indigobridgebooks.com

Book Clubs

2011-08-24T01:37:27Z

Indigo Bridge has, over these past few years, lead and hosted a variety of book clubs. We offer a 15% discount on books being read for discussion clubs. If you're ever interested in reserving space for your own book club to meet at Indigo, or want to arrange ordering books for your group that already meets elsewhere, just call or e-mail us.

We currently host space for the Women's Diabetes Support Group and Book Club, Writing Club, Nora Robert's Book Club, LGBTQ Literature Book Club and Mystery Monday book club. Graphic Novel Book Club, while ostensibly lead by one of our staff, has grown into its own entity and has earned the title of Longest Running Book Club for Indigo. They celebrate their 2 year anniversary on August 31st and will be discussing all of the books they have covered this past year.

The great thing about hosting a book club here, whether it is lead by an Indigo staff person like GNBC (as they call it) or by a group on their own, is that it fills our space with people who are passionate about reading. Passionate about books. Passionate about discussing how they relate to words, imagery and story. There are solid blocks of time, every week, where the books on our shelves become real and tangible to people who love them. I can't think of anything better.

Indigo Bridge Customer Accounts and Discounts

2011-05-19T13:56:15Z

Dearest Indigoers,

While the mundane act of updating our computer doesn't seem like exciting news at first glance...let me tell you how it is really, really awesome.

If you come into the store and give us your first name, last name and a contact phone number, we can enter you into our computer system. After that, you can order books with us! No more teary declarations of sorrow when we, your local and independent bookshop, do not have the book for which you are lusting.

But wait! Yes? There is more.

Since we often DO have that delightful Charlaine Harris* book in that you've waited for months to be published...you can also save on all your purchases here. Anyone who buys an Indigo Bridge canvas bag gets 10% off of their total. So, if you don't have one yet, next time you are in you can buy one and we'll program your account to automatically give you the 10% off.

For those of you who already have a bag, bring it with you next time you are in and ask us to create an account for you. We'll program your 10% off at the same time. Just remember to give us your name when you are ringing out for future transactions. That way, even though it is totally cool to bring your bag in and save some trees, we can give you your discount anytime you are here - bag or no.

For those of you who are not aware, we also give a discount to teachers. We normally need to see your school badge but if you bring it in while setting up your account we can program that in. Imagine, popping in to check on a book and spur-of-the-moment deciding to buy it. No more must you root for your school badge. No more will you rue that you left your Indigo Bridge canvas bag at home full of gym clothes. No more must you conform to the tyranny of our discount rules!

We would love to get you set-up in our new system. We don't use the information to track what you are buying. We don't call you with sales pitches. If you provide your e-mail, we don't add it to our e-mail list unless you request us to do so. We just want to make buying books from us easier, more fun and at the best deal. Thank you for letting us.

Peace,
Aja

*We DO have the latest Charlaine Harris book in stock. Dead Reckoning continues the Sookie Stackhouse story arc. And just in time for "True Blood" to start up again this summer. How awesome is that?

Have You Seen My Rubber Ducky?

2011-04-19T02:37:36Z

Moby Duck is the heroic tale spun together by writer turned investigative reporter Donovan Hohn. In 1992 a number of shipping containers filled with rubber ducks and beavers fell over board on their journey across the ocean to the United States. Since then plenty of people including, as the title suggests, beachcombers, oceanographers and environmentalist have been tracking the currents that flow throughout the world's oceans in an attempt to relocate all 28,800 little animals.

I first heard of this book while driving around Lincoln one evening when Fresh Air came on across NET's airwaves. The chat that occurred between Hohn and Terry Gross was so... absolutely engrossing, that I couldn't believe I was listening to the epic of tiny yellow duckies. It was enough to get me interested in picking the book up at Indigo Bridge.

We currently have just one copy hanging out on our new arrivals shelf. Next time you're in the store take a look, maybe you'll find it as intriguing as I do.

Understanding the Enderverse

2011-04-11T23:53:41Z

I am an Orson Scott Card fan. I've enjoyed everything I've read by him since the first time I picked up Ender's Game. My favorites have all come from the Ender related saga, but I've dabbled in Alvin Maker, and even read The Worthing Saga in its entirety. Tonight, though, I am not here to discuss how much I enjoy any of these books. I am here for the sake of clarity and demystification. You see, I know a few people, my dear wife included, who glaze over anytime I mention anything from the Enderverse. We all have those subjects where no matter how much it makes sense to us, it just may never click for an outside witness. Tonight I present to you all, the most concise guide to the Enderverse, sourced from Wikipedia naturally. Enjoy and hopefully this will help in any future discussion any Ender fans find themselves in.

