Overheard in the Used Book Cellar & more proof kids are awesome and weird...really really weird.

I was informed by Jodie this morning that she overheard a little girl, no more than 4 or 5 years old, looking at the used kids books... pulling on her father's sleave and then asking point blank:

"Do they steal these books from little kids?"

Her father assured her that the other children were done with the books, and that they brought them here so other kids could enjoy them.

Now- there is so much happening in this exchange I get flushed with excitement. This BRILLIANT little girl saw that our used books were in fact "used". She may have seen bitten chewed and gently torn pages, with elephantine handwriting identifying previous owners something to the effect of :

Photo courtesy of my niece Maggie. (Such an accurate likeness of my proportions might I add)

Anyway back to the thought...This little girl posed a great question to her dad, one that required some upper level thinking and abstraction. One possible option for her train of thought:

-These books aren't new

-These books aren't new because ANOTHER KID LIKE ME has read them, a lot.

-Why would this other kid want to part with a well used/loved book?



Therefore:


Elf-like booksellers sneak into local family homes, and steal children's books to turn around and sell or ransom back to other children.


I really hope this was the logic, because it's kinda dark, and mostly spectacular. This little girl must be a reader, and I really hope she comes back in with more wildly legitimate questions.

Oh, and worry not, our used books were not stolen, and mostly unchewed upon.

The Season of wilting. Rescue-reading for summer-haytaz.

I have no business staying in New England when the heat comes a-creepin down from the backsa' my knees. No business. It's this time of year I'm without fail-RELIEVED to walk into work everyday. Even without AC it is cooler here. Most people get all sad and mopey in the winter, but for me (and I imagine some other Nordic-types), this is the season for sadness. The season for sunburn, high- happiness expectations, baroque displays from mother nature, (that 80's tart) and a complete reminder that we are in fact sitting in meat cages. Oppressive, oppressive meat cages.

Some reading to go with that thought:

The Cow, by Ariana Reines. We have this one in the store, it is the most profound collection of poems on the human diet, the human body, the self. This collection is a syntactical mind-f#$k. I keep thinking about this book. POETS.....READ THIS, POETRY APATHISTS: READ THIS.

next,

The Room, by Emma Donoghue If you didn't read it in hardcover, worry not. It is in paperback. You will want to kiss me on the mouth (hard) and do my dishes after you read this gripping, beautiful intense read. here it is in :ebook form: I cannot overemphasize enough, if you read one book this summer, make it thissun.

For parent with non-sleepin' kiddoz:

check this book out. Dear lord, check this book out.

For reasons you will soon understand, no pictures will be offered. Trust the link ...trust it.

And finally from our Card& Gift room: This adorable med-lugging tin box. (other designs as well, but today, yes today this one just feels so right. So so right.

Last thought of this depressing post comes form Jezebel.com. Wow. This is where we live.

For real last thought,

It's cool in here. We have water outside, and cookies inside for you dogs, and a crazy selection of everything for you. Come by and cheer me up.

Now you can use your Booksmith gift card to buy an e-book!

Don't live in Brookline anymore?


-or-

Want to send a gift to someone who doesn't live here anymore either, but who still totally misses us?

Now they can buy our ebooks, or ye olde-timey paper & ink books online with a Brookline Booksmith gift card!

Just order one here, or call 617.566.6660

We will pop one in the mail for you or your loved one to buy some great books. You'll also be supporting your local indie bookstore, from anywhere in the world!



Top secret: These are our new gift cards!!! They will be available in the very near future...I will unfurl a shriek of joy for all to hear. These cards, well...they're kinda my babies. My pretty, advanced, way above average babies. I mean their Apgar score was a 9.47. Proud Mama.

Elizabeth Berkley; still making smart cool.

The event for her new book Ask Elizabeth was quite moving. Berkley was eloquent and composed, chatty and accessible. She even took a moment to make fun of some of her more famous choreography.

I wanted to write about this event because it was special in a few ways. Elizabeth Berkley is on the NYT best seller list, and she chose to start her talk by thanking our store. She launched into a riff about the importance of independent bookstores, and keeping communities individual, and being out among other people interacting with the world, in a manner that can't be achieved through a square interface. (my weird wording not hers.)

