Signs that spring has come to the kids' section

There is no snow on the floor. (There is occasional frozen yogurt on the table.)

We have books like this,

 

this,

and this.


There are new releases in bloom.

Loyal young fans flock to the store, asking if the books they've been waiting for are out yet.



Sorry, Selection fans - The One isn't out yet, though we're happy to reserve it for you. When it shows up on May 6, we promise to rush it to the shelves.


We booksellers are bursting to recommend the ones we've read in advance.


You'll know it's April 8 when Amy and I start racing to handsell you John Corey Whaley's latest.

Also! New Mo Willems! April 1! Not a joke! I repeat, this is not a joke!



It's spring, you guys. It's almost reading-outside weather. Come. Get books.

Super Cheesy Love Story

Maybe it's the advent of spring, maybe it's string of boring non-fiction I've just plowed through but for some reason I got it in my head last week that I really wanted to read an engrossing novel that is just a basic love story. Something cheesy. Something simple. But something well-written. It's a hard balance to strike but here are some recommendations if you're in the mood for love, too:

Old Favorites

A Room With a View. Genteel girl, social outcast boy. Will they, won't they, love triangle, Italy. This book has it all!

The Sky is Everywhere. A heartbreaker of a novel where a girl's sister dies and in the wake while dealing with the grief, the protagonist deals with the seemingly ill-timed first blushes of love.

The Marriage Plot. A love triangle set in the 1980s, with international travel, being in love with someone with bipolar disorder, and unrequited pining. All the good stuff with beautiful writing and super-real characters as only Eugenides can pull off.

And the pile of To-Reads on my nightstand after all my searching:

Delicacy. A French love story in which a young widow finds an unlikely mate in a geeky guy at work.

The Lover. The modernist novella in which a young French teen in Indochina has a saucy affair with a Chinese man.

Justine. Basically a book set in bedrooms. Sold.

Books for a Spring Garden Party

Oh, hello there. Please sit and have a cup of tea. Jeeves is readying the crustless cucumber sandwiches now and the crumpets are fresh from the oven.

So, what did you think of the latest Jodi Picoult? A bit macabre for my tastes? What do you suppose we should read for our upcoming fancy book club?

Oh, you know I quite agree that we should get multiple copies of books at a low cost from the Used Book Cellar at Brookline Booksmith. Quite right. Here's what they have on their ever-so-popular Book Club Picks shelf currently:

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson. A beloved pick for book groups
 missing Downton Abbey. A widower and retired major of the super-traditional British stripe strikes up a friendship with a Pakistani shopkeeper in his sleepy village. Their relationship sparks gossip as it develops into something more.

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. Set in coastal Franklin, Massachusetts in 1940, a lady has taken the postal duties of her town over while the men are at war. But on one fateful day she KEEPS A LETTER, reads it and DOESN'T DELIVER. But rest assured this book will deliver on drama, suspense and juicy historical details.

The Pickup by Nadine Gordimer. A woman's car breaks down in South Africa and a young Arab mechanic comes to her rescue. Their ensuing relationship is weft through taught political and social intrigue in one of Gordimer's best.

Put down your shovels and listen.

Once upon a time, there was a town.



It had its challenges.



For months, the people made the best of things.

 

But after a while, it seemed like nothing would ever change.



Soon, signs began to appear that it wouldn't last forever.

     

The people began preparing for things to come.

   

Slowly, slowly, the world began to look a little different.

    

The wait can seem long.



But we all know what happens when you wait long enough.

Cartoon Heroes

Happy Spring! I'm sure most of you lovely readers are preparing for Passover, Easter or just the end of winter (albeit a very mild/practically nonexistant one)! Things have been very springy here in the store; flowers, bunnies, and matzoh-patterned pot holders adorn our store along with all the other spring holiday goodies just waiting to be brought home!

In my usual preparations for this spring holiday weekend, I have been spending my free time for the past few weeks stitching together brightly colored garments and detangling my unnaturally colored, four-foot-long wigs, and listening to Asian pop music.

I know what you're thinking: "Wait... what?"

Yes, this weekend I will be joining my fellow nerds and attending Anime Boston, New England's largest anime convention. Every year, about 17,000 otaku (anime fans) gather in the Hynes Convention Center (often dressed as their favorite characters) to celebrate their love of anime, manga, video games, J-pop music, and other nerdy type things originating in Asia. It also happens to usually fall on the same weekend as Easter and Passover. So in honor of this glorious event, and to inform those not familiar with anime and its fandom, I will share some of my wealth of knowledge and passion on the subject.

In order to talk about anime, you have to talk about Japan and its history. For most of its history, Japan was basically isolated from the rest of the world. In fact, for about 260 years, it was isolated by policy: Between the year 1600 to the 1860s, no foreigners could enter Japan, save a small number of Dutch and Chinese merchants, who were mainly confined to a small island off the coast of Nagasaki. Some of you may have read David Mitchell's novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which chronicles the story of a Dutch merchant who travels to Nagasaki during this period and falls in love a young female scholar. Beautifully written, this novel gives the reader an excellent picture of life during this unusual period and the clash between two very different cultures.

