Booktender Brings Sad Hour to Books on B
Poet Lucien Zell connected with patrons and prescribed literary imbibes in downtown bookstore.
Two men sit across the table from each other in conversation, a cart of books to one side. A bearded man in a brown jacket explains to the other that aliens have come from across the galaxy to take him on a fantastical journey. The only catch is that he is limited to bringing with him three human experiences.
On Friday, November 2nd, poet Lucien Zell introduced the patrons of Books on B to his idea of the Sad Hour. Seated at a table with a tip jar at his side, the booktender used fantastical prompts to make personalized recommendations from a hand-selected flight of literary imbibes. When asked how the Sad Hour came to be, Zell responded that it initially started as a joke. During a conversation with Books on B employee Matt about the book signing, Zell floated the idea on a lark. However, bookshop owner Renée Rettig’s enthusiasm for the idea quickly forced the joke into reality.
After listening to the man’s chosen experiences, Zell writes a book prescription for If Women Rose Rooted by Sharon Blackie. As much of the man’s conversation focused on his daughters, Zell explained that If Women Rose Rooted explored a heroine’s journey and how that differs from the male hero’s journey; exploring the power of women and reexamining mythology and folklore to show women the strength that the patriarchy has worked so hard to take from them.
Zell explained that he had to move through the “fog of desires”, or what we think we like or want to do, to discover that his true passion is a love of learning. But to him, learning is akin to breathing in, while to breathe out one should teach. And while he teaches a regularly-scheduled online poetry course, the idea of the Sad Hour came from the desire for more one-on-one interactions. Book clubs, he said, are “orgy versions of making love” and he positions the Sad Hour conversations as more intimate and personal connections. Orgies, after all, don’t suit everyone’s taste.
As he writes his book prescription on his Heartbreak Hotel notepad, Zell listens to the man’s connections to Europe and time spent studying abroad. Zell then writes an additional recommendation and a personal note; an extra tipple, free of charge. The man seems to radiate calm and contentment after the encounter. Forging a connection, even a brief one, with someone in this world can be such a modern rarity. But this evening, Lucien Zell calmly dispensed literary prescriptions to those in need of something more. And, he hopes, others can use this model to connect with more people and stories in and around our lives.
Lucien Zell’s most recent book of poetry, Tiny Kites, is available now at Books on B and you can connect with him directly at Lucienzell(at)yahoo.com