I grew up loving her character Jessie Spano, the leggy nerd who made being smart and commanding look cool. She got behind our podium in her 5" Louis Vuittons and was pushing 6'5". The advice she gave about self image was "If you are uncomfortable being the tall girl, then buy heels and be taller." I left the event surprised and energized. The audience asked so many great questions and she handled them all with an articulate passion.

Ask Elizabeth is now officially a nonprofit (501)c3 ...learn more about it :here:

Perhaps the best part of her talk was the moment she crossed her hands fast in a nod to her (now) cult classic, Showgirls. Berkley is super engaging because she is honest, humble and appears to be deeply committed to her work. (Bonus points for shouting out the indies!)

Nice move Random House! It isn't cheaper in the jungle anymore!

Random House announced that it will reverse its decision and sell their ebooks at a set price, effectively leveling the market for indies to sell RH's books at the same price as Amazon. HOW COOL IS THAT? You can buy your ebooks from us : here : and know that amazon isn't selling most major publishing house-titles for cheaper! (They were losing an average of $6 dollars a book, to monopolize the market, then drive their prices up...sound familiar wallmartskies?) This means you can continue to support your local independent bookstore for all you reading needs, including ebooks. If you have a kindle, here's a trick for making your reader read epub (our) books. *It's a secret.

We want to provide our customers with options. If you want to read ebooks, and support us...you can! More and more publishers (all the big ones) have a set price for their ebooks, so that ugly thing Amazon does may become a thing of the past...at least with ebooks.

Kate's Holiday Tip #3..../ It feels like you are all here...in the store...right now!!!!

As if I need to exhibit any more proof of my suspect childhood...here comes Kate's second to last Holiday tip. Sigh.


Imagine everyone today....as a deer.

So- for whatever reason, when I am in large crowds, I start to imagine everyone as deer. I imagine them as the deer version of themselves...skinny jeans, glasses, baby bjorns, spandex, converse.....whatever they are wearing, they continue to wear, but as deer...deer with purses, messenger bags and helmets, deers with bags of gifts, and 20oz of hot coffee...

I have done this for as long as I can remember. When it happens- I find it soothing to think of people as my favorite spirit animal.

So during this stressful and frantic final week before gifty Mc-Gorge town....remember you can cover everyone on your list in this one store...for reals...then ...take a moment to breathe, close your weary eyes....and imagine a deer in a plaid scarf blogging at a messy desk in the back of the bustling booksmith.

Now, I'm gonna go get some free Taza chocolate from that pretty deer at the front.

Oh deer.

Hungry Eyes...Influence and Duende...Sorta

I chose this title just so while you are reading this....the song will be stuck in your head and contributing to any unintentional pathos found herein. Yesterday after work I swam home and turned on the AC and TLC....(the ladies' channel) I watched "Say Yes to the Dress" and ate some goldfish while reading poetry by Louise Gluck. I find no irony in this.

I then went on Facebook wherein I saw that my fella had taken the "I write like" test, and apparently...according to this kitschy little monstrosity....he writes like David Foster Wallace. I of course had to put in my "work" and low and behold...I too write like DFW. This got me thinking...doesn't everyone writing/ thinking in this postpostpost- modernity kinda write like DFW....in a reference rich simulacrum of conscilience? Then I found this AP article on the whole phenomena http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j93L3sF-VA-F548doKe70er5uD0wD9H0DAU81
The little nugget about Herman Melville writing more like Steven King than himself is just delightful.

It brings up an interesting idea about influence. That is why when I write I like to have reality television on in the background. I like to know a lot about Angelina Jolie and Ochocinco. I think it keeps me present and keeps my brain from swimming too deeply in Lorca's duende. I think it is important that we treat all media...well....most media with care...and by care I mean...acknowledgment of its presence...because whether we like it or not it is here to stay...and I'd like to have a really clear idea as to what it is I am making fun of, or criticizing...and why.

Twitterpated

As the great & wise Friend Owl said in Bambi, "Nearly everybody gets twitterpated in the springtime." We at the Brookline Booksmith have decided to take these words to heart and just joined Twitter as @booksmithtweets! Tweeting are myself, Katie, and Genie (our Events Director). If you're interested primarily in words of wisdom from Carl and Andrea in our Used Book Cellar then you might be interested in following them @ubcbrookline. We will try not to have a Booksmith twitter throwdown (though that actually sounds kind of fun).



