Why I love bookselling...

Yesterday (Columbus Day) was the release of Jeff Kinney's latest in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the Dog Days.

Also the town of South Hadley had their annual Columbus Day Bazaar on the town commons, just outside the store, so as you can imagine it was a pretty exciting day in book selling.

It was also a day where I was reminded of why it is I love my job.

Every gasp of enthusiasm once a child/parent would walk in and see the Dog Days display and accompanying book was a welcome sound!

In fact the sound of a person gasping in delight when they spot a favorite book or just the title they were looking for has become one of the highlights of my day.

Or when someone is looking for a book, but they are not sure who wrote it or the exact title, but they heard the author interview on NPR maybe two weeks ago/ know it has a blue cover/ is about a horse farm in Montana/ will be made into a movie/... etc., etc., etc., I LOVE being that person who helps you find the book and solve that mystery.

Or when you need help finding that special something for that reluctant reader/ 8 year-old-tomboy/ expecting college roommate/ tween who loved Twilight/ suggestion for your book group/ yada yada yada, I love being the person who you come to.

I may not be able to find it for you but I work with such a great cast of characters that I know some one who will be able to recommend a perfect something for that special someone.

Yesterday was a great day in book selling!

Thanks for letting me be your bookseller!

~Nieves

Sequels, Prequels, Additions, & Companion books: If it ain't broke, don't fix it

As you might have guessed by the title of this blog post - Sequels, Prequels, Additions, & Companion books: If it ain't broke, don't fix it - I am not always such a fan of the oft-publisher-pushed addition to an established series, author, or beloved character.

The Toot & Puddle, Holly Hobbie, syndicated television show with accompanying merchandise? Awful. The originals - delightful!
Curious George - same.
Fire, the "prequel/companion" book to Graceling by Kristen Cashore? Could have stood on its own two feet (and does - who needs the extra bits about Leck?).
Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry? In my humble opinion, she's a Time Traveler's Wife one-hit-wonder.

And now, wonder-of-wonders for some, horror-of-horrors for others, after 80 years of treasured reading, Winnie-the-Pooh, formerly only by A.A. Milne, has been upstaged by an OTTER! Return to the Hundred Acre Wood by David Benedictus is an authorized addition to the series that, before now, consisted of Winnie-the-Pooh, House at Pooh Corner, When We Were Very Young, and Now We Are Six.

I confess that I am ranting without having actually picked up a copy of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood sitting on my shelves, but then, the fact that customers have been more excited about new editions of the original four than the newest fifth, make me believe we have similar feelings about this imposter in our midst.
The re-release of the hardcover original classics? Great!
The new audio editions of Winnie-the-Pooh and House at Pooh Corner read by Dame Judi Dench and Stephen Fry (among others)? Incredible!
This new otter? Who the heck is he, and what right does he have to inflitrate the Hundred Acre Wood?

It's not really the otter that I object to. I'm sure he's a very nice otter, and probably makes great friends with everyone in that "I've moved to a new high school in my junior year where everyone else has known each other since they played together in the bath as babies" sort-of-way. It's the principle of the thing - what was wrong with the original four? NOTHING! So, to repeat myself: if it ain't broke, why are we trying to fix it?

Now, to be fair, not all sequels, prequels, additions, and companions are terrible ideas, or even bad reads. My number one, desert island, top favorite, if I could only read one book for the rest of my life book is a *gasp* sequel, AND furthermore, it's *drumroll please* written by a different author than the original! I know! HUGE HYPOCRITE, you're probably thinking to yourself, and yes, I may be. Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley, sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind, is my absolute favoritest book.

There are others that fit this category that aren't so bad either. Peter Pan in Scarlet, for one, by Geraldine McCaughrean, is a great rompy Peter Pan addition. Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle was written in part by the original author, Betty MacDonald's, daughter Anne MacDonald Canham, who took half-written stories of her mother's and finished them after her mother's death; maybe that's what it holds up so well. Kenny and the Dragon, Tony DiTerlizzi's brilliant tribute to Wind in the Willows is one of my 2008 favorites. I'm also eagerly anticipating the release of Eoin Colfer's (author of the series Artemis Fowl) attempt at a sixth book, And Another Thing..., in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxey series by Douglas Adams.

So, hypocrite though I may be, I'm still just not thrilled over this otter situation. What do you think? Sequels, prequels, additions, and companion books, whether written by the original author or not, do you have favorites, or are there times you want to point out "when bad books happen to good authors/characters/series"?

-Rebecca

(For more reading on this topic, check out the NYTimes post on Winnie-the-Pooh's addition, and the AOL Living section.)

The Great Collision...

No I'm not talking about the big bang theory, or the latest dance club move but rather

MASTERPIECE COMICS
compiled by R. Sikoryak for Drawn and Quarterly
Where classics and cartoons collide!


It's a great collection of abridged classics novels reformatted into cool classic comic strips. Imagine Albert Camus' The Stranger as Superman, or Voltaire's Candide as a Ziggy strip.
Great for the literature lover or the reluctant classics reader in your life!
~Nieves

Yeah! Another Post Secrets book...

It's not so secret that I love the Post Secret books. Frank Warren's latest compilation is called Post Secret Confessions on Life, Death and God. These postcards delve into the inner psyche and hidden pains and pleasures of the human condition all the while philosophizing about all of the above.

