Watermark Books and Cafe

In this issue:

News and Notes Worthy.

Upcoming Events.

Book of the Week.

Watermark Winner.

First line(s)...

Watermark Bestsellers.

"The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain, review by Shirley Wells.

"What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years" by Ricky Riccardi, review by Bruce Jacobs.

"Risk Only Money: Success in Business without Risking Family, Friends, and Reputation" by Jack DeBoer, review by Sarah Bagby.

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Watermark Books & Cafe will be closed on Monday, July 4th for Independence Day. The website is always open... www.watermarkbooks.com

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You can always use one more bag! Through Friday, July 8th, our Maruca bags are 50% off. (While they last.)

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Looking for something for your young person to do this summer? Sign them up for Camp Watermark! 

Camp Watermark is a short day camp for youth, ages 8 to 12, with hands-on projects and activities from our partners at Workman Publishing. Held from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on each Wednesday in July, all of the sessions include lunch and a treat. Individual sessions are $12 each, or $40 if you sign up for all four sessions.

The scheduled sessions are as follows: 

July 6 - Camp Watermark: Green Day 

July 13 - Camp Watermark: Science Day 

July 20 - Camp Watermark: Art Day 

July 27 - Camp Watermark: Book Day 

To sign up for any or all sessions, call or come into the bookstore. (316) 682-1181. Space is limited. 

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Upcoming events... 

 

June 30 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Jack DeBoer will be here to talk about and sign his new book, "Risk Only Money."

Hotel magnate Jack DeBoer fills "Risk Only Money" with all of the lessons that he had to learn the hard way. It includes the things he wishes someone had told him years ago. But here, it’s conveyed in DeBoer’s bold, straight-from-the-hip manner. DeBoer believes there are things we should never jeopardize: family, reputation, self-respect, friendships, health. But money? To him, capital exists to risk, gain, lose and reclaim. And then to do it all over again. As DeBoer points out, win or lose, tomorrow the game begins again. From the book’s opening death threat from a creditor to DeBoer’s closing “God bless,” "Risk Only Money" offers insight for us all. Whether we’re young in our journeys, still striving for success, or have discovered what it means to live a life of significance, there are valuable lessons here to be learned. 

Jack DeBoer has launched four hotel brands: Residence Inn, Summerfield Suites, Candlewood Suites and Value Place. He sold the first three hotel chains to Marriott, Hyatt and InterContinental Hotels respectively, and the short-term apartment concept, Value Place, continues to enjoy rapid expansion with 175 locations open to date.

All proceeds from the sale of "Risk Only Money" benefit World Vision, the largest Christian humanitarian aid organization in the world. It serves millions of earthquake and hurricane survivors, abandoned and exploited children, survivors of famine and civil war, refugees, and communities devastated by AIDS in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Its extensive global infrastructure – with offices in approximately 100 countries – enables response where the need is greatest. Support comes from millions of donors all over the world, including child sponsors, churches, corporations, and government agencies. For more information, visit www.worldvision.org.

 

Sunday, July 3 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Book signing for Billy Graf, author of "The Quadfather." 

Two high school sweethearts. One pregnancy. Four blessings...

When Billy and Monica found out they were having quadruplets, they had no idea how they would survive simultaneously raising four young children. Filled with hilarious anecdotes about their trials, tribulations and joy, this book provides insight into the ins and outs of raising multiples. Their story also illuminates how changing your mindset really does alter reality. Ask Billy how he does it. And he’ll ask you how he ever did it before.

Billy Graf has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Wichita State University. He’s been married to his high school sweetheart Monica for over ten years. Together they are laughing their way through raising toddler quadruplets. Billy’s life journey has included bartending (fantastic lunchbox shots), coaching (football and basketball) and a rather unfortunate run-in with a semi (Billy won – barely). Writing not only provides him an outlet for his emotions, it also allows him the opportunity to chronicle the lives of his family…which may or may not be a good thing.

 

July 12th from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Alyson Stanfield book talk and signing for "I'd Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist's No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion." 

"I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion" offers practical approaches that help you sell more art and build an art career that lasts. Alyson B. Stanfield, the founder of ArtBizCoach.com, shares self-promotion tools that have enhanced the careers of thousands of artists.

