Chekhov in Indiana

Relentlessly pursuing my quest to learn the history behind every great independent bookstore in America, I recently visited Three Sisters Books and Gifts in Shelbyville, Indiana. I had made a mad dash up I-65 to make it in time to my great-grandmother's 115th birthday party, and since Breathing Out the Ghost includes scenes actually set in Shelbyville, I begged for a booksigning, figuring, if nothing else, there was a sufficient supply of kin in the area to make it worth their while. As I discovered, Three Sisters is a fabulous store and is much beloved in Shelby County. It is indeed operated by three sisters---Carolyn, Barbara, and Mary Kay---all of whom, like my mother and uncle and aunts, came from a farm family. Three Sisters has been vital to the revitalization of downtown Shelbyville; in fact, when the space next to them became available, several locals "encouraged" the sisters to expand their store to include a coffee operation. I admire the trio for taking the task on.

Perhaps the best compliment I can pay is a little epiphany I experienced during the signing. My eye happened to glance to the bookshelves, where is saw a copy of Gertrude Stein's Geography and Plays and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Then I looked out the window at my back and saw the square where I have so memories of coming to the Bears of Blue River festival with my grandmother and grandfather, Dorothy and Clifford Parker. It was as though to axes of my life had suddenly interstected, and, for a second anyway, I had the feeling of comfort that comes with knowing who you are because you know where you come from.

Please visit Three Sisters at http://www.threesistersbooks.com/index.html

I'm including three pics here: one is of moi with my uncle and aunt, Donald and Charlene Parker; yours truly with the three sisters of Three Sisters; and, finally, me with my mother, Beverly Curnutt, and my uncle Doc. My mom, Doc, and Sugar all inspired various aspects of the Pruitt family characters in Breathing Out the Ghost.

All the Gnus that Fits

The best part of taking a book on the road is learning the history of the bookstores that if you're lucky you get to visit. Last Friday Diane and I went to Auburn for a reading from Breathing Out the Ghost at a great used book shop called The Gnu's Room. It's located on Gay Street next to the Amsterdam Cafe. The event was part of the Sun Belt Reading Series, which is co-organized by one of our local fave poets, Emma Bolden, who also happens to be prolific as hell. The Gnu's Room was recently purchased by a group headed by a wonderful woman named Tina, who, in a quirk of circumstance, at one point years ago worked at River City. She, her partner Kelley, and three other investors took the store over this past fall and have done a great job building a new kids' reading room, a cultural studies section, and new furnishings. The more impersonal the big retailers become, the more intimate these mom 'n' pop bookstores feel. Folks like Tina do a great service not simply keeping books available; they also contribute to the community by offering a place to hang out and talk about the printed word. If you happen to be in Auburn, check it out: you can't lose at the Gnu's, I promise.

Book Launch on Feb. 24

Kirk Curnutt, chair of the English department at Troy University’s Montgomery Campus, will be celebrating the release of his current novel, Breathing Out the Ghost, with a reading and signing sponsored by the book’s publisher, River City Publishing.

The event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 24, from 4 to 7 p.m. at El Rey Burrito Lounge, located in the Old Cloverdale district next to the Capri Theater at 1031 E. Fairview.

Breathing Out the Ghost is a literary thriller about two parents who come to envy each other’s ability to cope with the grief of losing children.

The novel was the December 2007 book club selection at ForeWord Magazine, the leading trade publication of the independent publishing industry.