It’s been in the works for months and months and now, it’s finally here. I am so excited for Honey & Wax and all the Brooklyln indie vintage booksellers who will be under one roof for the very first time.

The Brooklyn Holiday Book Fair on December 1, 2012 from noon until 6PM at The Old Stone House will be a wonderful holiday shopping experience for book lovers and those who love beautiful things.

Great gifts for the interesting people in your life.

Best of all, acclaimed author and Brooklyn legend PETE HAMILL will read from a 1906 edition of “The Gift of the Magi” by O.Henry at 4:30 PM. Pete will also be SIGNING copies of his new book of stories about Brooklyn THE CHRISTMAS KID.

To open the holiday season, a group of independent Brooklyn booksellers with a shared interest in print history will fill the Old Stone House with some of their favorite rare, vintage, and out-of-print books. Get to know your local booksellers, and be surprised and inspired by books you didn’t even know you wanted!

Participants include:

Book Thug Nation, Williamsburg, est. 2009

Freebird Books, Cobble Hill, est. 2004

Honey & Wax Booksellers, Park Slope, est. 2012

Human Relations, Bushwick, est. 2012

Open Air Modern, Williamsburg, est. 2009,

P.S. Bookshop, DUMBO, est. 2006

Singularity & Co., DUMBO, est. 2012

Unnameable Books, Prospect Heights, est. 2006

Also for sale: antiquarian maps and prints of Brooklyn, offered by Prints Charming.

The ‘tails:

When: Saturday, December 1, 2012 from Noon until 6 p.m.

Where: The Old Stone House in Park Slope, 336 Third Street between 4th and 5th Avenues. Subway: The F train to 4th Avenue, the R train to Union Street.

Admission is free. Drinks and refreshments will be available.

Last night I attended a fascinating conversation at Old First Dutch Reformed Church in Park Slope with novelists Rick Moody and Darcey Steinke and the church’s Rev. Daniel Meeter about progressive Christianity and other topics related to an open and humane interpretation of Biblical text. The event was moderated by Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, a member of the Old First congregation and the co-owner of Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene.

Here in the United States, Christianity is often associated with right-wing politics and fundamentalism. But increasing numbers of contemporary Christians are trying to change that.

Rick Moody and Darcey Steinke attended Sunday school as children but drifted away from religion as adolescents. As adults, they explored the teachings of the Bible in their own work and as co-editors of the anthology Joyful Noise: The New Testament Revisited.

The critically acclaimed author of the novel The Ice Storm and many other works, Rich Moody takes a decidedly non-fundamentalist view of the Bible. He urges people to read it with an open mind-set. “There’s a politics of reading. One holds that you have to control interpretation. That it’s dangerous…The other holds that you are free to engage with the text,” he said last night.

A minister’s daughter, Darcey Steinke is the author of five books, including Jesus Saves, and Easter Everywhere. She described the discomfort she often feels sharing the fact that she is a Christian with secular  colleagues. “People would act like you were going to give them the flu,” she said.

Rev. Meeter, the author of Why Be A Christian (If No One Goes to Hell) from Shock Foil and pastor of Old First Church, talked about the way that he approaches the Bible: “How do I pretend that John is Shakespeare? It’s a matter of letting go.”

Indeed, his engagement with the Bible is passionately rigorous, even playful. “I am in the Bible a lot. I have a daily conversation with the hymns, the prayer book.”

Progressive values, same sex marriage and the mesh of religion and politics were also discussed. Meeter told the crowd that nowhere does the Bible reject homosexuality. He rankles at the idea that “the God that we worship is the God that blesses America. It’s a weird nationalistic religion.”

In answer to a question about how he balances his progressive politics and his role as leader of a Park Slope church Meeter said: “This church specializes in providing sanctuary, comfort and safety.” He admitted that he tends to be quiet about his opinions on specific political policy.  “I don’t want to be a trumpet, I want to be a first violin.”

The event was part of a new series at the church called Fourth Mission, providing community outreach, predominately through hospitality to the arts

It was also a fundraiser for the restoration of Old First’s ceiling. In September 2011, plaster suddenly fell from the ceiling of the sanctuary. Upon review it was determined that the ceiling damage is not localized, but is a systemic failure in the attachment of the plaster ribs and crosspieces in the ceiling; after 120 years, the structure is failing. Restoring the ceiling will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars; assessments are still underway, as the Old First congregation is rallying to raise funds for repair. A grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy has kick- started the restoration fund, but Old First is also reaching out to the surrounding community to invite them to help restore this irreplaceable community resource.

Everybody is making such a big deal about this film shoot at Kos Kaffe on Park Slope’s Fifth Avenue.

As I understand it, 43 notable  writers from Brooklyn and elsewhere were used as extras. Pictured here are Elissa Schappell, Nick Flynn, Darin Strauss,Michael Cunningham, Stephen Hubbell, Mary Morris, Jennifer Gilmore, Glenn Kurtz and Roxana Robinson.

