Between the Covers

Book fair: It's over? Really?

Funny how you live with something for so long that you're discombobulated when it's done. MIami Book Fair International ended Sunday on a high note with Susie Essman and Andy Borowitz and an appreciative full house. I was tempted to go home (I confess, I was dying to see the Mad Men season finale) but decided to stick around, and I was glad I did. Although I must confess, as funny as they were, the event did not top Saturday's John Hodgman/Larry Wilmore appearance, which was twice as hilarious as most stand-up acts.

So many highlights, so many I saw, so many I missed. The book fair will be absolutely perfect when we can clone ourselves and attend more than one session at once. So many great moments, from thriller writer and former Miamian Paul Levine musing about how nothing has changed in the 10 years he's been gone ("I get off the plane and the first thing I read is that the entire city commission has been indicted...nobody's running the city, which is probably a good thing.") to the eloquent novelist Sarah Dunant telling her audience about reading a sexy book under the covers at night and being caught by her horrified mother ("Children should always push the boundaries.")

One of the best sessions of the fair was John Freeman (The Tyranny of Email) and Hal Niedzvieckl (The Peep Diaries: How We're Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors), a thought-provoking look at YouTube culture and the way email, Facebook and Twitter run (and ruin) our lives. I'm not sure Mr. Freeman has persuaded me to start writing letters again, but he's definitely convinced me I should read his book (and also possibly consider spending a bit less time on FB.)

Another great discovery at the fair: Michael Thomas, author of the novel Man Gone Down, whose appearance on the PEN International panel was so compelling I walked right out of the Chapman Conference Center and bought his book (he also appeared with Ben Greenman and Jonathan Lethem on Sunday).

So we're done for another year (during which we hope Miami Dade College finishes construction on the Auditorium, because those a/c units in the tents acting as substitutes drove us all crazy by the end of Sunday). Now, it's time to settle down with all those books whose authors we heard, met and liked. Happy reading. 

Archie's choice: Are you kidding me?

One of the panels I missed at this weeked's book fair was "Archie Married Whom???" and apparently, I really should have gone. I hear it was a fair highlight.

A spy report from a writer who had the sense to be there:

"One of the more spirited panels Saturday unfolded in the comics world, as a packed room demanded answers to the question: Archie Married Whom?!!!

That Archie Andrews chose rich, spoiled Veronica Lodge over sweet-natured Betty Cooper left many in the crowd aghast.

"I love Betty!" one woman cried.

The panel -- Archie writer Alex Simmons, Archie Comics Managing Editor Mike Pellerito and artist Fernando Ruiz -- urged the crowd to read the books before getting too worked up.

Still, Pellerito acknowledged the decision wasn't popular. He recounted a phone call from his mother:

"Did you do this?" she demanded."

I love this. I read Archie when I was a kid, and even then I thought Veronica was a biatch.

I did peek in at the Kids ComicCon tent Sunday, and what I saw was wonderful. The tent was split in two, with small kids on one side and older ones on the other, with all of them being instructed in the art of drawing and creating characters. While the little kids were understandably often distracted, the older ones seemed quite intent on what they were doing. Thanks to Alex Simmons and Co. for bringing the KCC to the fair.

Sherman Alexie's "War Dances"

The men in Sherman Alexie's terrific collection of stories and poems are frequently flummoxed -- by life, women, history.

The father in The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless can't understand why his daughters are appalled by the music he generously loads into their new iPods (``But all these songs are your songs. . . . They're not mine''). The screenwriter in Fearful Symmetry doesn't know why his words desert him after the studio butchers his script. A spoiled gay basher unwittingly beats up an old friend in The Senator's Son. The young intern in Salt who writes obituaries is shocked to learn there are realities worse than death.

Author of 13 books of poetry, three story collections, four novels and the award-winning screenplay for Smoke Signals, the wily Alexie places his characters at crossroads, then sits back to see which way they'll turn. Paul Nonetheless reaches an unhappy point of no return; the senator's son discovers that his father's high principles are bendable. But the screenwriter finds redemption in crossword puzzles, and the intern learns why no one should live forever. Sometimes things work out. Sometimes they don't.

