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Sobs. The 3 Evil Cousins must report that after 52 years of business, our local bookstore, Cody's in Berkeley was forced to close its last store.

Cody’s Books was famous for its support of the free speech movement in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1989, they were firebombed for refusing to remove Salman Rushdie's controversial novel "The Satanic Verses” from their storefront. Through more than a half a century, they hosted countless poets, authors and booklovers. This year, the rent at their final store on 4th street was nearly tripled. In a last ditch effort to save the store, they moved to a new, smaller location near the UC Berkeley Campus, but even that was not enough.

The 3 Evil Cousins were privileged in Cody’s final weeks to co-host several events. These included book signings by Melissa Marr, Cody Doctorow and Cassandra Clare.

In honor of Cody’s, and in hopes we can do something small for other Independents who still struggle to stay afloat during this age of mega-bookstores and the ease of purchasing online we will link all the books we review to IndiBound.org. IndiBound (previously known as Book Sense) is the effort of independent booksellers located throughout all our neighborhoods. We hope others will join us in helping to support our local bookstores.

Yours Truly,
3 Evil Cousins

For 110 years, the people of Saranac Lake, NY have taken part in a winter ritual that I absolutely love.



They build a palace out of ice.

The tradition dates back to 1898, when the community held its first winter carnival to raise the spirits of tuberculosis patients who had come to Saranac Lake seeking the fresh air cure in its sanitariums and cure cottages.

We took a drive through the mountains last weekend to check out this year's creation, and it's spectacular, as always.  Here I am, grinning like a fool, getting snowed on while I smile at its spectacular-ness.



One thing I love about the winter carnival is how people treat it like any other outdoor festival, despite the fact that it's often below zero here in the winter time.  Last Sunday, amidst blowing snow and rapidly dropping temperatures, there was a guy selling fried dough and cotton candy out of a little booth right next to the palace.

Here's another thing I love about this tradition. Ice is never a sure thing.  It's slippery, you know?  Some years, workers start building the palace only to have a big thaw before they finish.  Sometimes, they wait until the very last minute to start because the ice on Lake Flower isn't thick enough yet.  And the whole time they're building, they never quite know if it's going to work out or not. 

It's a lot like writing.  You have an idea and some building blocks for a story, so you start stacking them together.  But then one slides off.  And another one melts.  And some kid comes by and pushes another one off the pile and it lands on your toe, and you start to think the whole thing might have been a big mistake.  But usually, you keep on stacking and putting things back, and trying new blocks and new spots for the old blocks until things fit.  And eventually, you stand back and see that it really is looking like a story after all.

I admire the guys who build the ice palace.  It's never a sure thing.  But they plow forward on faith.  And usually, when all the heavy lifting is done, it's downright stunning.