And speaking of owls, Kerri in the card & gift room and I are both crazy for them. She has gotten in THE CUTEST owl stuff for the spring including this wallet which I am buying myself immediately because I always see cute stuff that we have and then never buy it figuring I'm here, you know, everyday and can buy it anytime and then I NEVER DO and it SELLS OUT and I want to SMACK MYSELF. (I apologize for the excitement, but this is what owls do to me). So, dear reader, feel free to come in and snap up these owl wallets because I already have mine, thank you very much.

Little House on the Prarie--The Musical!

Growing up I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder and all her Little House books (I still dress up as Laura for Halloween). My friend Elly loved L.M. Montgomery and all her Anne books. I remember our arguments over which books were better, which while not quite of the my-dad-can-beat-up-your-dad variety were pretty close.

Anne of Green Gables turns 100 this year and has been getting a lot of media attention as a result. Much to my immature delight, however, there was an article in yesterday's New York Times about a new musical version of Little House on the Prairie opening at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Ha! Take that Anne!

Ming Tsai's Boston

I get lots (LOTS!) of emails from publishers, and while I try to read all of them I'll admit I skip over more than I probably should. Today I opened my email from Clarkson Potter (part of Random House, Clarkson Potter focuses on cooking) and saw a link to a little interview with Ming Tsai about some of his Boston favorites.

In case you don't know Chef Tsai, he owns Blue Ginger, an acclaimed restaurant (that I really hope to try when I have a reason to splurge) near our sister store in Wellesley and is the author of the cookbook Blue Ginger, a classic that has been on our shelves since it was first published in 1999!

Note to self: Must head to Porter Exchange to try Sapporo Ramen.

Note to you: If you'd like to sign up for Clarkson Potter's Recipe Club newsletter you can subscribe by sending an email to sub_potter@info.randomhouse.com

Brookline Booksmith In the News

We've gotten some awfully great press lately and I just wanted to share how exciting it is to everyone here. We think we're awfully cool (well, I'm not so cool, but the store is!), so it's nifty when others agree! Read on...

** April's Boston magazine lists "The 61 New Best Things About Boston." Coming it at #36 is the poet Charles Coe, who kindly tips his hat to Brookline Booksmith and McIntyre and Moore as two of the best things in Boston. Thanks Mr. Coe!

**April's Lola magazine features Hannah Richards, founder of The Colored Pencil Project. They asked her to list the ten things in Boston she can't live without. Number one? Killing time at Brookine Booksmith! Ms. Richards made our day when she said "I love everything about it--the creaky floors [note--glad someone likes 'em...], the sales in front, the staff." Aww, thanks. We love you too!

**Boston.com listed "25 Things to Do in Boston for Under $25" and coming in at #13 is attend a book reading at the Booksmith or the Harvard Book Store, our friends across the river. Cool!

**And last, but not least, just as Alie was recently featured in the Boston Globe's Book Reviews for her "Pick of the Week," this past Sunday was Dana's turn in the sun. She recommended Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. You can read what she said here (just scroll to the bottom).

Not too shabby, my friends, not too shabby. (By the way, I'm grinning like a fool.)

Our Bestselling Titles of 2007

Happy New Year!

I thought I would add to the never-ending end-of-the-year roundups that happen right about now (What can I say? I'm a sucker for lists). So here is the Brookline Booksmith Top 25 Titles of 2007:

25. Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks
(pretty impressive that this book made the list considering it has been out only three months!)
24. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
23. Intuition by Allegra Goodman
22. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
21. Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
20. Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
19. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
18. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
17. How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman
16. The Gathering by Anne Enright
(by the way, you can come meet her at our event on Friday, February 15th!)
15. The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon
14. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
13. Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
12. The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud
11. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

And now for the top ten...
10. Boston Restaurants 2007/08 by Zagat
9. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
8. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
7. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
6. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
5. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky
4. The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
3. Fist Stick Knife Gun by Geoffrey Canada
2. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

And drum roll please...our bestselling book of the year...
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Here's to another awesome year of fantastic books!