With the 2011 edition, artists will learn how to:

1. Introduce themselves as an artists so people want to know more
2. Nail their artist statements to discover the right words for all of their marketing messages
3. Expand their mailing lists and use them to cultivate collectors
4. Create marketing materials that outshine the competition
5. Become media magnets to attract buyers
6. Take advantage of websites and blogs to build bigger audiences
7. Integrate social media into their marketing mix

It would be great if there were a precise formula for getting your art into galleries, museums and private collections. But every artist’s path is different. That’s why I’d Rather Be in the Studio! provides easy-to-follow self-promotion practices that help you find your way at any point in your career. Match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of your career.

 

July, 21, 2011, 7:00 pm. James Minick for a reading and signing of his new book, The Blueberry Years. 

The Blueberry Years captures Minick’s and his wife’s experience creating and operating a pick-your-own, organic blueberry farm. For a decade, Sarah and Jim planted, pruned, and picked while also opening the field to hundreds of people who came to harvest berries. These pickers shared blueberry-flavored moonshine and sober religion, warm hugs and cool hats, and always bushels of stories. To give a larger context to our story, Minick includes brief chapters on national issues such as organic foods and new farmers. He also includes short interludes on all things blueberry, like the fruit’s many health benefits, the woman and man who domesticated this plant, or the blueberry in literature. Ultimately, though, this book tells the story of a young couple pursuing their blueberry dream.

Jim Minick is the author of The Blueberry Years, a memoir about one of the mid-Atlantic’s first pick-your-own, certified-organic blueberry farms. He is also the author of two books of poetry, Her Secret Song and Burning Heaven, a collection of essays, Finding a Clear Path, and he edited All There Is to Keep by Rita Riddle. Minick has won grants and awards from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Appalachian Writers Association, Appalachian Heritage, Now and Then Magazine, and Radford University, where he teaches writing and literature. His work has appeared in many publications including Shenandoah, Orion, San Francisco Chronicle, Encyclopedia of Appalachia, Conversations with Wendell Berry, The Sun, Appalachian Journal, Wind, and The Roanoke Times. He lives in the mountains of Virginia with his wife and four dogs. Visit his website at www.jim-minick.com.

 

Wednesday, July 20, 7:00 p.m. Tracy Seeley reading and signing for "My Ruby Slippers."

“Sure, there’s no place like home—but what if you can’t really pinpoint where home is? By the time she was nine, Tracy Seeley had lived in seven towns and thirteen different houses.  Her father’s dreams of movie stardom, stoked by a series of affairs, kept the family on edge, and on the move, until he up and left.  Thirty years later, settled in what seems like a charmed life in San Francisco, a diagnosis of cancer and the betrayal of a lover shake Seeley to her roots—roots she is suddenly determined to search out.  My Ruby Slippers tells the story of that search, the tale of a woman with an impassioned if vague sense of mission: to find the meaning of home. 

Seeley finds herself in a Kansas that defies memory, a place far more complex and elusive than the sum of its cultural myths. On back roads and in her many back years, Seeley also finds unexpected forgiveness for her errant father, and, in the face of mortality, a sense of what it means to be rooted in place, to dwell deeply in the only life we have.”

 

Monday, July 25, 7:00 p.m. Michael Wallis reading and signing. 

Steeped in legend, shrouded in folklore, the real David Crockett - American frontiersman and cultural icon- finally emerges in DAVID CROCKETT: The Lion of the West, an engrossing new biography by best-selling author Michael Wallis.

His name was David Crockett. He never signed his name any other way, but popular culture transformed his memory into "Davy Crockett," and Hollywood gave him a raccoon hat that he hardly ever wore. Best-selling historian Michael Wallis now casts a fresh look at the frontiersman, storyteller, and politician behind these legendary stories. Borninto a humble Tennessee family in 1786, Crockett never "killed him a b’ar" when he was only three. But he did cut a huge swath across early-nineteenth-century America – as a bear hunter, a frontier explorer, asoldier serving under Andrew Jackson, an unlikely congressman, and, finally, a martyr in his now-controversial death at the Alamo.

"The truth has a way of being more interesting than the made-up," wrote Jim Lehrer of DAVID CROCKETT, "most particularly when in the talented writing mind and hands of Michael Wallis." And Allen Barra, author of InventingWyatt Earp, wrote that Wallis "brings Davy out of the shadows of myth created by Walt Disney, John Wayne, and by Crockett himself, and -- surprise! -- the real man proves to be more interesting than his fictional recreations. Michael Wallis is our greatest living writer of Americana."

