Play Readers Anonymous

It is that time again. The days seem to be fly by and another month has passed so it is again time for anyone interested in reading from or learning more about plays to join us at Paragraphs, for the Play Readers Anonymous group.
From the El Paseo Arts Foundation newsletter:

The Play reading group meets again on Monday, November 9, 2009, 7:00 p.m., at Paragraphs on Padre Boulevard. This month we'll be finishing up Noises Off, a hilarious farce and starting the Thornton Wilder's classic American play about life, love and death in Our Town. Everyone is invited to attend. if you don't want to read aloud, you can just listen and enjoy. it's a great way to meet other folks who enjoy theatre. No charge -- no commitment -- just a good time.

"An Event of Note: The Valley Symphony Orchestra"

Living on an island at the southernmost tip of Texas, 25 miles or so from the border between the US and Mexico means that life is pretty relaxed. "Island Time" is the rule not the exception and shop hours often reflect this. To close a little early or open a little late is not actually a huge issue. But since Paragraphs is a new store, needing to get established and build a reputation and following, I have been steadfast in making sure we are open and welcoming during our posted business hours and also flexible enough to open a little early or stay late depending on circumstances.

This is a long way of telling everyone - I am giving notice right now, right here, that I am placing a "Gone Fishing" sign on the door to Paragraphs on Sunday afternoon, the 15th of November promptly at 3:45 to give me time to make the 3 minute trip to the SPI Convention Center to attend "An Event of Note", a performance by the Valley Symphony Orchestra. I will not miss this concert, and I would not expect anyone living in the RGV to be shopping at Paragraphs on this afternoon either, because my hope is, they would also be planning to attend this event.

Internationally renowned pianist, recording artist and pedagogue, Polish-born artist ADAM WODNICKI will be the guest artist when El Paseo Arts Foundation hosts the the Valley Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, November 15, 2009, at the SPI Convention Center.

The afternoon of arts entertainment begins at 3:00 p.m. with cocktail hour and art show featuring local artists from the Laguna Madre Art League. Exhibiting artists include: Glenda Spinks, pastel; Richard Schmidt, mixed media; Virginia Eggert, Paints local subjects in acrylic; Dina Saldana, oil; Voncille Zama, watercolor; Beth Fedigan, mixed media; Marne Law, watercolor; Tina Poucher, acrylic; Tom Leeman, acrylic, oil; Carol Plumb, oil on linen; Carol Thorson, watercolor; and Carol Turner, acrylic. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres will be provided and a cash bar will be available.

The concert begins at 4:00 p.m., in the exhibit hall. The concert program includes Wagner The Flying Dutchman Overture; Beethoven Piano Concerto #4 in G Major, Opus 58 with Adam Wodnicki on piano; and Khachaturian Gayane Suite.

Adam Wodnickki has received acclaim on five continents for his dramatic interpretations, poetic sensitivity and brilliant technique. Wodnicki's recording of the three Piano Trios by Robert Muczynski (Centaur) was chosen by a Fanfare critic as one of the top five albums on the 'Best of 2004' list; and the 2008 release on the Dux label of the Piano Concertos by Serocki. Adam Wodnicki has also made numerous radio and TV recordings as well as concerto recordings with the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Wodnicki studied with Jan Hoffman, Guido Agosti and Gyorgy Sebok, and his artistic roots can be traced to the traditions of Fryderyk Chopin, Franz Liszt and Ferrucio Busoni. Three-time prizewinner of the annual Chopin Society National Piano Competition in Warsaw and the recipient of three prizes at the 8th Festival of Polish Pianists, Wodnicki is Regents Professor of Piano at the University of North Texas in Denton and Co-Director of International Piano Master classes in Varna. He has served on juries of international competitions and is a performance editor for the Musica Iagellonica's first ever edition of The Complete Works by Paderewski. Adam Wodnicki is a Steinway Artist.

Don't miss this special arts event: a wonderful afternoon of music and art. I know I won't!!

Tickets for "An Event of Note: The Valley Symphony Orchestra" are $25 per person and $20 for El Paseo members, seniors and students with ID. Tickets may be purchased at the SPI Visitors Center, Designer Consigner, the Port Isabel Library, online at www.elpaseoarts.org or by calling (956)943- 4700. And of course you can buy your tickets at Paragraphs.

Blueberry Girl

I was admiring the photo sent from the proud Nana of Alaina Grace Clapp (Griff's sister is now Nana to a beautiful baby girl -- congratulations to Natalie and Andrew, the proud parents and Dillon the big brother) and thinking about the years of fun I was going to have in picking out books for little girls -- this is the first baby since I have become a bookseller -- and I remembered "Blueberry Girl" which was published in March of this year.

