New books at the library: Nonfiction
By Robin Velte

Volunteers helping with the English book collection at the Biblioteca Pública will continue to process new books throughout the summer. The new electronic catalog, Absys6, is up and running, so give it a try! It’s quite user-friendly. If you’re stuck and there’s no one around to help, pay a visit to the Librarian (Bibliotecário) office that’s to the right of the patio.

Here is a sampling of new nonfiction that you will find on the Recent Arrivals shelves. Annotations are from Ingram Book Group.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, 2007. In her first full-length nonfiction narrative, bestselling author Kingsolver opens readers' eyes in a hundred new ways to an old truth: you are what you eat. She returns with a wise and compelling celebration of family, food, nature and community.

The Art of Aging: A Doctor’s Prescription for Well-Being by Sherwin B. Nuland, 2007. In his landmark book How We Die, Dr Nuland profoundly altered readers’ perceptions of the end of life. Now in The Art of Aging, he steps back to explore the impact of aging on our minds, bodies, yearnings and relationships.

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2007. Taleb delivers a groundbreaking look at the role played by the unexpected in life and history, and a fascinating examination of why we know less than we think we do—(M)and what to do about it.

Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think about Our Lives by David Sloan Wilson, 2007. Evolution, as Wilson explains, is not just about dinosaurs and human origins, but about why all species behave as they do—(M)from beetles that devour their own young, to bees that function as a collective brain, to dogs that are smarter in some respects than our closest ape relatives. Basic evolutionary principles are also the foundation for humanity’s capacity for symbolic thought, culture, and morality.

Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil by Deborah Rodriquez, 2007. In the tradition of Reading Lolita in Tehran, Rodriguez tells the story of the beauty school she founded in the middle of the Afghan city of Kabul, and lifts the veil of secrecy about the vibrant women who were her students there.

The People’s Guide to Mexico by Carl Franz, 2006. Now in its updated 13th edition, The People's Guide to Mexico still offers the ideal combination of basic travel information, entertaining stories and friendly guidance about everything from driving in Mexico City to hanging a hammock to bartering at the local mercado.

Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich by Robert Frank, 2007. Full of captivating profiles and expert insights into the lives and lifestyles of the nouveau riche, Richistan looks beyond the glitz to find the real story behind new money and its impact on the richest nation in the world.

Send: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home by David Shipley, 2007. Stepping up to the challenges of email, this much-needed book helps people use email to their best advantage at work or at home, achieve their goals and stay out of jail. Send is so eminently practical, it is absolutely essential.

Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics by Rebecca Solnit, 2007. This anthology of Solnit’s essential essays over the past ten years takes the reader from the Pyrenees to the US-Mexican border, from open sky to the deepest mines, and offers a panoramic world view enriched by the author’s characteristically provocative, inspiring and hopeful observations.

Tales from the Torrid Zone: Travels in the Deep Tropics by Alexander Frater, 2007. From one of the most celebrated travel writers at work today comes a vibrantly observant, witty and utterly captivating account of a lifetime's worth of travel between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

(Coming next: New Biography/Autobiography)





Lecture
Fri, Aug 24, 5pm
Teatro Santa Ana
Biblioteca Pública
Insurgentes 25
50 pesos

Workshop
“Memoirs and Fiction”
Mon, Aug 20–Fri, Aug 24
US$650
www.sanmiguelworkshops.com. 







The how of writing
By Jody Feagan

Acclaimed authors Kaylie Jones and Laura Fraser present a panel discussion and give readings from their latest works next Friday at Teatro Santa Ana. The writers are giving memoir and fiction workshops the following week.

Kaylie Jones is the author of five books and chairs the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, named for her novelist father. It awards US$10,000 yearly to an unpublished first novel.

Laura Fraser’s acclaimed memoir An Italian Affair was a New York Times bestseller, and has been translated into five languages. She writes for magazines and her recent article about San Miguel women for More magazine was a standout. Her articles have been collected in numerous anthologies, including Mexico: A Love Story, The Honeymoon is Over and Roar Softly and Carry a Great Lipstick.

The following are parts of conversations that I recently had with Kaylie Jones and Laura Fraser.

Jody Feagan: Kaylie, where did you find the original impulse to write the novel Speak Now?

Kaylie Jones: Speak Now was a culmination of many years of research on children of Holocaust survivors and the psychology of stalkers. I am also an avid fan of thrillers, especially psychological thrillers, and hoped to reach that audience.

JF: What elements of the novel can you relate to personally?

KJ: I grew up in Paris in the sixties and WWII was not so very far off. People still talked about the war all the time, and the black and white films on TV were often about Resistance fighters waging a hopeless and dangerous war against their Nazi occupiers. This triggered for me a lifelong interest in WWII and all its consequences.

JF: Laura, you write nonfiction. Have you ever thought of trying a novel? 

Laura Fraser: I have tried writing a novel, and it’s sitting in a box on the floor of my office. Maybe sometime I’ll go back to it. But I get overwhelmed by the choices that fiction presents, and I prefer to stick to reality. There are so many great stories out there in real life. 