Alexie, who won a National Book Award for his young adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, excels at blending humor and tragedy. Why, he wonders in the poem Go, Ghost, Go, does a white professor want to be a martyr for slain Native Americans? ``Sherman, can't you see that immigration / Is the new and improved Ghost Dance?'' the professor asks. ``He's eager to get on that cross / and pay the ultimate cost / Because he's addicted to the indigenous,'' Alexie explains.

Alexie's works are piercing yet rueful. He writes odes to anguished pay-phone calls, to boys who would drive through blizzards to see a girl, to couples who need to sit together on airplane flights even though the computer thinks otherwise. ``Whenever I'm asked / to trade seats / For somebody else's love / I do, I always do.''

In the title story, a husband and father of two finds that a brush with mortality returns him to memories of his father. The old man -- really not so old at 67 but ravaged by decades of drinking -- had to have his feet removed, and now he can't get warm. His son scours the hospital, looking for other Native Americans, because he's sure they'll have blankets. He meets a likely possibility in the hospital corridor and explains the situation.

``Diabetes?'' the man asks.

``And vodka.''

``Vodka straight up or with a nostalgia chaser?''

``Both.''

``Natural causes for an Indian.''

It's a poignant yet funny scene, and later the stranger takes the narrator to task for stereotyping his own people. Yet, miraculously, he also hands over a blanket, blessed by his father. In such a small gift, such great compassion. Just like the gems in this marvelous collection.

Alexie appears at 11 a.m. Sunday at Miami Book Fair International.

Book fair Saturday: Great day, or greatest day ever?

On a perfect sunny day - clearly, the weather gods are readers, too - thousands packed the streets and classrooms of Miami Dade College for the 26th edition of Miami Book Fair International's street fair.

And it was good. Where else could you start your day with Al Gore and end it with Iggy Pop?

 Parents and kids packed the many activities at Children's Alley at the fair, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. There was so much to do. Comics fans debated whether Archie should have married Betty instead of Veronica. (Yes! shouts Team Betty.) The PEN International panel discussed the sobering topic of censorship while political insiders Gwen Ifill (above) and Taylor Branch explored how things work in Washington, D.C. Fiction fans gloried in the choices while struggling to make them, grinning at Jill McCorkle's delightful story Me and Big Foot or, perhaps, giggling at the personable Wally Lamb
cracking himself up while reading his Christmas novella Wishin' and Hopin'.

Even bigger laughs came courtesy of The Daily Show contributors John Hodgman and Larry Wilmore, who have never done a live appearance together before but handled the task like old comedy pros. Hard to say what was funnier: Hodgman using his audio book discs for coasters or Wilmore's deadly accurate Chris Rock impersonation. 

And readers weren't the only ones having a good time. In the fair's hospitality suite, Betsy Carter, author of the novel The Puzzle King, marveled at the audacity of Mary Karr's memoir Lit. And thriller writer Michael Lister, author of Double Exposure, had a close encounter of the author kind he won't forget.

"It's such a cool experience,'' he said. "I'm in the author's lounge this morning getting some orange juice, and Joyce Carol Oates sits down next to me. Where else does that happen? . . . . I love it. It's my favorite book fair.''

Yes, there were some snafus: The air conditioning units in the Auditorium Pavilions were a bit too loud, rendering the writers inaudible on occasion (the Auditorium is undergoing renovations so tents acted as a substitute). As always, random knuckleheads forgot to turn off their cell phones. But the ticketing process worked smoothly in the Chapman Conference Center, indicating patience on the part of book fair volunteers and readers, who have grown accustomed to what used to be a confusing process.

On a day like this one, optimism reigned. Susan Bishop and her fourth-grade daughter Julia from Coral Springs got to the fair early to see former Vice President Gore speak. Julia attends Heron Heights Elementary, which her mom says is the first "green'' elementary in Florida.

