stereotypical sitcom. Now writing about it, I can put it out of my mind.”
That book was my first exposure to self-published books, often called vanity press back then. This book had to be good. After all, it was a hardback book, with a colorful cover, I discovered at an independent book fair in New York City. That gave it validation. Ever since I read it, this is the book I refer to anytime I need an example of poor writing and the desperate need for an editor.
The General’s Daughter by Nelson DeMille. July 1999
“Print from this ‘old style’ trade paperback dirties my fingers. I like the movie better than the book. Narrator often sounded like the author, not the character.” The ending was given away too soon. Very few ‘he said’ in text and was often confused by who was speaking. Movie was more coherent, flowed better.”
The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. November 5, 1999
“Never was I so glad to finish a book!”
I developed a fascination about writing the true story of a real person. I moved away from fiction and desperately sought solid nonfiction. I read a series of disappointing memoirs after that. One review included my insightful comment: “In the last two memoirs, the struggle is established at the beginning but then the readers never reap the benefits of success.”
Good advice to remember as I finish my memoir.
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. November 25, 1999
“This book made me uncomfy [uncomfortable]. That was wonderful! I want to read it again.” In January 2000, I did just that. “The second reading as powerful as the first. Real writing, honest and true yet not sappy. There’s a reason this has been on the best seller list for over 100 weeks.”
Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah. Saturday, March 4, 2000
“A tragic memoir wonderfully told. Her words: simple, and I got so caught up in her storytelling I didn’t notice.”
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. June 2000
“Good example of a story told through many smaller, seemingly unrelated stories. I’d like to see how the movie translated this fine book.”
As of this writing, I have not yet seen the movie.
The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. August 13, 2000
“What a quick read! Recommended by Jane, I echo her thoughts: I wish I’d written this book.”
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. March 2001
“It has been so long since a book snagged me so completely. I was up nights swallowing every word until way past my practical bedtime.”
I wrote about the Harry Potter series from December 1999 to 2002. Interesting how my opinion has changed since those initial readings.
My last entry is Diary of a Mad Bride by Laura Wolf. September 2002
“B-day gift from Dawn, I read it in about one week. Funny, and a lot more truth in there than any bride would care to admit. Written in short journal entries, it’s easy to read. I must read this closer to my wedding 🙂 again!”
I never did read that book again, but maybe I will now, especially since I am married. One part of my New Year’s Non-Resolutions is to revisit and reread an old favorite book. I’m faced with a dilemma: which one do I choose?
Do you have any recommendations of good books to read, or ones to avoid?
(Photograph by: Greg Bixby) The 141st Kentucky Derby drew an all-time record number of attendees: 170,513.
Arriving for the 141stKentucky Derby, I caught a glimpse of Millionaires Row. I wasn’t at Churchill Downs, however. My commercial flight had just landed at Louisville International Airport and was taxiing to its gate. I peered out the window and saw row upon row of private jets that had been lined up and left by their affluent owners to taunt us commoners, and even the slightly more privileged first class passengers onboard. Impressive in number, there were roughly a hundred planes that I could see from my carefully selected exit row seat. Having paid extra for Delta Comfort+, I gained more legroom and a free alcoholic beverage. Not a bad way to start my first trip to watch the greatest, fastest, most exciting two minutes in sports, complete with Thoroughbred horses, mint juleps, live entertainment, and photo ops.
In preparing for my experience at Derby, I read pages of online information regarding the race’s history and traditions, betting tips, security procedures, and recommendations on attire. The official Derby website offered a host of pictures that supported the importance of hats for ladies and proper clothing for all. I looked through photos from last year’s event to learn what was acceptable amongst the crowd of spectators, which included highly successful celebrities and businesspeople, as well as ordinary women, like me. I wanted to dress appropriately enough to blend in.
Beyond the advice I garnered from the internet, my greatest ally was one of my friends. She’s a perfect southern belle–Maria knows Kentucky; she’s from Louisville; she’s passionate about Derby. Relying upon her expertise and guidance, I gained comfort in my evolving plans, which heavily focused on exactly what to wear, what to expect, and how to fit in.
