Lary Bloom
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Friday, December 09, 2005
Ann Coulter She Isn't
On Wednesday night, I drove out to Storrs, Ct., for a book party. Not the book party that the papers had written about -- the depositing of $16,000 into Ann Coulter's bank account by the student government in exchange for one of her diabtribes, in person. No. I passed Jorgensen auditorium, where students lined up in the cold to get in, to get to the UConn Co-op, where there was a modest but passionate reception for an author whose work is much more honest and eloquent.Suzy Staubach is not an American household name. And her new book, Clay, won't make her one, though it is well written and erudite and, well, one of a kind on the subject of baked mud. But there was something about the juxtaposition of ideas that night in Storrs that is compelling.
Coulter is, of course, highly marketed. See my blonde hair? Feel my venom for liberals? She belongs in the same category as all unchangeable pundits, who fill the airwaves with misinformation, and the result is that the public, which has a large segment of lazy folks anyway, forms its impressions on the slickest (and sometimes the sexiest) of presentations that don't come anywhere near the facts.
On the other hand (literally) there is something primal and beautiful about Suzy's world. She made reference in her remarks to the days of childhood when we all made mud pies. As adults, we stopped slinging mud, or at least most of us did. Suzy is, by profession, a book seller. She runs the general book division at the Co-Op and as such has been a stalwart in the effort to keep independent bookstores alive.
More than that, she has been a great supporter of Connecticuts authors, encouraging us and otherwise giving help, and arranging book parties in our honor. So it was time to turn the tables (and fill them with baked goods). The audience was of respectable size as book signings go and it included many who have benefited from Suzy's support, including the best-selling novelists Wally Lamb and Pam Lewis.
Suzy's hobby, for all of her life, has been to make pots. I remember years ago when she first told me that she wanted to write about the subject. I thought it was a grand idea, and even contributed a possible title: It's A Mud, Mud, Mud World. Sense prevailed in the publishing world, however, and Clay was the result.
It is a lovely book. Everywhere you turn in it, you learn something not only about how the earth has been used for everything important, including shelter and food, but the context of history as well.
For all of her talent, Suzy didn't make anything like $16,000 on Wednesday night. Maybe she sold 30 books, which could net her royalties of upward of fifty bucks. Down the street, Coulter sold hundreds (all of which Suzy supplied, and sent staff members to handle the sales.)
Coulter's speech, meanwhile, was interrupted by loud music, and, outraged (as always) she refused to finish it. She agreed only to take questions. One of them could have been, "Why are we here, when there is something truthful and beautiful happening just down the street?"
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 12:53 PM
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