Be afraid. Be very, very, very afraid. No, we’re not talking about a scary pandemic of lethal skin infections spread from sharing germ-laden yoga mats.
Fear and Yoga in New Jersey, our own Debra Galant’s second novel, has hit bookstores and is now on sale Watchung Booksellers.
Was there a Baristaville inspiration for the main character, an uptight yoga teacher named Nina (tongues are wagging that it could be Jyoti of Starseed)? Deb’s not saying, you’ll just have to read the book. There are some other eerie hyperlocal coincidences Deb wasn’t aware of until after she finished.
Mary Paige Snell, a yoga teacher in Bloomfield, recalls that Yoga Montclair in Upper Montclair had a flood (Fear and Yoga starts with Nina’s chakra meditation fountain overflowing and flooding into the feng shui studio below). And there actually is a feng shui practitioner below the yoga studio of the Yoga and Meditation Center of Montclair on Bloomfield Ave.
Besides getting yoga practitioners in a twist, Galant is girding herself for possible backlash from Jews (Nina is a self-hating Jew, who’s become a Unitarian, and her son Adam wants a bar mitzvah solely for the money).
Read the first chapter here and tell us what you think. Maybe you can help Deb, too, with her Diablo Cody fascination.
Upcoming events in the jump…
Meet up with Deb at one of these local reading and booksigning events:
Tuesday March 18, Barnes and Noble Clifton Commons 7:30 pm
Thursday, March 20, Cafe Eclectic, 7 p.m. (Watchung Booksellers event)
Sunday, April 13, 11 a.m., Temple Ner Tamid, Bloomfield.
One preview of a proprietor’s book, as above, is seemly and understandable. Two, three, even four further floggings of the title may not be.
But does anyone ever actually “become” a Unitarian? I mean, yes, they wander in to Unitarian meetinghouses and stay, but it’s not exactly a real demanding theological choice, is it?
If demanding is what you want, cathar, 70 virgins await you in paradise.
as for the iceman, walleroo, he’d settle for a little paradise by the dashboard light. (don’t you love it when people refer to themselves in the 3rd person)
My wife and I were married by a Unitarian minister. He was pretty expensive, all business and left almost immediately after the ceremony.
This cat was all about the ‘Benjimans’.
We were married by a Unitarian minister as well. She was cool and stayed for the reception.
We were married in a mosque by a Presby minister whom we forbade from mentioning God.
We hope to be married by the Mayor of West Orange. Neither one of us is religious. Spiritual, yes, religious, no.
So you’re resigned to eternal hell, in other words.
Dearest Liz, love of my life, light of my world, the lede item above has a bad link, which is prolly why it’s got no comments.
LOL. We’re “believers,” we just don’t adhere to any organized religion.
You mean “this” isn’t Hell? 🙂
Will you change your screen name to Mrs. Martta?
Good question! Maybe Ms. Martta? Who knows?
How about “The Artist Formerly Known As Miss Marta”?
TAFKAMM? sounds like a NGO
MM – have you considered a Celebrant?
Someone posted about Celebrants a couple of years ago on here. Not really for us but I imagine some folks would find it fulfilling.
Congrats Debbie..maybe your next book could be about this site..I’m sure you could come up with a few pages of interesting reading & characters.
Yes, congrats, Debbie. Look forward to reading it.
Speaking of books and writers, is anyone going to the MEWS writers’ party tomorrow night?
Loved the first chapters- very funny. Although I have to say, in defense of Jyoti and or any of the yoga studio’s, it is my understanding it is all fiction. Believe it or not- I don’t envy anyone running a yoga studio- it’s a lot of work. Plus, it’s a little rough to singling out someone in public. Hey- we’re all characters. But then again, it’s Baristanet. Again, the book looks hilarious. And as far as religious services- I got married by a justice of the peace who looked like Captain Kangaroo.
Actually, walleroo, I have for some time mulled becoming a Schwenkfelder. Or perhaps Old Order Amish, if I can find a bishop who will agree to lead me towards conversion.(No paying into Social Security, yeehah!)
And I’m even fairly sure that more than 70 virgins would then await me in the here and now. In Lancaster County, PA, even.
With my luck, I’ll have 70 bottles of Extra Virgin olive oil awaiting me in the hereafter.
Deb, Can’t wait to get my copies and pass them out to my book club! I’m sure it will lead to some really great fun discussion! Thanks for the fun reading!
Mike Smith, the lead singer of the Dave Clark 5 passed away…All of you Baristavillians over 45+ surely danced to ‘glad al over’..
I’m so sorry to hear about Mike Smith! His last few years were not good ones. Sad.
Sorry to hear that. He was only 64.
We write mournfully when old rockers (or young actors, for that matter) die. But they all seemed to have something most of us will never experience, several years at the very top, filled with license, with money, sex, etc. It’s almost as if, for many if not most of them, Satan toys with them before finally calling in his contract. Yet we pity them and rue their demises.
And then I think of parodies of once-pretty selves who remain like David Crosby, Joe Cocker (okay, never, ever very pretty at all) and Stephen Stills, and I think I finally understand what The Who were probably getting at with “Hope I die before I get old…”
Then I think of both Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse, and wonder if those two ever even bothered to ask Old Nick for a deal in the first place.
Ice,
You might mean 50+….
Sorry to hear about Mike Smith. I actually disliked the Dave Clark Five. At one time they were considered serious competition for the Beatles.
Now, I can admit that I actually did like some of their tunes. Mike had a very masculine, husky voice, similar to John Kay from Steppenwolf.
“Will you still need me. Will you still feed me.
When I’m sixty four”
No, dude, it’s obviously got to be “The Martta Formerly Known As Miss.”
Is that what you get for converting to Epicureanism? Sign me up!
For all you Kinks fans, Ray Davies tickets for Beacon Theatre April 8 on pre-sale until tomorrow – general sale begins then.
Congrats on the new book, Deb.
On the other topic: We got hitched by a friend of mine who’s an ordained internet minister. He wore a plaid suit, has a floopy mohawk, and really big sideburns (close kempt). We wouldn’t have had it any other way!
Miss American Idol! Miss Anthrope! Miss dinner! But don’t Miss Martta!
SATAN controls the minds of liberals with Yoga! He twists their bodies and their minds into accepting those with unpure lifestyles and into supporting liberalism and secularism! Support a constitutional ban on Yoga and protect traditional exercise!
Thanks! That’s the most useful post I’ve seen in ages. Wish I’d known about it this morning though.
Minor detail – the general public sale begins Sunday at 10:00 am, not tomorrow.
Nothing like a Kinks show — kissed by Ray when I was young and I was over the moon for weeks.
Tante tante congratulazione carissima Debbie! I can’t wait to read the rest…. Bravissima!
I thought it was Fear and YOGI…. never mind.