We have wine and beer and music on the weekends. How many book events do you do on a regular basis . On a yearly basis, about 600 a year. Often kid events, adult events, other kinds of things but we are very active. When did you open . About 35 years ago. Why . Well, you know, the story is basically i was an english major in college. I didnt want to give up the dream of being part of the literary culture and one quick way to do that was to get into the book business. I loved bookstores when i was a kid. I saw myself at the bookstore more than the library in college. I went to law school. Why coral gables . I am originally from miami beach so when i moved back from where i was going to school, coral gables was a community i didnt know very well but i explored it. It was right before an independent book shop at the time ripe for an surrounded by miami . What you think of miami is really about 26 different little cities. Miami beach, miami, miami south. So coral gables is just one of those little cities. It is one of the most historic as well. It was built in the mediterranean style in the teens and 20s. It is a gorgeous little city that has become a cultural gem within the miami community. Who is your audience . Just about everybody. Because of the uniqueness of the store we get people coming from all over. The local audience is an audience that is just a couple blocks away there is a residential area. We are in a Business District and wonderful arts cinema nearby. Now, you are involved with the miami book fest. What is your involvement . I was wond one of the founde founders. I was a young kid and i had no idea what the future would bring. And we were brought together and they said would you like to put on a book fair and we said great, we did, and miami at the time was suffering. It was in the early 80s, Time Magazine had a story that said miami, paradise lost with a big question mark and i think what eduardo wanted to do was bring light to miami. He had been to the barcelona book fair. I had been to the new york one and others. The whole Community Came together. It was a very Diverse Community at the time, it still is, and we decided to cater to the diversity of miami. What is it like today in it is a vibrant city with so many communities different than each other but tied together by its diversity. What is is now happening, which i am loving, is the Cultural Community is becoming much more sophisticated. We have incredible writers who live here. The movie moonlight was a miami original more or less. There is a lot happening here that wasnt happening when i was a kid going up in miami beach. What about the festival . How big has it grown . The festival has grown remarkably. We started out with two days. Now it is a week. We have probably close to 600 authors that come over the week period of the book fair. It really has become something miami is very proud of. It is the big tent under which all of miami fits. So it is something i take aerate lot of pride in. Why has miami developed such a writers village . We can probably spend three or four programs on just that. But i think part of the attraction on miami is how strange it is. As you know, miami started probably if you ask people about miami they would have told you about the mystery writers that came from here. People like charles williford. That all happened because miami was so strange. All of the strange murders that took place here, you know, the cocaine cowboys. You couldnt make up something that you didnt hear in the news two days or two months later. Since that early, early thrust of miami, you then began to find miamis community becoming more rich allowing poets to live here. We have cable mcgraph who won the kingsly and mcarthur genius prize. You have wonderful fiction writers living here. An incredibly diverse latinAmerican Community. People writing in spanish and portuguise. And we will talk to other actors from here. All of those wrieters are so spor important. Welcome to miami. This is booktv and for the next two hours we will have a discussion about brooks, writing, what you are reading and other guests are reading. Mitchell kaplan is the owner of books and books bookstore. They have this location, one in the miami airport and where us . Lincoln road in south beach. We are also in the performing arts center. The adrian Artist Center for performing arts. They have a store there as well. We opened up a new store that is going to pop up called books and boo books and bikes. It a bookstore and bike shop. Where is that location . That is in lynwood which is your version of brooklyn. Well, we are going to be having that discussion. It is an interactive discussion. As always on cspan live programs your chance to participate. We will put the phone numbers up a little bit later after we meet our other guests. Lets go inside and we will join our other guests as well. We mean let tom go in first because he has the camera. So, Mitchell Kaplan, can an independent bookstore thrive and survive . I think definitely. Independent bookstores are coming into their own once again. I think last year there was Something Like 6070 new bookshops that have opened. There is something to be said for real stations as opposed to what people do and find on the internet. There is certainly internet shopping that goes on. But there is also something about a sense of community that is created with a real space like a bookshop. Is this a Community Space . Go ahead and sit down. Oh, it most definitely is. I think we are really about spaces. When you see folks who have joined us are they familiar faces to you . Yes, they have. They run the program at Florida International university and ana menendez who is an author and former journalists. Ana menendez you wrote a book called in cuba, i was a german shepherd. How did you come up with that . It was a punch line for a joke i heard as a reporter. I used to cover Little Havana my first time at the herald and a joke tony lopez, a wonderful scupalture told me and i was doing a profile and couldnt put it into the profile but it stayed with me. When i left journalism and began to write fiction, i said im going to write a whole story revolving around this joke. Host Les Standiford, what is a master of fine arts and how do you get into the program . A master of fine arts is one of those degrees that i would hesitate to tell parents to send their daughters and sons to come to because the parents probably want them to learn how to sell bonds, do things they can assure themselves will make their children a lot of money. You dont become a writer to become rich and famous. What we do is offer the opportunity for those people who cant do anything else to take that talent thank you to take that talent and to bring it to the max, shape it into a way that will find that audience that the person is looking for. And it is like all the arts, many, many are called and very few are chosen. But the reason we are there, i think, is to give those applicants and students who are admitted professional tools so when they go out into the cold, cruel world they know what is required. That is not a guarantee of success as we know. The arts are terribly competitive. But ours is a practical minded program. Not theoretical. You want to reach your audience, lets talk about what your audience is, how you can take that talent there is and and hone it to the professional level. I liken it to a bunch of young men who have shown up, who have been drafted by the nfl, and they show up at summer Training Camp and the coach says you are tremendously talented and lets talk about what it takes to operate at the professional level. Host day one, all the fresh faces looking at you, what do you tell them . What do they learn day one . That you have a lot of talent or you wouldnt be here. Lets talk about how to shape that talent in a way that makes a connection. You know, everybody who comes in is very good at expression but i say babies are too but nobody wants to hear what you have to say. What we have going to talk about is making that connection with the audience. Ana menendez, when you sit down to write a book, what is the most difficult part for you . Well, let me just say before that is that you would not know but Les Standiford was my professor at fiu many, many years ago. He is not to blame for anything. But it was the only class i took and it was as an undergraduate and it encompassed everything. I have a book here i still use and i think he still uses. What is the hardest thing . These days it is sitting down to write. I have a small child and time has just gotten away from me unfortunately. Okay. We are showing this book. What is it about this book that works for you . Well, i have i brought three books and they are all three that have been very important to me throughout my life. The first one was carl sanbergs wind song and then early moon. Which my uncle, who is a poet, gave me as a child. I think i was six or seven when he gave me the first one. This one is dedicated in 1979 so i was nine. It was just a beautiful i still remember the fog comes in and it was a beautiful book. I think what it did for me was demystified poetry. So many of us are afraid of poetry. And it just made it, you know, part of my language. Then there was this book that les introduced to me almost 30 years ago, i suppose, it is now. I amdating all of us. And then another book was one i picked up here at books books when i was a columnist at miami herald and was having a rough ride i used to hang out here a lot especially among the poetry books and i picked up and you will see it is annotated heavily the odes of horror which are translations by contemporary poets edited and they are fantastic. H horace is a