"Please support your local independent bookstores. They are the heart and soul of every community where they are located, and they are keeping good readers, good writers and good books alive and well." That sage advice is on author Howard Frank Mosher's website, next to each of his 13 books.
|
|
| Howard Frank Mosher | |
His latest novel, God's Kingdom, was an October Indie Next Pick. "If the past is a foreign country, we certainly have an expert native guide in Mosher who recreates perfectly, right down to the smoky fire smoldering in the town dump, the small town of Kingdom Common, Vermont, in the 1950s," wrote Darwin Ellis of Books on the Common, Ridgefield, Conn., calling him a "master storyteller."
That he is, but Mosher has also established himself over the years as a master independent bookstore supporter. This was well documented in his 2012 book, The Great Northern Express: A Writer's Journey Home, which chronicled, among many things, a barnstorming 100-city book tour in his 1989 Chevy with a healthy 280,000 miles on the odometer.
"I don't think I've ever had an unpleasant experience at an indie bookstore," Mosher told me recently. He spoke at length about the generosity, importance and dedication of independent booksellers; their crucial role in community building; the way they "keep the culture going." He believes it would not have been possible to have the career he's had without the longtime support of indies.
"I know so many indie booksellers who are now my friends," he said. This is more than apparent in his recent Facebook posts as he tours for God's Kingdom. Here's just a sampling:
Oct. 14: "Last night at my event in Hardwick, with the Galaxy Bookshop, I felt like the Red Sox playing at Fenway Park. Talk about a home-field advantage. The Galaxy is my personal bookshop. The audience, of about 70 people, was friendly and enthusiastic. What can I say but thanks, folks. To me, it felt like a homecoming."
Oct. 26: "Bookstores are the hearts and souls of their communities. Last Thursday evening Pat Fowler, of Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Vt., provided round trip transportation to and from my event for an older patron who no longer drives. On Friday evening, our long-time friend Carlene Riccelli brought maple sugar pie, molasses cartwheel cookies, Vermont cheddar cheese and apple cider for my event at the Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Mass.... Then there's Susan Little, who's kept her marvelous Jabberwocky Books in Newburyport, Mass., going through thick and thin by continuing to affirm her primary commitment to literary fiction and nonfiction.... Want to see hope, faith, and love in action? Susan and her bookselling colleagues nationwide have hope for the business, faith in readers and writers and an abiding love of good books."
 |
|
| Mosher at Concord Bookshop | |
Oct. 30: "Last night my long-time bibliophile friend, Dawn Rennert, drummed up a great SRO audience for me at the Concord Bookshop. It was a lovely evening. I kept wondering what Thoreau would have thought about the proceedings, much less the not-so-quiet desperation of all of us Patriot fans in the bar up the street when Tom Brady & Co. got off to a slow start against the Dolphins."
Nov. 3: "An excellent turnout last night in Bennington. Congratulations to Linda Foulsham and Phil Lewis for buying the renowned Bennington Bookshop, the oldest book store in Vermont, and keeping it alive and well. Also to Karson Kiesinger, at the Bennington Free Library, for bringing authors to the community.... Thanks to all bookstores and libraries, in Vermont and beyond, for helping us to do that. We are the reading species. Subtract books and stories from our culture, and we'd be left something less than fully human."
I first met Mosher in 1994, when I worked at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester, Vt., and Northern Borders had just been published. As a native Vermonter, I've always been drawn to his stories about a part of "my" state he knows better than I do, and the way he captures the essence of complicated people living hard lives, confronted by hard decisions, and just doing the best they can.
Yet the word that came to me as I began considering Mosher's Facebook posts and the author I have encountered off and on over the years is also a word I would use to describe the man himself: courteous. As might be expected, when I mentioned this to him, he deflected the compliment. When he's on tour, Mosher dictates those Facebook entries by phone to his wife, Phillis, who then posts them: "She also helps with the courteous tone," he joked.
Of course, it's not that simple. Our brief phone interview this week quickly evolved from q&a into two guys telling each other stories--about Vermont, the book trade, favorite writers and more. Mosher loves a good story, and I think his deep-rooted connection to independent bookstores is a tale worth sharing. --Robert Gray, contributing editor (column archives available at Fresh Eyes Now)