JF: How did you find the courage to write so revealingly about an affair with a married man as you did in An Italian Affair?

LF: I started out by just writing in my journal, and then turned it into a travel article for Salon.com’s “Wanderlust,” which no longer exists. I had no intention of writing a book. I suppose if I’d sat down and thought about writing a revealing book about an affair with a married man, I never would’ve done it.

JF: Kaylie, you’ve been with Akashic books for some time. What can you say about being with a big publishing house versus a smaller one?

KJ: I wish there were more small publishers like Akashic Books. All the major publishing companies in New York are owned by three conglomerates, and the bottom line is money, money, money. Everything is computerized, so they base what they buy on the writer’s previous sales record, and from their market research on what people want to read—(M)ridiculous!

I wouldn’t mind so much if they didn’t pass themselves off as literary publishing houses. It’s now all about blockbusters, and will Hollywood want to make a movie out of this book? With Akashic, at least, I find I can remain true to my vision, and not sell out to anyone. Of course, there are a few brilliant, dignified, talented literary agents and editors out there, but their jobs are increasingly difficult in this market.


JF: Were you involved in the making of the movie from your book A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries? What was that experience like?

KJ: James Ivory and Ismail Merchant optioned A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries in 1991.

My daughter Eyrna was five weeks old when my husband Kevin and I flew down with her to the set in Wilmington, in December of 1997.

Ismail Merchant, who has passed away and whom I still miss every day, didn’t mind having a squalling five-week-old baby around and rented a big antebellum house in the old section of Wilmington, inviting us to move out of the hotel and in with him.

When we visited the set for the first time, I felt as though we’d walked through a Star Trek-like rip in the space-time continuum. Electric cables, television monitors, lighting and sound paraphernalia crowded the front hallway of the two-story saltbox house. Gingerly stepping over the wires, I crossed the foyer—and my family home in Sagaponack, Long Island, came alive. 

The long beige couch was there as well. This was the couch my mother had collapsed on after my father died; she barely moved for three weeks as worried friends stood vigil. She said she was going to walk into the ocean and drown herself. She had a bottle of scotch within arm’s reach all the time. My mother’s grief was so extreme, so debilitating, that she let us fend for ourselves. Her connection with my father was so intense that Jamie and I simply disappeared. 

On the set, Barbara Hershey played that scene, lying on the couch, inconsolable, and I was emotionally so devastated, watching her, that it was almost unbearable. She hugged me afterward, and I’ll never forget her kindness to me, a total stranger, whom she felt she knew from playing the part.

Kris Kristofferson knew about heart disease from his family. He did this weird thing with his breathing that was so exactly what my father did during his last few months of life that I burst into tears, watching Kris. Overall, while it was very painful, it was an extremely cathartic experience as well.

JF: When you give your workshops, is there a particular part of the craft of writing that you emphasize?

KJ: I believe the most important thing beginning writers need to know is that they can’t write a novel if they don’t read novels. Everyone wants to write a novel, but no one wants to read! Secondly, it is crucial to study novel structure. Most neophyte writers start their books about 50 pages too early, meaning they put in all the background information that is not necessary in the beginning. That information needs to be woven into the narrative as you go along. The most important thing is to start with the “inciting incident”—(M)the event that turns the protagonist’s life on its head. Novels must be driven by immediate conflict. Agents and editors will not read past page five if you haven’t captured their deepest interest, and good writing alone no longer impresses anyone, especially not editors!

LF: The most important thing beginning memoir writers need to know is that the book is NOT about YOU. It’s about the story, and the reader. People who write about themselves put in all kinds of details that no one cares about except perhaps their mothers. We’re not interested in anything but a good story.

JF: Can you say what you are working on now?

LF: I do a lot of magazine writing, especially for More, where I am a contributing editor. I also write for Gourmet, O the Oprah Magazine, and other publications. I’m teaching undergraduates this summer at San Francisco State University, which is really fun. And I’m working on another memoir.

KJ: I’m working on a memoir about my family, which is really centered around my mother’s death in June of 2006 from alcoholism.

JF: What have you been reading lately?

KJ: Lately, I read a couple of books I really loved—(M)The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, and The Devil You Know, by Wayne Johnson. I also just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with my nine-year-old daughter.

LF: I was incredibly moved by Dave Eggers’ account of a Sudanese boy, What is the What. Daniel Alarcon’s first novel, Lost City Radio, based on missing persons in Latin America, is a wonderful novel of displacement and I think he’s going to be huge. My book list, which I’ve kept since I was 13 years old, is on my website, www.laurafraser.com.

Reading poetry in the dark
By Judith Jenya

To read Organ Harvest with Entrance of Clones, the 13th book of poetry by San Miguel poet Halvard Johnson, is to have the experience of arriving at thought and words through feelings and images at once bizarre and astute. The title poem probes our contemporary life and mortality in idiosyncratic and elegant language.

Johnson’s poems are highly crafted, obscure, political and serious, with irony and humor that let the clarity and insight in the poems take the reader to unexpected places. 