The Right To Be Out

2011-03-06T19:50:38Z

The Right to Be Out: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in America's Public Schools by Stuart Biegel Despite significant advances for gay and transgender persons in the United States, the public school environment remains daunting, even frightening as evidenced by numerous high-profile incidents of discrimination, bullying, violence, and suicide. Yet efforts to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students and educators, or to enhance curricula to better reflect the experience of differing sexual orientation and gender identities, are bitterly opposed in the courtroom, at the ballot box, and especially in the schools. Underlying all of these issues is an implicit tension about the right to be out, a right that is seen as fundamental within LGBT communities today and, legally, draws on both the first Amendment right to express an identity and the Fourteenth addresses the implications of asserting and protecting this right with the hotly contested terrain of America's public schools. A safe and supportive educational environment for all students is possible, Biegel concludes, if built on shared values and a belief in the strength of our pluralistic society. Recognizing the right of LGBT students and educators to be out at school! In simple terms, this book lays out incredible ideas about how the American Public school system can change to create a safe environment for the LGBT community. One of the first books of its kind, The Right to Be Out is a must read book for teachers, students, LGBT members and everyone who is involved in the American Public School system. NOW AVAILABLE at Indigo Bridge Books in the Gender Studies Section!!! A safe, non-discriminating and amazing place for everyone!!

What Did You Learn?

2011-02-22T01:51:07Z

If new knowledge doesn't change the way you act, have you really learned anything?

I enjoy a lot of books. My favorites, though, tend to make my life different. Make me live different. They aren't just fun and interesting; their ideas and information illuminate more of the world for me and compel me to act in new ways to match this new understanding. A few such titles, for your consideration:

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education Of A Reluctant Businessman, by Yvon Chouinard

In this chronicle of the development of the outdoor sports equipment company Patagonia (and to a lesser extent, the climbing-gear company Black Diamond), founder Yvon Chouinard lays out the incredible, beautiful and encouraging results of a group of climbers, surfers, skiers, and other people passionate about the outside who more or less accidentally created a company that is at once financially successful and has legitimate moral fiber.

Patagonia's primary reason for existence is not to turn a profit, but to make the world a better place. Profit is secondary. Chouinard has seriously contemplated liquidating the whole business and using the money to protect the environment, but has decided against that because of his belief that more good can be done if the company continues to exist. This idea should be basic--nothing should exist if it's not making the world better--but in a book about a for-profit corporation, it's pretty rare. Also key in Patagonia's operating values are excellent worker treatment (they were one of the first companies to offer childcare for employees, and their flexible policy on when people get their shifted hours done lets workers maintain their often weather-dependent outdoor pursuits), minimizing environmental impact of their products (many of their clothes are made of recycled materials, and you can send some of them back once they wear out to be recycled again), and making gear that's built to last through massive abuse (Chouinard tells the story of a conversation where he said to another Patagonia high-up that he wanted their company to make the best shirt in the world, and he was rebuffed: she said it was impossible, that the best shirts in the world are hand-stitched in Italy and cost hundreds of dollars apiece. He asked whether you could get those shirts dirty and toss them in the heavy cycle of a washer, and she said of course not, the shirt would be ruined. Chouinard concludes that these are not in fact the best shirts in the world.). These values--doing good to the world; doing good to other people; living freely; and making and using efficient, effective products--are presented as a unified ethic. Seeing them all laid out so plainly--and moreover, seeing them put into action with integrity, consistency and success--touched me and shifted how I approach many parts of my life and what new things I seek to bring into it.

Let My People Go Surfing is in our Biography section--enjoy!

Bomb The Suburbs and No More Prisons by William Upski Wimsatt

These two books are hard to characterize. Wimsatt, a college dropout (from my college!) turned hip hop journalist (yeah, hip hop is big enough to include journalism, too) turned philanthropist, has considered many, many topics and written on them here: the causes and effects of the abandonment of urban centers by middle-class white people, self-education where formal education leaves students cold, responsible use of inherited money, cross-country hitch hiking, popular misconceptions about the safety of poor neighborhoods, abuse of racial privileges within hip hop culture, and many others. In a style that is at once abrasively blunt and engagingly conversational, Wimsatt keeps you reading, thinking, and re-thinking throughout.

