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!

One More Thing...

I didn't get to go to BEA this year (Book Expo, the book world's huge trade show/carnival) as it was in California which was a bit of a bummer. I'm pretty much over it at this point but there is one thing I am still regretting...I missed out on a private party/concert by Prince. AT HIS HOUSE!!!

I saved my invitation just the same.

Shop Talk

For the back page of the upcoming New York Times Book Review Leanne Shapton (former bookseller and author of Was She Pretty) drew sketches of booksellers at independent bookstores around New York City and asked them the following questions: "Have you ever kicked anyone out? Do you correct customers' pronunciation? What's the strangest thing anyone has left behind?"

In the hopes of having Ms. Shapton come to Brookline to sketch me I have taken it upon myself to answer her questions in advance.

Have you ever kicked anyone out? No. But my fear of doing so is exactly why I never wanted to become a manager. I have asked people who use their outside-voices while on their cell phones to please keep it quiet. The nasty-look versus embarrassed-grimace response is about 1:1.

Do you correct customers' pronunciation? No, but I put try to put them out of their misery as soon as I realize they're looking for books by J.M. Coetzee (by the way, it's kind of like this: cut-TSEE-uh). I do always smile bigger when I'm at the register and ask someone how they are and they reply with "well" rather than "good."

What's the strangest thing anyone has left behind? I can't think of anything really good at the moment but I can say that I haven't had to purchase an umbrella since I started working in a bookstore. Helpful hint if you get caught in the rain: ask at a bookstore if there are any spare umbrellas in the lost and found--it's a good bet you'll get lucky.

And to make this more interesting, my most awkward customer interaction (of late): I recently had a very odd exchange with a customer when I was at the register. She came up to me and gushed, "Has anyone ever told you you look just like Anne Frank? You look just like Anne Frank!" Er, no. But thank you?

On a pretty unrelated note:
This week's NYTBR reviews The Drunkard's Walk by George Johnson. Cool. Extra-cool? The illustrations for the review are by Jessica Hagy!

The Year is Half Over...How Did That Happen?

So I could share with you (and remind myself!) of what I've been reading I started a couple lists...now I just have to make sure I keep them updated!

I've been so busy with rep appointments and I want to share all the awesome books coming soon, but it might have to wait for a bit...which will be good as it will give me a chance to go through the catalogs again to remind me of what's coming!

A fall book from Simon and Schuster that I already finished and loved is French Milk by Lucy Knisley. It's a graphic novel travelogue of a month in Paris with her mother. Honestly, I'll be upfront about the fact that there's no real storyline or character development, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and when I was done reading I felt that:

A. I want to go to Paris with my mom
B. I want to go to Paris with Lucy Knisley
C. I want to go to Paris with Lucy Knisley's mom
D. Actually, I'll take any of the above.

I'm not quite sure why I liked this book so much since, with few exceptions, I'm not a big fan of graphic novels (I know, I'm a traitor to my generation). Jessica over at The Written Nerd is a graphic novel whiz/aficionado and has offered me suggestions in the past, but they never took. Maybe it's because this is so simple--a journal of daily visits to the museums, restaurants, and shops. Maybe it's because my favorite things in the world are museums, restaurants, and shops. Or maybe it's just that the snoop in me really appreciated that I got to read someone's diary.

Related Notes:

The only other graphic novels I've really gotten into are by Jeffrey Brown (his most recent is Little Things). Apparently I really like my graphic novels as autobiographical petit fours.

Perhaps it is not surprising that I enjoyed the book Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling.


Unrelated Note:

Apparently The Book Bench, the New Yorker's book blog has linked to me. First thought: Wow! Second thought: Why? I'm not very good at articulating why I like the books I do, I'm a horrible writer, and I ignore this thing for stretches of inimitable length. Perhaps this means I need to step up my game. Or this means I will not long be linked with such estimable company. Time will tell.

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

Galley Grab!

It's been a while since I've done one of these, but they're lots of fun (at least I think so) so I'll try to remember to do them more often (especially now--Alie and I have just started meeting with our reps for the fall season which means they bring lots of new galleys for us. Yay!)

On with the freebies...

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

This was originally self-published, but it got such great attention that it got picked up by HarperCollins; they'll be releasing the spiffed-up version in August (you can read about it in this article by the Boston Globe). The Lace Reader, set in Salem, is the story of Towner Whitney, a woman who has a complicated relationship with her family--women known to be lace readers (those who can read a person's destiny through examining a piece of lace) and known to be a bit removed from the norms of society. Towner had left Salem under difficult circumstances, but is compelled back after her beloved Aunt Eva goes missing. The ensuing drama forces Towner to come to terms with her family, her past, and her gifts (and has a kicker of an ending). You can find out a lot more here.

I read The Lace Reader a couple of months ago and really liked it--a great read with an intricate plot and interesting characters. Though it's described as a mystery, it isn't really...to me it's more of an exploration of abuse and loss and family. I especially recommend it to all the Jodi Picoult fans out there.

Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha by Jack Kerouac

Wake Up is a biography of the Buddha that Kerouac wrote in the '50s as he was developing a fascination with Buddhism. I gave a copy of this to Ric as he's both in charge of our Eastern Religion section and a fan of Kerouac (Scripture of the Golden Eternity is a particular recommendation of his), but I have another copy for you as well!

And finally, Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer

Be a hero to your kids and have them be the envy of their friends by giving the an advance copy of the new Artemis Fowl book, the sixth book in Colfer's series about a teenage genius of dubious moral character and the alternate world he discovers filled with fairies, trolls, and the like. (for ages ten and up

If you'd like any of these, just leave me a comment with your first name and I'll put it on hold for you behind the register!

The New Percy Jackson Book Has Arrived!

Oh my gods, I can't believe I forgot to mention this earlier--Battle of the Labyrinth, the fourth book in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan arrived! Yippee! I wanted to grab one right out of the box on Tuesday morning and start reading but restrained myself. Instead I took home Titan's Curse, the third book, to reread before I start on book four (in true good-book fashion, I missed my T stop last night as a result). I leave for Florida later tonight which gives me three hours of uninterrupted time with Percy, Annabeth and Grover! Yay!

I'm also taking The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson as Alie just finished it and cannot stop talking about how amazing it is. And I mean that quite literally. There's a window (well, not really a window, more of a square-shaped hole in the wall) between our offices and I've heard her rave about this book pretty much multiple times a day to anyone and everyone. How can I not try it?