Drawing: Tickets for Matthew Weiner at Skidmore OR the creators of Welcome to Night Vale + Northshire gift card + 15 Church gift card
Drawing's closed! Winner's been emailed!
The Northshire Bookstore has two author events coming up over the next week or so at Skidmore: Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner November 11; and on November 16 Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor -- the creators of the popular Welcome to Night Vale podcast.
We're giving a prize package that includes tickets to these events -- winner's choice. So, the drawing winner will get either:
+ Two tickets to the Matthew Weiner event. One copy of his new novel, Heather, The Totality. A $25 gift card to Northshire Bookstore. And a $50 gift card for the restaurant 15 Church in Saratoga Springs.
OR
+ Two tickets to the Night Vale authors event. Two copies of their new novel, It Devours. A $25 gift card to Northshire Bookstore. And a $50 gift card to the restaurant 15 Church.
The winner gets to pick one of those prize packs.
To enter the drawing, please answer this question in the comments:
What's a book that's meant a lot to you? Why?
It could be anything -- fiction, non-fiction, something you read in school, something you read for pleasure, a picture book from when you were a kid, whatever. We'll draw one winner a random.
The Matthew Weiner event is this Saturday, November 11 at 7:30 pm in Palamountain Hall. He'll be talking with Yaddo president Elaina Richardson on stage. Tickets are $34 for one book and one seat / $47 for two seats and one book / $30 for one seat and one book for seniors, students, active-duty military.
The event with Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor -- Welcome to Night Vale -- is Thursday, November 16 at 7 pm in Palamountain Hall. They'll be talking on stage with AOA's own Mary Darcy. Tickets are $23.52 and include a copy of the book (the ticket price is the price of the book).
Important: All comments must be submitted by noon on Thursday, November 9, 2017 to be entered in the drawing. You must answer the question to be part of the drawing. (Normal commenting guidelines apply.) One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified via email by 5 pm on Thursday and must respond by noon on Friday.
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Comments
"1984" - read at a pivotal moment in my development when I was 13 and figuring out who I was. It made me feel like books could put you in a secret club, and make you feel in the know, make you feel like a rebel. Now I'm a librarian.
... said Jenna on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:39 PM | link
100 Years of Solitutde.. Oner of the best sagas about corporate imperialism set in a soporific banana republic.
... said Bob Gumson on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:51 PM | link
The Corrections. I have yet to meet the person who loved it like it I did but it's black humor and storyline resonated with me on so many levels.
... said Rebecca on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:58 PM | link
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank - in middle school, reading about the experiences of someone close to my own age was tremendously powerful and I developed a strong interest in history (which I have a degree in).
... said k on Nov 7, 2017 at 3:58 PM | link
Robert A. Heinlein - The Red Planet.
It blew up my world and suddenly with science fiction, anything was possible!
... said Tess Lecuyer on Nov 7, 2017 at 4:17 PM | link
I feel silly commenting on a book intended for middle-schoolers, but, Wonder by R.J. Palacio was such a great read. It's turning into a movie, which I can't wait to watch. The book covers bullying, family dynamics, being different and ultimately kindness. Kindness is so necessary these days.
... said jay pea on Nov 7, 2017 at 4:27 PM | link
The World According to Garp is a book I come back to over and over. I love the main character's ability to find a semblance of happiness in the face of tragedy.
... said Alison on Nov 7, 2017 at 4:36 PM | link
The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. Like scales falling from my eyes. I read it every Christmas break.
... said Joseph Fusco on Nov 7, 2017 at 4:44 PM | link
Sorry for the very long post...
Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut, for two reasons:
1) Helping to dispel the myth of the "John Wayne" type World War II hero. There's passage in the Preface where the wife of Vonnegut's war buddy is upset with Kurt, because the book he is working on will likely glamorize war. "You'll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you'll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we'll have a lot more of them. And they'll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs." I think Kurt heard her and did her proud.
2) This amazing passage from the novel: Billy...went into the living room, swinging the bottle like a dinner bell, turned on the television. He came slightly unstuck in time, saw the late movie backwards, then forwards again. It was a movie about American bombers in the Second World War and the gallant men who flew them. Seen backwards by Billy, the story went like this:
American planes, full of holes and wounded men and corpses took off backwards from an airfield in England. Over France, a few German fighter planes flew at them backwards, sucked bullets and shell fragments from some of the planes and crewmen. They did the same for wrecked American bombers on the ground, and those planes flew up backwards to join the formation.
The formation flew backwards over a German city that was in flames. The bombers opened their bomb bay doors, exerted a miraculous magnetism which shrunk the fires, gathered them into cylindrical steel containers, and lifted the containers into the bellies of the planes. The containers were stored neatly in racks. The Germans below had miraculous devices of their own, which were long steel tubes. They used them to suck more fragments from the crewmen and planes. But there were still a few wounded Americans, though, and some of the bombers were in bad repair. Over France, though, German fighters came up again, made everything and everybody good as new.
When the bombers got back to their base, the steel cylinders were taken from the racks and shipped back to the United States of America, where factories were operating night and day, dismantling the cylinders, separating the dangerous contents into minerals. Touchingly, it was mainly women who did this work. The minerals were then shipped to specialists in remote areas. It was their business to put them into the ground, to hide them cleverly, so they would never hurt anybody ever again.