The two books, read in order (Bomb The Suburbs came out first), chart marked changes in Wimsatt's views on the topics he discusses--ideas that were only partway formed in the first book are fleshed out or critiqued and reconsidered in the second. I first encountered the idea that this whole post is based on--that really learning something will change the way you act--in Wimsatt's writing. I learned later that it's also found in educational theory; professional educators call it "deep learning." This approach, focused on big-picture results, permeates these books, and helps make what might seem like scattershot collections of unrelated essays feel instead like strong, extremely cohesive meditations on the state of contemporary society and what each individual--any individual--can do to improve things.

Wimsatt has a newer book out--Please Don't Bomb The Suburbs. I haven't read it yet, but it's in the Politics section here at Indigo Bridge. If you're interested, be quick, or I'll pick it up first.

No Impact Man, by Colin Beavan

This fine specimen recounts the author's yearlong attempt to reduce his family's negative environmental impact to zero. Not to "be green," not to drive a hybrid, not to buy the plastic box of food from another continent with a "certified organic" sticker on it instead of the one without, but to do nothing at all that hurts our earth. Public transportation is not good enough--the subway still runs on fossil-fuel power. Recycling is not good enough--the project demands that no waste be produced whatsoever. Forget CFLs--Beavan, his wife and their toddler daughter turn off the electricity.

The book's power is multifold: for one, it presents and strives to answer some very important questions, questions that humankind has stopped being able to run away from. If all our technological progress, at the expense of the planet's livability and the lives, health and happiness of billions of our poorest people, is legitimately making our lives better, then perhaps it's worth the cost, Beavan suggests. But, he continues, are our lives better with our Styrofoam and takeout boxes? With our disposable tissues? With twenty-four hour television, with plastic diapers, with so many material conveniences and labor-savers that we are now expected to live at a pace so fast we can't enjoy the life the conveniences are here to free us up to enjoy in the first place? And if not--if we spend so much of our time toiling to pay for another box of dross, and we're shooting the earth in the face in the process, and it's not even making us happier--what do we do about it?

The other big strength of the book is that it explains in concrete terms just how Beavan and his family sought the "No Impact" ideal. Their approach is specific to their circumstances--a fairly well-off family of three living in an apartment in New York City--but many of the things they do are applicable to other people too, either in concept or step-for-step. Perhaps grocery shopping on a custom-built cargo trike won't work for someone living in the country, but washing clothes by stomping them clean in the bathtub can work just fine.

In addition to telling his family's personal story, Beavan returns time and again to the project's national and global context, which helps keep the book's relevance constantly in focus. No Impact Man gave me a new framework with which to conceptualize my commitment to environmental (and societal) sustainability, specific tools and processes to make my life more sustainable and potentially satisfying, and an image of what one part of our planet's future may look like. Green consumerists beware: his answer does not include living as you always have buying everything you're used to, except made out of recycled plastic and organic palm oil. It does, however, include some possible directions to a future where the planet supports us, we support each other, and we have a better time as we do it.

We shelve it in Environment.

Books that don't go a step beyond pure entertainment are wonderful and important. But books that give you new understanding of your world and make you approach and engage that world differently can be perhaps more wonderful still.

Read on,

~Grey

The Legend of Alexander Supertramp

2011-02-17T14:13:03Z

Today, I have finally finished reading Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Some of you may recognize the title from the 2007 film adaptation [IMDB link] starring Emile Hirsch as Chris McCandless. I am guilty of seeing the movie before reading the book, but that's not terrible. In all honesty the movie cuts out some things from the book, that are actually completely irrelevant to the story. There were two whole chapters I glanced through, because for some reason Krakauer decided it was a good time to write about himself again. Those were the only instances of this book that I didn't enjoy.

For those of you not familiar with either form of this story it's the tale of Chris McCandless' sojourn across the Western United States and eventually his fateful march into the Alaskan bush in 1992. McCandless dubbed himself Alexander Supertramp, and took on many different identities in his travels, but almost each was some iteration of the name Alex. He left without notice after his collegiate graduation, and before going home to see his parents. He made his way west into the deserts of Arizona and Nevada, down into Mexico and eventually back up into California. He also made great strides in South Dakota, where he settled down for a bit and did some farm work.

Through out his journey Alex was constantly befriending and impressing new people. He left every person he spent any time alongside, with a feeling of love and respect toward him. One such man, who Alex appeared to have the greatest impact on, even renounced his faith in God after learning of Alex' ill-fate in Alaska.

