Next up: reading at The Village Library of Cooperstown. And a pail of snow. So wash your face in crystal...

Just 'cause: end-of-November ice. And slippery snow. And snowmen. Because Yankeedom in winter. Because fire. Because cats. Because poetry. Because Emily. Also Paul Tree (leafy Facebook alias) aka Paul Digby, who made this. (And because nobody should be allowed to take off Emily Dickinson's clothes.)

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Comments and review clips HERE

Reading from Glimmerglass, 

Q and A afterward...

Nights at the Round Table series

Village Library of Cooperstown

Cooperstown New York

3 December 2014

Wednesday

7:00 p.m.

I know of no writers other than Marly Youmans who have the genius to combine the spine-tingling suspense of Gothic storytelling with the immense charm, grace, glamour, realism, and simplicity of Hawthorne. Glimmerglass does more than shimmer and grip; it entertains and hypnotizes. Youmans, one of the biggest secrets of contemporary American fiction, writes with freshness and beauty. Whether she’s writing historical fiction or fantasy, her characters leave one breathless. Her ability to describe a person, a place, or the psychological underpinnings of a plot or individual, ranks with the great novelists, the highest literature. A tale of love and intrigue, mystery and pathology, Glimmerglass’ appeal is the warmth and charge of a tale told round a fire fused by Hitchcockian anxiety, empathy, and relief. Nature, architecture, dread, thrill, sexual dilemma, and murder echo against Youmans’ gorgeous prose and terrifying romance, which glides like a serpent―without a single extraneous or boring word. Youmans is my favorite storyteller. I come back to her as if to a holy well.  --Jeffery Beam, award-winning poet of The Broken Flower, Gospel Earth, and many more books

The Library Porch

The Village Library of Cooperstown

I succumbed on the third day of the annual library sale and wandered over to see what was happening and what book I could not live without. While I made grand resolutions of not coming home with a stack of books, I failed in that determination.

I'm always curious to see what book is present in very large numbers; this year the obvious honors go to a North Carolinian, as it was Cold Mountain, mostly in hardcover. Although a friend was leaving when I arrived and said, "There are no Marly Youmans books," I did spot one--a satisfyingly worn copy of Ingledove.

Want to know what I toted home?

One was a book that I really wanted, a big fat prose and poetry of Rudyard Kipling. Over a thousand pages of rather small print, so it should keep me busy. I ignored novels in favor of story collections and poetry, though I did bring home a Murakami novel. I nabbed three children's books: the 1928 Newberry Medal winner, The Trumpeter of Krakow, a beautiful small book by Eric P. Kelly with profuse decorations by Janina Domanska; a pretty little retelling of Don Quixote with the Walter Crane illustrations; and a collection of George MacDonald's children's novels with the Arthur Hughes illustrations. I also picked up an Oxford anthology of English poetry (probably completely redundant of what I already have), Murderers I Have Known, a collection of stories by Marina Warner (I have some of her nonfiction books but have never tried her fiction), and Strange Pilgrims, a collection of stories on Latin Americans in Europe by García Márquez.

It was hot out there! Amazing. Summer finally comes to Cooperstown.

Alice, Peg, and Marly at the Cooperstown Village Library



VisitingCooperstown.com

Update:  Thanks to everyone who turned out--Peg, Alice, and I had a blast (and not just at dinner!) Grand questions, interesting ideas, and 31 in the audience makes quite a respectable crowd in little Cooperstown.

On the 7th, Thursday, at the Cooperstown Village Library: come by a chance to yack with novelists Alice Lichtenstein and Peggy Leon.  The three of us are going to dinner beforehand, it seems. And then we are to talk about whatever you like--I posted that piece of news on facebook about a minute ago and already have requests: Julie says "paisley"; David says "what David Rondinelli wants for his birthday" (Julie responds with "Tinker Toys"); Lisa says "accidental birds"; Esther is thinking about Tinker Toys and toe jam (that must be an obscure David reference.) 

With that start, I can see that we will have a wild time on Thursday. Luckily or unluckily, none of those suggestions come from Cooperstonians.

Oh, and if you're looking for today's installment in "The House of Words," drop down one post, if you please.