In retrospect, Maria had started training me for Derby Day many years ago when I attended a Derby party at her home. Other than neglecting to invite Josh Groban to sing “The Star- Spangled Banner,” she provided the essentials. We decorated hats, drank one too many mint juleps, ate Derby pie, and cheered for the stars: the horses.
Her party was a far greater introduction into the sport of horse racing than my husband Greg’s and my earlier attempt to figure it out on our own. We were still in college when we drove south from Michigan to Louisville Downs for harness racing. The first horse on which we placed a bet was injured during its race, went lame and settled in last place. Our next chosen hopeful literally collided with another team, quickly recovered from the accident, but was confused and ran in the opposite direction.
There were no cash winnings for us on that cloudy, gray day. I think it may have had something to do with our strategy for picking a winner. We simply relied upon dumb luck (had we won, it would have been “good luck”) to guide us in weeding through the names of the horses.
Winner or not, I remember feeling like an outsider, a northerner, a “Damn Yankee.” Nobody specific made me feel that way. I was self-aware that I didn’t fit in. Because I have a distinct, well-established, born and bred Midwest accent, I didn’t talk like I was from the South.
A few things have changed in the twenty-eight years since I whimsically bet on the horses in Kentucky.
First, there is no more Louisville Downs. As a horse racing enthusiast, writer, and blogger of Horse Racing Business, Bill Shanklin reports that, “Louisville Downs presented harness racing until 1991, when it closed. Today, the Louisville Downs site is owned by Churchill Downs and is used as a training center and occasionally as a simulcasting facility.”
(Photograph by: Kelly Bixby) Louisville Visitors Center welcomes all.
Second, I’ve learned the biggest secret to blending in: pronounce “Louisville” correctly, y’all. Thanks to Maria, I’ve had that one down pat for years. “Say Louisville as if you have marbles in your mouth,” she once told me. I’ve practiced it ever since: “Looavul.” Got it.
In addition, my betting strategy for selecting a winning horse has improved. I’ve learned that, before the big race, it’s important to take a look at the horses in the paddocks, pay attention to the trainer’s and the jockey’s reputations, and consider the odds. Ultimately, going with a hunch can settle any last minute uncertainty.
What hasn’t changed is the fanfare and excitement of Derby Day. It calls to people worldwide and becomes a bucket list item for many, the super-rich and the not-so-rich alike. As a result, people-watching has become a highly anticipated form of entertainment.
(Photograph by: Greg Bixby) Cheers to Derby hats!
As I walked around the grounds of the 141st Kentucky Derby, my eyes gravitated right to the hats. I suspect that each hat revealed something about the personality of the one wearing it. One woman wore a creative hat that replicated the Twin Spires and had two brown horse heads protruding from the base. Another hat was playfully covered in larger than life-sized pink petals and looked like a giant flower. Plastic champagne bottles and roses were popular adornments for many other expressive people. Personally, I chose a fairly modest, medium brimmed hat topped with ribbons, flowers and feathers, all of which complemented the shades of pink and green in my dress.
(Photograph by: Greg Bixby) Decisions, decisions. What do you wear to Derby?
I spotted an ensemble that I liked best on one of my male hosts. He wore a red and white checked sports coat, a white shirt and dress slacks, the latter of which he tucked into black riding boots. He completed his outfit with a hand-painted silk tie displaying the image of a winning jockey sitting upon a champion horse, blanketed in roses. The pair portrayed in the tie coincidentally resembled my favorite contender: American Pharoah.
How had I arrived at my favorite? I’d like to say that it was because American Pharoah looked powerful and intimidating; Bob Baffert trained him; Victor Espinoza would be riding him; and the odds were good at 5-2. In complement to all those strengths, I had found remnants from an interview in which five retired Hall of Fame jockeys and a retired Hall of Fame trainer admired and touted American Pharoah. But then Maria sent me a video clip of “Puppy Predictors 2015 Kentucky Derby Edition” from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She pointed out that the results could jinx my horse.