One of the hardest things about this book, is getting yourself to understand that while Alex was interesting, intelligent and at least a little brave, his story is full of arrogance and tragedy as well. His great adventure feels both awesome, and overly self-indulgent at the same time. I spent a lot of my time reading this trying to decide if I was jealous, or relieved that I'd never follow in at least a few of his footsteps.

The final words Chris penned before his passing, are probably some of the most humbling words I've ever read:

"I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD, GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL [sic]!"

The epilogue tells of his parents visiting his final base camp in Alaska. It's touching and beautiful. I considered skipping it, but in the end couldn't resist reading it. The sense of both loss and joy his parents display while exploring the abandoned bus are quite unique. I don't believe my own parents would react the same way, especially so soon after the events.

In the end if you want to know the story of Alexander Supertramp, you can just watch the film, but if you really want to gain some insight into Chris McCandless and the many people he effected throughout his journey then please take the time to read the book. Don't ever forget that non-fiction is good for the soul too.

Sanitizing the Classics: Huckleberry Finn Has His Mouth Washed Out

2011-02-03T16:00:32Z

Mark Twain's been a popular man in the papers lately. Not only with the release of the first volume in his autobiography, but also with a newly edited version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn in one volume. When it was originally published in 1885, Huckleberry Finn was denounced by many critics as "trash", but has regardless become a beloved classic by an American icon. It was also, of course, a different time,
with different tolerances and sensibilities.

Imagine the outcry that a book being newly published today would receive for 219 uses of the "n" word. In the edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn to be released in February by Alabama publisher NewSouth Books, edited by Alan Gribben, all 219 instances of that racial slur in Huckleberry Finn have been replaced by the word "slave". NewSouth freely admits that "slave" doesn't have the same impact or caustic connotations that the "n" word in Twain's original text did, but then, that's rather the point. Furthermore, the word "injun" has been edited to "Indian".

Huckleberry Finn is still banned in schools across the nation today, many teachers and parents uncomfortable at the idea of their children having such a confrontation with the "n" word, but those who support this cleaner edition think more students will now be permitted an earlier introduction to this story that teaches on themes beyond racism. It raises the
question of is it ever acceptable to propagate a word saturated with hatred, regardless of context, and what power we imbue a condemned word with by continuing to use it. There are cries from the other end of the argument that even these minor alterations to Huckleberry Finn bleach the heart and soul from the work, draining it of its historical and cultural significance while promoting censorship. Racial slurs are ugly scars across our language, but ignoring them does not make them fade entirely. What do we teach, when we explain to our children what these words mean, where they come from, and why they might make us ache today? How might that change our comprehension and appreciation of Twain's stories?

We here at Indigo Bridge Books invite you to develop your own opinions on such revisions and start conversations about the editing of classic literature, and will be happy to provide you whichever edition of Huckleberry Finn you would like to purchase. Regardless of the viewpoint
taken, we are always inspired to see people think critically and feel passionately about what they read, and exercising their rights to choose and speak freely based on what they believe.

Lost to the Same Indifferent Sun

2011-01-27T21:13:45Z

After years of hearing about how fantastic his works are I finally sat down and read a novel by Cormac McCarthy. I had been told that Blood Meridian was a good place to start, but instead decided I would read either No Country For Old Men or The Road. I eventually chose The Road for a few simple reasons: I hadn't seen the movie and I enjoy post-apocalyptic literature. Shortly after beginning The Road I decided it was a mistake to have not read anything by McCarthy before now.

The Road is single-handedly the most beautifully written description of Mother Earth at her most bleak and forlorn that I have ever read. The scenery is ash gray and void of life, save a few humans here or there. If you're not willing to feel a little sad and insignificant for the sake of fantastic prose, then don't read this book. You would probably just be miserable.

The surface plot concerns a man and his son surviving, hardly, as they traverse the road to somewhere better than the day before. There are struggles and obstacles at almost every turn. The "good guys" are few and far between. Most of the humans they come across are broken and dying or have resorted to cannibalism for survival. There appear to be no other species left alive.

The story cycles through days of sleep deprivation and hunger, days of good fortune and food, days of danger, illness and death in such a beautiful way that one nearly forgets how horrid this place must be. There are no chapters, instead the book is a constant stream of stanzas. Each paragraph flowing easily, almost more poetry like than anything. It felt a little off-putting at first, but I eventually fell in love with McCarthy's style for The Road. I'm hoping his other works are just as well laid out.

I think for once I'll include some quotes from the book to help convey some of the greater phrasings he was able to parse together for us.

