Post Holiday Buzz

Hope everyone had a lovely Holiday (if you celebrate) filled with great food, great company and great books.

It was a fantastic season here, thanks entirely to this ridiculously supportive and loyal community. Our shelves are looking a little skinny, but we are working feverishly to bulk them back up. We like our inventory curvy...dare I say pin-up-y?

Kerri, our stellar buyer for the card and gift room, did an amazing job providing 99% of the gifts I brought home with me to Providence. The remaining 1% was a handmade coupon with promises of babysitting on it. Am I too old to pull that off?

Anyway- the book club choice is Flannery O'Connor's Wise Blood...and Katie and I couldn't be more excited than if you slapped us silly and called us Martha. After all the Holiday rushing, what's better than taking some time for yourself and reading one of the greatest southern gothic novelists to walk this great land? (me? biased?) So ya' know...get to it.

Hi! I'm Kate too. (2)

Just a quick introduction, I'm Kate Robinson the Assistant Manager here at ye olde 'Smith...I will be posting a bit on industry stuff, ebook fun, and Shop Local & Indie Bound news. I'm really interested the manner in which the ebook is changing the way we look at the book as a commodity. I'm also looking at the scary yet exciting opportunities this provides independent bookstores with; eliciting something outside the virtual...and inside the actual.

Hi everyone,
This is Paul, ancient Booksmithie and newsletter writer, and Katie is just being silly. As of the last few moments, there are now officially two posts, and Genie and Katie are standing near me talking about how more of us are going to get into the act, asap.

Let me put some actual "content" in here:
I LOVE WILLIAM VOLLMANN. And I con't care a bit about his famously questionable personal habits. I'm reading "The Rifles" at the moment, and within one hallucinegenic page I was as enthralled as I've been by any book since I was in grade school and opened "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" for the first time.

Anyway, this wasn't so hard, and I'll be back on here soon.

Blogs are great and all, but come into the store this holiday season, we miss you.

Peace,
Paul

Hello!

Hello, this is Katie, bookseller, events wrangler, flyer-maker, veg cookbook fanatic.

Soon we will get this thing back up and running for real, but probably not 'til after the holidays.

For now, please visit us on Twitter and Facebook. They are some of the best ways to stay up-to-date with the event series and other store happenings as they are happening. Like, when I was startled at the Boston Book Fest by a life-sized Clifford, or when gossips broke celebrity event news (ahem AMY), or the moment a child declared us "the Las Vegas of Brookline."

And join our weekly email list, B-Mail. Do it.

Thank You for Reading!

Hello dear readers, and a fond farewell. I am stepping down from my duties as Brookline Booksmith Blogsmith, but be on the lookout for some new voices in the near future.

Thank you so much for your choice to click that link and give me a read every now and again! I am very grateful.

Staff Picks--Alie

In the past Alie has recommended some really great mysteries: In the Woods by Tana French, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (which is a total suck-you-in and spit-you-out thrill ride that you want to immediately line up for again), Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris (we just got this in paperback today! I can also vouch for this as a really great read.) and Field of Blood by Denise Mina.**

Her new recommendation is for K. O. Dahl's The Fourth Man: "Yet another engrossing and captivating Norwegian mystery. There are so many available in English now--but this one stands out. A wonderful mystery and interesting characters."

**You can read all her recommendations here!

A Time To Every Purpose...Including a holiday!

I'm leaving for Detroit tomorrow to spend Passover with my family, but before I go I thought it a good time to mention one of my staff picks for this month--A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew by Jonathan Sarna, a professor of Jewish Studies at Brandeis.

I first read this last autumn, when I was home for Rosh Ha'Shanah. It was in one sitting, on the train between Detroit and Chicago, and now that I think about it I'm surprised by how many of the chapters (each based around a major Jewish holiday or event) I can still clearly remember. Professor Sarna writes in what I would call a wise-but-not-overbearing style (it's a very tricky thing!) and I felt like he was really speaking to me and the exact questions and struggles I've had about what I want to believe and how I want to live and behave as a young Jew in the 21st century--for example, questions about identity, the environment, social justice, and Israel. Stuff like this--meaty and without being didactic--is rare and welcome!

Galley Grab Winners!

Congrats to Melanie and Deb! Come on by to pick up your galleys--they'll be behind the front register.

I do have one more copy of You or Someone Like You if anyone's interested!

And again, I'd love comments or emails about what kind of books you're interested in seeing offered--I aim to please!

Galley Grab!

