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.

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

Best of all, acclaimed author  PETE HAMILL will read from an early edition of “The Gift of the Magi” by O’Henry at 4:30 PM. Pete will also be SIGNING copies of his new book  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.

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

I was told that there was a possibility that Sophia Romero, a published novelist who writes the blog, The Shiksa from Manila, and her husband Dan Schwartz, a technology expert at a bank, were going to be featured in  the New York Times column by Samantha Storey, Making it Last. But I was sworn to secrecy.

I kept the secret.

But now I can kvell. The two, who live in Park Slope and celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary on the Saturday before Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New York City, are a fascinating couple.

On paper, the marriage doesn’t make  sense. She’s a devout Catholic from the Philippines who is passionate about pork and he’s a nice Jewish boy from Queens, who doesn’t eat meat. But clearly they share that intangible, je ne sais quois that makes a good relationship tick.

When Dan told Sophia that he wanted to raise their children Jewishly just days before the wedding, Sophia didn’t have a problem.

Dan: On the way to the wedding, which is on the way to the airport in Tokyo, I told Sophia I’d like to bring up our kids Jewish. Sofia is a devout Catholic. She goes to church every Sunday. And she says, As long as they are raised with God in their life, it’s O.K. That part has been amazing. In fact there have been religious-oriented events when she was more familiar with what was going on than many Jews in the room.

In the Times article/interview, we learn in their own words how they made it last. Part of the reason, clearly, is that they’re both enthusiastic and bright people who are up for the roller coaster ride of life if the tracks are greased with love. And by every indication, there’s a great deal of love between them.

It also helps that they’re very good at dealing with conflict. And there’s been plenty:

Sophia: My husband is calm and measured, and we try never to be angry at the same time. He is much better at saying to me, I can’t talk to you when you are like this. When you are finished, I am happy to talk to you and until then this is not a good time. And I think we have learned from that. We use that method a lot. We use it on our children and they use it on us. And it’s a good way of calming everyone down, and then once you’ve reached a level of peace, you can begin to address and unpack whatever issues there were to begin with.

At the anniversary party at the Audubon Center in Prospect Park, there  was a chupah, a ceremony presided over by Rabbi Andy Bachman and a priest from St. Saviour (who read beautifully from the Song of Songs). There was also an exchange of vows that was tear inducingly moving—and hilarious.

They made it last and we are very, very glad that they did. The adorable couple are pictured above in photographs by Julie Markes that accompany the New York Times story. Sophia is wearing a feathery, sparkly dress designed by the Philippine designer who also created her wedding dress. Dan is wearing a traditional Phllippine wedding shirt.

READ THE ARTICLE 

I’ve never seen this poster of the Babe with the gates open. Suspect it’s hurricane related as it’s in Red Hook next to Baked on Van Brunt. Seems oddly fitting though, as if the power of all the ghosts of the past are being summoned.

Spirit of community in Red Hook is truly, truly inspiring. What New York is all about.

Last night’s reading WRITING WAR at The Old Stone House was quite amazing. Thankfully, Leslie Topping came by with her trusty video camera and taped the event. Stay tuned for info on that.

Blogger Jess Ruff was at the show last night and she wrote about it on her blog, So, What Happened. She also created the drawing above. Big shout out of thanks to Jess.

Brooklyn Reading Works presents: Writing War: Fiction, Memoir, Poetry from Vets curated by Peter Catapano of the New York Times at the Old Stone House, site of the first and bloodiest battles of the Revolutionary War. $5 Suggested donation includes wine and refreshments.

In honor of Veterans Day, veteran/writers provide insight into what it means to be a soldier in the 21st century. This is a must-see event. Important. Powerful. Pertinent.

Anthony Swofford, acclaimed author of Jarheadand a new memoir Hotels, Hospitals and Jailswill be on hand, as well as Maurice Decaul, Matt Gallagher, Philip Klay, Mariette Kalinowski and Roy Scranton

When: Thursday, November 15 at 8PM:

Where: The Old Stone House (336 Third Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215 between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, 718-768-9135 or 718-288-4290) site of the very bloody Battle of Brooklyn, the first and largest conflict of the Revolution.

BIOS OF THE PARTICIPATING AUTHORS: 

Maurice Decaul is a former Marine who served in Iraq in 2003. He is a poet, essayist and librettist whose work has been featured in the New York Times, Newsweek.com and Sierra Magazine, and has poems forthcoming in Barely South Review. He recently appeared as a poet and performer in the multimedia show “Holding It Down,” which premiered at Harlem Stage in September.

Matt Gallagher is Senior Fellow at the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. A former Army cavalry captain, he is the author of the Iraq war memoir “Kaboom” and co-editor of the forthcoming Fire and Forget.

Mariette Kalinowski served in the U.S. Marine Corps between 2002 and 2010, deploying twice in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her short story “The Train” will appear in “Fire and Forget.” She currently studies fiction in the Hunter College Master of Fine Arts program.

Phil Klay is a Marine Corps veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a graduate of the MFA program at Hunter College. His work has been published by The New York Times, The New York Daily News, Granta and elsewhere. Forthcoming, he has a story in “Fire and Forget” and a short story collection to be published by Penguin Press in 2013.

Roy Scranton is an Iraq War veteran whose poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in LIT, The Massachusetts Review, New Letters, the New York Times, Theory & Event, and elsewhere. He is a co-editor of “Fire and Forget.”

Anthony Swofford, a veteran of the first Gulf War, is the author of the memoirs “Jarhead” and “Hotels, Hospitals, and Jails” and the novel “Exit A.” He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.

Peter Catapano, the curator of the event, is an editor in the opinion section of The New York Times, where he develops and edits series fo the Times website, including Home Fires, which features the writing of United States military veterans. His writing has appeared in several publications in the past 15 years, including Salon, The New York Times, ARTNews, Killing the Buddha and elsewhere.

Oxford Dictionaries USA has selected their word of the year. And the winner is: Gif, a verb, to make a Gif file, an image or video sequence related to an event.