Titles, Inc.

The Chrysler Building

He asked, on the phone, whether I still had the book on the Chrysler Building.  He saw it listed on the Internet.  "Beautiful building," I murmured to him, scrambling through my mind for such a book in the store.  A quick look at my data base did not show the Chrysler Building.  But if he saw it listed, it was sitting somewhere.  I asked for his phone number so I could call back after I checked the shelves.  I explained that it might be either with Architecture or in Americana with New York. 

He said, "No, no, I will hold."  I was faking when I said it might be under New York.  I keep trying to organize the Americana.  First we tried alphabetizing the states, and when that didn't work, tried larger sections, The West, The South.  Of course that wouldn't work either.  What if you were holding a book about California but the only space on the wall was on the lower shelf towards the end.  Expediency says you put it in that slot, that of course you will remember it.  So the states slid away.  Memory does too.

We have taken to describing the book in its data base entry.  Short, fat, black, no dust jacket.  Shiny silver dust jacket, chartreuse print.  I like Ann's entries for skinny books or pamphlets.  In private notes she will add, Lots of Luck!  We spent some time looking for a book Ann described as having no print on the spine, poop color.  Not your typical cataloguer.

No, the Chrysler Building was not there.  Neither was it in Architecture.  Back on the phone, I had to admit defeat, I do not have a book called The Chrysler Building.

He said, "You have to have it.  I have been looking for this for 20 years, and it says you have it.  I printed out the listing.  It says, Build Your Own Chrysler Building.  A construction book, heavy cardboard, 9X12."

"Oh, that Chrysler Building."  I turn to see it propped upright on the floor in front of the books. "There it is."  He could have wept for joy.  "Put my name on it, I'll be right in."  That was a bit startling because the orders come in from around the country and around the world.  "Where are you?"  And he mentions a neighboring suburb.  "Isn't that remarkable?" he says, "You are the only one who has it and you are right next door!"

I look at it while I wait for him.  It was published in 1980, one of a series of famous world buildings, and is described as an exact, reduced-scale reproduction.  It gives the history of the building, its special features.  It is on sturdy card stock.  To construct this cardboard building, it says, you must have scissors, glue, X-acto knife.  It would also be helpful, they advise, to have a metal edges ruler, a toothpick, and a rubber band.  To this day, I am trying to figure out the use of the rubber band. 

He came in, caressed the book.  "20 years.  I had them all, the others are all standing.  My dog ate the Chrysler Building.  He's gone too." 

Before he left, he came up to me, and said, "May I?" and embraced me and kissed my cheek.

All this happiness for $30.  I just love this bookstore!

---Florence

Evil Eye

She came in smiling and cheerful.  She asked for books about magnolias.  I said I don't think I have any specifically on magnolias.  "Here's one on orchids,"  I said pointing, "Magnolias might be included in the books on gardening, but you look, there might be something."  I noticed her several necklaces, and told her I thought they were very attractive. 

She fingered a ruby colored strand and held up two petal-like flat beads.  "These are made for praying when you cover your eyes," and she cupped them over her eyes.  "And this," she said, touching a large flat silver piece with a hinge, "this has prayers from my Koran in it."  I nodded, respectfully.  The third had no significance.

She spent some time looking at the flower books, which are on the lower shelves, so she is kneeling.  Finally, "These," she said, "how much are these."  She pointed to a set of four volumes.  Opening volume one, I showed her where I price the books.  "It is $150 for the set."

There is no date on the set, but a former owner in a charming handwriting of the period signed her name adding 1893 after it.  The set is green with gold lettering and a black floral design decorating the front covers. The edges of the pages on all three sides are gilt.  Yes, over 100 years old, and the four books look like new.  The name?  Dictionary of Gardening An Encyclopaedia of Gardening by George Nicholson. 

She asks, "What is your best price?"

This it happens rarely, but I am prepared.  I answer, truly, "I price them as low as I can.  That's the price."  She wheedles.  "It's for a gift.  To somebody very nice.  I really want them.  Can't you do better?"  Very reluctantly, I say, "All right.  I can give you 20% off."  She persists.  "That's not enough.  You would be doing such a good thing.  It would make her so happy, and it will make you happy to be doing such a good thing."  She continues on, persuasively.

Was I hypnotized?  I said, "All right.  You can have it for $100."  When she said, "No, I can't pay that,"  I woke up.  "Sorry," I said, "That's the best I can do."

She said, "Nobody will buy these except me.  I am the only one who will buy these books."  I said, "Let me explain.  I only buy books I personally love.  They are mine until someone buys them.  If nobody buys these books, they will remain mine and I will be very happy." 

She looks up at me.  She says, "There is a name for people like you.  It is not a bad name.  But there is a name for people like you."  I stare back at her, kneeling there.

I walk back to the office which has a large open window to the shop.  "Are you catching this?" I whisper to Heidi.  Heidi says she only heard her say she is the only one that will buy these books, and that wasn't nice.  I say in a whisper, "I mean about a name for me.  Well there is a name for her, and it is a bad name."  The woman looks up at me.  Can she hear from so far?  Do I care?  She gives me a fierce look and gets up.

I walk back in, dissembling, "We are having computer trouble.  Are you good with computers?"  She replies, "I am an expert with computers," and turns to leave, saying, "Good luck with your computer," and she's gone.

