November 2007
THE
SAN FELIPE TITLE COMPANY’S
BAJA
BOOK BEAT
In this
months BookBeat we will attempt to perk your interest
in several books which are as different as night
and day……The first one a non-fiction
work by Alec Wilkinson who’s subject is
a man that in one way or another touched many
of our lives a few years ago here in San Felipe…….The
HAPPIEST MAN IN THE WORLD. An
Account of THE LIFE OF POPPA NEUTRINO……The
second book is a work of fiction which very well
could be considered non-fiction as author Daniel
Reveles has in GUACAMOLE DIP
shared aqain with us a glimpse into life of the
border town of Tecate…
The HAPPIEST MAN in the
WORLD. AN Account of THE LIFE OF POPPA NEUTRINO…Alec
Wilkinson.
We have a limited amount of signed copies of an
absolutely great book about a man who a few years
ago came into the book store along with his faithful
companion ….BETTY BOOP….he
sat down and began sharing with me a story which
time has proven not only amazing but true…..and
from that point to now a mutual relationship which
never ceases to amaze me. GARY KAMIYA
OF THE NEW YORK TIMES writes in his review
of the book……”Rainer Maria Rilke’s
poem “Archaic Torso of Apollo” ends
with the famous line, “You must change your
life.” Alec Wilkinson’s remarkable
book leaves the reader with the same feeling.
His subject, a man named Poppa Neutrino, has lived
his life completely outside the lines. Neutrino
is a modern primitive, a nomad and permanent dropout
who relentlessly rejects anything that smacks
of the normal. His choices place a strange but
indelible question mark next to ours…Before
floating across the Atlantic, making a living
by painting signs and playing music on the street.
Before that, he was a nomad whose incessant wanderings
made Jack Kerouck and Neal Cassady’s epic
cross-country trips look like Sunday school outings,.
Along the way, Neutrino also got married several
times, and helped raise four children of his own,
as well as two adopted children and a stepchild.
Yet one also wonders whether he has overromanticized
Neutrino. Wilkinson is no cheerleader, he explicity
declares he isn’t putting Neutrino forward
as a model, and he’s forthright about the
mistakes Neutrino has made and the people he’s
hurt. Still, Wilkinson admits to having a soft
spot for lone wolves; could he have exaggerated
Neutrino’s freedom and played down the reactive,
obsessive, childish aspects of his life? David
Hellman writing for the San Francisco Chronicle
gives his thoughts about the author Alec Wilkinson……The
antidote to the miasma of fictive prose is often
its misunderstood and underappreciated cousin,
literary nonfiction. The truth is good writing
is good writing, no matter the artificial barriers
we may set on what we read. And for those who
find they are either yawning or cringing through
most recent fiction, there is redemption to be
found in the pages of a writer such as Alec Wilkinson.
Wilkinson is of that breed of nonfiction writers
that includes the likes of Edward Hoagland, Joan
Didion and Joseph Mitchell. These are writers
of the first order, and Wilkinson holds his own
in their company. He is also assisted, in addition
to his native abilities, by having a subject both
stranger and more interesting than you are likely
to find in most fiction these days: Poppa Neutrino.
Not only is truth stranger than fiction, sometimes
it is also more interesting. In the parched landscape
of current fictional milqueoast a reader often
craves a simple story told well, and not tales
that are either shockingly bland or blandly shocking……….The
latest chapter in the life and times of Poppa
have been very interesting…..RANDOM LUNACY
Produced by Vic Zimet and Stephanie Siber. The
Independent Film by HOMETEAMPRODUCTIONS has made
it into just about every major Independent Film
Festival this year….including Boston-New
York-San Francisco-Los Angeles-and recently New
Orleans…..A fascinating film on the life
of Poppa and his family and their adventures…..including
the epic Atlantic crossing in the Son of Town
Hall……the reviews of the film have
been absolutely fantastic……
GUACAMOLE DIP-From Baja…tales
of love, faith-and magic……Daniel Reveles……..For
those of you who have followed the lives of Daniel
Reveles characters…..GUACAMOLE DIP
is the fourth in his collection of Tecate stories.