The film is called A Short History of Decay, written and directed by Michael Maren, starring Bryan Greenber, Linda Lavin, Harris Yulin, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Rebecca Dayan.

The photo is by Heidi Gutman.

It’s holiday shopping time in Park Slope and that means Susan Steinbrock will be selling her hand-painted scarves pillows and napkins with Claireware, maker of gorgeous and colorful pottery at Claireware’s studio and shop at 543 Union Street on the corner of Nevins Street in Gowanus. Brooklyn. The date: Saturday, December 8th, 10-5 and Sunday December 9th, 12-5.

Steinbrock will also be selling her wares at Stuff, PS 321’s annual craft Fair at PS 321, 1st Street and 7th Avenue, which is also Saturday December 8th, 10-5.

For her first solo exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn artist Martha Rosler  is having a garage sale. In fact, the piece is called Garage Sale and it is currently showing in the The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium at the Museum until November 30, 2012.

Rosler is considered an influential artist of her generation. For more than 40 years, she has made photography, performance, video, and installation about, she says “the commonplace, art that illuminates social life.”

Rosler held the first Garage Sale, Monumental Garage Sale, in 1973 in the student gallery of the University of California, San Diego. Like the MOMA exhibit, she sold clothes, books, records, toys, costume jewelry, personal letters, art works, and other mementos, as well as soft-core pornographic magazines.

December is a Feast for lovers of rare books, shopping, and literary events. Here are three that  I had my hand in. Please come!

December 1, noon until 6PM: The First Annual Brooklyn Holiday Book Fair at The Old Stone House featuring rare, vintage and out-of-print books from independent booksellers from all over Brooklyn.  Antiquarian maps, prints and ephemera.  Get to know emerging local booksellers, jump-start your holiday shopping and be surprised by books you didn’t even know you wanted. Book Thug Nation, Freebird Books, Honey & Wax Booksellers, Human Relations, Open Air Modern, Prints Charming, PS Bookshop, Singularity & Co., Unnameable Books

December 5 at 7PM: Only the Blog at Two Moon Presents Therapy, a 50-minute reading by writers who write about the talking cure and other forms of therapy in ways serious and hilarious. Leora Skolkin-Smith, Marian Fontana, Louise Crawford, Ira Goldstein, Karen Ritter.  Two Moon Art House and Cafe: 315 Fourth Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets.

December 6 at 8PM:Brooklyn Reading Works presents Feast: Writers on Food curated by Ame Gilbert at The Old Stone House, 336 Third Street between 4th and 5th Avenues in Park Slope. Writing about  food as memory, food as metaphor, food as subject matter, food and sex; food and death, food as trigger for sensorial and tasty writing with Molly O’Neill, Sara Kate Gillingham-Ryan, Aarela Martinez, Sarah Safford and Ame Gilbert.

Tonight at The Bell House at 7PM (6PM doors open), The Musical Extravaganza to Restore Red Hook (presented by Jalopy).

Apparently, the evening kicks off with a square dance, hosted by NYC Barn Dance. Roseanne Cash will headline the evening, and Jesse Lenat, John Pinamonti and the Brotherhood of the Whiskey Spitter Rebellion will play. Michael Buscemi will screen his new film on the bus that runs through Red Hook, called “B61.”

The  show will benefit Restore Red Hook, which aims to raise funds to help the small businesses of Red Hook, Brooklyn reopen their doors as soon as possible after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

At 3PM this afternoon, there’s a pig roast at Fort Defiance in Red Hook and then there’s a benefit at The Bell House in Gowanus at 7PM with Roseanne Cash and other performers.

Both are fundraisers for Red Hook recovery efforts after Hurricane Sandy. In between, there’s shuttle bus service from Red Hook to The Bell House.

Thanks to filmmaker Lesley Topping, we’ve got video of  last Thursday’s Writing War featuring five veterans who write fiction and/or poetry. Thank goodness Lesley decided to show up with her camera. I am so grateful.

Writing War was curated by Peter Catapano of the New York Times’ and presented by Brooklyn Reading Works at the Old Stone House in Park Slope.The featured writers were Phil Klay, Mariette Kalinowski, Roy Scranton, Matt Gallagher, and Maurice Decual. We had a full house and a wonderful evening of readings and Q&A

Lesley is a New York based producer, film editor, and video maker. At lesleytoppingmedia.com, you can see videos and clips from her projects.

It’s a vintage clothing store. No, it’s a record company. Well, it’s both as reflected in the name. Tiger Blanket Records Vintage Clothing Boutique.

Say it three times fast.

Tiger Blanket is a record label AND a unique line of glam rock Americana vintage clothing on Graham Avenue in Williamsburg. The owner, Emmy Wildwood, personally curated the vintage gems, which she has collected over the years as a musician and vintage fashion fanatic.

The official Grand Opening is this Wednesday, November 21st. It’s from 6-8PM. So this is a call out to all of you who love rock and roll AND vintage clothing AND are not going away for Thanksgiving.

