Not-so Rural Juror

Often when I'm selling (or buying) a stack of delicious books I quip that I wish I could sell time to read the books as well. But last week I got a very real dose Official Time to Read: jury duty on my day off (GLAD TO DO MY PART AMERICA)!

The morning of said jury duty I was only about 30 pages in to what was swiftly becoming my favorite book of all time; Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, Jorge Amado's novel that is all at once a Cinderella story, a gossiply fable about cocoa-rich city in Brazil and a sex-and-food-infused-pleasure-spike to my end-of-winter doldrums.

And when I got jury duty (on my day off might I remind you) in CHELSEA (I live in Allston and do not own a car) I had a government sanctioned block of at least two hours with nothing to do but read. And when I arrived at the courthouse, I got 5 more hours to read before being discharged of my civic duties and by the end of my weekend I had finished all 425 pages of the novel. It was great, it was amazing, everyone should read it every day of their lives. And if you like to read, I hope you get jury duty sometime soon as I wholeheartedly endorse the amount of time you will get to read undisturbed in a room.

P. S. We have a used copy of Gabriela in now RUN DON'T WALK.

April Fool!

I confess: that last blog post was a lie. Excited as we are to put out holiday books again, we also love the rest of the year. Including April Fools' Day. Looking for December holiday books? Come back in... okay, October.

Only 9 shopping months until Christmas! 8 until Hanukkah!

A little less, actually, and we in the kids' section aren't going to waste any more time. That's why we've started replacing our picture book display wall with a holiday display. Feel like it's been too long since you've seen old friends like Santa and the Grinch, Hershel and Judah Maccabee? So do we.

   


There's no excuse to wait until the last minute, or even the last month. Come on in! Start celebrating!

Bookshelves of Character(s)

I gathered used books you would find on the shelves of beloved fictional characters.

We have quite a spread in the UBC, so it wasn't too tricky! See for yourself!

Gabriela's bookshelf would have tasty cookbooks (not that she needs help in that department), stories about carnivals which she loves, and a magical realist romp with voodoo to remind her of her friends.

Jane's bookshelf would be utilitarian but fanciful: travel stories, books to brush up on her French, drawing and teaching techniques.

For the time traveller in all of us: guilty pleasure mysteries from the 20s, a Pamuk novel to remember one's travels to Constantinople, the new Mantel to hearken back to the days of Cromwell (in which she was totally alive) and some Alexander Pope. Original first edition, probably signed.

Books, man.

I'm seeing my baby sister and brother tomorrow.  They'd probably be mad at me for calling them babies, simply because they're teenagers now, complete with cell phones, facebook profiles, and a sense of agency.  I don't care, we have over a decade age difference and I've changed their diapers. You can't go back from that.

While I was packing, I asked them both if they wanted anything.  My brother gave me a list of graphic novels he wanted, and my sister seemed to shrug across the phone.  "I haven't read anything good lately.  Can you pick something for me?" I tried to figure out exactly what she wanted, but she stayed non-committal.

So, here it is: the list of books I am bringing for my 14-year-old baby sister which may contain her new favorite book or may collect dust, depending on her preference.

LIST OF BOOKS FOR MY 14YO BABY SISTER
-A galley of Daniel Wallace's Kings and Queens of Roam.  Big Fish was excellent, maybe she's in the mood for some magical realism!
-Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, but with the express instructions to read it at the beginning of June.
-Ned Vizzini's The Other Normals, because I thought it was hilarious.
-Jaclyn Moriarty's The Corner of White. Epistolary style! Fantasy!
-A beat-up copy of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, because she should have one.
-Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, also because she should have one.

(Personal to my sister: if/when I run out of clothing, know it's because I used most of my space bringing books home for you, so now you have to buy me dresses. I just put it out to the Internet so it has to happen, Internet rule.)

In which Amy enthuses about endings

Hullo Blogsmith readers, I am not Shoshana. I'm Amy, another children's bookseller, and I would like to take a minute or six to talk about something we've all experienced: finishing a series.

The end of a beloved book series is a unique sort of agony. (Yes, I used the word 'agony' and, no, I don't regret it or think that I am overreacting). It's the kind of pain that starts off as a little dull pang in your chest, perhaps the first time you hold the book in your hands. You look down at it, your excitement likely visible to the naked eye, and you are suddenly frozen. You have it. The balm to soothe your question fevered brain, the answers, all in your hands, ready to be consumed with undoubted vigor. This is the moment you have been waiting for.

But you can't open it just yet.

To open it is to start on the last leg of an adventure. To be forced to say goodbye to friends you might even know better than yourself. Once you start you'll have to finish. Once you finish, it's over. It can't be over! These characters are supposed to grow up and grow old with you! It's not right!

Inevitably, you take a breath and open the book.

You might laugh, or cry, or get so mad you want to throw the book (but you would never do that, right?...Right?!). You'll feel the remaining pages dwindle under your fingers. Maybe you don't notice, or maybe you nervously watch the number count higher and higher as you get closer to the end. Sometimes you even slow down, realizing so little is left.

But the moment always comes.

It's over.

This last week, Clockwork Princess, the final book of Cassandra Clare's The Infernal Devices series, was released. I took release day off so that I could sit down and read the entire thing undisturbed. I even put a note up online declaring that I would be unreachable. Both my computer and my phone were turned off and I expressed a strict unwillingness to answer my room door unless there was a serious emergency.

And though Clare wrote a wonderful and fitting end to the trilogy, I had that moment. That heart aching, how-could-it-possibly-be-over moment. I sat stunned. I was feeling so many different things at once. But Jem! Will! And what about Tessa? It didn't seem possible that I outlived them. Because that is what it felt like, my friends were gone. I spent a couple of days refusing to read anything else. I just wanted to think about it. Think about what I'd had and what it felt like I'd lost.

Even now, a week later, I still have the book on my mind and strong desire to hunt down everyone who's read it and talk to them. I watch the shelf, waiting to see someone pick it up, just so I can express my, hopefully mutual, excitement. I'm not done with it. I have so much to talk about still!

So, if you have so many feelings after Clockwork Princess that you feel like you're bursting, or you just think you can succeed where so many have failed and convince me that Will is better than Jem, come find me. I'll be happy to talk to you. I'm usually in the Young Adult section looking at the shelves and trying to figure out what to read next, or where I've heard of that one book, or why they can't just all fit nicely in place.

That aside, I don't think you have to like this series, or even young adult books, to get swept up in the end of a series. To get caught in that freezing moment where it seems so unjust that things have to end. Things always do. Eventually that series will end and you'll be left with this part of your life that is suddenly over. It's the curse (or, a curse, rather) of the book lover. We make so many friends only to have them ripped away.

You'll never be able to replicate the experience of the first time you read a certain book, but there's small comfort in knowing that you can always start all over again. 

It's What's Inside That Matters

Devotees of the store, and the UBC in particular, may already be well acquainted with our Find of the Week, in which B-Mail author Paul selects the things Carl and I fish out of the many books that cross our counters and captures their essence with captivating captions. But almost as fun, intriguing and occasionally unnerving are the little things found written inside the covers. Below are some of my favorites from last week:

Sketches on the inner cover of a novel; perhaps plans for some sort of sinister subterranean Stonehenge?

Har. Har.

Perhaps the best Ex Libris plate I've ever seen? Inside an old Modern Library hardcover.