More than a riveting story, DAVID CROCKETT: The Lion of the West is a revelatory, authoritative biography that separates fact from fiction, providing us with an extraordinary evocation of a true American hero and the rough-and-tumble times in which he lived. Michael Wallis is the best-selling author of Route 66, Billy the Kid, and Pretty Boy.

 

Saturday, July 30th, 3:00 p.m. Sharon Lovejoy book talk and signing. 

What did kids do for fun before the days of computers, video games, and television? They played, explored, discovered, and interacted—while enjoying nature, arts and crafts, tea parties, puppet shows, cooking, gardening, and any activity that let them use their vivid imaginations.  

Here to bring that sense of creativity and excitement back to today’s plugged-in youth is Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars. Created by Sharon Lovejoy—a grandmother of four and author of numerous classic books on gardening—this inspired guide to 130 activities has all the information needed to entertain children of all ages. 

Illustrated with Sharon’s distinctive, delicate watercolors, Toad Cottages & Shooting Stars provides innovative ideas and projects for grandparents (as well as moms, dads, educators, and friends) who want to connect with the children in their lives. It offers endless opportunities to enjoy the wonders of the backyard and beyond.

Sharon Lovejoy, an author, illustrator, lecturer, and teacher, is the children's garden adviser to the American Horticultural Society, and has been a guest on Today at NBC, PBS's Victory Garden, and the Discovery Channel.

 

For more information about these events, please visit our website here:http://www.watermarkbooks.com/  

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The Book of the Week is "Sister" by Rosamund Lupton (Crown, ISBN 9780307716514, originally $24.00)

When her mom calls to tell her that Tess, her younger sister, is missing, Bee returns home to London on the first flight. She expects to find Tess and give her the usual lecture, the bossy big sister scolding her flighty baby sister for taking off without letting anyone know her plans. Tess has always been a free spirit, an artist who takes risks, while conservative Bee couldn’t be more different. Bee is used to watching out for her wayward sibling and is fiercely protective of Tess (and has always been a little stern about her antics). But then Tess is found dead, apparently by her own hand.

Bee is certain that Tess didn’t commit suicide. Their family and the police accept the sad reality, but Bee feels sure that Tess has been murdered.  Single-minded in her search for a killer, Bee moves into Tess's apartment and throws herself headlong into her sister's life--and all its secrets.

Though her family and the police see a grieving sister in denial, unwilling to accept the facts, Bee uncovers the affair Tess was having with a married man and the pregnancy that resulted, and her difficultly with a stalker who may have crossed the line when Tess refused his advances. Tess was also participating in an experimental medical trial that might have gone very wrong.  As a determined Bee gives her statement to the lead investigator, her story reveals a predator who got away with murder--and an obsession that may cost Bee her own life.

A thrilling story of fierce love between siblings, Sister is a suspenseful and accomplished debut with a stunning twist.

Shop online or in the store, this week "Sister" is 30% off.

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This week's winner of a free lunch from Watermark Café is Ken Clifford of Wichita. Thanks for signing up for News & Notes. 

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First line(s)...  

"It was the smell that drove him wild." 

... from "The Summer of the Bear" by Bella Pollen (Atlantic Monthly Press, ISBN 9780802119742, $24.00) 

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Watermark Bestsellers.

1. "Risk Only Money" by Jack DeBoer

2. "The Wichita Divide" by Stephen Singular

3. "Eight Wonders of Kansas" by Marci Penner

4. "Cooking with Bonnie: From Farm to France" by Bonnie Aeschliman

5. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

6. "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan

7. "Empire of the Summer Moon" by S.C. Gwynne

8. "The Surrendered" by Chang-Rae Lee

9. "My Ruby Slippers" by Tracy Seeley

10. "Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

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“The Paris Wife” by Paula McClain (Ballantine Books, ISBN 9780345521309, $25.00).

“We never know what waits for us, good or bad.  The future stayed behind its veil….” And it’s a very good thing that Hadley Richardson didn’t know what her future with husband Ernest Hemingway would bring!  The Paris Wife, a heartbreaking portrayal of love and frayed loyalty, begins in 1920 when Hadley, a sheltered 28-year-old, meets Ernest, just 21 years old.  After a whirlwind courtship, she marries him and moves to Paris, becoming a member of “The Lost Generation” of expatriates living there.  But their relationship has its difficulties from the start.  Hadley realizes after just a year of marriage that “He was always out for himself—whatever the cost.”  As he begins to achieve success as a writer, Ernest seems determined to betray everyone who has loved him and helped him in his career, including Hadley.