This is a prayer for a blueberry girl . . .

A much-loved baby grows into a young woman: brave, adventurous, and lucky. Exploring, traveling, bathed in sunshine, surrounded by the wonders of the world. What every new parent or parent-to-be dreams of for her child, what every girl dreams of for herself.

Let me go places that we've never been, trust and delight in her youth.

Nationally bestselling author Neil Gaiman wrote "Blueberry Girl" for a friend who was about to become the mother of a little girl. Here, he and beloved illustrator Charles Vess turn this deeply personal wish for a new daughter into a book that celebrates the glory of growing up

Give her all these and a little bit more, gifts for a blueberry girl.

Listen as Neil Gaiman reads "Blueberry Girl"



So when you are looking for something special next month, don't forget this wonderful new picture book. "Blueberry Girl" would make a perfect gift for the girl embarking on any of the journeys of her life, for her parents, and for anyone who loves her.

Frank Yturria Booksigning at Paragraphs

Frank Yturria will discuss and sign “The Patriarch” on Friday November 6, 2009 beginning at 6:00 p.m.

The book “The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Extraordinary Times of Francisco Yturria" tells the story of Francisco “Don Pancho" Yturria, an authentic Texas giant and business baron who shaped South Texas.

Penned by his great grandson, Frank Yturria, and published by UTB/TSC, this book is based on never-before published family documents and stories and provides a fascinating and intimate look at one of South Texas founding fathers.

Pancho Yturria’s legacy includes a vast archive of business and personal papers that his great-grandson, Frank Yturria, has mined – along with family sources – to produce The Patriarch, a richly – detailed and often heart – stopping portrait of this singular figure in Texas history. Not only does Frank trace the birth and progress of his great grandfather’s career in commerce, he also serves up a rare, first – person witness to the Lower Rio Grande Valley’s bare – knuckle political history, its many bloody conflicts, as well as the internal narrative of the Yturria family itself, a bittersweet saga of high drama, humor, adventure and, on occasion, utter heartbreak.

"The Patriarch" is both a gripping epic and a unique look at an exceptionable man and his extraordinary times.

Book sale profits benefit the Arnulfo. L. Oliveira Literary Society and support the development of UTB/TSC’s John H. Hunter Archives and Special Collections Room. “I want to support the Hunter Room because that’s where all the history of the area is collected, Frank Yturria stated. Yturria further elaborated that “Brownsville has been declared the most historical city in Texas, next to San Antonio, yet we have people living in Brownsville who don’t know much at all about our rich heritage."

Anyone interested in the history of South Texas or the Rio Grande Valley should try to make this event. I am looking forward to it.

Distinguished Lecture Series Hosts George Friedman

Conventional analysis suffers from a profound failure of imagination. It imagines passing clouds to be permanent and is blind to powerful, long-term shifts taking place in full view of the world.

--George Friedman

George Friedman looks to the future in his provocative new book, The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century and offers a preview of what we can expect to happen around the world based on an exploration of history and geo-political patterns dating back hundreds of years. He shows that we are now, for the first time in half a millennium, at the dawn of a new era and shatters some of the out-dated assumptions which still linger from our past.

According to Friedman, in the century ahead, there will be wars fought from space, between nations that are friendly with each other today. Populations will decline and industrialized nations will compete for immigrant labor. Poland, Turkey, Mexico and Japan will emerge as great powers.

Dr. George Friedman, the founder and chief executive officer of STRATFOR, a global intelligence company based in Austin, TX, will be the featured speaker at the UTB/TSC 2009 Distinguished Lecture Series. He will speak at 7 p.m.,Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Science, Engineering and Technology Building Lecture Hall.

Advanced ticket purchases are recommended for the evening lecture as there is limited seating.

General admission tickets are $150 per person and include admission to the post-lecture reception in the courtyard of the Science, Engineering and Technology Building.

Individual sponsor tickets are $250 and include admission to the pre-lecture reception in the third floor conference room of SETB, the post-lecture reception, and preferred seating.

Books will be available for purchase at the evening lecture.

The Distinguished Lecture Series supports the President’s Circle and provides support for student and faculty trips, research and projects for which state funds are not available.

In conjunction with the fundraising event, Freidman will speak to high school and college students in a separate lecture. The winners of the Distinguished Lecture Series essay contest will be announced at the student lecture on Tuesday, Oct.13 at 10 a.m. in the Jacob Brown Auditorium.

For more information and to purchase tickets, call the UTB/TSC Office of Development at (956) 882-4332

And, if you can't make the lecture but are interested in the book, we have it on hand at Paragraphs.

Sometimes I Wonder...

Every once in a while I read something that I just need to share.