The American fliers turned in their uniforms, became high school kids. And Hitler turned into a baby, Billy Pilgrim supposed. That wasn’t in the movie. Billy was extrapolating. Everybody turned into a baby, and all humanity, without exception, conspired biologically to produce two perfect people named Adam and Eve, he supposed.
... said Jay on Nov 7, 2017 at 5:48 PM | link
Master and Commander by O'Brian. The friendship between Aubrey and Maturin comforts me.
... said Fisher on Nov 7, 2017 at 7:51 PM | link
People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia -- It is a book that tackles loneliness and heartbreak in ways that I had never encountered before and that I can definitely relate with. It is surreal and magical at the same time
... said JP on Nov 7, 2017 at 8:17 PM | link
In Small Things Forgotten by James Deetz. It's a book about the power material culture has to tell us about the past beautifully written by an historic archaeologist. It found me just at the time I needed it, and has had a treasured spot on my shelf ever since.
... said Jennifer on Nov 8, 2017 at 7:32 AM | link
"The Giver" by Lois Lowry. It was the first book I read that made me really think. It is still a book I go back and read from time to time.
... said Megan on Nov 8, 2017 at 9:02 AM | link
The View From Coal Creek: Reflections on Fly Rods, Canyons, and Bamboo by Erin Block. The book itself is a treatise on the zen and existential lessons of tedious tasks. Broadly, every line Erin writes draws you in and wraps you in blankets of emotion, even when the subject matter is seemingly dry. She does not waste words. Of course the real reason the book means so much to me is because I found her writing at a time when I needed it.
... said ed on Nov 8, 2017 at 9:16 AM | link
Fahrenheit 451 - I read this book at a very young age and didn't quite understand the importance of censorship, it stuck with me and now I read it every few years as a reminder.
... said Chris on Nov 8, 2017 at 10:15 AM | link
O Albany! by William Kennedy for forever enhancing my connection with the city.
... said Matt on Nov 8, 2017 at 10:32 AM | link
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed is a book I recommend to everyone who will listen. It's got a lot of great advice about how to respond to mud life often slings at you.
... said Jenn on Nov 8, 2017 at 10:40 AM | link
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
First time in college that assigned reading turned into for-pleasure reading. The chapter that includes the Grand Inquisitor is extraordinarily thought-provoking.
Read the 4th Harry Potter book (also a favorite) after to give your brain a break.
... said Jeff M on Nov 8, 2017 at 10:54 AM | link
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard. It's written with such depth and clarity on nature, the mysteries of life, death, God, and all of existence.
... said spencer on Nov 8, 2017 at 11:27 AM | link
Where to start....may I have two since I'm a librarian book geek?
From girlhood: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank started me on a path of reading every Holocaust memoir that I can put my hands on.
More recently: Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs. I love his characters and how he expresses emotions which are universal.
... said Silvia Lilly on Nov 8, 2017 at 12:31 PM | link
Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo. It's kind of a dark book, not the typical humor of RR, but at almost the last page, I had such a revelation...really, it changed my life.
... said capgirl on Nov 8, 2017 at 12:36 PM | link
"Until I Find You" by John Irving
Though it's tough to pick just one John Irving novel, something about Until I Find you really stuck with me. His character development is unparalleled, and even more so in this book. I find myself thinking back to it often, despite reading it over 15 years ago. Sometimes I'll try to re-start it, but you can't recreate the first time. It is also the book that made me fall in love with John Irving's writing style, and began a years-long journey through all of his incredible books.
... said ACW on Nov 8, 2017 at 1:22 PM | link
Night by Eli Wiesel -it had a huge impact on my view of the Holocaust and the atrocities faced by Jews in the concentration camps.
... said alice on Nov 8, 2017 at 1:31 PM | link
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban. It taught me at a young age to try new things and step out of my comfort zone.
... said Elizabeth Sweet on Nov 8, 2017 at 1:33 PM | link
1984 and 1Q84: Both opened my mind to new possibilities/worlds only slightly different from our own while also shedding a light on the curiosities of the world we live in.
... said J on Nov 8, 2017 at 1:35 PM | link
Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy: It was the last book that both my mother and I read before she died.
... said su on Nov 9, 2017 at 8:24 AM | link
As a young adult in college, I picked up the first book of Jacqueline Carey's trilogy called Kushiel's Legacy. I had not read for pleasure in years, but I chose to give this book a try because I heard it was sexy. As it turns out, it's not just sexy, but it's an amazing example of fantasy and alternative history with fantastic world-building. I immediately immersed myself in the world of these books and I fell in love. I did not just fall in love with this trilogy, but with reading and fantasy in general. In the decade since then, I've read tons of fantasy/sci-fi and I cannot imagine not having a good audiobook loaded onto my phone at all times.
... said Tara on Nov 9, 2017 at 8:43 AM | link
As a student attending college in the midwest I was captivated by My Antonia by Willa Cather. Her words can still transport me to the to the prairie.
... said DSW on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:40 AM | link
Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel by Gary Shteyngart--When I read that book, I felt I had a lot in common with the protagonist. But beyond that the book describes a near-future dystopia that is very recognizable.
... said Adam Kirkman on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:45 AM | link
Reading Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own was pivotal for me in high school. It taught me so much about writing and about feminism. I have read it so many times and always get something new from it. A classic.
... said Nomi on Nov 9, 2017 at 11:27 AM | link