The beginning of the end of their marriage occurs when Hemingway wants to publish The Torrents of Spring, a mean-spirited parody of a Sherwood Anderson novel—the same Sherwood Anderson who had encouraged and mentored Ernest and helped him get published initially.  F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos, Gertrude Stein, and Hadley all advise against it, telling Hemingway it is not funny as he insists, but he refuses to listen to them and sends it to a publisher anyway.  The manuscript is rejected as “unnecessarily vicious to Sherwood Anderson and not that funny.”  But Pauline Pfeiffer (originally Hadley’s friend) tells Ernest that it is hysterically funny, and she uses her influence and wealth to get it published.  She told him what he wanted to hear and “he loved and needed praise.  He loved and needed to be loved and even adored.”

When Hadley begins to have opinions of her own, ones that differ from Ernest’s, he grows dissatisfied with her, especially when she tends to always see the good in people rather than the negative as he usually does.  Pauline, on the other hand, worships Hemingway—as Hadley had once done—and boldly insinuates her way into their lives--and into Ernest’s bed!  Hemingway tries to insist that he is in love with both women and  attempts to justify his betrayal of Hadley by offering up other writers who openly keep mistresses yet remain married:  Dos Passos, Ford Maddox Ford.  He even told Hadley that “nothing hurts if you don’t let it.”  For Hemingway, their break-up becomes inevitable when Hadley confronts him about the affair.  He had expected her just to keep quiet and accept the situation, even when he moves Pauline into hotels and rented cottages where they stay.  Needless to say, the friendship between the two women ends—but not as abruptly as you’d expect!

Hadley had naively believed that marriage was about “collapsing into one another until there was no difference between us…It would be the hardest lesson of my marriage, discovering the flaw in this thinking.  I couldn’t reach into every part of Ernest and he didn’t want me to.  He needed me to make him feel safe and backed up, yes, the same way I needed him.  But he also liked that he could disappear into his work, away from me.  And return when he wanted to.”  Thus, it was all on Ernest’s terms.

For those of you who are familiar with Hemingway’s first major novel The Sun Also Rises, it was a thinly-veiled account of his and Hadley’s experiences in Pamplona, Spain, where they travelled with their friends to see the bullfights.  Lady Twysden, known as Duff to her friends, serves as the model for the character of Lady Brett in the novel, the result of Ernest’s—and every other man’s—infatuation with her.  When Hadley reads the manuscript, she immediately notices that she is the only one of their crowd who is left out of the novel.  Hurt by this, she confronts Ernest who tells her that she is too pure and good to be mixed up with the rest of them.  And I’d agree!  I do have an urge now to reread “Sun” again—just to see if I can recognize the characters from their real-life counterparts.  Ernest, of course, made himself the main character, Jake Barnes, whose impotence seems to symbolize the fact that Ernest never consummated his desire for Duff.  But don’t get the wrong idea about his being a loyal husband!   He had already betrayed Hadley with a prostitute earlier in their marriage when he was sent to Turkey by the Kansas City Star to report on the war there.  Hemingway had his demons, yet alcohol and sex and disloyalty never assuaged them—as much as he gave in to them as an escape.

In spite of it all, Hadley felt “There was nothing like those years in Paris…” and in a sense, she’s right.  All lovers of American literature are indebted to those years for having produced some great writing and writers.  And Hadley, herself, grew as a woman and mother, and her life after Ernest turned out well; she had a long and successful remarriage.  Ernest, however, would go on to marry three more times before leaning into the barrel of one of his favorite shotguns and pulling the trigger with his big toe.

As well-researched a novel as literary critics could demand, The Paris Wife illuminates the woman behind the legendary writer and gives us a glimpse into their early days in Chicago and those heady days in Paris and Pamplona and San Sebastian.   What makes their eventual break-up all the more poignant is that at the end of his life, Hemingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.  Highly recommended for those interested in American literary figures or 1920s Paris or just a bittersweet love-gone-wrong story.

Review by Shirley Wells

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Bruce Jacob's reviews often appear in "Shelf Awareness," an industry e-newsletter for good readers. They recently published this review. To see the entire e-letter, visit Shelf Awareness here: http://beta.shelf-awareness.com/readers-issue.html?issue=4

"What a Wonderful World: The Magic of Louis Armstrong's Later Years" by Ricky Riccardi (Pantheon, ISBN 9780307378446, $28.95)

There are two kinds of mid-century jazz fans: my father, who's all Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Louis Armstrong--you know, dance and swing; and me, who's all Miles, Trane, maybe Oscar Peterson and even Bad Plus--the introspective artists of improvisation. His old guys were just entertainers who played their fans' favorites; my guys played the music for the music's sake and themselves. Wrong!

