Dog Ear Books

I’d like to thank everybody for another great year here at Dog Ear Books. I would not be able to do what I do here if you did not make a point to shop with me. If you’re getting this email you’re obviously a very smart, good-looking and well-adjusted person and are aware that you could shop at Wal-Mart or online to buy your books at a savings but because you make the choice to shop with me, I am blessed with having the best job in the world and I want you all to know how much I appreciate that support.

The news, as you may have already heard, is that Dog Ear Books is moving to a new location. I read Christopher Morley’s classic The Haunted Bookshop in November and decided I had to get one of my own. After a great deal of research I’ve found a suitably old (1895) and haunted (former funeral home) house to occupy.

If you’re familiar with Madison, you might remember 270 South Main Street’s previous incarnation as Simply Southern before it closed in 2007. It’s a whole lotta house, but I’ve got a few ideas on how to fill it up. To hit the highlights Dog Ear Books will be:

- – Expanding selection of new and used books.

- – Expanding the coffeeshop side of the store and maybe actually have a few places to sit down and drink it. Related to this the store will revert back to the hours of 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and remain 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. on Sunday.

- – Hunker Downs market is closing down here on Academy St. but will be providing Johnson’s Diary milk, cheese and yogurt as well as their own soup mixes, sauces, jellies and coffee in the expanded coffeeshop/market area of the store.

- – We’ll be offering guitar, bass, drum and piano lessons.

- – Local, handmade arts/crafts/jewelry/cards and stationary.

- – In what my wife calls my quest to become Fred Sanford, we’ll be carrying as much of an odd assortment of interesting and unique “junk” at such time as suitable “junk” becomes available.

There will be more, much more, but those are some of the interesting bits off the top of my head. I will be accepting any and all help that is offered, but there is a vague plan of a Great Book Exodus, possibly Jan. 23rd, which will involve a few hundred people and a couple of hours of time, but it’s by no means definite. More on that as it develops.

Here’s hoping 2010 is great for us all.

With sincerest thanks for all your support,

Jon

In an effort to reach out to those serious-minded folks who read no fiction, Dog Ear Books is beginning a new Non-Fiction book club to begin Friday, January 15th. Topics and the format for book selection are still up in the air and I’d love to hear ideas from anyone interested. You can email me or call me at the store (dogearbooks@gmail.com 706-342-3460) with any questions or suggestions.

To get things going, though, we’re going to read Dave Eggers’ new book,Zeitoun, and we’ll be offering it up at a 30% discount for this inaugural book club meeting.

The book club is very much in the development phase and I’d love to hear feedback or questions from anyone who is interested in attending and has ideas for the format or book suggestions for the club. Let me hear from you if you’re interested!

(Here’s a blurb on the book…)

When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a prosperous Syrian-American and father of four, chose to stay through the storm to protect his house and contracting business. In the days after, he traveled the flooded streets in a secondhand canoe, passing on supplies and helping those he could. But, on September 6, 2005, Zeitoun abruptly disappeared. Eggers’s riveting nonfiction book, three years in the making, explores Zeitoun’s roots in Syria, his marriage to Kathy—an American who converted to Islam—and their children, and the surreal atmosphere (in New Orleans and the United States generally) in which what happened to Abdulrahman Zeitoun became possible. Like What Is the What, Zeitoun was written in close collaboration with its subjects and involved vast research—in this case, in the U.S., Spain, and Syria.

Join us this Saturday from 1-3 to welcome author Richard Rumbaugh from Between, GA as he signs copies of his inspirational novel Rivers of Life To the Ocean of Love.

Here’s some more information on Richard:

Richard Rumbaugh was born on February 10, 1928 in Fremont Michigan where he spent the first two weeks of his life. He spent his early childhood in Illinois then moved south to Florida then Georgia where he lives now in Between, Georgia with his wife Ursula.

This work is intended to demonstrate that one is never too old to achieve ones dreams and to be of value. It is also meant to show the love and sense of humor that people of all ages are capable of, regardless of their circumstances.

Here

The Dog Ear Book Club will be reading Jim Harrison’s latest novel, The English Major for our next meeting on Dec. 7th at 7 p.m.

Here’s a bit on the book:

“It used to be Cliff and Vivian and now it isn’t.” With these words, Jim Harrison sends his sixty-something protagonist, divorced and robbed of his farm by a late-blooming real estate shark of an ex-wife, on a road trip across America, armed with a childhood puzzle of the United States and a mission to rename all the states and state birds to overcome the banal names men have given them. Cliff’s adventures take him through a whirlwind affair with a former student from his high school-teacher days twenty-some years before, to a “snake farm” in Arizona owned by an old classmate; and to the high-octane existence of his son, a big-time movie producer in San Francisco.

As always, anyone is welcome to attend the book club and enjoy some wine and literary conversation. Copies of the book are now available at a discount of 10%.

Hope to see you there.