Hmm, well, as Katie outed me for giving away galleys here on the blog I'd better try to catch my audience while I can. Here are two books that both have to do with reading...something I figure if you're reading my blog then you're, you know, pretty into doing.

You or Someone Like You by Chandler Burr describes the life of Anne Rosenbaum, wife of a movie mogul, after she is asked to lead a book group for Hollywood power-brokers. This might sound zany, but in fact it's pretty heavy. Read an excerpt here.

How to Buy a Love of Reading is a debut novel by Tanya Egan Gibson about parents aghast at their daughter's lack of interest in reading who attempt to combat this by hiring an author to write the perfect novel for her (this one is a bit zany). Read more at the book's website here.

Want one? Leave me a comment with your first name so I can put it on hold for you. I have a few copies of the Burr, only one of the Gibson. Small print: First come, first served. One per person, please. If you've just recently won a galley, maybe hold off on this round, ok?

PS--I'll be leaving for Detroit on Wednesday for a bit of a Passover vacation so if I don't get to your comments right away, please do be patient. Thanks!

The Poems I Know By Heart

In Sunday's NYTimes Book Review Jim Holt writes about his endeavors in memorizing poetry, which led me to think about the poems I know by heart.

Two are fairly standard: William Carlos Williams's "This Is Just to Say" and Robert Frost's "Stopping By Woods On a Snowy Evening."**

Then there are Robert Herrick's poems. Have you read Robert Herrick? Probably not, or if you have it's his carpe diem classic "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" which you know as "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may..." It's ok, but honestly, doesn't do much for me--what I really love is his, um, more, um, randy stuff. The stuff to Julia (and her legs, and breasts, and clothes--especially love the ones about clothes!). The stuff to Sylvia and Anthea and Electra...ah, Electra.

So, here it is, the poem I know by heart (I think I might be revealing a bit too much about myself with this one, but hey, what else are blogs written for anonymous readers for?):

"The Vision to Electra" by Robert Herrick

I dreamed we both were in a bed

Of roses, almost smothered.

The warmth and sweetness had me there

Made lovingly familiar;

But that I heard thy sweet breath say,

Faults done by night will blush by day;

I kissed thee, panting, and I call

Night to the record! that was all.

But, ah! if empty dreams so please,

Love, give me more such nights as these.

Alrighty then! And if you liked that, check out "The Vine." It makes me giggle and blush in equal measure (which is what I love about Herrick--a fine combination of the erotic and the ridiculous). Herrick never married and claimed he was chaste, but I always have this image of him chasing his maid Prue around the butcher block a time or two.

What poems do you know by heart? Who are your favorite poets? I'd love to hear.

** As I was just talking about Matthew MacFadyen (if you are not watching Little Dorrit, do it now! You can watch online!), and could talk about him a bit more, here's his reading of "This is just to say":

If only I had more to give...

Hey guys, thanks so much for your interest in the galley giveaway; I only wish I had more so you all could get one!

Congrats to Marie and Pam, who were each first for their respective titles! I've put your books behind the counter so come on in to pick them up. Since there were multiple requests, though, please come get them within the week or I'll offer them to the next in line. And do make sure to tell me if you like them!

I'll try to do another galley grab soon, so do keep an eye out! And it's great to let me know what you're interested in--please do feel free to write me with what you like so I can offer up what would be of greatest appeal (and if you were a runner-up, please do send me an email and maybe I can find something else you'd like!).

And remember that the Iain Pears is still up for grabs! **UPDATE** Sorry, but the Pears has been claimed as well. Jeremy, it'll be behind the register for you.

Wow, there were a lot of exclamation points in this post. I'll try to be more restrained next time.

Galley Grab!

So it's a pretty old post of theirs, but just last week I was directed to this Gawker article about using galleys to get, um, well, to get to know someone better (I think someone tweeted about it--thank you, whomever you are!).

I can categorically state that I have never been hit on due to my reading of a galley (or of any book, actually. Another chapter in the story of my sad solitary existence. Sorry, that was way too much self-pitying). I have caused confusion and anger when someone once noticed I had a paperback copy of a book that was only available in hardcover. They first thought I was lying to them when I said it was only available in hardcover and then thought I was being snobby and showing off when really I wasn't, I was just trying to explain why I had a paperback. I felt horrible (I'll now move from self-pitying to self-loathing). And this is why I now try to hide my galleys when I read them in public (especially if I'm behind in my reading and the book has already been released), thereby making sure I'll never succeed in flirtation via advanced access. Oh, the humanity!

