Thursday, April 2 6:30 pm
Sumner School, 17th & M St., NW

Nelson George: City Kid from Nelson George on Vimeo.
Really, you should not miss this. Good book, good writer.

Update: If you missed Nelson’s event, check out his NY Times essay and a related blog post with Vimeo slideshow. Signed books available in the store.

The Washington City Paper’s compilation of staff and readers’ pick provides a nice guide to metro DC. And, we are in it this year.

Number 1? Who cares about Number 1? The real strivers are those riding shotgun in the number 2 slot. Yeah, America loves a winner–but then they’re bored. We’re not bored.

I know, I know. . .literature should not be a competition. Philip Roth does not start a novel thinking, "I’m gonna take it to the hoop against Updike with this baby" (or maybe he does?). But awards do serve a purpose besides stroking the egos of certain authors, and on occasion fattening their wallets. They can alert readers to writers they may have never heard of, gaining little-known authors wider exposure. They can even alert booksellers (such as yours truly) to new authors.

The National Book Critics Circle Awards recently were awarded, and one of the fiction nominees was a book titled The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart, by first-time author M. Glenn Taylor and published by West Virginia University Press. I immediately ordered it for the store, and it certainly looks promising. It’s earned a place on my bedside table stack of books to be read, leaping past my living room table stack, dining room radiator stack, and back room at the bookstore stack(s).

In more author competition news, the nominees for the Man Booker International Prize were just announced, and it’s a pretty interesting group:
Peter Carey (Australia)
Evan S. Connell (USA)
Mahasweta Devi (India)
E.L. Doctorow (USA)
James Kelman (UK)
Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
Arnošt Lustig (Czechoslovakia)
Alice Munro (Canada)
V.S. Naipaul (Trinidad/India)
Joyce Carol Oates (USA)
Antonio Tabucchi (Italy)
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O (Kenya)
Dubravka Ugresic (Croatia)
Ludmila Ulitskaya (Russia)

Tabucchi’s Pereira Declares, a novel concerning Salazar’s Portugal, is one of my favorite books ever. Peter Carey is one of those writers whose every book seems a wholesale departure from what he’s done before, and everything I’ve read has been excellent, particularly Jack Maggs and My Life as a Fake. And it’s nice to see Arnost Lustig on the list, who was a long-time professor at American University. And on a somewhat silly note during this month of March Madness, check out the Tournament of Books. Personally, I’d like to see what sparks fly if Matthiessen’s Shadow Country goes up against Bolano’s 2666.

We knew you couldn’t resist Vincent Price…neither could we. Come in and check out this and other classic horror movies. Now on our sale table for just $6.98.

About 13 and half years ago, Vertigo Books hosted Barack Obama at our old location near Dupont Circle for his memoir. We were the DC stop on a modest book tour. It was August of 1995, and you know, DC in August is not a stand-out month for events. You can find street parking near Dupont Circle the town is so empty. We tried to push the event date to September, but no go.

It was, shall we say, an intimate gathering. I’d read the book and liked it, thought it a strong debut and told folks so. We discussed community organizing (I’d moved to DC to work for ACORN) and books to fill the time while a small group of regulars filtered in. As we spoke, Barack Obama listened with his now famous detachment, listening and appraising. He read fairly well–for a debut author–there were a few questions, books were signed and he was out the door. No escort as I recall.

In the DC area, we sometimes take the great diversity of voices in our daily lives for granted. Our store has always hoped to engage all American voices, but like many we thought the real change would come with our children’s generation. That’s why Monday’s book event is a special pleasure: it is an opportunity for young children and their parents to participate in the Day of Service, albeit in a small way.

In February we’ll continue the conversation with journalists and authors Ta-Nehisi Coates and Gwen Ifill.

Postscript-Vertigo has also hosted the Inaugural Poet, professor and critic Elizabeth Alexander (as well as her mother, historian Adele Logan Alexander). Elizabeth has been active for years with Cave Canem and they will be hosting an event Monday night for other Cave Canem poets.

Barack Obama was recently spotted carrying a book by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott. Walcott, a West Indian poet, is quoted in yesterday’s Washington Post and has written an Obama poem (listen to Walcott here).

That our new President-Elect reads is a great source of encouragement to many (especially booksellers), as is his recent selection of Elizabeth Alexander as the Inaugural Poet. As you have no doubt read, Elizabeth is a DC native and Yale professor who grew up amidst our area’s vibrant poetry scene. The poem published by the Post, includes a hat-tip to this tradition with its reference to Sterling Brown, a seminal figure for Washington area poets. (more…)

At Vertigo we try to be as green as possible. We try to reduce our impact through recycling, donating galleys and books, reusing boxes and packing material through several small businesses and our customers. But bags…well, bags are a problem. We try to ask if people need bags and while many do not take one, we still are using plastic. With Chico Bags, we could cut down even more and you might cross a few things off your shopping list.

Virtues of the Chico Bag include:
*teensy size with clip
*very lightweight but carries 20 lbs.
*washable
*very affordable at 5.00
*the perfect size for stockings
*many colors
*recyclable when worn
Just return the bag to Chico Bags and it will be reused or perhaps woven into a rug. Give one and keep one in your purse or car.