His dour Swedish roots commingle with a somewhat riotous, rather surrealistic take on life, people and contemporary events in this very intelligent and original look at the human condition today.

Johnson grew up in the Hudson Valley and NYC and has gathered his images, thoughts and experiences in world travel and while living and teaching in Europe, Asia and the US. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council and Baltimore City Arts. He is the poetry editor of the online literary review Hamilton Stone Review and has written for numerous national journals and magazines. A few years ago, he collaborated with James Cervantes, another San Miguel poet, on a collection of poems written online over a period of several weeks. He is collaborating with his wife, prize-winning writer and visual artist, Lynda Schor on a new work of fiction.

Many of Johnson’s poetry collections are available online. His first four collections can be found at capa.conncoll.edu. An online press called Vida Loca Books (founded by Johnson and Schor) has issued his 14th collection, called Tango Bouquet. To receive a copy via email, send a request message (with Tango Bouquet in your subject line) to him at halvard@earthlink.net. 

Prepublication copies of Organ Harvest with Entrance of Clones are currently available at La Tienda in the Biblioteca Pública, Insurgentes 25 and Café Etc., Reloj 37.

Johnson, while he thinks it is best to read poetry in solitude, in the dark and still of night, has given public readings of his poetry in San Miguel and threatens to do so again.








Letters



Editor,

We are writing to you as a way of saying thank you, thank you, thank you to the wonderful, generous and caring community of San Miguel. And also to tell you the dramatic story behind our thanks.

When word of the flood in the Ranchos of Los Rodriguez (caused by the unusually heavy rains we have experienced), reached Reverend Harold Weicher, he called Larry Sands, a member of the Vestry Committee at St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Larry quickly sent out an email asking members of the church to help the 20 families who had been wiped out and the more than 100 people who had lost everything to the muddy waters. He also asked members to forward the email to anyone they thought could help.

The Red Cross was involved immediately, gathering the homeless in a church in the area, but they did not have a support system in place for this kind of emergency. So emails flashed around town all through the night of August 1 asking for food, clothing, blankets, money, anything that would help the families in need.

The parish hall at St. Paul’s was designated as the gathering place and as early as mid-day Thursday, boxes, bags and bundles began arriving. In addition to the individuals who responded, several of the charities around town also pitched in. Patronato Pro Ninos, Feed the Hungry, Alma and the soon-to-be-open new Hospice San Miguel brought food and clothing. Cash was also donated. The San Miguel Community Foundation donated US$1,000, creating a fund of US$2,325 for the families’ needs.


By Friday afternoon, the social hall was jammed, front to back, with donations. On Saturday morning a caravan of five vehicles, three cars full of fresh vegetables, one truck full of nonperishable food and one truck carrying all the donated clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, mattresses and much more was delivered to the church in Rodriguez for the needy families.

So it is with a great sense of gratitude in our hearts that we thank everyone who did what they could for those in need, and did it so quickly.

St. Paul’s Anglican Church

Editor,

On the way to the airport, our car was attacked by rocks twice.

The first time, I saw one large brick-sized stone fly in front of the car and almost immediately, a second one of equal size hit the car on the hood no more than 18 inches from the windshield. If that rock had been thrown one-tenth of a second later, it would have gone through the passenger side window and either seriously injured or killed me! 

The driver Ruben really was shaken up and immediately sped up and got the police on the cell phone to report the incident. He clearly drove much faster after that and the trip became a nightmare from that moment on. The second attack came about twenty minutes later; one rock hit the car (I only am assuming this as I didn't see anything, but was jumpy as hell). The first attack happened from the right side of the road about five or eight miles out from the dam. Both attacks came from places where the road is cut out from the surrounding rocks such that the attackers can stand above the cars in ambush.

In talking to Ruben, he told me that this happens “continuously” during the early morning between 3 and 5, as most cars on this road at that hour are headed to the airport for early flights. The objective is to cause an accident, and rob the passengers who, because they are on a trip, have all their possessions with them. Taxis and vans are particularly targeted.

The expat community must get this stopped. I will never come back to San Miguel as long as this kind of orchestrated chaos and madness is allowed to go on. From what Ruben tells me, all of the drivers know about this and the local police and other officials know it of its happening “continuously,” too.

No more Mexico for me.

Jeffery B Kimmel



Editor,

The raison d’être of Harry Bernstein’s book The Invisible Wall (and the meaning of the title) was omitted, and the fascinating religious and cultural conflict it portrayed was not conveyed in the book review published in Atención [p21, July 20, 2007]. In the prologue to this book, the author’s own words summarize it best: “Outwardly, I suppose, our street looked pretty much the same as any other street in the working-class section of a Lancashire mill town…It was a quiet little street…but what distinguished it from all the others was the fact that we lived on one side and they on the other. We were the Jews and they were the Christians. Actually, what we had here was a miniature ghetto, for there was an invisible wall between the two sides, and though the distance from one side to the other, geographically, was only a few yards, the streets being very narrow, the distance socially could have been miles and miles.”

Dana Little