Page 24 - the NOISE August 2014

A TINY WONDERLAND OF BOOKS:
Kate Roberge turns the page anew
BY SARAH GIANELLI
Finally, Jerome has a bookstore (again). And I don’t mean a gift shop that’s cleared a little space for the locally written and/or rel-
evant, but an honest to goodness bookstore, Jerome style all the way, from the lovingly handpicked selection of used and antique books to its quaint, off the beaten path loca- tion on School Street.
The last time Jerome had a bookstore like Kate’s Books was in 2002, and we had the same couple to thank — Kate Roberge and her longtime partner, Steve Harris. But while Ms. Roberge conceded to call the ear- lier incarnation Harris Booksellers, this time around it’s her turn.
Ducking into the pitched roof attic space of Kate’s Books makes you feel a little like an oversized Alice entering a tiny wonderland of books. It evokes the beloved feeling of reading itself — of disappearing from the external world, curling up in a nook, and leaving this reality entirely for another spun of words.
“There was a fairly standard saying in my family when I was a small child,” says Ms. Roberge, who grew up outside of Tallahas- see. “’Where’s Kathy?’ ‘I don’t know, she’s probably around here somewhere with her nose in a book ... ’ We always lived out in the boonies, so I would just grab a book and go out and sit somewhere, and no one knew where I was ... I could be in Ireland or any other place you can imagine.
Mother read to us at a very early age and it got so we knew every word in every book so she couldn’t skip a line,” she adds. “I was read- ing by the time I went to first grade, and she, bless her heart, signed me up for book clubs.”
For some reason, her mother chose a science fiction book club, in a time before the genre really existed, and exposed Ms. Roberge to early greats such as Isaac Isamov, Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, L. Sprague De Camp, and Robert A. Heinlein.
“I couldn’t get enough of it,” she says. “Now I have my science fiction section over here and I pick up these books and I go, ‘Oh! Look at this one! I read this 40 years ago! That one 50 years ago, this one, 55!’” she exclaims with an escalating childlike glee.
As we browse the store’s eclectic, but not Sentimentally priced rarities like this are the “the only straight arrow” in the ragtag bunch
overwhelming, collection, Ms. Roberge pulls an oversized hardback from the large art sec- tion and runs her hands over the protective plastic jacket. On the cover is a photograph of Florence’s Ponte Vecchio bridge during the 1966 flood that summoned volunteers from around the world to help rescue the countless priceless artifacts housed along the banks of the Arno River.
“I lived up here toward Fiesole,” says Ms. Roberge, who was abroad studying art his- tory at the time. “I could look out my bed- room window and see the water coming up the street, but because we were on the up- per slope, it only filled the basement of our hotel. In the meantime, we were doing fire- man carries of the giant volumes that were sodden from the basements of the Uffizi and all along the river, moving them from place to place, getting them onto trucks ... when I found this book I just went, ‘Uh,’” she says wistfully, hugging The Waters of November to her chest.
In Kate’s Books, you will find most of the standard sections of a bookstore — fiction, biography, history, travel, mystery, poetry, humor, classics, photography, crafts, archi- tecture and design, gardening, reference — as well as a section dedicated to Arizona and the West, and a comprehensive local display, that reflect the taste and personal interests of Ms. Roberge.
“It’s basically like reading off my book- shelves,” says Ms. Roberge, and, quite literal- ly it is, because that’s where many of these books were last.
But one of the most unique offerings of Kate’s Books is the collection of antique and vintage books that span the 1800s to the 1960s.
The oldest of these — Ms. Roberge dates them by the edition’s publication date, not the original printing — occupy a small bas- ket, the most fragile of which are tucked into plastic wrapping.
“This one I have had on my bookshelf for a gazillion years — dated 1832. For years I just looked at it on my shelf and assumed it was another bible,” she says of the thick, leather-bound German English dictionary. I put $100 on it because I don’t want to see it go anywhere.”
exception; most of her titles go for anywhere between $2.50 and $10. Also in the antique basket, is a “profusely illustrated” clothbound 1800s edition of Arabian Nights for $5; and a slim leather catechism from a German Luther- an Reformation Church from 1873.
Some of these books may not be for reading, but to be appreciated as beautiful objects, and relics of history that inspire the contemplation of all who might have held them and turned their delicate, discolored pages.
“They’re representative of what happens to you when you live to be over 100 years old,” she says.
From 1900 on, the vintage books are bro- ken down into decade with an emphasis on the 40s because it’s the decade Ms. Roberge was born.
“Every time I find one I’m like ‘Ooh! It’s as old as I am!’” Amongst the vintage books are other relics of decades gone past, like a New Yorker article during 1940s wartime, an old 1950s housewife manual, and a mint condi- tion issue of Jack and Jill children’s magazine from the 60s.
Ms. Roberge pulls out a hardback covered with strips of colorful cellophane, and says, “See? Somebody has loved this book ... wrapped it, written in it. There’s something about the smell and feel of a book, and the fact you can find the condom wrapper or whatever someone used to hold their page or the treasures people have slipped inside and forgotten.”
The section dedicated to local authors in- cludes all the town classics — Selected Works by Esther Burton, Katie Lee’s Sandstone Seduction, Rich Town Poor Town by Roberto Robago and others — and new additions to the cannon by Jerome Mayor Nikki Check (see the poetry page to read an excerpt from her new collection Explosive Moon) and a bound collection of the legendary Jerome Times by its editor Terry Molloy. The Jerome Times put out 12 issues during their single year of operation in 1983. Featuring local news and events, art and comedic interludes, Ms. Roberge, who had moved to Jerome the year before, was a linchpin at the paper —
— and took care of all the paste-ups and proofreading.
“Each cover was an amazing piece of art work that our editor/publisher Gary Fife put together ... he was very good with an air- brush,” remembers Ms. Roberge. “One issue has a picture of the “Jerome marina” with all these little sailboats on it, and people came here looking for the marina and were pissed when they couldn’t find it ... and I’m going ‘Honey, we’re on a hill ... think about it!’”
Ms. Roberge was living in Micanopy, a tiny Florida town very much like Jerome, in that it had lost its original purpose as a lakeside shipping port for citrus, when she decided to throw everything she owned into her Volk- swagon van, toss the cat on top, and start driving West.
Her father, who was living in Phoenix, had just purchased a house in Jerome — right across the street from Kate’s Books. Soon af- ter she arrived, his health began to fail, and she never left town or the house itself, mak- ing for a pretty convenient commute.
“I’m in heaven; why should I go anywhere?” she says. “This is a little piece of heaven right up here, with the Verde Valley sprawling out in front of me. I get to look out the window and see this every day. I’m here, and I don’t need to be any place else.”
Books take center stage, but Ms. Roberge has other peripheral offerings — first and fore- most, chocolate, regular and sugar free; and art, her own photography, jewelry and found object wall sculpture; and a small selection by other local artists. Currently on her night- stand? Shona Patel’s Teatime for the Firefly.
Kate’s Books will be open during First Sat- urday ArtWalk, hosting a book signing event with Ms. Check in celebration of Explosive Moon on Saturday, August 16 from 5-8PM.
True to Mountain Stranded Time, Kate’s Books is open 12ish-5ish Thursday-Sunday at 510 School Street in Jerome.
| Sarah Gianelli has a few favorite book nooks scattered throughout her hillside town. arts@thenoise.us
24 • AUGUST 2014 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us