comfort. Why do you worry the infinite question with your finite mind . Things that were very comforting to me. The obvious question i have for you knowing your love of poetry but you are not poet. I know how hard it is. How do you incorporate the poetry into your writing . How does it influence your writing . I am not sure it has although some people say my writing is lyrical. But, i think, it is just the love of the word and the sentence and a sense of the rhythm. But also what poetry strives for is a capturing of the essence in a very few words. I think that is such a wonderful calling were the writer. Host Les Standiford, you have written both nonfiction and fiction books. You are not a poet either. Why do you teach poetry and bring it into a writing class . The fact is when i was in graduate my school myself we were forced even if we thought of ourselves as fiction writers to take a class in poetry. And i remember talking to take the class with henry taylor who went on to win n award and i thought this is it. After this class i am out of here. My idea of poetry was by the shores of goomy. I had no idea what modern poetry was. But i went in and discovered a whole new world and for the first 34 years after graduating the only thing i could publish were poems. I was, for many years, a practicing poet and enjoyed it. I came to understand that i think poets are after the same essential moment that fiction writers are at the end of a story or at the end of a novel. All we writers want to have the reader put down the piece, regardless of how long it is, and say yes, that is exactly right. That is what where was looking for. We want that moment. What i envy poets is like poplar songwriters they can get that in a page. Such a short period of time. I am working for 2300 pages, 23 years on something, to get that hopefully at the end of the book. But we are all in it together. The other thing i learned is the words are so important to me, the language of every sentence, even if it is nonfiction or fiction is just as important to me as was a line of poetry. Host recent nonfiction, last train to paradise. Who was Henry Flagler . What is his role in florida . I was going to call the book the man who invented florida that is he is. Before Henry Flagler there wasnt much to florida. The largest city was jacksonville with 4,000 people. A couple thousand in people in tampa. If you drew a line from jacksonville southwest to tampa in the middle of the state that was as far as you could go. There was no palm beach. There was no bocaraton, there was no miami. 20,000 people and an important naval station was the most important place in the state but you could only get there by boat for a long time even after flagler came in the early 1880 said it remained that way. He did an amazing thing after extending his railroad down the eastern seaboard of florida creating palm beach, creating miami. A little outpost called fort dallas. Someone came to him with the notion of extending that railroad to key west and at the time he was 72 years old, had all the money he needed and he said im going to do it. I think he was motivated by the fact people said it was impossible. He proved the impossible could be done. In doing so, he stitched together that Little Island and really clesed the american frontier in 1912. He is responsible for that traffic jam on 95. No matter how many lanes there will never be enough because people are fascinated with going to end of the american road. Mitchell kaplan, what is on your bedside . What are you reading today . Well, interesting. I have been reading a book that many people know. Two books. One is called being mortal it a book if you havent read you want to read. It is kind of amazing. I am dealing with sickness in my own family and this has been very, very helpful in terms of understanding how one deals with an elderly parent and the kinds of things to look out for and the kind of conversations to have and that sort of thing. So, being mortal has been good. And will shallbe is remarkable in the selections and essays about books. He wrote a book called books for living and it is a series of books that have inspired him over the years. I have been reading this to get a little substance to face the challenging times of the last couple weeks actually. Ana menendez, same question. Well, i just finished second in time. I rarely recommend books just because i feel it is so personal and i dont want to impose my taste on people but it is a really beautiful book. I love everything about it. It is a chorus of voices about the end of the soviet union. She talks to ordinary people about their struggle with the end of the soviet union. And i love it so much because, well, the voices she collects are astonishing. The fact they are ordinary people is something i think we aspire to as fiction writers. This is a book of nonfiction but what we aspire to. Illuminate ordinary people and this is a collection of a hundred of these voices. I am reading right now, only on number nine, 20 lessons by the 20t century by timothy synder. It just came out. You were talking about the things you can get at bookstores that you cant on the internet. And number nine where i ended today is be kind to our language. Think of your own way of speaking and on and on make an effort to separate yourself from the internet, read books. I thought i will end it there and bring this. The then i just finished reading, kind of obscure for americans, a czech writer. It is about what books give you. It is a quirky book. It isnt anything i think would be published here today because there is no plot. It is a very short book about a man who collects waste paper and when he sees the books he wants he takes them home. There is no real plot pulling you through. It is just this love of books. It is a beautiful little book and i just finished reading that. Harbal is the authors last name and the book is too loud of solitude. What is on your reading list . First, i want to third the idea of browsing in a bookstore delight. There is no such thing while the internet is wonderful and gets books out there and allows people to reach things they might not otherwise there is no such thing as a pile of books on a table on the internet. You come into the nonfiction section of books books and maybe you are looking for something and cant find it but while looking you see a dozen other books that sound interesting. You see the covers, look in them, and maybe you can learn to do this on the internet but i never have. The second thing i want to say is about being asked what you are reading. I am reading my students ma manuscripts. Thousands of them. Some of them, thank god, because i have graduate students, are good. Sort of following up on what ana said i have come to the point where i cant bring myself in public to say you should read this one because what if my other friend is listening and they are thinking well, why didnt you boost my book . [laughter] i want to talk about the wonderful writer who many of you know james w hall and i would not dream of missing a james w hall writer and i hope some of you feel the same way. But a couple books i have been reading and i have nothing to do with these. Do not know these people. One, a novel that is going to come out here in a couple weeks called unreliable by a guy named lee nervy. This book is a real tour of force about a fellow who on the first page says you cant trust a thing i say but i may have just killed my exwife and i am not so sure perhaps my lover, too. That is how the novel begins. It was a dare i couldnt pass up. He carries along and you do finally find out who done it by the end. But i think my that time you are laughing so hard you dont really care. I really enjoyed that book. Then a piece of nonfiction i think is remarkable and i cant imagine anyone reading this and not being swept away. It is called rise by carry brookens. It is a story of a woman who she was abused, her children abused, she walks out and gets it in her mind the way she will save this family, put it back together is to build a house from raw land and she manages to do it and the record of it is absolutely astonishing. I cant recommend it highly enough. Before we go any further, i want to get our Television Audience involved. We will put the phone numbers on the screen. If you dial the number in, please let us know what you are reading or what kind of books you read. We have three people, very involved in the world of literature and books and here is your chance to ask them some questions as well. 2027488200 fore the eastern time zones. 