You Can't Stop the Beat

I just recently went to see Hairspray -- the musical-based on a Broadway musical-based on a John Waters film -- and fell in love with it. It reminds me of the best parts of classic musicals--singing and dancing and costumes, yes, but also just the incredible joy of being alive (and a happy ending doesn't hurt). If you haven't seen it yet, go mama go, go, go! (If you have and you got the reference, good for you!)

I actually grew up loving musicals. Near my house was an old-fashioned movie house called The Redford Theater. It showed classics on the big screen with an organ performance and cartoon shorts before the show, an intermission when the organ played again(!), and a ceiling painted to look like the sky with little twinkling lights for stars.

On their website you can actually see a film database with the schedules from the 1970s through today, and if you want to know the movies that shaped me growing up, this is your best way to learn--just pick any year in the mid to late '80s. I was looking at the schedule for 1988, and I have no doubt that I was in the audience for West Side Story and Meet Me In St. Louis and Showboat and Oklahoma.

So, the whole point of this exercise in nostalgia is to let you know how jazzed I am that Rough Guides has come out with a new book in their series of film guides: The Rough Guide to Film Musicals by David Parkinson. It is fan-freaking-tastic for both the beginner and old pro. I learned more about musicals I thought I already knew and am glad to have added some to my needs-to-be-seen list (Love Me Tonight, how have we never met?).

Mr. Parkinson is very informed--this is not a piece of fluff, but neither is it overstuffed with film-school jargon. I also like that he is opinionated (except, of course, for when I disagree...) without being condescending towards the films or his readers.

I should note that this is part of a great series that Rough Guides does on film. I'm quite familiar with The Rough Guide to Chick Flicks by Sam Cook, but there are also books on American Independent Film, Film Noir, Westerns, and others. I'm of the opinion that they are way better than most of the film guides out there.

Speaking of musicals, the store is quite quiet for a Friday night during the summer. Me thinks it is all the kids at home watching High School Musical 2. Darn it, why aren't I?

Making the Big Times (New York Times, That Is)

So, Dana, our fearless store manager and co-owner was quoted in the New York Times the other day! You can read the article here; it's a look at the phenomenal sales of the diet book Skinny Bitch. What's interesting about the sales at our store is that they all happened pretty much before the Victoria Beckham publicity. In fact, our sales of the book have gone down since May, when the picture of her carrying the book was taken.

(Of course, as I say this I just checked our inventory and we've sold out of the copies we had on hand--all those sales being yesterday and today! Must be a result of the article? Ah well, I'll try to get more on Monday.)

Now, I don't want to offend the 203 customers who have bought the book from us, but I hate it. With a passion. As a buyer I get to have some choice in what we stock; the best part of my job is getting to create an inventory of books that I think are worth my customer's time and money, but this is one of those cases where I just have to turn the other cheek.

I shouldn't really be so judgemental, having only skimmed the book, but I have a hard time just getting past the title. I've never been comfortable using the word 'bitch' casually. We have another great seller at our store called You Say I'm a Bitch Like It's a Bad Thing, another one for which I just can't understand the appeal. I'm glad if it gives you a chuckle, but it just gives me the willies. Ah well, different strokes for different folks.

By the way, if you want a great book on nutrition my recommendation is 10 Habits that Mess Up a Woman's Diet: Simple Strategies to Eat Right, Lose Weight, and Reclaim Your Health by Elizabeth Somer. This is one that actually helped me take a look at how I could change my diet without turning myself into a food-obsessed bore. Another fascinating and fun read is Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think by Brian Wansink. The book is full of clever experiments done by Mr. Wansink (a university professor with his own lab devoted to how we relate to food) and other scientists and psychologists that explore the hows and whys of eating beyond hunger. It reminds me of Malcom Gladwell's work with its quirky yet revelatory insights, and though its not really a prescriptive book I did find that it made me much more aware of how I eat.

Galley Grab!

Hello all! I thought I would offer up a couple galleys today. First come, first served. Just leave me a comment with the title of the book that interests you; I'll put the book on hold for you to pick up at the store.

Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician by Daniel Wallace
Here's a tip--this is going to be the #1 Book Sense pick for July. Stephen Grutzmacher from Passtimes Books in Sister Bay, WI said this: "Daniel Wallace tells the story of Henry Walker, a magician who disappears as a child and spends the rest of his life trying to make himself reappear. A haunting, beautifully written story where nothing, including the truth, is what it seems."