(Photograph by: Kelly Bixby) Second to finish, Gary Stevens, center, reaches out to the 141st Kentucky Derby winner, Victor Espinoza, number 18
In the end, I persevered through the decision making and stood strong with my original conviction to place a winning bet on American Pharoah. I had relied on more than a hunch to help me recover losses from the day’s earlier races. Since a friend had recently starred as Pharaoh in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, I knew all along upon whom I would place my winning bet.
This has been a fun trip for me to relive the experiences I had visiting these three bookstores in Seoul, South Korea. With one more to share, I’m hopeful to return to them someday and spend more time. If you get there before me, please send pictures of the stores, and you’re favorite books in Korean. Would love to hear other’s experiences at these places, and recommendations for other bookstores in the area that one should visit.
The third bookstore, Kyobo Book, was the furthest walk, approximately 3 blocks from the subway, which in the downtown area, street blocks are long. There are several vendors in small structures, selling magazines, food, maps, and other items that you might find useful in an urban area. I almost did not find the last location. The first person I asked for help, one of the vendors, only spoke Korean, and I only knew a few words. Need to brush up for any future trips. I showed the name of the store on the map, but she could not help. She called on someone else on the street to help, but no luck there. A pair of police officers pointed me in the right direction: 30 yards away, stairs went down. From a distance, one would not know there were stairs. Below was the store logo. Glass doors opened into what can be best described as a mall. Rows of books, jewelry, technology, clothing, food court, and…did I mention books. The space was larger than the other stores. There was much activity and merchandise that it would take hours to fully appreciate it all.
The English Language section was expansive enough to compete with a small bookstore in the US. It was in this store that I purchased my keepsake: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien, in Korean. Like the stores previously shared in posts, the store was well organized and pristine. This store had a feel of elegance beyond the other stores that from my experience is only rivaled by Books Kinokuniya in Sydney Australia (a future post). The place is only one level, but expansive. It’s the place to take your family and friends where they can find something to do while you peruse the books to your heart’s content. Get a coffee drink, a snack, or meal while passing the time with a book, as your partner is shopping for clothes, jewelry, or any of the other many options that this store provides. I’m sure there are other stores like this one and the other two in the world. I hope to have the opportunity to share those with you some day.
Why do people travel? Why do I travel? I’ve thought about this a lot, especially the first night when I’m back home from a trip. I’m warm and comfy in my own bed. As I snuggle in I think, it’s so good to be back home.
But, the next day or week or month, there I am: Thinking about our next trip. There is so much to see, to do.
A week ago Michael and I left cold Ann Arbor for sunny Florida. We had signed up for a Road Scholar in St. Augustine. What a change in scenery and weather!
As the driver took us from the airport in Jacksonville to the hotel in St. Augustine, we drove down a smooth, new expressway. I looked carefully: no potholes, not one. Tall trees with green branches lined up neatly on either side of the expressway for miles. It was very different from the rough and tumble of California where you have redwood forests on one side of the highway and the ocean on the other. Everything was so neat in Florida. I almost wondered if someone had come out that morning and swept the road.
The driver kept talking about how cold it was: 55 degrees going up to 72. I kept thinking: How wonderful! 55 degrees and the sun is shinning. I don’t need a parka or gloves or a scarf. This is heaven!
After we checked into the hotel, we grabbed our dark glasses and walked down to the beach. Things had warmed up a little by then. I could feel the sun’s heat. I felt like I’d been wrapped in a warm blanket.
The hotel was directly in front of the Atlantic Ocean and had a swimming beach but it was a long straight walk to the water’s edge. Apparently in Florida, no one is allowed to build on the beach or back just a little. The closest you can build is about a block or more from the ocean.
The sand was smooth and the waves made it squishy under out feet. It was tan and glistened in the wet and heat of the afternoon.
The Atlantic Ocean here is so different from the Pacific, which I’m more used to. The Atlantic is much quieter and calmer near the shore. It’s a darker blue and extends way out with very few waves. It was a very calm, peaceful experience. I was glad we had come and we hadn’t even started our Road Scholar program yet!
Coming from cold and snowy Michigan, I felt like I was entering a whole new world. The climate, setting, and ambiance were so different.
I think that’s why people travel. It’s an opportunity to experience a whole new world for a short time. Then it’s nice to go home. That’s why I travel.