Ask Julia what she thinks of the climate situation, and she doesn't hesitate.

"I think we're going to help everybody and save the planet,'' she says.

In telling the audience about Lit, memoirist Karr told her audience that "when we read we sort of take communion together.'' Her story, she said, is "îabout how reading saved my life.''

Ours, too, Mary. Ours too.

Book fair Saturday: Are you ready?

The coffee pot is full, and I'm busily transferring it to my cup to get caffeinated enough for the street fair. This does not mean I won't be scoping out that Land O' Lakes truck or booth or whatever is for my free cup. One pot does not carry one through breakfast with Al Gore to dinner with Iggy Pop (not literally, I mean, Al and I aren't going out for bagels, nor are Iggy and I hitting the sushi bar, although, how cool would THAT be?)

Busy day ahead, and I won't get to half the events I want to see, but I'll do my best. Say hi if you see me out and about. I'll be the one with the red hair and the red sneakers (listen, I want to be fashionable, but comfortable shoes are a must. I read it in the Miami Herald so it must be true).

Orhan Pamuk draws huge crowd at Miami book fair

Miami is a town all too frequently - some might say stupidly - obsessed with celebrity, and yet, on a breezy Friday night at Miami Dade College, a Turkish novelist drew a bigger audience than a movie star who appeared the evening before him.

And not merely a bigger audience. An overflow audience. An audience that left no seat empty and stranded about 100 hopefuls outside.

So went the Miami Book Fair International's final Evenings With . . . '' event with Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk reading from his latest novel The Museum of Innocence and telling the crowd, "I am happy to be with the book lovers of Miami.''

Pamuk is hardly an obscure writer - his novel Snow won wide acclaim, and his work has been published in 50 languages - but one might assume fairgoers would be more familiar with Isabella Rossellini, who appeared Thursday to talk about her amusing short film series Green Porno. Even the title, you might think, would be more likely to lure the curious than Pamuk's Innocence.

But no. Miami book lovers, congratulate yourselves. You keep your fair alive when other cities - bigger, cockier cities - have failed.

"The support this week has been remarkable,'' fair cofounder Mitchell Kaplan told the audience as the event began, going on to say that almost 1,000 people turned out for Friday's event.

 Pamuk, at 57 one of the younger Nobel laureates, was introduced by novelist Alan Cheuse, who beamed at the sizable crowd of book lovers.

"Let's turn this into a great wave that washes over America,'' he said.

Pamuk, often considered a political novelist, called The Museum of Innocence "a novel about love,'' but cautioned that the course of romance does not flow smoothly in these pages. Museum, he said, "is what happens to us when we fall in love.''

Among the crowd were Pamuk fans Cameron and Donald Schram from Toronto, who spend the winter in Naples but drive east across the state every year to spend the weekend at the fair. They collect first editions and say they lug about 50 books to Florida every season in hopes of getting them signed. This year they plan to see Tracy Kidder, Dennis Lehane and Jayne Anne Phillips.

Donald Schram had a complaint about the online ticketing process - without a U.S. zip code, he said, he couldn't purchase tickets ahead of time with a credit card - but they prevailed by just showing up and buying tickets Friday night.

Despite the frustration, they were happy to be at the fair (and with a seat while others waited outside). "We're loyal,'' he said.

"We wouldn't miss it,'' added Cameron Schram.

Get a free cup of coffee at the fair - and help the Florida Center for the Literary Arts

This cup of coffee pictured does not look good to me. Know why? It is simply TOO DARK. Forget sugar; there's no half and half in it. And no, milk does not cut it when it comes to lightening up the java. Gotta be half and half.

The folks at Land O' Lakes apparently know this undeniable truth. They're heading to the Miami book fair and offering a free cup of coffee to anyone who participates in the "Pick the Perfect Shade" contest, which involves choosing the best color of coffee and cream. Land O' Lakes will automatically donate the price of the cup of coffee ($2) to support the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade College.

That's what we call a win-win situation. Make mine taupe, please!