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
Every year at BEA there is a panel called the "Buzz Forum," where editors from the major houses each give their pick for the upcoming season, and this was Suzanne Porter of Random House's choice. This is a debut novel, a fictional account of Frank Lloyd Wright and his affair with Mamah Cheney.

The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin
Toobin gives a recent history of the Supreme Court with great access to the justices and other key players.

Follow the links to read more about each.

How I Spent My Weekend

I think I'm still overwhelmed, but I want to catch you (and myself!) up with what I did over the rest of the weekend. After I finished blogging on Friday I went across the hall for a presentation on a major new study that had been done on customer beliefs and feelings towards Internet, chain, and independent bookstores. The first slides went up and I nearly fell off my chair--Brookline Booksmith was one of the independent bookstores included in the survey! I wasn't sure if I wanted to be there for the results, but we did well. Phew! Thanks to all our customers who participated in the survey. I did actually have to sneak out in the middle of the presentation so I could go meet Jonathan Bean. Yes, I was the crazy one who ran across the entire Javits to get a signed book and then ran all the way back to the presentation.

I only spent a bit more time on the floor before leaving for the hotel in Brooklyn--I had to gussy myself up for a party that night. It was thrown by Grand Central Publishing (nee Time Warner) and held at, where else, Grand Central Station. Amy Sedaris was there, and I complemented her on her fabulous dress. I actually didn't even realize it was her until after I had walked away; by then it was too late to backtrack and gush. That's probably for the best.

Saturday morning I spent speed dating with children's authors--twenty tables were set up, eight booksellers at each, and then there were 20 authors who changed tables every three minutes. Yowza! Some of the authors really fed off the crazy energy that was created, though I'm sure they were all exhausted at the end. I was really glad to meet Christopher Paul Curtis, a fellow Michigander (we gave each other the point-to-where-you're-from-on-the-palm salute); Peter McCarty brought his journal and original watercolors to show us how Fabian Escapes developed; Christopher Myers was absolutely hilarious.

The rest of my time is a blur of meetings, autographs, placing orders, and walking, walking, walking. I made sure to leave time for visiting art publishers and sampling what they have coming up (a picture in a catalog just doesn't do justice to so many of these books) and perusing the small presses for titles that I might otherwise never have known about. I also participated in an experiment by Cornell University's Taste Science Laboratory! You can read about the results of their preliminary research from last year's BEA here. I did get a signed copy of My Mother the Cheerleader (I found out Robert Sharenow, the author, is a local guy!), and of Sophia Nash's A Dangerous Beauty, but wasn't able to get everything on my list. Don't feel too bad for me--I found plenty others I didn't even know I was looking for.

It's time for me to put this year's BEA to bed now--it was quite an unbelievable experience and I am so thankful that I was able to go. Now back to our regularly scheduled program...

State of Massachusetts

This year Publisher's Weekly has been taking weekly in-depth looks at the state of book selling in each state; up recently was the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The last bit of the article is a profile of my boss, Marshall Smith. In his honor, we here at Brookline Booksmith love the flagrant use of the suffix -smith. Exhibit A: Our information desk, lovingly referred to as Infosmith. Exhibit B: Brookline Blogsmith.

Guerrillas In Our Midst

Because I have never left my high school mentality of needing to know what people are saying about me I tend to Google "brookline booksmith" fairly often to see what pops up. Today Google Blog Search brought up the blog for these folks, the Guerilla Poetics Project (Perhaps part of the guerrilla nature of the group is to misspell guerrilla? Just wondering). It seems we have been targeted for guerrilla poetry, which I personally think is super-cool and makes me want to forget work and go through all our fiction and poetry to see if an operative has hidden any other gems. I read some of the broadsides online, and am impressed not only by the poetry (though I can't say I love them all, but I guess that's the prerogative of the artists' recipient) but the aesthetics of the prints as well. Now that I have outed them I'm afraid these little presents will disappear. Especially since I might represent the oppressive system. Secret operative, please keep hiding poems in our books! Stuff like this makes me love the possibilities of literature.