Post Secrets has truly become more of a community where the people sharing the secrets may not necessarily be as embarrassed or anonymous as they once would have been prior to the start of this project. This book also includes stories of how people have connected at post secret events. One person who found a loose postcard in a book brought the card and the book with him to a post secret conference and met the author of the post card!

I personally hope that when people come into the store and see that we carry the post secret book they will be inspired to share their secret whether it's profound, profane or not so private.

Hope you enjoy as much as I do!

~Nieves

As a Bookseller, I give myself an F!

I've discovered a new form of bookseller guilt, or "new to me" at least.

Usually my colleagues and I feel terrible when we read backlist books for pleasure when we should be reading those that are soon-to-be released.

What could be worse? Um...NOT READING!!!! Unfortunately, for the last 13 weeks I've read all of maybe 400 pages, total. That's about a book and a half, folks. A book and a half in 13 weeks (3+ months). As a person employed in the book industry, that's unbelievably pathetic, and I feel like I should be shunned from the bookselling community. I should retreat to my little apartment in Amherst and not come out until I've read at least 15 of the big fall books. I should be made to write readers' reports and give a book talk to my bosses.

Unfortunately, every time I pick up a book, the words leap off the page in a way that makes my head spin and my sense of balance collapse.

Yup...I'm pregnant.

My husband and I couldn't be happier that we're expecting, but I never thought I'd have to temporarily give up my favorite thing even before the child was born! (I'm thinking of adequate punishment for when the kid comes. Tickle monster seems appropriate.)

Luckily, I'm nearly at the end of my first trimester and I am anxiously awaiting my second trimester burst of energy when I can do more than sleep, work, and attempt to keep down food.

So, what is the ONE book I read in full during these last few months you ask? It was Awista Ayub's HOWEVER TALL THE MOUNTAIN: A DREAM, EIGHT GIRLS AND A JOURNEY HOME. In 2004, less than 10 years after the Taliban took over Afghanistan and three years after the attacks on the World Trade Center, Awista Ayub (a native of Afghanistan who moved to the States when she was two-years-old) brought 8 young girls from her home country to the United Stated to learn how to play soccer.

While I felt the writing could have used a little bit of work, the stories of these eight girls and of the author herself are so moving that a few imperfect sentences don't take away from its overlying message. Many of these young girls grew up in one-room huts, weren't allowed to go to school for long periods of time under the Taliban's rule, and had to walk through streets/fields that still had unexploded bombs buried underground.

Yet, despite these their everyday struggles and terrors, these eight girls and their family members (many of them women) have such strength and wisdom in them that you're left in complete awe and amazement of their ability to simply keep moving forward. For anyone interested in sports, women's issues, and the state of Afghanistan today, this book is well worth a look.

Emily Russo Murtagh

Ode to the Coffee Table Book

Dear Coffee Table Book,

It's been some time now since I've admired your glossy photo pages and larger format. Since I first cracked your spine, you've enchanted me with your miscellaneous in-depth information about a subject on which I will never be tested, but which deeply enriches some part of my soul. I drool on your full-page pictures and snippets of accompanying text, giving me tantalizing glimpses into worlds I'll probably only ever read about. You allow me to travel far beyond my resources, hampered only by the confines of my imagination; as I turn each page for further glances at sumptuous displays of color and life, I fancy myself able to jump right into that place and time, like Mary Poppins, Jane, and Michael popped into Burt's sidewalk sketches. One day, I hope to be able to offer you a place in my permanent collection; when I'm curled up in bed on an early morning, during a rainy afternoon, or at the end of a long day, I can comfort myself with lavish daydreams fueled by your bright renderings of unfamiliar landscapes, settings, and situations. Thank you for the countless hours of eye candy you've offered me.

Forever yours,

Rebecca E. Fabian


Nieves recommends these to put on your coffee table:

The Black Book is empty, perfect for guests to sketch, color, write, or otherwise decorate with a message for you.

How to Be an Explorer of the World is great for those awkward silences with people you don't really know, but your good friend has brought along anyway.


Skye suggests Dissection, to make all guests feel warm and at home in your space. (Okay, I added that part as a bit of snarky fun, but really, she says it's fascinating and highly recommends it.)

Spooky reading ahead...

So it is the time of year when I love to pick up a spooky book, sit back with a mug of hot cider and let the good frights roll...




Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book won the Newberry Medal last year and I can only agree that it was well deserved! This book about a boy named Nobody or "Bod" for short, it tells the tale of an unlikely childhood spent in a graveyard not unlike London's famed Highgate Cemetery.





John Connolly writes mostly mystery but he returns to a similar format which fans of his The Book of Lost Things will be happy to read about. The Gates takes place in a small English neighborhood where a young boy, Samuel Johnson, witnesses the creation of pure evil. Evil in the form of four bored neighbors who become possessed by demons intent solely on opening up the gates of hell before Halloween night has ended. With the unlikely help of his dachshund, young Samuel Johnson will try to put an end to evil's reign over his small village.





Lastly I have not yet picked up Audrey Niffenegger's new novel Her Fearful Symmetry but I have been told that it is not at all similar to her wildly popular Time Traveler's Wife. It is a fantastical plot about a ghost, two sets of twins, and one befuddled bachelor who becomes entangled in his own love triangle between the living and the dead. I've read an excerpt posted on the New York Times website and while it bears no real relation to her popular first novel I think it is more closely related to the macabre Niffenegger that I first discovered in her illustrated story The Three Incestuous Sisters.

I hope that the new chill in the air will inspire you too to sit back with a warm blanket and maybe get some chills unrelated to the weather!