The Diary of Anne Frank has been produced on Broadway several times beginning on this day in 1955. While always a hit the reviews have been mixed. The 1997 New York production, which had a script reworked by Wendy Kesselman, met with harsh criticism from Cynthia Ozick and Vincent Canby as described in Today in Literature:

Ozick says of the 1997 production:

the Diary had been "bowdlerized, distorted, transmuted, traduced, reduced; it has been infantilized, Americanized, homogenized, sentimentalized; falsified, kitschified, and, in fact, blatantly and arrogantly denied."

Canby complains in a similar vein when he describes the "earnestly artificial" Anne as "having been directed to behave in a fashion that might have embarrassed even Sandra Dee's Gidget."

But the part of the story I wanted to share was the incident which Canby relates in the same review:

Anne and Margot Frank in 1933

This production will be of interest mainly to those who have never before encountered "The Diary," like the woman in her 20s who sat in front of me the night I saw the play. As her escort was whispering in her ear just before the performance began, she suddenly drew back and stared at him in surprise. "You mean," she said, "she dies at the end?"

Sometimes I wonder...

For more about Anne Frank visit the Anne Frank Museum website.

First Thursday - Book Signing

We will be having our inaugural

"First Thursday--An Evening with the Author"

tomorrow, October 1, 2009, beginning at 6:00p.m.

Dr. Regesh will be on hand to discuss and sign his provocative book:

Saint Paul, The First Antichrist-- Deception and Dogma

The book that changes everything.

Dr. John Ben Regesh shares a fascinating revelation of his own as he closely examines ancient scripture to expose what he sees to be the fraudulent teachings of one of the most influential ‘Christians’ in history.

By laying out the writings of Saint Paul and comparing relevant passages with the teachings of Jesus Christ, Dr. Regesh reveals where he sees the error of Paul’s teachings without conjecture, theory, or supposition.

Using passages from the Bible, Regesh's indictment against Paul is constructed before your very eyes. The truth of this book stands against any attack and promises to cause a whirlwind of controversy and consternation throughout Christianity.

You will also be introduced to concepts like the eighth day of creation, moving from darkness to light and death to life, the Creation Continuum, and how John 21 is actually the demotion of Peter from leader of the Church. Finally, the true reason that Christmas is on the 25th of December.


About the Author:

Growing up in a strict Roman Catholic family, Dr. John Ben Regesh, J.D., spent most of his life studying theology and scripture, including successfully translating the New Testament from Latin. Dr. Regesh has practiced law since 1977 and preached the last ten years to a small but active congregation. He is the Archbishop of The Christian Church in Texas and is currently working on his next book that explains the true teachings of Jesus Christ and the Law.

I found his presentation to be well-reasoned and logical although I cannot say that I am convinced of the premise which Dr. Regesh spells out in the pages of this book. But, in honor of Banned Books Week, I found myself returning to my tattered old Catholic Study Bible and rereading the often difficult letters of Paul. The wonderful thing about being presented with ideas that challenge our way of thinking is we are forced to reevaluate and utilize our critical and analytical skills, which is a habit often neglected in favor of the quick sound bite or comfortable opinion.

Hopefully, we will see some of you tomorrow night. Stop by to meet this fascinating local author, enjoy a glass of wine and some interesting conversation.

Banned Books Week

Manifesto

To you zealots and bigots and false
patriots who live in fear of discourse.
You screamers and banners and burners
who would force books
off shelves in your brand name
of greater good.

You say you’re afraid for children,
innocents ripe for corruption
by perversion or sorcery on the page.
But sticks and stones do break
bones, and ignorance is no armor.
You do not speak for me,
and will not deny my kids magic
in favor of miracles.

You say you’re afraid for America,
the red, white and blue corroded
by terrorists, socialists, the sexually
confused. But we are a vast quilt
of patchwork cultures and multi-gendered
identities. You cannot speak for those
whose ancestors braved
different seas.

You say you’re afraid for God,
the living word eroded by Muhammed
and Darwin and Magdalene.
But the omnipotent sculptor of heaven
and earth designed intelligence.
Surely you dare not speak
for the father, who opens
his arms to all.

A word to the unwise.
Torch every book.
Char every page.
Burn every word to ash.
Ideas are incombustible.
And therein lies your real fear.

— Ellen Hopkins,
bestselling author of Crank and newly published Tricks

Booker Award Shortlist

I really don't know where the time goes to most days. There is a well-known thing that happens to those of us lucky enough to end up on this little sandbar -- the days seem to melt into one another and time ceases to have as much meaning as it does on the mainland. And, so, here I am, over a week after the fact, finally posting the titles on the short list for the 2009 Booker Prize. These six books were chosen from the long list which was announced on July 29.


