Baruch Dayan Emet

Baruch Dayan Emet, meaning "blessed is the true judge" is the traditional Jewish response upon hearing of a death. As of this morning (Eastern time), it has been confirmed that among those dead at the Mumbai Chabad House, known as Nariman House, are Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife Rivka.

In all of the reporting that I've been following, including the BBC, CNN, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, there has been some confusion as to what exactly Chabad is and what they do, and what the Holtzbergs were doing in Mumbai. Possibly the best resource out there is The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch, a book that I read several years ago in my own effort to better understand this particular branch of Hasidism.

We extend our deepest sympathies to all of those who have been affected by the recent and ongoing events in Mumbai.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Having already stuffed myself and given many personal thanks, the time has come for my bookstore thanks.

Going into this wet and icy season, I am thankful that the management company cleaned our gutters, at least partially preventing the waterfall onto our back steps. The waterfall which overpowers the weatherstripping, comes in all around the door (even through the wall above the door), soaks into the carpet, warps the floorboards, and fells all sorts of dumps (like these from the blog of the amazing Scott Westerfeld) with the greatest of ease.

Also check out this super awesome video of the leaky door. Keep your eyes peeled for the splash from above, and remember the previous comment about wall involvement in this whole leak business!

And remember to support your local independents when you go shopping tomorrow (even if they aren't located in leaky old buildings)!

November Events Roundup

This past month has been full of wonderful authors, both new and returning Books, Etc., and for my first month of being the person-in-charge-of-events, I couldn't have asked for nicer authors or more interesting books!

Falling firmly into the 'returning' category was Gail Straub on the 8th with her new book, Returning to My Mother's House. Eve Ensler, founder of V-Day and author of The Vagina Monologues said that it is "a book of enormous transformation, intimacy, and heart."

Gail Straub is coauthor of the best-selling Empowerment: The Art of Creating Your Life as You Want It and author of the critically acclaimed The Rhythm of Compassion: Caring for Self, Connecting with Society, as well as Circle of Compassion, a book of meditations. Considered a leading authority on empowerment, she codirects the Empowerment Institute, a school for transformative leadership.

On the 20th we were thrilled to welcome Portland's own Colin Sargent. Colin is founding editor and publisher of award-winning Portland Magazine, as well as a board member of Maine Reads. He has been awarded the Maine individual artist fellowship in literature and earned a Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing. He is a playwright and the author of three books of poetry. Museum of Human Beings is his first novel, and tells the story of Sacagawea's son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau.




Last but certainly not least was Stephanie Kaza on the 21st. Stephanie is a Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont, and has been actively engaged in campus sustainability initiatives to reduce waste, conserve energy, and promote environmental values. She has authored, coauthored, and edited innumerable articles and books on the environment and religious practice. Her newest work, Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking draws upon her background in Buddhism, presenting a simple philosophy for engaging in environmental action in real, practical, and effective ways.

We have some exciting new authors lined up for after the holiday season - keep an eye out for more info, or drop a line to bookhappenings@gmail.com to sign up for email notification of upcoming events!

Preamble--or a view from the owner's desk.

It's with great pleasure and little fanfare that I introduce our new blog, a melting pot of thoughts and musings, reviews and recommendations, news and event announcements on the subjects we love best here at Books Etc.: Books and Authors! Contributors will be our fabulous team of booksellers, a diverse group of veterans and emerging leaders of the Southern Maine bookselling world.

We are indeed in challenging times, all cutting or conserving in some way as the economy lurches (do I dare call it) forward in fits and starts and stops. In the same way, many people wanting a book might consider their options especially in ways to save. The question becomes, "why should I purchase a book at a locally owned independent bookstore, especially when I have to pay a few dollars more?" Because if you purchase the book at a Seattle based mega online retailer (c'mon, you know the one I mean), you may save a couple of bucks, but you have sent every dollar of that purchase out of Greater Portland and out of this great state of Maine. In these economically harsh times, we need to think of our local communities first, and sending all of your money out of state does little for the community. With all the money leaving town who is going to pay for the roads on which the UPS truck rolls delivering your package? Who is going to patronize the local banks, ad agencies, lawyers, doctors, and restaurants? Who is going to bring you authors and book fairs, and who is going to contribute to the local PTO fund raiser or the local library?

This morning I heard a colleague of mine, Mitchell Kaplan, a bookseller extraordinaire from Miami who organizes the Miami Book Fair. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the fair, NPR interviewed him, and when asked why he remains optimistic in these ever so competetive and challenging times of bookselling, with huge chains and online retailing, he responded that we independent booksellers are selling the past, and by doing so, we bring comfort as one of the many added values that we offer. Comfort. Mmm. Now doesn't that sound like something we can all use this holiday season?