But, gentle readers, do not let my failures of seduction deter you from testing this out yourselves! Herewith I offer some galleys that may spark interest or conversation with that attractive somebody squashed next to you on the Green Line.

Stone's Fall by Iain Pears--A new historical mystery from the author of An Instance of the Fingerpost, this is a mystery of high finance and espionage set in fin-de-siecle Europe (read more here). **Added flirtation bonus--this puppy is 800 pages which makes you appear erudite, shows your ability to commit (if only to an intense read) and allows you to show off those triceps!**

The City and the City by China Mieville--A sci-fi mystery that involves places named Beszel and Ul Qoma and an investigation into murder by Inspector Tyador Borlu of the Extreme Crime Squad (read more here). **This will totally get you in with that geek chic guy you've been eyeing.**

The Food of a Younger Land edited by Mark Kurlansky--I am so super-psyched for this one! Kurlansky is one of the kings of literary nonfiction with his popular food histories such as Salt and Cod. Here he has compiled writings from a previously unpublished WPA project titled "America Eats" which employed authors--including Zora Neale Hurston and Eudora Welty--to record the regional eating habits and histories of regular Americans (read more here). **You can take your flirtation to the next level by inviting that cutie checking out your book to join you for our reading with Mr. Kurlansky on Friday, May 15th at 7:00.**

If you want in on these opportunities for connection, even if just with a good book, please leave me a note in the comments with your name and I'll leave the book for you at our front counter. Unfortunately I only have one copy of each so it'll be first come, first served. And please, allow me to share the love by only requesting one title.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Vampires

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is here!

I'm pretty sure that those rumors of vampires at Boston Latin were just a front for an impending zombie invasion. Hopefully the werewolves are preparing their counterattack.

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.

A Dickensian Moment?

I absolutely loved Matthew Pearl's The Dante Club, so I'm super excited for tomorrow, when his new book, The Last Dickens goes on sale. Yay! I'm equally excited that we'll be hosting Mr. Pearl at our store on Thursday, April 9th (details here).

Additional items of Dickensian note include: Drood, Dan Simmons's new book that, like Pearl's, concerns itself with the creation of Charles Dickens's final (and unfinished) novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, has been selling very well. Also, PBS's Masterpiece is in the middle of a Dickens series. (side note: I can't wait until Little Dorrit starts March 29th. It stars Matthew Macfadyen! God, did I love him in MI-5. And he was not at all shabby as Mr. Darcy though I know he will never unseat Colin Firth in most people's minds).

Are we in the middle of a particularly Dickensian moment?

Finally, strange coincidences that will bring us back to Dickens: I remember that Matthew Pearl's last book, The Poe Shadow, came out at the same time as Louis Bayard's The Pale Blue Eye, both of which were historical fiction focusing on Edgar Allan Poe (I can't tell if this means Mr. Pearl has bad timing or good instincts). But what was Bayard's book previous to that? Mr. Timothy, a reimagining of Dickens's Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol!

Staff Picks--Liz, Liz, and Elizabeth

More staff picks! I realized I need to go through them quickly as there are a whole new batch that will be going up in a few weeks (which means I need to decide what my next pick will be...I saw that Jennifer 8 Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles just came in today which upends my shortlist).

Elizabeth recommends The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman: "This book gives new meaning to selflessness. It's the story of a family and countless others who put themselves in the face of evil to help others to stand up for what's right. Could you do the same?"

Liz E., who spends much of her time in our children's section, loves If You Were a Penguin by Wendell and Florence Minor: "I have been a fan of Wendell Minor for years -- his illustrations are wonderful, capturing the very essence of each story he helps to bring alive! This one is just wonderful -- plus, it's all about penguins! Can you toboggan on your stomach or fly underwater?"

And Liz T. suggests The Academy Awards: The Complete Unofficial History by Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza: "I love old movies and movie history. My cable box is permanently set on Turner Classic Movies. This book sits on the bookcase next to the couch for quick and easy reference. In addition to the lists of winners and nominees, there's also a lot of great trivia. Love it!"

Read more of their recommendations here, here, and here.

By the way, in case you were wondering, in addition to the Liz trio we also have Kate F., Kate R., & Katie as well as both Lisa F. and Lisa P.

Delicious Soul Food (and good news for vegans!)

One of my favorite new cookbooks of the season just came out: Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry. When I was buying it my rep mentioned how much she (and her dinner guests) liked the Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux she made. And Katie has already picked up a copy and told me how much she loved the Cajun-Creole-Spiced Tempeh Pieces with Creamy Grits.