He lay listening to the water drip in the woods. Bedrock, this. The cold and the silence. The ashes of the late world carried on the bleak and temporal winds to and fro in the void. Carried forth and scattered and carried forth again. Everything uncoupled from its shoring. Unsupported in the ashen air. Sustained by a breath, trembling and brief. If only my heart were stone.

Dark of the invisible moon. The nights now only slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp.

And perhaps beyond those shrouded swells another man did walk with another child on the dead gray sands. Slept but a sea apart on another beach among the bitter ashes of the world or stood in their rags lost to the same indifferent sun.

Read this book. You won't regret it.

A Pale Review of "Hills"

2011-01-14T19:40:25Z

    Kazuo Ishiguro came to fame with his brilliant work The Remains of the Day. It's probably my favorite book written within the last few decades (although I'm not the person to ask about recent literature). After I read that, I read his latest novel Never Let Me Go, sci-fi oriented but as haunting and poignant as Remains. So I've been on the lookout for his other highly-acclaimed titles ever since.
    Now, at this point, I have to admit that I go to the "competition" sometimes, being A Novel Idea used bookstore. Really, though, I've talked to the owner about it, and we're in complete agreement that local independents need to support each other. So, naturally, I was super excited when I found a copy of his first novel A Pale View of Hills, and bought it guilt-free.
    The novel foreshadows his later works. It is, like a few of his others, a shifting narrative, set partly in Nagasaki, Japan after the war and many years later in the English "countryside". This all makes sense as his first effort, as he moved from Nagasaki when he was five to live in England. While he admits that the Japanese scenery is slightly fictionalized (I won't call a setting that was just destroyed by a nuclear bomb romanticized), the cultural context is very believable and the Japanese tone is perfect. What makes this, and his other novels, so successful for Western audiences is that he understands Westerners intimately and understands the Japanese from an honest perspective.
    Etsuko, the narrator, is the one now living in England, dealing with the suicide of her youngest daughter and handling a visit from her eldest, now imbued entirely with the ways of the modern Western youth. The novel especially stuck with me as a portrait of changing familial and cultural norms; imperialism to democracy and tradition to "free-thinking". As always, Ishiguro's grip of humanity makes his characters all too real.

There is not an unbelievable line in the entire book, and although the characters are set to give us different world-views, they are the farthest thing from being props. Instead of moralizing, he puts people into the real world and sees how they will interact with death and change. The weight of the book is all the better for it, too, sending you off with a feeling of understanding instead of a feeling of what the author considers right and wrong. While each character has a troubled past, the A-Bomb is only a background consideration (though one that permeates and meshes perfectly with the somber and ironic tone of the novel). In his signature way he weaves thread after thread of soft memories which become ripped apart by reality.

The best part for me was that the women characters were as believable and humane as the male characters. It is a great exploration of the way women are treated and often react in any culture. Etsuko is not a feminist character necessarily, and the young "feminist" characters are full of naivety. Ishiguro makes us feel for the condition of normal women without falling back to rape or explicitly abusive male characters. The oppression (of all the characters) is subtle and builds like a detective novel about the course of one's life. It is not through polemics, but instead through a keen sense of empathy that A Pale View of Hills really penetrates the reader's moral psyche.

Can't wait to read more Ishiguro. Next up; An Artist of the Floating World, and I think I'll get this one from Indigo.

Destressing After the Holidays

2011-01-06T19:24:15Z

The hustle and bustle of the December-through-January major holiday season is finally over! Congratulations on the accomplishment of dodging fruitcakes, hasty re-gifting, mad-dash traveling, trying to remember which champagne glass is yours, and your intense contemplation of how one might spell "Hannukah", amongst other possible trials and tribulations. (Chanukah? Not to be confused with the Hanukiah itself.) We here at Indigo Bridge Books are still in a grateful tangle of scotch tape and raffia ribbon after the influx of savvy shoppers who have taken advantage of our free gift-wrapping services in the past weeks, and we invite you to join us in our attempts to give ourselves a little peace of mind to recuperate with. In this age of dogged technological communication that often ties us down as much as connects us together, we suggest one of the most relaxed, satisfying, completely unplugged, self-paced, free-wheeling methods of de-stressing we've ever met: treating yourself to a good book.

Ranging from in-depth nonfiction to gripping flights of fancy to giggle-inducing humor and all points in between, here's a handful of the latest and greatest that we have to offer you on your chilly staycation:

1) Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1 - $34.95 The sensation sweeping the headlines, finally released a century after the death of the great American legend as per his wishes - discover the man in his own words with this first volume of his much anticipated memoirs. Despite the sell-out success of this title in media outlets across the nation, we're proud to have copies of this instant classic on hand in our store.