Ricky Riccardi (jazz pianist, graduate of Rutgers' famous Institute of Jazz Studies and currently archivist for the Louis Armstrong House collection of Satchmo's audio tapes) tackles my common misperception in his first book, What a Wonderful World. Drawing on a wealth of original papers and personal tapes of the writing-averse Armstrong, Riccardi colors in the second half of Pops' remarkable career, the half critics wrote off as his "Uncle Tom," clown years. Riccardi shows that Armstrong was a consummate musician to the end, one whose goal was to give fans the best music he could while taking no guff from people who made his and his fellow black Americans' lives difficult, at best.

Through countless references, conversations, anecdotes and taped private moments of anger and frustration, Riccardi brings to life a complex man who was a genius in many ways. He shows us an Armstrong whose goodwill and big pop-eyed smile brought his native New Orleans music to millions of fans throughout the world, earning him a comfortable living and paving the way for the often brooding, and reclusive Miles and Parker and Trane who created their own modern jazz followings.

Review by Bruce Jacobs

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"Risk Only Money: Success in Business without Risking Family, Friends, and Reputation" by Jack DeBoer (Rockhill Books, Hardcover ISBN 9781611690101, $24.95; Paperback ISBN 9781611690118, $19.95.)

Business books come in all sizes, shapes, and forms. Some mandate a point-by-point plan; some provide measuring tools for benchmarking; others are simply books published when a business is on the up side, capitalizing on the headlines of the moment. “Risk Only Money” is a refreshing departure because Jack DeBoer--an entrepreneur and founder of four successful hotel brands--emphasizes how all the other stuff in life is just as important as wanting to succeed in business.   

In three parts and twelve chapters “Risk Only Money” is not a blueprint for success, but rather the very personal odyssey of a man of humility and redemption. DeBoer outlines each segment of his life on the road to success through personal anecdotes of triumph and failure. He shares his lessons learned and suggests ways for others to use his experience to avoid making their own similar mistakes.  

In part one, “Striving," DeBoer goes back to his first job mowing lawns with severe allergies (would you hire him?) when he discovered his “Midas touch” in sales.  After serving in the Army he learned to surround himself with those having strengths he did not, he realized that the proscribed organizational life in the service was not for him. So he branched out, built apartments with his name on them, and finally, after falling as fast as he rose and about to lose his friends, he learned that satisfying one’s ego is not a good business plan.   

Part two, “Success," is the soul searching section. Jack’s illustrious story of humility dovetailed with his thoughts on how to look realistically at assets--liquid, fixed, or human—while building a successful business. This led him to his mantra: Risk Only Money. When a crisis hits is not the time to build your resources. Not every idea will work, but it is always worth the risk if you focus on how the money will help you get to where you want to be, if you have the discipline to be patient, and if you can always tell the truth—whether it is painful or not. Finally, the lesson he learned in the Army to build an effective team of many strengths is critical. 

Part three is the reflective section of the book. Discovering one’s passion is the key to a well lived life, no matter where you are in your business life. Once Jack retired, he and his wife began to travel, and after a trip to Burma, they were profoundly inspired to become involved in philanthropic work. Rather than start from the ground up, Jack and Marilyn developed a partnership with World Vision, a private organization with a budget of two billion dollars and no endowment. After discovering that there was no non-governmental aid in Burma, Jack and Marilyn became involved in helping to provide a private platform for aid projects in Burma.  

The DeBoers have been as successful in giving as they have in business. Their involvement with World Vision in Burma has supported more than 40,000 children through sponsorship programs, improved health care for women and children, and even provided fly-proof latrines in school. Through their efforts Myanmaran doctors and hundreds of midwives have been providing access to those in need, the quality of water improved, a microfinance loan program has been established, and more than 40 NGO’s are now operating in the country. Jack is also generously donating proceeds of "Risk Only Money” to World Vision.  

Socrates said, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” In “Risk Only Money” Jack DeBoer shares his own examined life, in his own shoot-from-the-hip voice, to help others examine where they are in their personal and business lives so that they too can be on a path to fulfillment and success.   

Review by Sarah Bagby

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Later.

Beth