Then, in 1868, Commodore Perry of the USA sailed into Tokyo Harbor on a huge battle ship and After American Commodore Matthew Perry forcibly opened Japan in 1867, everything changed. Not only did Japan rapidly modernize its government, infrastructure, and society, but culture rapidly changed as well. One of the people most responsible for introducing this cultural change was Yukichi Fukuzawa. Born into a low-ranking samurai family, he went on to learn English, travel around the world, become a translator for the government, and found his own university with an entirely new way of teaching. Basically, he's the most impressive guy ever, and his autobiography is absolutely fascinating.

Since then, Japanese and Western cultures have influenced each other immensely. While Japanese citizens were adopting Western dress and customs, artists such as Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet were becoming inspired by Japanese woodblock prints and incorporating Japanese style into their own work.

Early anime (Japanese animation) and manga (graphic novels) were based largely on the style of Walt Disney, but the style has since developed into its own unique entity which now has become popular in the United States. Cartoons such as Avatar: The Last Airbender are clearly influenced by anime, and many contemporary Western artists have adopted the flat, simplified, kawaii (cute) style epitomized by Sanrio and Hello Kitty. Children's books, too, have adopted this style: French artist Annelore Parot's Kokeshi series clearly imitates that of Sanrio and many other Japanese artists, while Felicia Hoshino's bilingual book Sora and the Cloud uses a much looser, painterly style.

Finally, for the animation enthusiast, I must recommend The World History of Animation. This hefty and rather epic book shows year by year some of the most important works of animation from around the globe, including many Japanese films such as Akira, My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke. Looking through this book, I basically wanted to see as many, if not all, of these films as possible... but I think that would take a long time.

Anyway, I'm really excited about Anime Boston, guys. I look forward to a weekend full of crazy costumes, music, skits, dancing, panels, artists selling stuff, and everything else that happens at these things. If you find yourself in the Copley Place/Prudential Center area, you're sure to see many of my fellow otaku enjoying the weekend. Don't be afraid: even though we look kinda weird, most of us are pretty cool people. You might even see me! I'll have blue hair, if that helps.

 

 

 

If this blog post has inspired you to even join in the festivities, check it out! Create an instant anime costume with our Anime Eyes glasses; it's all you really need to look like a genuine otaku. Grabbing a few of our sushi-themed accessories or cute Japanese erasers can't hurt, either. Banzai!

reading = people watching.

The sign on the horse's blinder says...."stay back I bite." I do not believe this horse bites. I think the owner would prefer drunk "pub-crawl" attendees not commune with Sheila (or whatever the horses name is.)

Either way I stood there, this past Saturday (in what felt like spring) and photographed the horse.
I was a bit tired from roaming the aquarium, that when I noticed a drunk broseph stumble over to my subject....

I didn't warn him about the sign on Sheila. I think part of me wanted to see if the written warning was truthful. Then I heard myself think that, and said (to myself) did you kinda want to see Sheila bite Logan (or whatever his name is)?

I love people watching, and reading especially good narrative poetry brings me closer to a humanity that I'm often distanced from.

On the trip home, I didn't have anyone sitting in front of me to creepily watch. That's where having a collection of kick-ass poetry comes in. The good stuff is better than hoping a horse bites a stranger.

Come in and check out our selections of new poetry. There's some filthy-brilliant-sick-funny stuff here. There's tons of staff recommendations to help guide you to the perfect collection...just in time for poetry month! (Or did I miss that?) Either way...It's more entertaining, and makes you look less crazy than say....taking photos of empty seats.

Spring is only 48 days away

Lately I've been trying to think about the future. Not in a lofty what do I want to do with my life way, but in a .... two months from now this snow nightmare will (probably) be a distant memory way. For instance, by the first day of spring, which is coincidentally my birthday, the days will be longer by at least an hour and all 298 feet of this snow will probably have melted away -- we'll have our sidewalks and parking spots back! But, I have a couple of other things to look forward to as well.

First, Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, one of my favorite books of ALL RECORDED TIME, will be coming to our very own store to launch the paperback version of her book. This will be happening on May 11th. The weather will be mild and sunny (I personally guarantee it,) and from what I've seen on YouTube (readings she did at other bookstores,) she is engaging and full of interesting stories. I can't wait for this. Perhaps I can take the opportunity to convince her to write a sequel.

The second exciting thing to look forward to, also in May, is a new book by Erik Larson. He is the author of my other favorite book of all recorded time, The Devil in the White City, as well as Isaac's Storm and Thunderstruck. His new one is called In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. (Click on the link for a synopsis.) I haven't read it yet so I can't vouch for its awesomeness, but it's bound to be at least pretty darn good, right? He is one hell of a story teller. I also promise mild weather and sunny skies while you are reading this book.

In between now and then, take care out there in that icky snow!