<2) Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff - $29.99 Peer through the veil of mystery surrounding Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen that has mystified and enchanted mankind for thousands of years - as never before. Pulitzer-Prize winning author and renowned biographer Stacy Schiff delves into the facts behind this historic figure to reveal her as so much more than a famous pretty face, but as a woman who shrewdly negotiated her empire. The truth is even more extraordinary than the myth.

<3) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - $7.99 "Winter is coming," as the nobles of the Stark family say - and with it, we meet then follow a changing cast of magnificent characters. Each voice is woven into the same epic tale of battle, intrigue, honor, betrayal, corrupt power and the lives of nations. A Game of Thrones is the first of four books in a truly moving realistic fantasy saga, and this ongoing series stirs every emotion. We have the whole set in stock. Read it now; HBO is scheduled to begin the first season of their show based on these books in the spring!

4) An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin - $26.99 The latest and perhaps greatest accomplishment by the bestselling actor-become-writer (yes, that Steve Martin), he draws on his own experiences as an art collector to reveal the NYC fine art scene in all its awe and shame. Lacey Yeager is a young up and coming art dealer, engaging in a whole host of unsavory activities to claw her way up the ladder of her high society business, and the reader learns much about the inner workings of art dealing as well as modern human nature along the way. Though often witty as it mirrors the emotional trauma which such savage avant garde hunting and gathering wrecks, Object of Beauty is foremost a compelling lesson on art and aesthetics complete with pictures that will make the reader re-evaluate their own appraisals of the world around them in things large and small.

5) The Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon - $25.00 The surprise winner against long odds to collect the National Book Award for fiction in 2010, this story begins with a small-time racetrack in go-nowhere Virginia during in the 1970s and a get rich quick scheme that becomes so much more. The reader meets, feels, lives and breathes with the track occupants both two and four legged, the small world of these intriguing, colorful misfits shared in the sense of their lost soul wanderings come together. Painted in dark watercolor shades of language, this tale of the track and tragedy cashes in a winning ticket with critics and casual readers alike. Similar to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, one of our top sellers in fiction here at the store.

6) All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen - $9.95 This book made several of our employees literally laugh out loud while we read it the first time, and still never fails to put a smile on my face. Whenever someone asks for a birthday gift idea with a sense of humor, this is always my pick - and often, theirs too! The simple, wide-eyed, vaguely disconcerted look of the charmingly squiggly drawings and the spartan text pack a delightfully wry, cynical punch at the funny bone with perfect page-turn pacing.

These are just a few of the many winter-warmers to be found at family-owned Indigo Bridge Books, and we pride ourselves on our eclectic collection as well as our attention to helping you find the perfect book. If we don't have that magic title you're searching for in stock already, we can order you nearly anything being published (and may used or rare books besides) to arrive at our shop for you for no extra charge. Pull off your party-hat hangovers, bring in your gift certificates, have a cup of locally roasted coffee excellence from Cultiva at our cafe, and settle in with one of these cures for the post-holiday blues today.

After all, it's nearly Valentine's Day already.

]]>
Ranging from in-depth nonfiction to gripping flights of fancy to giggle-inducing humor and all points in between, here's a handful of the latest and greatest that we have to offer you on your chilly staycation:

1) Autobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1 - $34.95 The sensation sweeping the headlines, finally released a century after the death of the great American legend as per his wishes - discover the man in his own words with this first volume of his much anticipated memoirs. Despite the sell-out success of this title in media outlets across the nation, we're proud to have copies of this instant classic on hand in our store.

2) Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff - $29.99 Peer through the veil of mystery surrounding Cleopatra, the Egyptian queen that has mystified and enchanted mankind for thousands of years - as never before. Pulitzer-Prize winning author and renowned biographer Stacy Schiff delves into the facts behind this historic figure to reveal her as so much more than a famous pretty face, but as a woman who shrewdly negotiated her empire. The truth is even more extraordinary than the myth.

3) A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin - $7.99 "Winter is coming," as the nobles of the Stark family say - and with it, we meet then follow a changing cast of magnificent characters. Each voice is woven into the same epic tale of battle, intrigue, honor, betrayal, corrupt power and the lives of nations. A Game of Thrones is the first of four books in a truly moving realistic fantasy saga, and this ongoing series stirs every emotion. We have the whole set in stock. Read it now; HBO is scheduled to begin the first season of their show based on these books in the spring!