Harrowing childhood memoirs at the book fair

Jeannette Walls isn't the only author at Miami Book Fair International to be talking about a harrowing memoir of childhood. David Small and Jane Alison will both be there Saturday to talk about their own literary works involving eccentric families.

Small's graphic novel Stitches - nominated for the National Book Award - recalls how his radiologist father treated a minor respiratory ailment with X-rays - which caused a cancerous lump in the boy's neck.

Alison's The Sisters Antipodes is less chilling but no less grim: When the UM professor and her sister were kids, her parents and another couple became close friends - and then switched partners.

Click here to read Richard Pachter's interview with Small, who appears at 1 p.m. Saturday in Batten.

Click here to read Ellen Kanner's interview with Alison. who appears at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Promoteo.

"The Daily Show" contributors arrive at book fair seeking laughs

If you watch The Daily Show, then you know John Hodgman (famous, or rather infamous, for the "You're Welcome" segments, in which he solves all the world's problems) and Larry Wilmore ("senior black correspondent" or some similar title). On Saturday, they'll team up at Miami Book Fair International to talk about their new books.

Hodgman's More Information Than You Require is a book of fake trivia (did you know Teddy Roosevelt had a hook for a hand?). Wilmore's I'd Rather We Got Casinos and Other Black Thoughts is a collection of humorous essays.

Click here to read my interview Hodgman.

Click here to read my interview with Wilmore.

And see them together at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Chapman Conference Center; free tickets required. Get 'em by clicking here.

"How to Leave Hialeah" author returns home for book fair

Hialeah, author Jennine Capó Crucet has learned, is something of a mystery to people living outside South Florida.

``Most of the time people assume it's a woman who has scorned someone,'' she says. ``Usually the reaction is: `Who's Hialeah that you need to leave her?' ''

Readers of Crucet's debut story collection, which won the John Simmons Short Fiction Award from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop, know better. How to Leave Hialeah (Iowa, $16 in paper) brings the place and its people alive with what a Miami Herald reviewer praised as ``a fresh voice.''

Crucet, who appears Saturday at Miami Book Fair International, was exposed to the event early: Her dad was an electrician who worked on the Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus to get the wires underground back in the early 1990s.

``I remember him coming home late at night,'' she says. ``He worked so hard to make this event happen. He's not a reader, not a book guy, but he did care a lot about that campus. I keep thinking, `I'll be walking over the wires he put in.' ''

Q: What's it like for a Miami kid to be reading her first book at the fair?

A: I know it sounds corny, but it is a dream come true. It is something I hoped I'd be able to do for a long time but thought wouldn't be a reality when I saw how hard it is to get a book published or recognized. It's a huge thrill for my family, too. Everybody is going to be coming out.

Q: Do you remember your first fair?

A: I went in middle school, I think. Or maybe earlier? I went with my parents. I got to sit in on some cool things for young writers because I wrote an essay in class. It was during the school day, so my mom had to take a day off work. I remember not knowing what to wear, and I dressed way too fancy, thinking: This is my big break!

Q: You've lived in Los Angeles for eight months. Do you miss Miami?

A: I miss it a lot! I used to think the traffic in Miami was horrible, but now I live in L.A., and it doesn't seem bad. What I miss is family. Everyone lives there except me! I miss my parents. I miss the idea that I'd see my grandma every day and my uncle every other day, because we all live so close together. That's an important part of Miami and Hialeah: extended families, though they don't see themselves that way. Everyone's a cousin, even if you're a third cousin. Maybe everybody wanted to stay together near Cuba in case something happened. . . . I spent a lot of time in Hialeah hospital visiting family, and it's like, `Hospital visiting hours? Yeah, sure whatever. I'll do what I want. That's my aunt's sister's kid's best friend, and I have to be there!' I love the audacity of the whole place.

Q: Do you miss the food?

A: I miss knowing where the best cafe con leche is. I miss recognizing the food. I haven't found the great Cuban place here yet.

Q: Can anyone ever really leave Hialeah?

A: Why would you ever want to?

Jennine Capó Crucet appears at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Prometeo.