The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go

Did you get a book for St. George's Day on April 23? In Catalonia, Spain, there is a tradition to give a book and a rose to your lover on April 23. My partner and I celebrate this holiday because...holiday for books!

My partner got me The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go. I'd never heard of it. Sometimes it's fun to dive into an unknown book!

     

Tristan Campbell receives a letter from a solicitor in London. He is told that there is an inheritance that he may be entitled to. But there are complications. The stipulations of the will state that whomever receives the inheritance must be directly descended from a particular person. This lineage must be proven. Oh, and there's a time limit.

Tristan embarks on a journey, both literal and figurative, to discover if he is indeed descended from the person specified in the will.

He discovers Ashley Walsingham, the writer of the will and a mountaineer who also fought in World War I. He also learns about the love of Ashley's life, Imogen.

Told from Tristan's point of view in the present, and Ashley and Imogen's point of view in the past, Tristan learns about Ashley's part in the war, his love for mountaineering, including one of the first expeditions to climb Mount Everest, and Ashley and Imogen's love affair.

A bit of a mystery, a love story, mountaineering and war history, a travelogue...this kept me turning pages and wanting to find out Tristan's heritage almost as much as he did! Fun!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out this blog's Facebook page here: NOT The New York Times Book Review, and "like" us there! Happy reading!

Back in the Saddle

Ahhhh...I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop (Longbottom Coffee Roasters in Hillsboro, Oregon). I love coming here, it's dedicated time for me to work on the blog, plus they have an amazing bumblebee latte (there's some delicious combination of honey and lavender in it).

It's been weeks and weeks since I've been here. The holidays at the bookstore have been incredibly hectic. It feels a little strange, as though I don't quite have the mentality to settle in. The only way to get back in the swing of things is to do it.

I've started brief drafts of blog entries, taken notes on what I want to write about, new customer events happen almost every day, it's a new year (shouldn't I be doing a "best books of 2011" or "books I'm looking forward to in 2012" post?); I'm a little overwhelmed and scattered thinking about what to write about.

Right now, though, it's really good to be here.

I have many things pulling to be written, but for now...IndieBound posted on the blog's facebook page (NOT the New York Times Book Review) about World Book Night...

http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/about-world-book-night/what-is-world-book-night

(And I apologize. There is a way to add a link on the blog post creation page, but it doesn't seem to work. So you'll have to cut and paste.)

I'd never heard of World Book Night before this morning and it sounds like a wonderful idea. It's interesting to me that World Book Night is on April 23. Not only is April 23 the birthdate of Shakespeare and the anniversary of the death of Cervantes, it is also St. George's Day, a holiday celebrated in Spain. It is a day on which you give your loved one a book and a rose. (J., the manager of my store and I commented a few years ago about St George's Day. We wondered why our bookstore wasn't all over this, a holiday specifically FOR giving books? It seemed like a pretty perfect opportunity to get people to buy more books.)

Maybe World Book Night is the next iteration of St George's Day, or a U.S. expression of it. In any case, it's a great idea, getting books into the hands of people who don't generally read all that much. I'm going to keep my eye on this event. I hope you'll check it out as well.

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Other bits and pieces...

I did sign up with Barnes and Noble's affiliate program. I haven't set up any links yet, but will very soon. (Thank you again, Observant Co-Worker, for reminding me to do this.)

The other day I posted on facebook that I sold my 100th copy of SCENT OF THE MISSING by Susannah Charleson at my bookstore! We'd been given a challenge, to select a book and try to handsell 100 copies of the title. I am the first in my store to make it to 100 - beating the next person by about 50 books! (not that I'm competitive). And it is pretty darn satisfying. Not only did I beat the challenge, but I know that (at least) 100 more people will be learning more about Search and Rescue. I am grateful to have had such an easy book to sell!

Some blog post ideas I am considering...

-more customer stories
-books I really liked in 2011 (I actually have a draft of this one started)
-books I'm reading right now
-other book reviewer/lover blogs
-next 100 handsell challenge pick

I really appreciate your comments and encouragement...either here on the blog or on the facebook page or by email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thank you for stopping by!

Scent of the Missing

Pilot Susannah Charleson worked search alongside canine teams for years before she got a dog of her own to certify for search and rescue.

Enter Puzzle, a golden retriever puppy who joins the author's six (yes, that's 6) rescued Pomeranians and a cat or two, not all of whom were as delighted to have a puppy in the household as she was.

Charleson alternates chapters between home life with the Poms, the cats and Puzzle, and search expeditions both before she got Puzzle and Puzzle's training to become SAR certified.

Puzzle's delightful personality comes through loud and clear in the book. Puzzle is eager, oh so eager to work, extremely motivated by praise. And smart. And fabulous.