Emmy, pictured left, is the coolest. And she’s got plenty of attitude. “We don’t like music snobs, pretentious pricks and stereotyping. We don’t assume all male musicians are in indie rock bands, we don’t assume all female musicians play acoustic guitar but its ok if you are and do. We like whiskey, french-kissing in private and birth control. We are a lady in the streets and a freak in the sheets,” she writes on her website.

Emmy will be serving wine and appetizers and giving awesome door prizes and giveaways during the event and I’m sure there will be music. And lots of it. Because Emmy’s in a band called Velta.

Our dishwasher broke down the other day. It still runs but it makes a terrible grinding noise when it’s turned on so we can’t use it which is a bit of a disaster for Thanksgiving.

I know: First World Problem and a very small one Post-Hurricane Sandy.

Still, it’s an annoyance. But worst of all: every minute it beeps. There’s obviously some kind of timer in there but we can’t figure out how to set it OR turn it off.

So every minute: Beep. A minute later: Beep. In the middle of the night: Beep.

Hopefully, the  dishwasher repair person will come soon and stop the beep and fix the dishwasher because that effing BEEP is driving me CRAZY.

Note: The gorgeous dishwasher in the gorgeous kitchen above is most definitely NOT my kitchen.

A great lede and a buzzy Arts Beat article by Jennifer Schuessler in the New York Times. Apparently there was a film shoot at the newish Kos Kaffe in Park Slope and a host of Brooklyn opulent literati were there. Jennifer Egan, Mary Morris, Tad Friend and others…

Brooklyn is famously lousy with writers, as Holden Caulfield might have put it. But at 7 am on Monday morning, Kos Kaffe in Park Slope was even lousier than usual.

At one table, Jennifer Egan sat scribbling on a yellow legal pad, not far from Roxana Robinson, Philip Gourevitch, John Burnham Schwartz and Jane Green. Across the room, Michael Cunningham chatted with Nick Flynn, while Mary Morris sat with a battered notebook and a pile of printouts and Darin Strauss checked ESPN.com on his laptop.

The occasion was the shooting of a scene in Michael Maren’s forthcoming film, “A Short History of Decay,” that aims to show off the most impressive mass literary cameo in recent film history. But some in attendance, perhaps hopped up on free espresso, jokingly reached for even more grandiose claims.

“This is our Black and White Ball,” said the New Yorker writer Tad Friend (referring to Truman Capote’s legendary 1966 party at the Plaza Hotel), before turning back to revisions on his upcoming article about underwater mortgages.

Say hello to Landhaus, the new and groovy sandwich place on Union Street just off of Seventh Avenue. It’s the spot that was People’s Pops during the summer.

Now it’s Landhaus, faves of the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgusburg (see left). Landhaus creates “addictive, tasty food with the best ingredients available in the Northeast.” You can find them weekly at both Smorgasburgs (Williamsburg and DUMBO) & Brooklyn Flea and The Woods Bar daily in Williamsburg.

I haven’t seen the Union Street menu yet, but they’re famous for their Grilled Maple Bacon Sticks, which were voted the best bacon in NYC by the Village Voice Newspaper. On a stick with maple syrup and secret spices.

They also serve a BLT with Landhaus Bacon, Red Leaf Lettuce, Lucky’s tomatoes, bacon infused mayo on toasted Napoli Bakery Bread, a Lamburger, a  custom blend of grass fed lamb and pork fat-back, whipped sheeps milk feta, house made harissa, grilled onions and cilantro on Napoli Bakery roll.

I’ve been a Victor LaValle fan since he read at Brooklyn Reading Works a couple of years ago in Young, Gifted and Black (Men) curated by Martha Southgate.

Today, there’s a nice interview with him in Days of Yore, a site which interviews artists before they had money, fame, or roadmaps to success. It’s a great site and you should know about it.

LaValle is a writer and teacher who was raised in Queens, New York and now lives in Washington heights with his wife and young son. He is the author of the short story collectionSlapboxing with Jesus, three novels, The Ecstatic, Big Machine, and The Devil in Silver, and an ebook only novella, Lucretia and the Kroons. On the back cover of Big Machine, Mos Def proclaims that LaValle’s writing, “is like nothing I’ve ever read, incredibly human and alien at the same time.”

Here’s an excerpt from the Days of Yore interview:

When did you first start thinking that you would write, or when did you first write a story?

I wrote my first story when I was 13 or 14. And then I even sent it in to magazines. I sent my first story into a magazine called Grue Magazine, a horror magazine put out of the lower east side. The woman who was the Editor in Chief is now either the vice president or the chancellor of the Church of Satan. The magazine had closed, but the church of Satan took her in, I guess.

But when I sent my story in, she sent back this great rejection sheet. It had a list of all these craft issue like characterization, plot, language, pacing, and beside each of them this chart: “good, very good, not so good.” She went through and checked off all these things and then gave notes like: “characterization: good—and here’s why.” It was a real labor of love because I’m sure it [the magazine] was not a money-making venture. At the bottom she even wrote a little note —because I must have said in there that I was like 13 or 14— that said, “This is an auspicious start for someone so young.” And I saved it.