I say to Heidi, "I am so glad she didn't buy the books.  What was I thinking of?"  And I stand in the book store suddenly feeling very agitated.  There are bad vibes in the store.  "Heidi?  Do you feel it?  There are such bad vibes in the store."  She doesn't feel it.  I am exceedingly agitated.  I rush to the front door to stand outside in the sun and I breathe deeply.  I close my eyes, and ask the sun to cleanse me.  I hold the door of the store open to freshen it.  It is cold outside,  but I stand there until I feel well again.

I recount this eerie experience to my husband who says, cheerfully, "I feel that way when I'm in a house that has a lot of cats.  Maybe she has a lot of cats."  Oh for Pete's sake.

I tell it to a man who walks in the next day.  Why?  I don't know - he's a stranger.  He nods.  "I went with a friend to an Expo for mind-readers, card-readers, all kinds of fortune tellers.  I didn't get far into the room and I felt a darkness, a heaviness.  I told my friend I had to get out.  He said that we came from so far away he didn't want to leave.  I said, I'm choking.  I'm outa here. So I know what you mean."

See?  It's not just because I grew up reading Grimms fairy tales about witches and bad spells.  Yes, it is Out There!  (Spooky music rising in the background.)

---Florence

Stage Struck

What a lively literary couple of days!  This is the 100th anniversary of Nelson Algren's birth.  And we in Chicago celebrate him even though the rest of the country is slow in catching up.  Hint: one of his books, The Man With the Golden Arm was made into a movie starring Frank Sinatra in a dramatic role (no singing.)  Hint 2:  he was Simone de Beauvoir's lover - when she wasn't with Jean Paul Sartre.  Hint 3:  He won the first National Book Award which was presented by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and the only time Nelson was ever in a suit.

Art Shay, photographer and friend of Nelson Algren, has done most of the photos we see of Algren, and several books have been published with these very many pictures of him chronicling his activities in Chicago.  So Art was a player in all three of the celebratory events held this last month. 

I chose to go to the performance at Steppenwolf Theatre.  This event was sponsored by Seven Stories Press, whose just published book Entrapment and Other Writings is a collection of Algren's works that had never been in print.  The program, one night only, was called Nelson Algren Live, and had a cast of nine, assembled to read excerpts from these newly printed words. 

There was a pre-performance dinner at the Bistro Zinc the night before for the actors and others involved, and as wife to one of the celebrities, I was invited to join, amongst others, Russell Banks (author), Don DeLillo (author), Barry Gifford (author/poet), Wellem Dafoe (actor), Art Shay (author/photographer) and Dan Simon (The Publisher and host).  There were other dinner guests from Steppenwolf and Second Story Press.  Gossip:  Don DeLillo whose books run to maybe 800 pages, talks very little, and then in a quiet whispery voice.  (He's tall and thin, not the short fat Dom DeLuise that you are thinking of.)  Barry Gifford looks like a Poet, tall, sculpted face, white hair.  The Publisher, Dan Simon is a cute young fella.  And Willem Dafoe, the actor who plays unsavory characters on the screen, is the sweetest guy, with a pretty smile.  Go figure. 

Steppenwolf Theatre was sold out for the evening.  The Nine, which also included Matha Lavey (artistic director of Steppenwolf), David New, (Assoc. Director), Randall Newsome (actor), Kathy Scambiatterra (actor/director), Rick Kogan (newspaperman/actor-on-occasion), Dan Simon (publisher and one-time-only actor) sat on chairs with the scripts they would read from when it was their turn at the pulpit. 

As a backdrop, various Nelson Algren/Chicago photos from the Art Shay archives were projected, huge.  Boy, they looked good filling the wall.

It's not fair to single out one reader, but I will.  Willem Dafoe, wow!

There was an after-the-show party for the invited many, upstairs in the theatre party room.  Bar, and  table full of veggies and yummy sweets.  A young English lady, (doing an extensive study of Algren here in the States), asked, "What is it with Americans and brownies?"

The highlight for me?  Kissing a beaming Willem Dafoe and telling him how wonderful he is.  Well, it would be more of a highlight, if he had kissed me and told me.....

---Florence

Korea?

A beautiful young lady spent a long time looking at the children's books.  She said her favorites were the OZ books.  It was not easy to understand her.  Her English was perfect and she was articulate, but her accent was Korean.  The music of the language was Korean, and her pronunciation was haphazard.  The accented syllable was random. 

We chatted.  She is 18, and an American citizen.  She was born here and lived in Chicago for seven years, before the family returned to Korea.  When she was 14, her mother and father wanted her to return to America where they felt she would get a better education.  In Korea, her mother is a kindergarten principal and her dad is working in a judicial capacity (I couldn't quite grasp that.)  Here she is living with a "guardian" family as arranged by the local pastor.

She is a high school senior now and will go on to Michigan State where she will study elementary education.  I was alarmed.  I suggested she take speech classes to polish her pronunciation if she will be teaching children, but she said no, she is planning on returning to Korea to teach there.  And live there.

Back to Korea?  After living in America?  "It is my country," she said. 

We said Goodbye, and when she reached the door, she impulsively turned back to take something from the shelf and bring it to the desk.  She chose a Wizard of OZ calendar dating from the movie. 

I hope her yellow brick road leads to her personal happiness.

---Florence