2027488201 for our mountain and pacific people. You can contact our facebook or finally send an email to us. Booktv at. Cspan. Org. Also we have an audience here at books and books one of the 600 events that are happening this year at books and books, and were going to be passing around a mic in just a few minutes so if you have any questions for our panel as welg please ask them. We pulled books and books best sellers we got this information from your staff mr. Kaplan, and the top selling at books and books right now as far as nonfiction goes hill billy by jd vance, have any of you read this this has made a lot of list, a lot of best seller lists, et cetera. Given our world today has anyone picked this up . When you see a best seller list do you go to those books . [laughter] well, you know the way probably pretty much like last a lot of times im reading books nt necessarily pick up a book glrchts ive certainly heard mr. Vance on cspan all over the place talk about this book so i seller troying to explain this more or less an he does an interesting job with it. Autumn menendez do you say i better pick that up . Es not usually. I usually rely on e staff bo about friends this on tyranny recommended by my friend novelist Christina Garcia and i bought it immediately and it wasnt this as well but trying to explain the last election ratter the next one. Trying to save us. Excuse me. [laughter] and i also get recommendations from other books, i mean, books arent like good friends. They lead you to good books. And, in fact, that while they have a great u blurb for this book on tyranny, and it is kind of a tree of association that is how i find any books and book reviews things like that. Very rarely im an outliar. Dont live on the edge. Th theyre in the outside looking in, and im always looking for that book written no one has told me about. I dont have to worry about the one that everybody has heard about. I know it will be read taken care of and read my many readers and im alwaysing looking for the other one. Always say that one of the things that weve done as anne n industry independent book industry is indy next list that cools in a brochure like this and you can find it. What it does is it has book seller recommendations each month, i believe its about 20li different book and theyre blurbs from book sellers that are from all over the country. And its very is diverse list. Very interesting list the book that was chosen as the number one indy book for this month of march was exit west. By hamid, and you know a book that you might not have is heard of before. An ting that dirty little secret in books is that there are so many books being published that you feel us book sellers, authors, people in the media, any time we can shine a light on something that is not terribly well known, it really does that author and the book a gleet Great Service because none of us have the money to advertise widely like you would if you were selling razor blades or Something Else. Ng so all of us have a duty to be able to let people know about those books that are really, really good and really important to each us. Well this reare minds me mitchell too of alan the daughters are here say that he didnt really like to get bad reviews if he didnt like a book, he wouldnt you know do that review because there were so many wonderful books that were being published and deserve to be praise and given a wider audience and philosophical stand and never forgotten that. It was before we with get any further in, there seems to be a really strong cuban american writers community, especially maybe because were in south florida. Ay so a fair statement . Yeah. I just went with a group of them to cuba and we just came back a couple of weeks ago where i picked up this horrible cold. And otherwise a great trip. And there is, and we we know each other. We try to support each other and we just did an event here last saturday here, and with the Cuban Research institute at fyun so well here. We want to show this book as well by anna this is loving chain ad m menendez. What is this . My second book first novel about with a woman that goes back to cuba to find out what had to her mother. Her mother abandoned her to the states with her grandfather and stayed in cuba. And developed a lover affair you may or may not have been her mind and it ruins her life and ruins her daughters life and. Yeah. An autographed copy that we have here at books and books. How did you get that . [laughter] lets see the third david, the historian has a new book coming the in april. Is that a must read . D . In i think you know what i mean. Thats one of those when i said rarely. Well thats one of those instance one of those instances where, obviously, im going to go look at the chief in my area, and see what hes up to. See what hes doing and eric larson, and simon and those guys are going to be on the best seller list with whatever it isb that they bring out. T. Seller and because theyre good, and i want to see what theyre doing because you you aspire thats the bar you aspire to, the very best, an you dont turn away from it. You i think you try your best to do what thetr best are doing. Mitchell kaplan davids new book how do stock your shelves h that . Do you order 100 copies, 5 empty this room. [laughter] through here. No, hes he is one with of the great best selling authors who sells across every single reoutlet asv i was telling you earlier theres some best selling authors who wont really sell too much of because theyre found in costco or other places and not necessarily books that speech to our Customer Base so david certainly does. As do eric larson and some of the others that have been mentioned and actually the really nice thing about having a book shop is being able to have met so many of these authors over course of time and david coming back down to miami early on when he wrote the john adams biography because his daughter very few people know this ow i can remember son or his was married to senator bob grahams child and they were living in miami so he would come down and browse in my old shop and a there was Nothing Better than a day in which david came in and to be able to talk to him about books all of that sort of thing. A wonderful guy. I dont to the you on the spot but youve got some other relatively payments customers who come in i dont know if yowpght to ska their names or not. You have told me. It is florida is so diverse you never know who youll meet in the store. You could have you could have you know, one of the most conservativenators s senators sitting in the courtyard and then browsing shelves to be one of the most liberal Congress People here. So we have people of all kindsds that come in and out of the book shop and thats what we think of is a bookstore is a very safe space. Where all kinds of political views are welcome. Thats not the case necessarily on my own facebook page. [laughter] but certainly is the case in the bookstore. Where we welcome places of all kinds. E we will recently up at politics and pros bookstore inwe washington where theyre doing we talked to brad graham coowners about the the team that theyre doing. Is that something that a lot of independents are doing . Yes. One of the things in the face of you know, the incredible, you know, upheaval of this last few months has been that bookstores and book sellers are talking about what can we do to act as True Community centers and i think the best thing that we can do is try to bring rationality and fact base discussion back into, into our dice log into our civic dialogue. And were going to start a series were calling shine on, and you know shine on immigration, and shine on other issues. It comes from a poem that autumn wrote i think september 1st, 1939, i believe in which he talks about darkness desendinging before world war ii and the way we keep darkness from descend completely is to shine and that allows darkness to be fought off and role of a book seller is Something Like that as well. Miami is a remarkable Literary Center when i came here in 1981 i looked around i saw a lot of guys with the shirts up to their navals riding fast boats. But i wasnt sure that there were a lot of people reading books in miami. And there were, there was no books and books yet, and geez. We in the past 35 years whats happened to this place in terms of a couple of universities developing mfa program and books and books spreading all over a community. One that most exciting things is an educator having is students like anna and other people who have gone on to become important spokespersons to kuhn American Community see that actually developing before your very eyes and backyard and being able to come in here and hear people read from first become and that place is amazing. Were very, very fortunate. When you think about it with the rise of book fair with year round programs miami dave college with Florida International, university of miami, i recall early on when wonderful writer you mentioned before was here in miami for a grant james missioner had given the university of miami when he wrote the book caribbean. And he had left some money and this miami toey encourage caribbean writers. And i remember as a young girl coming into the book shop an giving a reading of a book that had not been published yet. So you see this growth and it has been really wonderful to see how the Literary Community can have such an impact in the growth of the city as well. Of course, thrrm in the 80s and before there were wonderful Spanish Language bookstoreswo which no longer with with us unfortunately Downtown Book Center and those are no longer. No longer closed parts of the reason is that a the major book shops as well started selling in spanish and not as many mystery book shops arounded as well. An, in fact, some of our best sellers are books in spanish. The german girl, im not going to try to even speak spanish when not going to pretend that im fluent when im not. [inaudible conversations] i see io in cuba it was ceased at the kuhn cuban book fair and wouldnt let gave it an award and then they ceased it at the book fair as well. [laughter] and its really a very nonpolitical book. Although apparently he draws some parallels between nazi, germany, and, you know, fidel castro. I havent read the book yet. Could be fair. Extensive Spanish Language and a program programming that happens in spanish. And we really try as much as we can to cater to the broad Cross Section of the spanish writersrs here. Who often dont get a voice. It is hard to publish in spanish. Actually the other thing that has happened which is interesting about miami is that were also developing a Publishing Community here where we never did have one before. Theres a marvelous few blocks away called manning go media an they publish lots and lots of different books. Lo they have a deal with the ap which they