Posts
This is a special stop for us because Oblong is our local bookstore. Rhinebeck is just 20 minutes from where we live so was no surprise that the reading was filled with friends and neighbors,
Logan Goodman, David Strathairn, Aki Busch, and Brian Johnston among them.
Lots has been written about the death of the independent bookstore. There are no signs of it here. Oblong Books added a second store in Rhinebeck after many years of success at their mother store in Millerton. Now there are two generations running the business. Suzanna Hermans runs Rhinebeck and her noble Dad Dick Hermans runs the Oblong store. This year the second store EXPANDED by taking over the adjacent storefront to enlarge the children's section and provide a spacious area for readings.
Here is Suzanna with friend Anna and Michael Meerepol. She looks proud and happy, as she should.
And John is happy too. He read "Eastman Bullet" last night, which is the chapter where Diosdado witnesses an execution in the Intramuros, Manila. This is the chapter he read years ago at BAM. Afterward in the Q&A he amazed the audience with his grasp of the history of our engagement in Cuba and the Philippines. John loves to share what he knows, so there was satisfaction all around.
Lots has been written about the death of the independent bookstore. There are no signs of it here. Oblong Books added a second store in Rhinebeck after many years of success at their mother store in Millerton. Now there are two generations running the business. Suzanna Hermans runs Rhinebeck and her noble Dad Dick Hermans runs the Oblong store. This year the second store EXPANDED by taking over the adjacent storefront to enlarge the children's section and provide a spacious area for readings.
And John is happy too. He read "Eastman Bullet" last night, which is the chapter where Diosdado witnesses an execution in the Intramuros, Manila. This is the chapter he read years ago at BAM. Afterward in the Q&A he amazed the audience with his grasp of the history of our engagement in Cuba and the Philippines. John loves to share what he knows, so there was satisfaction all around.
I'm so bummed I missed this! I am a Vassar student and it was Founder's Day the same day. Luckily, I still get to see one of the greatest contemporary American storytellers at Powell's Books when I go home to Oregon!
ReplyDelete