Samurai update

As part of an extra-credit project, Ivan Jaffe has persuaded Potbelly Sandwiches, Chicago to put The Last Samurai on display. So thanks, Ivan, for being so enterprising, and thanks, Potbelly Sandwiches, for being so helpful.

Potbelly is at 1459 W. Taylor Street, a couple of blocks from the University of Chicago; Chicago readers who don't need the book but do need a sandwich could stop by.

HarperCollins has very kindly made special arrangements to facilitate orders from readers who would like to get the book stocked in non-bookselling outlets. Stanley Zigmont of Special Liaisons has agreed to take credit card orders; he can be reached at 1-800-233-4725 ext. 1433 or 1-570-941-1433 or at stanley.zigmont@harpercollins.com.

(For those unfamiliar with the book: The Last Samurai has no connection with the homonymous film starring Tom Cruise. It is the story of a single mother who uses Kurosawa's Seven Samurai to provide male role models for her fatherless boy.)