publish some books by ap they publish by the miami harold and then they publish a lot of original works as we also. And thats just beginning to develop which is so mice to see as well. Autumn menendez are your books available in cuba . Thats a good question i dont know. I didnt go looking for them this time that i was there or any time that ive been there. I did bring copies of my book for some literary we met with some authors and some literary critics so i bought them. But unfortunately the only book that have been translated intort spanish of mine is loving chey. I was hoping that they bought the rights [inaudible conversations] are looming i think in spain bought the rights in cuba with a german shepherd, and i was waiting for it because it was i wanted grandmother to read it an my grandmother died in 2010 and book has not been translated into spanish unfortunately. And now and thenar i hear people saying you know, id like to translate the book i say please do, and then nothing happens. Which is a pity but i brought the english copies, you know ever thought about translating it yourself . No. I mean, i write, now and then in spanish, but english is my strongest language now even though i spoke spanish exclusively until i was five or six, but i went to school in english. Ty written in english and english is my strongest language and should only translate into strong fest language. Youve been patient, autumn, Mitchell El Kaplan and lets hear from mike in galesburg, illinois youre on booktv from miami. Hi, hows it going . I wondered if anybody on the panel had ever heard or read of the richard broughtgan in the 70s and wrote in Watermelon Sugar and deep in the east. Ill take my answer off air. Thanks, bye. Thank you, sir. Mitchell kaplan i saw you nod your head. D. He was talking about richard brodgan and interesting writer, yes, people you know people are still reading in numbers that they did when i was in high school. But richard is certainly a very, very interesting writer in his own right. Next call is mary in calverton, new york. On hi [inaudible conversations] do you know what were going to have to put mary on hold for just a second. Sign the line mary. Sign t reminder that if you get on turn down volume on your tv otherwise we get a delay. O youll hear everything through your trch. Lets move on to brian right here in miami. Brian, go ahead. I was about to ask the panel individuals or book develop to the future. [inaudible conversations] i couldnt hear. Can you repeat it very more slowly. Having a little trouble hearing. Yeah. Actually it was for the panel i wanted to ask what can individuals do to support bookstores locally and help them develop into the future . Thank you, sir, and were with not going to ask Mitchell Kaplan that goi [laughter] we know what hes going to say but stanford. One of the most natural things to do instead of coming here with an idea of what book youre going to buy is to comea into one of the evening programs, listen to people talk or read, then browse and you probably come u out of here with an armload of books. You wont have to think too much about how to support this story if you just come in and feel it. Yeah. And i love the question because that is something that we cant take them for granted just like we cant take our newspapers for granted or any our other fnt institutions for granted and thats something that committee . Ied or talks about. Dont talk about your institutions unless you are supporting them. And so i love the question and i love the impulse of it and you know, what he said just come in all of the time. Ill meet people and and go to books and books and allow to browse and surrounded by this great collection and yeah. What a great concept to have a cafe, a coffee shop and a book when i was growing up two thingk never crossed paths. What a marvelous notion. Did your son set predate borders in barnes noble doing this . We did. What happened as i told you earlier i was a dropout of law school. Aw and i went to law school washington, d. C. , and in your neck of the woos woods. And i happen to live right down the street from kramer books and afterwards which was one of the first bookstore cafes ive ever seen and more book stores than cafe, now i think it has become more cafe than bookstore. But its what politics and pros is doing with busboys and poets as well. So i always felt that it was a natural coming together of that sense of community. Revolutions could be hatched over a cup of coffee and that sort of thing. I just always felt it was a natural, a natural fit and while we were able to find this space with a courtyard in all, you know, lightbulb went off and it all made perfect sense. I think its so important also to reconnect after this crisis to reare connect with the analog world and, you know, bookstores are the place, and its also place to connect with friends facetoface three or four of them instead of 300 on facebook. Ad and o and that has helped me. You know funny that you say that because i love the analog world. I saw one of the books i was going to recommend is moon glob by michael and one of michael earlier books about a record store and from the lossed Record Stores and i heard him l give a lecture once about the notion of old technologies, and how just because technologies are old and maybe on their way out doesnt mean they were bad. And that made me immediately go out to buy a turntable and i started collecting older analog records. And that it led me to start selling older analog records in the different stories that we have. And theres a lot of people out there who are looking to do that. E and it made me think of if i were to do a story nobody would steal this idea but i might do a story and call is it analog so sell things like typewriters, and you know, records and turntables and [laughter]le all of that so as you know trombone tom hanks has a book coming out with a collection of stories ane hes a collector of type writers and each story has a typewriter, a different typewriters that essential element in the story. That will be in september and another person paul oscar who has written a marvelous book called four, three, two, one paul writes all of his books on a typewriter and 900 page so i think he probably wore our two or three. He has a marvelous with paul oscar and magician david and brought in sophie oscar pauls daughter and we did a kind of Birthday Celebration of pauls 70th birthday as well. Our libraries analog. If theyre selling books they are, if, you know libraries to me are those things that we need to support in in greater or numbers and louder voices because libraries are the places of Young Readers and it is almost a place of entry for people who want to read. It also is very democratic. You know less wrote a book about carnegie and he knows why carnegie started his libraries. It is really the the kind of foundation of democracy to be able to get people who arented able to purchase thingses to go in and get a book for free. So another why did you call your book about Andrew Carnegie ill see you in hell . [laughter] well at the center of that book is the part of this Bitter Partnership between carnegie thr richest man in the world at the time, and somebody who wasnt too far behind him was clay, and had a terrible falling out spent 20 years without speaking towards the end when they were both sick. Carnegie sent his butler down the street up from his mansion on fifth avenue to bricks mansion now the brick music museum in new york with a note that said, they were getting up there in their years, perhaps about to meet their makers shouldnt they get together and try to pass things up before they died, and phreics response to carnegie wants to meet me, does he . You can tell him ill meet him in hell where we are both headed. [laughter] and thats the title of the story. But i went to a number of those libraries at carnegie founded around the world thousands of them, several hundreds still in operation and all of the ones in pittsburgh particularly fullrt absolutely full of kids. Elementary school kids many of them who were going to computer it is there that they didnt have access to at home. But just as many with a pile of book around them doing their reports for school. And it gave me hope that libraries have found a way to connect and stay relevant and to the 21st industry those place were jammed packs ill tell ya. We have a microphone here in the audience if anybody has a question well get to you after we hear from everett in sedona, ass. Everett thanks for holding. Please, go ahead. Hi, i have a question i dont to keep you too long. But it is isolated living in sedona there isnt even a bookstore here and i have professional life in advertising an ive made a move into writing. And my one question is, is there any value to selfpublishing is that just like spitting into wind or is there something to that . To go that direction. At dir everett do you have a library in sedona and do you frequent it . Yeah, we do theres the Sedona Library and im there a a lot. So thank you for calling in lets go right down the panel and lets hear. Selfpublishing. Well we know the example of fifty shades of grey that worked out [laughter] in that instance new movie the shack coming out that was selfpublished too. Thats right it can happen but it is a lot like being struck by lightning. But the odd. You might learn something by selfpublishing you might discover whether or not theres an audience that you didnt suspect. Its the the long shot way to go because the difficulty in selfdemocratic allows you tocr get out there to publish your book but real question becomes how do you draw attention to your book once it is on the internght and boy i dont know enough about