Early in her training, she was on a "Find!" command...

As we carefully extract Matt (from his hiding place where Puzzle found him, successfully completing her task), Puzzle steals a piece of burned wood from the debris pile. Matt carries her to the team to show off her success, and she has her head up, her trophy in her mouth. "Good girl!" they all praise. Rooo-wooo-wrroooo, Puzzle rumbles, the universal Golden retriever croon for dig me. She rumbles, wagging around the circle, showing off her burned stick. Wooor-oo-woo. I know the sound, but it's the first time the team has heard it from her. It's the sound of a dog who thinks she's hot stuff.

The book isn't all cute puppy moments, though. Charleson describes some of the darker and harder parts of search. She describes being on the search team for the space shuttle Columbia disaster (before she got Puzzle), how she and many others searched for days and weeks for shuttle debris as well as human remains. She talks about how the dogs came away from that search affected, overcome by the intensity of the search.

The true nature of canine grief - if this was grief - was a mystery to me. I had listened to experienced handlers at this search and opinions were strongly divided. Some said dogs didn't share grief in human terms, but that critical incident stress was as real for them as it was for their human partners. It could overwhelm a dog in the field, or it might take a while to surface. They said that handlers and dogs would need to proceed cautiously across the coming weeks. Easy, motivating practice searches for the dogs. Lots of play. Upbeat rewards. Pushing too hard could create an aversion to the work and shut a dog down from search for good. Perhaps some humans too - though none of us talked about that before we packed the cars to go.

As Charleson shares her experiences with all of her dogs and training Puzzle, incredible descriptions of the dogs, their handlers and their work, I feel as though I have a much greater knowledge of and respect for the incredibly hard and amazing SAR work by dogs and humans. Not only was it fascinating to read about SAR, it was made that much better by being so well written.

I appreciated Charleson's scope of her writing, from vivid descriptions of SAR to Puzzle's growth to how she and Charleson slowly became a real search team, sharing a wide range of emotions.

Clearly Susannah Charleson is lucky to have Puzzle in her life, and Puzzle is lucky to have her. We are lucky she decided to share their lives together with us in this book.

(This was the book I received for St. George's Day. Lucky me!)

My New Favorite Holiday!

Last year an advance reader's copy of Carlos Ruiz Zafon's new book (well, new to us in the US), The Angel's Game was sent to the bookstore. With it was a letter from the publisher, describing the release date (April 23) as coinciding with St George's Day, also known as World Book Day or International Day of the Book...

Wait, there's a WORLD BOOK DAY??? And no one told me??? This had to be the best holiday ever...

Wikipedia says...

St George's feast is ranked higher in England and in certain other regions. It is the second most important National Feast in Catalonia, where the day is known in Catalan as La Diada de Sant Jordi and it is traditional to give a rose and a book to a loved one. This tradition inspired UNESCO to declare this the International Day of the Book, since April 23, 1616 was also the date of death of both the English playwright William Shakespeare (according to the Julian calendar) and the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes (according to the Gregorian calendar).

Okay, International Book Day, World Book Day, different names, same great idea...

Carlos Estrada from the Barcelona School gives more background...

St. George's Day has been celebrated since 1436. St. George is the patron Saint of Catalonia

• Catalonia : In Catalonia St. George's day coincides with the Fair of the Book and the Rose. On this day every man offers a rose to his loved one (wife or fiancée), and in return she gives him a book. The book is in memory of Cervantes. This custom was started in 1926, to commemorate Cervantes death (author of "Don Quixote").

A holiday where one is supposed to give a loved one a book? Not just a present, but a BOOK. I'm surprised bookstores all over the US haven't jumped all over this one...but I digress...

The Legend.

The 23rd April is a date that has always been linked, either directly or indirectly, to literature and popular traditions.

Here is the legend: St. George fights the wicked dragon that held the princess captive. Finally St. George kills the dragon and on the spot where the dragons blood was spilled a rose grew as a symbol of love and friendship.

But what has really given importance to this date is that it is now considered to be the "World Book Day".

On 23rd April books are sold in the streets on long stalls prepared specially for the grand occasion. Many people take advantage of this day, even though they may not normally be regular readers, to buy and enjoy a book. It is one way of encouraging people to read.

This is also a popular date to launch new novels onto the market and many authors take advantage of the fact in order to promote their latest book.
Last, but not least, there is nothing nicer than lovers exchanging a book and a rose.

Indeed!

Right now I am reading Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell. It's kind of a Da Vinci Code for Shakespeare, with a little Don Quixote thrown in there as well.

This is not the book I'll be giving on St George's Day, but it seemed an appropriate one to read as my new favorite holiday approaches.

Happy St George's Day!