Bookstores. Remember them? Okay, so they aren't exactly extinct yet, but there certainly are one heck of a lot less of them now than there used to be . . . at least of the brick and mortar kind, anyway. And while like . . . 90% of my reading is in RTF format on an ancient, little Palm Tungsten, I do remember enjoying many, many hours at bookstores--the smaller the better. One such bookstore was the Harry W. Schwartz bookstore on Downer, which now goes by the name Boswell Books.
Boswell is hosting a pair of events featuring local actors involving projects their involved with that are based on classic works of fiction.
On Monday, February 14th: At 2pm, a woman who wrote a book about To Kill A Mockingbird will be appearing with the Milwaukee Rep's Deborah Staples. The actress plays an adult Scout who serves as narrator for the entire story in the Rep's production of To Kill A Mockingbird that opened this past week. This one's a classic that's read by nearly everyone in high school, but I don't need to tell you that because you probably read it in high school. Along with A Wrinkle In Time it is positively a renaissance for young adult fiction in the heart of the Milwaukee theatre district right now.
And on Friday, February 24th at 2pm, Chris Flieller will be talking about The Chosen.
The classic Chaim Potok novel is one that Flieller is really, really passionate about. I know firsthand--it's interesting listening to him talk about some of the research that has gone into staging the classic coming of age tale. Potok wrote about a major cultural shift in religion in the mid-20th century as he told the story of a couple of Jewish boys growing-up in Brooklyn. Evidently there's some disconnect between how Potok's work has been received. This is a major work of literature that just happens to be focused on Jewish culture. And the ultra-orthodox among them still have a negative view of the 1967 novel that sold 3.4 million copies.
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Both discussions take place, as I said, at Boswell Books on 2559 North Downer Avenue.