those market efforts to say but that fills me with dismay, the prospect of how do you, well once you put it up how do you get people to find it . Erveghts yeah, i agree bridges in Madison County also selfpublished at first first version i believe, what was that maybe im wrong. A wrong time ago. I dont remember. Yeah, there are as wess said you can become a multimillionaire fifty shades of grey but a better rout for somebody writing something that maybe is not they dont think that they can interest an agent in for whatever reason is to go to contest rout where there are many Small Presses that have contest and manuscripts whether theyre poetry or short fiction. And you know go that rout perhaps first because i thinkk what youre up against is what wess said is that theres so many books being published and theres so many books published by establish publishers that dont get seen and dont get marketed and people dont learn about that, youre really setting yourself up for obscurity. Before we hear from mr. Kaplan have eertd of you as authors thought about selfpublishing . No. I havent. No. Thats a tough gap but ive always accepted the fact that if i cant break in, then the work doesnt merit it. I agree with everything that with anna and wess said but what i would add to that as a writer you have to ask yourself what your purpose is. If your purpose is just to get something out, maybe so that you can document an experience that you had and maybe its for those in your family or those people who are you know in your Broader Community then selfpublishing might be the way to go. If it is to make money maybe it is not. Then the only other thing i would say is wess left out something important that he wrote a book about a guy who did selfpublish and it became a gigantic best seller called man who invented christmas and it was about Charles Dickens in the writing of a Christmas Carol and tfers the the great seflt published book that is almost sold more copies than just any other book. And only difference some published more sold more copies than any book ever had had previously. And he had had a basis upon which to build. Weve got to create someis excite about this. [laughter] theres more to this story. Wess and i did a movie based on that book so you cant really [inaudible conversations] very big major to do. Im just trying to be a [inaudible conversations] but yeah wait until november comes then. You see this movie we actually did a marvelous movie shot in dublin about Charles Dickens in making of a Christmas Carol based on wesss book starring christopher klumer and jonathon price, and dan stevens who is in u beauty and the beast and who was in Downton Abbey done by barack so we really hope that not only did Charles Dickens publish one with of the most successful bocks but hope it leads to one of the most successful movies ever to have been meads. But u that gives how tough is this business . There was a time when Charles Dickens who had already published five books couldnt get a Christmas Carol published. Right. Think of it. Autumn menendez is Charles Dickens important to read today . I think so. I remember reading a Christmas Carol i must have been eight years old before krments, before christmas ill and i need to again they renamed it 2017. [laughter] i think so. I mean, you know, we have these discussions about the cannon and you know the dead white male and should we still be leading them and i dont see this as an either or. As reading as an either or. I see reading as an and you see dickens and you read and you read you know giewten time so i dont. Yes, theres a lot that he can teach you as a writer. I think and as can so many so i dont believe in saying none of these people dont speak to us him. I think they maybe it will speak to everybody. But you may find yourself, you know, spoken to by somebody that is seems irrelevant now. Do we have a question here in the audience, anybody . Well, we will go then the hi. Od you can tell us your first namee mary. Hi mary. Question for wess, how do you find and decide on a particular topic to write about . Thank you. Thats a great question and its always im always drawn, i think as paul harvey was you know, the old Radio Program where he will tell you the rest of the story. He always picks someone famous. George washington and then starts to spin dont know where hes going and he says do you understand that this is aboutas George Washington and you didnt know that, did you . Well, ill be back in a couple of minutes to tell you the rest of that story. And he loved to revitalize the whole point was to get people interested in George Washington as a person again by going after something that had not been made much of. But was still in harveys mind important. Well, thats what i look for. What big story out there does do people not know everything about about . Well thats a tall order and it takes time. But i keep looking and i keep looking and i keep looking andnd sometimes, the Charles Dickens story came from one of those blast emails. That came on the anniversary of the publication of Christmas Carol. Did i realize that Charles Dickens had to selfpublish Christmas Carol and several other questions it be. Did i know that Charles Dickens was broke and ready to quit writing at the time and on and on and answer was no. Did and so i dont remember whos wrote sent me that email and im sure ill hear from him now [laughter] but i i immediately thought it had been taken from somebodys book as they often are and i went looking for the book and book wasnt there i said gee i have an idea, and away i went and the carnegie and phreic thing came from i was their dualing mansions on fifth avenue everybody kind of knew about what the carnegie was richest guy in the world but did they know that he and this guy had actually come to fisticuffs in their office over a business deal . No, that led to that book, and its. But finding out that there is a material there about an important, larger than life figure and larger than life set of actions that people havent hard about before. Start your search cocould you repeat that please mary . How do start the search . Well i cast a wide net that dickens story found me. But ill just as im finishing up work own another book ill say to myself well what is next . And i am working on now a book about the struggle for the power to control the circus industry. Another guilded age story baron m bailey versus bailey which came to me because my wife showed me a plaque on a Hotel Grounds over in a ritzcarlton over in naples florida that did you know that john once ownedtz this plot of lands i said, of course, not who would have ever thought that john the circus guy owned a plot of land turn out it may forget the circus that was to receive money for a fortune i never knew about it. Well its like that. While were getting the mic over to the next in the audience lets hear from michael in pasadena, california. Youre on booktv. Wanted you to know whichad books ive been reading iar read i thought that was interesting. But then i read white trash which is a history of discrimination and the structure in this country from colonial times all the way up to the present. And thats an extraordinary interesting book if you want to know why the south is poor with respect to the north. And the discrimination which has taken place. Not just against black people pet we know that that was indigness and white people and still exist today. Other books ive been reading that is an informative book as well is washingtons farewell address. And it essentially you see in that book how washington saves the unites to say as a country three times, once as revolutionary war, and twice as he became president at times when this country could have easily have fallen apart and the existing thing what that i take away with from all of these books is essentially is essentially people who Supreme Court justice who believe inpeow originality know very well that theres no such thing as originality that what theyre really doing is theyre worried about gun at the bounds of the scootion and so theyve beens invented this thing about knowing what was in the minds of the founders and pretending that that is even better than today. So theres my take away from those three books all have been on the booktv. So thank you. Yes, i have. Thank you very much for that. Any comment for that caller . I just know that white trash has been a wildly successful really very founded its leadership. Did you notice an up tick in sales after november 8th . Oh, absolutely. We noticed an uptick particularly in sales books dealing with some of the issues that the campaign brought out. In fact, reminded me a book that i wanted to point out i had just seen this motion picture, and it kind of its a film that documentary that raul tech did and its called i am not your negro and its really taken from all of the techs of james baldwin. So this film and this book really does bring back, take you back to the time when baldwin was such an intrinsic part pa of the National Discussion in the 60s and early 70s. And tells you how relevant he is to today as well. And these are the kinds of books that have been selling after the election as well. What about art of the deal have any of you read that and did you see an up tick in sales or do you have it for sale here in we do have it for sale i think it is in the fiction section. [laughter] im kidding im kid, im kidding. Tion but art of the deal i have not seen a big uptick to be frank with you but certainly pony s schwartz did all he could do to promote it in one way or cother. But its, you know, it ise probably a book that we all should read to get an insight into our president today i would think. But i didnt see