4) An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin - $26.99 The latest and perhaps greatest accomplishment by the bestselling actor-become-writer (yes, that Steve Martin), he draws on his own experiences as an art collector to reveal the NYC fine art scene in all its awe and shame. Lacey Yeager is a young up and coming art dealer, engaging in a whole host of unsavory activities to claw her way up the ladder of her high society business, and the reader learns much about the inner workings of art dealing as well as modern human nature along the way. Though often witty as it mirrors the emotional trauma which such savage avant garde hunting and gathering wrecks, Object of Beauty is foremost a compelling lesson on art and aesthetics complete with pictures that will make the reader re-evaluate their own appraisals of the world around them in things large and small.

5) The Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon - $25.00 The surprise winner against long odds to collect the National Book Award for fiction in 2010, this story begins with a small-time racetrack in go-nowhere Virginia during in the 1970s and a get rich quick scheme that becomes so much more. The reader meets, feels, lives and breathes with the track occupants both two and four legged, the small world of these intriguing, colorful misfits shared in the sense of their lost soul wanderings come together. Painted in dark watercolor shades of language, this tale of the track and tragedy cashes in a winning ticket with critics and casual readers alike. Similar to Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, one of our top sellers in fiction here at the store.

6) All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen - $9.95 This book made several of our employees literally laugh out loud while we read it the first time, and still never fails to put a smile on my face. Whenever someone asks for a birthday gift idea with a sense of humor, this is always my pick - and often, theirs too! The simple, wide-eyed, vaguely disconcerted look of the charmingly squiggly drawings and the spartan text pack a delightfully wry, cynical punch at the funny bone with perfect page-turn pacing.

These are just a few of the many winter-warmers to be found at family-owned Indigo Bridge Books, and we pride ourselves on our eclectic collection as well as our attention to helping you find the perfect book. If we don't have that magic title you're searching for in stock already, we can order you nearly anything being published (and may used or rare books besides) to arrive at our shop for you for no extra charge. Pull off your party-hat hangovers, bring in your gift certificates, have a cup of locally roasted coffee excellence from Cultiva at our cafe, and settle in with one of these cures for the post-holiday blues today.

After all, it's nearly Valentine's Day already.

The Man in White

2010-12-30T16:59:57Z

The first volume of Mark Twain's autobiography was released by the University of California Press on November 15. Since then it has flown off of bookstore shelves across the country, and been nearly impossible to keep or get it in stock. A few weeks ago Indigo Bridge Books received a surprise shipment of this great title. I've been excited about this release since at least July and hear are some of my thoughts. I've always enjoyed Twain quite a bit, and I do enjoy a well written memoir or biography, however I haven't yet decided if I'll be able to read all (~)2,100 pages of Twain's autobiography between the three volumes. I fully intend to attempt to read this tale of one of the greatest penmen whom has lived, and in preparation for such I've decided that I would like to read all of his novels.

The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Prince and the Pauper

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

The American Claimant

Tom Sawyer Abroad

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Tom Sawyer, Detective

Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc

A Double Barrelled Detective Story

A Dog's Tale

A Horse's Tale

The Mysterious Stranger

Will I make it through this list? I don't know. That's a lot of reading, and I'm kind of a slow reader. There are actually a lot more novels here than I was aware of. I will definitely hit, or reread in some cases, the big novels, and then maybe the lesser known ones that sound interesting. On the bright side, I'm pretty positive that all of his novels are public domain now. What do you guys think? Are you Mark Twain fans, or did school ruin him for you?

Baiting Hesitant Readers

2010-12-16T15:25:43Z

Boys can be reluctant readers. Having three brothers, I was often witness to debates upon the merit of running around outside versus spending an afternoon enjoying a book. They were for athleticism and I was sneaking a book outside to read during recess. Generally, though, I think most people would be glad for a happy median. If you have a male in your life that loves books - great! Nurture that. For others, we have some new book recommendations for you.

There are a few famous series of which you might be aware of already. Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's Spiderwick Chronicles or Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books are very popular. Both are great books to introduce long-term reading habits. Once they are read, though, what comes next? Riordan has a new series starting - this time about Egyptian mythology! (R.L. LaFevers has an Egyptian series with a female protagonist if you have multiple children and would like to introduce a family reading topic). The only drawback to Riordan's new series is that you'll have to wait for each new book to come out. If you would like to avoid the wait, we have some author recommendations based on their own favorite books.