Susan Vreeland (San Diego Union) gives us this
fine review…….Tecate-south of the
border Tecate-is the locale of these tales, much
as Winesburg, Ohio, is the setting for Sherwood
Anderson’s classic collection of people
who could exist in no other time or place, yet
whose nature touches on the universal. Similarly,
Daniel Reveles gives us classic Tecate –
dusty, sleepy, innocent and timeless, despite
its occasional cell phone. It’s an idealized
Tecate, a Tecate as we wish it would be forever,
a town of idiosyncrasies tossed off as if normal.
It has a billboard for an airport but no airport,
a railway depot but no train, a penitentiary but
no prisoners, a movie theater with no movie. So,
who’s to care? Reveles, a figure in his
own story, and Tecate’s self-styled Chamber
of Deputies, men who meet every morning to solve
the world’s problems at La Fonda, the restaurant
in- where else? – the plaza. Time together
breeds generosity and the invention of a way to
give genuine social service without it smacking
of pity or charity. The very wackiness of their
scheme is pure Tecate, but is foundation is Tecate
also; Corazon. All the action spins out from the
plaza, where “what you see is not necessarily
what you see” For example, there’s
a Great Dane sitting on a bar stool at the Diana
Bar, the social epicenter of Tecate, an institution
where everyman comes to convivir, “to share
together the life”. In addition to GUACAMOLE
DIP we have in stock ENCHILADAS-RICE
and BEANS, and TEQUILA-LEMON
and SALT……and attempting
to purchase a few used copies of SALSA
and CHIPS……..
 |
Roy
Houston at his signing. |
We wish to thank everyone
who made it up to the Bookstore last month for
Dr. Roy Houston informative and interesting presentation.
Without a doubt it was by far the largest turn-out
we have had up on the balcony…..we have
taken the advise of those of you who had difficulty
hearing the presentation and future authors will
have a sound system available……..His
fine book “Natural History Guide to the
Northwest Gulf of California and Adjacent
Desert is available at the Bookstore…….
The next Book Signing will
be very special….On Dec 21st we will have
Bruce Berger author of ‘almost an Island-Travels
in Baja Calif’ and The Telling Distance
– Conversations with the American Desert…….and
his latest work is a interesting blending of the
beautiful-breathtaking Photography of Miguel Angel
de la Cueva and text by Bruce……OASIS
OF STONE-VISIONS OF BAJA CALIF SUR…….Gorgeous
full-color photography and evocative text by Bruce
bring the southern half of Baja California to
life. Beginning with its unique geology and moving
on to the coastal, desert, and mountain ecosystems
of Mexico’s little-known peninsula, this
lushly decorated coffee-table book highlights
the flora and fauna……In his book ‘ALMOST
AN ISLAND-Travels in Baja Calif Bruce
gives us humorous and clear-eyed essays which
deal with Baja California history, politic, people
and culture, and takes on environmental struggles
and activism and delivers the Baja peninsula as
literature rather than a guidebook….
It has been almost 5 months
since ‘BUSTER’ the
famous San Felipe Title Co – bookstore cat
has been AWOL. Buster was more
than just an ordinary bookstore cat…..BUSTER
came with a attitude and one never knew exactly
what to expect from him…..Friendly …..well
not always…..and we along with so many of
our customers would like to know what exactly
happened to him……one would hope that
he has a fine new home….safe from the streets
of San Felipe…..A standing reward of 5 books
from the BARGIN TABLE is offered to anyone who
has any information regarding the whereabouts
of BUSTER……
THE SAN FELIPE TITLE COMPANY
IS OPEN EVERYDAY EXCEPT MONDAYS….FROM 9AM
UNTIL 4PM.
WE ARE LOCATED ON THE
BALCONY NEXT DOOR TO THE WORLD FAMOUS BAJA JAVA
COFFEE SHOP AND BLUEROADRUNNER COMPUTER FACILITY….IN
THE CENTER OF SAN FELIPE’S BUSINESS AND
FINANCIAL DISTRICT……PHONE NUMBER IS
52-686-577-0471 or locally 577-0471.