a very big uptick although it did sell qaict quite a bit more. Autumn have i read it . No no. On the regret in the new yorker, but no mitchell is right it is something that we should read. I dont know if it is really inciting into him or Tony Schwartz kind of make believe, the myth making i believe is important to know. But less benefits. In i remember looking at it. At the time but i i really didnt know enough about the subject matter to be able to discern for migs myself whether it was based on pbt or based on Donald Trumps opinion. Since im not a businessman it is not for me but i remember looking because it is the biggest when had the book kale out it was a very big, big best seller a very big best seller i think my kids were in preschool at the time and i think it helped get them through it. Bi [laughter] book did come at him and certainly no one knew donald trump is character and figure that he is today. Back then and they thought of him really as what had the book said it was. S. Which was the fact that i think that book probably started more than many books that i can think of. There are few books that are, you know, jane fonda workout book craze, and health diet book craze, and his book the art of the deal really did start the business book craze to a large extent. Because of how well it sold. Weve got another question here in the audience. Whats your first name . Ex sonia. Hi. Sitting in a bookstore i just thought that i would ask a question. The question from the caller about successful publishing made me think of this question which im wondering about for mitchell but other panelists weigh in. For people in towns and cities that have is lost their bookle stores, im just wondering, obviously, theres a that people can can go onis line and order books and delivered next day and easy but im wondering mitchell specifically if you talk about a little bit to go back to people around the country that might be watching this right now. How there are ways for them to support local book stores independent bock stores throughout the country and maybe offer some insight about ways to kind of be involved or, i mean, you mention indy next thats one thing but im curious that i think your discussion about books are becoming Community Oriented places for people that arent that dont have access no those. How can they kind of reap the benefits . Ha absolutely an excellent question. And i think that id like to broaden it just a little bit since you brought up that online that is that i firmly believe that independent book stores were all Small Businesses. And it goes to a larger issue of how we ought to support our Small Business in the communities that we live. Of howh because so often Small Businesses are the ones that are affected by Online Retail more o than anything else, and smallsi business really is studies out to show every dollar spent on a Small Business locally is like spending four or five dollars on the internet is and the money stays in the Community People get jobs in the community oc people grab Small Businesses is usually by their supplies from other members of the community. So really what i say about independent bookstores applies to Small Business as well. Theres just notion of the thir place after home after work where do you go . You go to the local or bar, the local restaurant. The local beauty parlor or barbershop, local bookstore that notion of the third place is really, really important to create a sense of community. And it goes to what were talking about before which also goes to Civic Engagement. The more you communicate with your neighbors more civically engaged you are one way or another and then we can all it gets become to hill billy or white trash and this notion of how diverse we are as a society the more we get to know one other the the more were able to really tack to one another and i think thats what a bookstore does probably better than most other kinds of third places. Now, if youre in a place that doesnt have a bookstore, what can you do . Well its hard but one was things that you can do is think about starting bookstore. Think about starting your own bookstore. This today mr. Kaplan . Yeah, i think book stores are starting it is amazing i go to industry meetings it now, and i used to be the kid, obviously, im not anymore. Od but there are kids who were like my age when i started 25, 26 now starting book stores, in far away places like atkins, georgia, small towns in missouri and small towns in indiana and these are independent book stores starting. Places that you would not thinkn you think would be overbookstore like brooklyn has million new book stores, new jersey other places so yeah i think it is a very viable kind of thing for younger people to think of as an institution. And one way of doing that unwill be to get involved with American Book Sellers Association there are ways that you can learn howed to do it. And you know, im always asked for advice in the piece of advice that i always give as a book seller in miami is make sure you buy the building that you open your store. Something i never learned. Someone asked me, you know, what have you learned as book seller in miami well book seller in miami for 35 years i learned i should have been in real estate. Thats [laughter] and but anyway there are ways in which you can make it as a book seller today. Hear about author as from Online Presence of book sellers, yowpght your books to sell on a. M. Son, dont you . Yes, of course. I mean, you want your books to sell period. I want books to sell on amazon. I prefer to sell at books and books. But you know, about about elephant in the living room when i was living overseas, living inist stand bowl and five years in the never lands i was afraud to tell mitchell that i lived with my kindle because it was only way for me to get the new releases for me to you know, primarily i said this at a panel somewhere that im primarily a reader before im a writer. And other panelist who were real writers were shocked but i really am happiest as a reader. And not having access to books and books was really difficult and i wanted to keep up my reading. So i want, i do want to say that, that im grateful theres another option. In the future well go wherever you go. Open another store wherever you are. To tell you where youre going to be. Perfect then. That said you know, echo everything that mitchell said about about needs for Civic Engagement back to this idea of rejoining analogorv world that so many of us abandon and come back to spaces where you make these happy finds of a book that you didnt know that you wanted and you run into people who can, you know, give you recommendations who can challenge you. O and thats really important for all of us to do. And book stores are the placd that really makes that happen and brings us brings us before he say what is he says says that kind of thing, the kind of mission that were on is to do things like this is a wonderful book called a heart of men by Nicholas Butler and this is a book that most would not know about. But were going to have an a event with him, were going to thank you. U. Were going to have an event with him until about three weeks here at the book shop, and marvelous book, where you know beautifully rendered beautifully written. Kind of a coming of age narrative, and nobody would know about this book. But for the fact that were going to do an event here at the store. That were going to be featuring it. And this is the job that we have as book sellers which is to introduce new authors to people. And to make a selection so that customers coming into the store can bump into things. So i didnt mean to take time on that discussion. Weve got stacks and mitchell brought books and get through them one way or another. So i i feel for the caller fm sedona who says we have no bookstore here im glad that you found out that he could access the library at least but i think become over the last 35 years about how with great gratitude about how important. How much a part of my life books and books is. How much time i spend here. How much of my connection to the cultural world comes through this this place. Im very fortunate, amazinglyve fortunate in that regard and when i have a book a new book out from which this is always the place to launch and thee people who come, awghtd to be able to make that oneonone connection actor talk about it in the theater there doesnt happen on the internet no way to recreate that. So thank you mitchell. Thank you very much. But i would also have to say that although were independent book sellers we believe in the ecology of all book selling. And the internet does have a place for that as do the chainok bookstores like i saidlogy of libraries, there is this that. But i believe that you know one should not overtake another. In other words theres a role, h very Important Role for book sellers to have, but i also believe that these others need to exist in order to Service People who are many places where there arent books. So books and bookstoree curated different at the airport than this one. They are and other stores in miami and some a story in the Cayman Islands and all very different and we treat them all as if theyre local to their own communities. And so all of the managers have the ability to bring in whatever they want. We have staff selections, you know all of the different stories and you can really feel like youre in different stories by going into the differentve books and book stores as well. Theyre not cookie cutters at all. By a show of hands has anyonr here attended a book talk by an author you had never heard of and you wanted to see what it was about . Has anyone here has anyone here been to book and books before to attend