A S Byatt The Children's Book (Random House, Chatto and Windus)

J M Coetzee Summertime (Random House, Harvill Secker)

Adam Foulds The Quickening Maze (Random House, Jonathan Cape)

Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall (HarperCollins, Fourth Estate)

Simon Mawer The Glass Room (Little, Brown)

Sarah Waters The Little Stranger (Little, Brown, Virago)

Chair James Naughtie, comments:

"We're thrilled to be able to announce such a strong shortlist, so enticing that it will certainly give us a headache when we come to select the winner. The choice will be a difficult one. There is thundering narrative, great inventiveness, poetry and sharp human insight in abundance.

"These are six writers on the top of their form. They've given us great enjoyment already, and it's a measure of our confidence in their books that all of us are looking forward to reading them yet again before we decide on the prizewinner. What more could we ask?"

The winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be revealed on Tuesday 6 October 2009 at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on BBC News across television, radio and online. The winning author will receive £50,000 and can look forward to greatly increased sales and worldwide recognition. Each of the six shortlisted authors, including the winner, receives £2,500 and a designer bound edition of their own book

Win an ARC at the SPI Seafood and Music Festival

This weekend South Padre Island is hosting the Landshark Seafood and Music Festival and everyone is excited about this eagerly anticipated event. Local businesses and restaurants will be on hand with a sampling of what the Island has to offer. So, if you plan to be in the area, make sure you take the time to stop by and see what all the fuss is about - and if you are interested, our mass transit system, The Wave, will be running until 2:30a.m. so you can leave the car at home or back at the hotel.

In support of the music festival the newly formed Business Alliance is sponsoring a booth to highlight our local independent stores and to help to get the word out about this little sandbar we call home.

Paragraphs is happy to take part and we are offering an advanced readers copy of one of the books described below to the lucky winner of an hourly drawing.

“The Strain" begins with a newly landed plane stopping dead on the runway. When the rescue crews arrive, they discover that all the passengers and crew are dead in their seats, with their necks cut and their bodies devoid of blood. This utterly original novel is absolutely fantastic and like no vampire novel I've read. You will love it!”

-- Jon Tobin, Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI

“The Magicians" is a darker, more adult take on the idea of a secret academy that trains would-be wizards. Lev Grossman explores the realms of magic, alternate realities, and wish fulfillment as visited by less-than-heroic characters. Raising the question of what would you do if you could do whatever you wanted, The Magicians is thrilling and deliciously disturbing.”

-- Lisa Wright, Oblong Books And Music,LLC., Millerton, NY

"The Little Stranger" follows the strange adventures of Dr. Faraday, the son of a maid who has built a life of quiet respectability as a country doctor. One dusty postwar summer in his home of rural Warwickshire, he is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for more than two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in declineaits masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more ominous than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.


Hailed by the "Chicago Tribune" as a tremendous talent, Nguyen infuses her first novel with humor, compassion, and insight, as she explores the story of estranged sisters and the cultural and family history that binds them.

Colson Whitehead's Sag Harbor, a coming-of-age novel set in small community of African-American professionals in the Hamptons, is a masterpiece. Is Whitehead the greatest writer of his generation? He bids fair.”
-- Sarah McNally, McNally Jackson Books, New York, NY

Chronicling world-changing events that have never been so intimately observed in fiction and brimming with unmistakable warmth and humor, "The Wish Maker" is the powerful account of a family and an era, a story that shows how, even in the most rapidly shifting circumstances, there are bonds that survive the tugs of convention, time, and history.

The peace of Three Pines is shattered when a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing long-buried secrets.

Written by a direct descendant of Bram Stoker and a well-known Dracula historian, "Dracula: The Un-Dead" is a bone-chilling sequel based on Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition.

And best of all, from Quirk Books publisher of the New York Times Best Seller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies comes a new tale of romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem!

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters expands the original text of the beloved Jane Austen novel with all-new scenes of giant lobsters, rampaging octopi, two-headed sea serpents, and other biological monstrosities. As our story opens, the Dashwood sisters are evicted from their childhood home and sent to live on a mysterious island full of savage creatures and dark secrets. While sensible Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars, her romantic sister Marianne is courted by both the handsome Willoughby and the hideous man-monster Colonel Brandon.

Can the Dashwood sisters triumph over meddlesome matriarchs and unscrupulous rogues to find true love? Or will they fall prey to the tentacles that are forever snapping at their heels? This masterful portrait of Regency England blends Jane Austen’s biting social commentary with ultraviolent depictions of sea monsters biting. It’s survival of the fittest-and only the swiftest swimmers will find true love!

Have fun at the South Padre Island Seafood and Music Festival
and thanks for attending.