At Tony DiTerlizzi's speech for the MBA Children's Author Breakfast he spoke of three books good for guys. He warned that sometimes guys are put off by female leads but these classics continue to resonate with all readers because at their heart they all speak about a yearning for home. Alice of Wonderland fame, Wendy with her younger brothers and Dorothy in the tornado all have grand adventures to capture the imagination. Then, once the drama is over, the kids get to return to their homes. Not the wood, pipes and wire but the people who love them.

DiTerlizzi's newest series, which begins with The Search for Wondla, draws from those classics and centers around the desire for home. Eva Nine, raised by a robot in an underground pod, has a small scrap of paper showing a little girl, a man and a robot walking hand in hand. This gives her the belief that there must be other humans like her outside. Leaving her childhood home in the search for a place to belong in the greater world, Eva Nine finds that life is not quite as simple as the image suggests.

While some boys hesitate over books with female protagonists, there are a few reasons to encourage your guys to read this anyway. Personally, I've read the book and it is awesome. There are aliens, robots and space adventures! Moreover, the book has a website designed to interact with the physical book you own. Here, the author explains how it all works. The interactive map allows readers to explore the spaces they've just read about. In this way, even readers who struggle over interpreting what they are reading can see a visual representation of what they have read to help with understanding. Boys should appreciate the technological aspect of this and have fun with the site.

Contemporary and classic authors, more than anything, want your kids to love books. They have different tactics to draw readers in but regardless, authors want their stories read. Reading improves kids' vocabulary, ability to perceive and use deductive reasoning and will boost their overall ability to learn new material. Any of these books will be great to start someone on the road to loving reading. They are all filled with adventure, drama and end with family and home. Children will love the action and recognize the love. They can connect to those messages. Hopefully, with books as great as these, they'll give themselves the opportunity to do so.

Wednesday Night Madness, I Tell You!

2010-12-09T19:27:43Z

Working the Wednesday closing shift used to be guaranteed silence. Well, silent in the respect that not many people came in. The dance studio upstairs was my only company. Every Wednesday, it sounds like storm troopers are raiding the little tykes' dance lesson. Seriously, those kids sound like they're wearing the iron boots from Zelda: Ocarina of Time (which also appear in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, just FYI). Also, the majority of the customers seemed to be wandering moms from the studio.

As of the past few weeks, it's been busier on Wednesday than on any given Saturday. I have no idea what's caused this seeming anomaly. Wednesday gets a lot of studiers, but it gets a lot of hanger-outers too. Well, I guess a quiet inviting place with awesome coffee is as good as any for a hump day. Maybe the more responsible (out looking before December 24^th) Christmas shoppers need a break-space. Maybe the Ivanna Cone crowd is starting to decide that no line and hot drinks are better than long line and cold ice cream ('scream as the aficionados call it). I'm guess there's been a temporal rift that places Saturday customers comfortably at their Wednesday night tables.

Then there's the bible study that's been showing up. Nice people! But it was funny, a couple of weeks ago the graphic novel book club and the bible study were trying to use the same space. I suggested that both the graphic novel club and the bible group read R. Crumb's Genesis. It didn't take. Either way, the situation worked out, and as I walked from one end of the store to the other, the discussion switched from ribald (good-natured) cynicism imbued with plenty of super-hero movie references to quiet contemplation on an apparently difficult-to-understand verse of the Old Testament.

That's what's cool about Indigo. In one space, there are loud-mouthed atheists and mild-mannered Christians (not to mention mild-mannered atheists and loud-mouthed Christians) coexisting peacefully. Whether you're cup of tea is Frank Miller, Jesus, or Rooibos, come keep me company on Wednesday nights. Trust me, after awhile, you don't even notice the storm troopers upstairs.

Building Bridges for the Holidays!

2010-12-01T17:55:56Z

The owners of Indigo Bridge Books had a few hopes when opening up a bookstore.

"We wanted to build a community - a community that reaches past the divisions of neighborhoods, social classes, political ambitions, religious beliefs, ethnicities, national borders, even languages. We feel that books have a unique power to connect people from all walks of life to each other's stories, and that is so, so important."

The hope to connect people inspired the "bridge" in Indigo Bridge Books, and through Indigo Bridge Books bridges have been built to Lincoln Public Schools, The Table community, Tiny Hands International, and to all the patrons who support Indigo Bridge Books.

With your help this holiday season, we hope to build a few more bridges in the Lincoln Community through different charitable organizations. In the season of gift giving, we ask you to consider giving a gift to a family member in the form of a donation to a charity. On the board there are just a few of the many organization in Lincoln created to help the community. Help build bridges this holiday season by giving to those in need on behalf of those you love!