events regularly . All of the time. There we go. [laughter] and well come back to the audience after we hear from lauren in florida. Hi, lauren please go ahead. Hi. Ive been enjoying this show very much and i wanted to ask emma a question about her book. And about the joke that she referenced that she didnt tell. Since ive been on told ive been saddened ive been saddened because the conversation has turned political. And you know, im a conservative and i love books and i love bookstores. And i dont understand why you would want to make people like me feel unwelcome in a bookstore or your bookstore. Im sorry if ive put a bummer on it but i cant help it youve really saddened me. Lauren, thank you for calling in. Autumn menendez she wanted the joke. But then if you would all address the issue that sheok raised. She felt so unwelcome. Mitchell made the point is this is a safe space for everybody and i think thats true and i have a lot of conservative friends andel conservative family who love the bookstore and i see them here and they feel welcomed here. So i dont think thats an issue outside of your facebook page. No but it turns political because weve been talking prnlly but in terms was bookstore we present author as of different stripes here at the story and we really dont say no based on politics really. We even have very, verye conservative people working in the bookstore as well. And we honor everyone who comes in. We were just talking personally and if we offended you im terribly sorry about that. So it is diselled wood close to miami . I dont know where that is. It if lauren comes down to the store. I would love to have a cup ol coffee with you. Calm me up to have a cup of coffee. The joke the joke actually to go back to politics briefly [laughter] a lot of my misgivings and i was a registered republican not a lot of people know this. I was a i was first registered as republican first vote i cast wan for george bush senior so a lot changed but a lot of my misgivings about this newa lot a administration goes back to things this i heard my parents say and things that ive learned about how gs a regime takes over and howle freedom of expression begins toe be curtailed so a lot of my misgivings are actually rooted it in my own history. And in my parents history so ill say that we dont have to agree on that. But thats my, where im coming to my politics. So now a joke. Its its a very old joke, and i told it once to a group of i think they were, yeah i lived in i ina i told to people in india and they laughed and then they said that they have the same joke and it was about partition. So ill tell you the joke. Id tha its a little dog a little mutt comes off the boat from cuba. And hes Walking Around the streets of miami and hes enjoying the view all of this, and french poodle walks by and because hes a cuban dog he has to start you know beyond which is complimenting and say, oh, youre so beautiful and you know are you from around here . You know, i love the way you walk and she looks down her snout at a him and says do you have any idea who youre talking to . Youre a mutt and im a french poodle. Im a breed of distinction. And so the little mutt sort of is temporarily speechless and then he says oh, well, here i may be a mutt. But in cuba i was a german shepherd. [laughter] very old joke. What have you heard from this discussion . I a writer, i think that you have to fitzgerald echoed what keith i think said most eloquently. You have to be capable of holding two die metically opposed concepts in your minds at the same time and then when you sit down to write you have to be able to write characters who might be opposed in the same way dimetricly in order to write compelling fiction or a worthwhile story for that matter. W i wouldnt have enjoyed spending very much time i think i with either andrew karen go or henry, but if i cant been able to inhabit each characters persona at the time i was running above their part of the book, nobody would have been able to i think, read that book or havee found it anything but i propaganda. Hing and i no matter what what alwayy to do my best to try to become that person to get inside thetr head of that person that i cant even, i can barely fathom as they are delivering this state of the union address. But it be behooves me as an artist to try if i cant im an artist im not a politician. Im not a businessman. Thats what i have to do in order to write good fiction. No obviously, with when i read the fiction i write nonfictionhe narrative, my politics are going to come through my empathies are going to come through. Im always try to do justice to the orr side. I have to or i wouldnt i shouldnt be doing this. So like to say that i think one of the things that sheothers addressed was about this program tonight. And i have to say that im veteran watcher of booktv and what you do and i think you have been in yo. Booktvs exceedingly fair in terms of present all different sides of what is being published. And i think publishing itself publishes from every different point of view. There isnt a point of view that i think is left out in publishing. And i think that the service that you provide through booktv is something that is, you know, existential for our industry to survive and i want to thank you for it and i hope that you know, we havent down a notch in listeners are watching [laughter] at all i want to say that. And weve got a young lady with a question there in the back. Hi, tell us your first name . [inaudible conversations] microphone. Marie. Thank you for being here alln of you and cspan is fantastic im so thrilled politics unfiltered everything the only thing that you need is skotus televised Supreme Court of the united states. And thats why i wanted to say if you can try to, you know, let us no what we can do to help you. Panel will address that. We dont often my opinions at cspan but we agree with you 100 . [laughter] so mimple el kaplan youve got a whole bunch i asked you this earlier and i hope you answered this question in this room in books and books is this what your living room looks like at home . [laughter] a little bit, my wife should grin. But i would tell you earlier that you know over 35 years i dont think of myself as a book collector. But im a book accumlator and ive accumulated lots of books, you know, being a bookstore owner, its a terrible tease because theres so many wonderful books that come out every single year. And you know, theres no possibility that i can Read Everything that tipght to read. So i feel im on that loosey ions where theres that thing that goes by in the Chocolate Factory and you start grabbing everything thats what i do i grab everything that i might the to read. And it is stacked up in my house, and like last night i was just browsing around what i had, and i picked up this basketball pan and i picked up this book that came out a u few years ago on the done Bar High School basketball team. Which very few people know that was probably greatest High School Basketball team ever it had five players that went on to nba including mugsy and others and it was fantastic so thats kind of the way this scattered approach to books is what goes on for me. Were your parents readers . Yeah. H. I grew up in my room you may remember the old great books series, that was from chicago, with and my parents had had it almost like an even encyclopedia every one of the great books an they left it in my room as a and i remember picking up robert are and other things and this really did come from them i believe. Autumnmenen does did you grow up reading . E. My parents were readers and my ology the a poet so i grew up with lots and lots of books. And we grew up reading lots and lots of books. When we went to the mall, the first place would go to daltons. Then also went to libraries in the night ended up in other places. But that said, i remember i Read Everything. I read all the time. In the trees you know and in my room and i read, one of the books that had a lasting impression on me was robert cormiers i am the cheese. He is best known for the chocolate war. But the book that really affected me was i am the cheese. And it is a strange bucket alternated with a psychological questionnaire and then it is this kid whose parents have suffered some horrible events. And its a big mystery. And when i finished reading the book, i was a basket case. I guess it was, i was maybe seven years older eight years old. And i just cried. For hours and days. And i was in bad shape. The mother who was a leader. She said if you keep this up, this is going to be your reaction to books that we will have to stop all of this reading. [laughter] so luckily it did not come to that. But you know, books always did have that very strong effect on me. Les i would say is that what the word means so i had a great advantage but then i got to kindergarten i could read the title of the books then when it came to readingad our i could say and ask for the title she never really asked me if i was reading but my grandmother was jewish who had never gone to highschool had all of the of books on their shelves the tom swift series second still see the coversings. Beautifully illustratedy illust staying up until 2 00 at night reading these things with every book reading to me was like going to be magic show that is why it wanted to be a magician that is why i am sitting right here right now like sitting in my grandmothers parlor reading those old books. Have you thought about it michel . Obviously i cannot be thinking about it because i think in College Media was right i did not have patience or the talent but i respect writer so much that i would have Writers Block immediately if i tried. But there are a lot ofof interesting stories if you like the luckiest guy in the world being a bookseller to meet the as heroes that i grew up with one story that i would tell but when i wast in Elementary School with at Safety Patrol might Elementary School had a library patrol to help the library announced that was one of the first book groups i was a part of discovering where jfk got shot and told us that have been. To make that connection. Host one piece ofrt advice for the writer . Indulges in the book that you love the most. What they feel that they cannot pick up on a. And then there were creatives writing class is. But if you are in sedona and there is no bookstore then take the book that you loveto d. And tell your version of the. And the person that they just got to see it in havana. Did to say what do i need to do to be a writer . She would say in this say wonderful in diversity. And one of the first things and to do things on their own then just have the reid that is how a lot of us came from reading and just want to do it. I agree i think cspan is the most wonderful thing i love it. I called in with the innocent question i apologize i did not hear what the topic would be bad since then i would like you to insert two more things doublea2 comment on. Gs i w we need to give this new and ident a chance. Woody is now is just the but of a joke and i think it is like the substitute teacher going into the classroom andhe all the children said that decide how the other teacher does it. We need to give him a chance. E the country has a lot of big problems it is really unhealthy the path we go down right now. I can relate to whatat conservatives feel like and they can say out loud what they think. Host they give for your point. I am curious as to what she is reading. Host if you are still of the line what book have been bought recently . I wanted to give mitchell a complement i am looking at the tv screen to see these beautiful books on the. Shelves. It looks like the most beautiful books store when there is Nothing Better than paul shells with books and looks like the most beautiful i minnesota california so i dont go to florida but it is gorgeous. Host we allotted people of the align i guess we will not find out where she is reading. There is a new book coming out called the american spirit so conservative authors are sometimes thee best sellers did they sell in south florida. E we had a book signing with ann coulter the line going outdoors so there areli conservative people and bill riley is one of the biggest selling authors these days there is a lot of books being published and there is no reason why cannot be big enough for everyone just like megan kelly that was recently published. She did not come to miami for a book signing but i would like to see a more conservative authors coming to miami they dont come here as much data as see it c as conservative as more further up the stage but over the years. So those books that are coming off politicians these are books that you will read like Elizabeth Warren in Chelsea Clinton her book just came out Sheldon White house, and governor bremer. Are those important books . Is ultimately about the writing and the book is it someone position paper . For the book to sell war not sell puff fifth as somebody does an autographf and one to meet the person but a sunday build pickup with the book of john basic les casein i dont know. Of there were interesting accounts. George bush first but thatif he wrote, decision points that sold really really well. That is the same with bill clintons first book. People will buy it but to often they get caught up in the john and ask neal the time what trend your water people buying . If it is a good book ite doesnt matter what job running is. He i would like to ask us questions as a hypothetical if youre each given a manuscript or a booking your not familiar with the material or told with the author was redo tell if the book was written by a male or female . Host widely rask . Is there such a thing as the male or female style . No. Assisted me thinking that there were no feminine hardboiled stuff and ended dont think that is true anymore whereas the word hasou gotten out and gotten smaller idol big there is any such thing but i ma storyteller and has to have a beginning and a middle and an end. If there is a story there you have not heard before to say that is a great narrative audis started offay illiberal becoming conservative so how did that happen . I just want to be stories. To answer this question, you can maken assumptions did you might be right or wrong. But i forget the authors name but is from the point in view of the women say you could say a woman wrote to this and you would be wrong. And there are many books to make assumptions about. Tell us your name. But if you travel on a work trip or vacation i want to hear from those trying to find their voices had defied the confidence does a writer . And each have 10 seconds. [laughter] i gave it to mrs. Jones and she said good going keep added. I was a planning to publish but it found its place. Host Mitchell Caplan i am sorry we did not get to your stack of books over there thinks ford being our host. [applause]. The primary reason the wrote the book was to honor the marines more people should know their story and their incredible dedication and courage and the sacrifices that they made in a war that you supported and in vietnams they did everything their country asked and more and else so wanted to subscribe a ballistic picture as a rifleman in combat to seek the elusive and never knowing if someone is an enemy that did not wear a uniform war on the front lines were constantly told the resupply would never arrive on time we had to ration food and ammunition and water we cannot keep up their rations and never had dry socks every day was pretty much the same up at the crack of dawn with about 85 pounds of gear to set the ambush tuesday passed the night dog wash somewhat with firefights between that is the life of a rifleman in combat when those was the third platoon and doublea2 read a passage from a book about corporate demand a shot rang out to seek cover fibers six enemies open up on the far side of the draw. As a hail of bullets came from the head with the patter of rain and hit i am hit with a familiar cry take cover i yelled but this was the ambush that i dreaded the put my rifle but against the bridge with half the magazine toward the incoming fire i look downhill to see a body between to bushs sprawled in the stream they rushed then said up of position on the flank the bullets came to the brush crafting into the tree showering the bark the leader collapsed next to me by measure the distance to read the impact was get on top of that bridge line but the a artillery on top of the hill projectiles were flying past the wounded man lay prone machine guns began to hammer away amble its word icing around mimicing the impact of the raindrop when i reached down he was packing and coughing i turned him over in his chest was torn open he tried to say Something Like cannot make it out he needed the chest wall sealed . That was a sniper so much my shoulders to stay low they tried to heal it have lifting him the nfl like of bulldozer hit my back my a then rolled away i thought i will do a lot of paperwork for losing data rifled and realize they could still move it sharpened into the urgent need to scramble for cover my back felt as somebody hit it with a sledgehammer i was dripping blood but my brain was functioning with clarity. We have been returning fire to the east but i was hit in the back yield back the enemy is to the north on the ridge line i shouted out new coordinated its cornets with coordinates. Fen that meant that my long was this pierced but water was turning into scarlett line not disclose my eyes and rest . Then threw their rattle and crack somebody was coming down the slope getting louder then he came in to me like runners sliding for home someone had come after me incredibly brave and risky by grabbed his black jacket deal lets go but knowing answer. My hand can back covered with blood the unfamiliar face fell back did not know but i cannot move the but he did not respond he just laid there on top of me as the bullets hit the flak jacket we have to give added here to pull them off to drag him through the mud then i realize now it seemed to take hours dragging that body by the arms once into cover check amount he was hit and was not breathing and began cpr finally has setback in this marine was gone like come after me he was my even in my platoon lt. Uk . He crotch right next to me and was reloading raindrops bubbling we are pinned down in the Company Commander once an update the steady rattle a small arms working the top of the ridge stumbling on the regiment had to call in more firepower and the medevac your hit bad. Going with a firstaid kit will look down at his body the eyes rove been in seem to be following me i said you know, him he said he is from the third platoon tough brachial they had a couple weeks to go. Call in the chopper i looked at the dead and wounded and the leasing to be speaking a language i had forgotten. Why had he done it . When his own return home was so near but then there was the screen with more artillery coming in. Smoke drifted with there was Something Else then i remembered move to contact i force myself to my knees but my legs held up that i could lift hand the dead marine was still looking a bit me like he was still waiting for an answer are we falling back lt. Greg i tore my gaze away i could not think about it now. Help me get of this tourniquet we will take the hill to get everybody out no marine is left behind [inaudible conversations] welcome amended is my pleasure to introduce tom