I was always bummed that I couldn't eat a lot of Southern cooking as it usually involves foods I don't eat (shellfish and pork in particular) so I am so thrilled to have some delicious soul food I can try. My mouth is seriously watering just looking at the table of contents...I want some sweet, sour, and spicy blackberry limeade and carrot-cranberry-walnut salad now! And I love how each recipe comes with a soundtrack (for example, Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man" is suggested for garlic broth-braised brussels sprouts).

This book is seriously good--not just for vegans but for anyone looking for some new inspiration. Check it out! (and check out more from Bryant Terry here).

By the way, if you are vegan (or just looking to eat more veggies) you should send a big hug and kiss to the folks of Da Capo Press. Their spring/summer list is packed full of the most amazing vegan cookbooks one after another (and we'll be carrying all of them). Check it out:

March: The aforementioned Vegan Soul Kitchen by Bryant Terry

May: Ani's Raw Food Desserts by Ani Phyo (who wrote our bestselling raw food cookbook, Ani's Raw Food Kitchen)

June: Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz (who wrote our bestselling vegan cookbook, Veganomicon)

July: The 30-Minute Vegan: 150 Quick, Delicious, and Healthy Recipes for Everyday Cooking by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray

Honestly, if I were vegan I'd be doing a happy dance right about now.

Wherein Andrea's staff pick is upstaged by my obsession with books about Frank Lloyd Wright

Andrea, the other half of our UBC team, recommends T. C. Boyle's Talk Talk this month, calling it "a fascinating glimpse into the snarly issue of identity theft. Boyle never fails to be provocative and entertaining, and to impress with his use of language."

I thought it especially appropriate to highlight her pick today as his new book The Women comes out tomorrow. In the New York Times Joanna Scott was full of praise and called it "Boyle at his best" while Michiko Kakutani described it as "dreary" and "a tedious, predictable melodrama." Yipes! I found it a bit odd, actually, that, neither made reference to Loving Frank, Nancy Horan's novel from 2007 in their reviews as it also is a historical fiction based on Frank Lloyd Wright's personal life--though Howard Frank Mosher does in his review in the Boston Globe.

My favorite part of his review, though, is the beginning when he says he would never want to live in a Wright house because they look uncomfortable. This is because I spent a good amount of time in a Wright house growing up (my Great-Aunt Sara and Great-Uncle Smithy built it. You can see pictures here and here and here). As a small child I adored it--it was cozy and beautiful. But my mom, who is 5'11, said she always felt like a huge galumphing giant whenever we were there. I do miss it though I wonder if I would feel more like her now that I'm a lot bigger than I was at 10.

Staff Picks--Carl

Carl is one of our used-book sellers (He's a bookseller who works in the Used Book Cellar. I love that way more than I should.). He also publishes poetry and writes an occasional blog about the UBC that you can read here and here. He also has amazing taste.

Carl's current recommendation is for William H. Gass's Cartesian Sonata and Other Novellas. Here's his favorite passage (from page 29): "All her senses were acute, but she could hear and see and feel most marvelously well: the tremor in her neighbor’s face, the scrape of cloud, the grumble of molasses, like her soul, folding from its bottle..." Read more about the book here and more of Carl's recommendations here.

Staff Picks--Katie

Katie (comedienne, vegan chef extraordinaire, and master of our psychology and history sections) picked a classic sci-fi book for her recommendation--The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

She says, "As if coming-of-age wasn't tricky enough, young David must keep his telepathic powers secret in a society where religious and genetic fundamentalists destroy anything that deviates from the norm. Thank you, New York Review of Books, for resurrecting this fantastic gripping tale."

P.S.- Paul highly approves of this choice.
P.P.S.- Read more of Katie's recommendations here

Staff Picks--Dava

Dava recommends The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd.

She says "Like a good cookbook, this book is filled with basic 'recipes' to get you into knitting. Take the information about gauge, needles and sizing (all explained in the introduction), mix with the appropriate yarn, and you will be whipping up some lovely creations."

More recs from Dava here!

Still Busy...

So far I've bought from Dover, Perseus, University of Chicago (and other university presses it distributes), Simon & Schuster, Candlewick, and HarperCollins kids. Whew! I do hope I'll figure out a good way to preview some of my favorites from all of them. During the next few busy weeks I'll try to keep updating with some of the new recommendations from fellow Booksmith staffers.

Last One Standing

Sorry not to have updated last week--I've begun my buying for the summer which means I've been busier than usual. Of course it also means there's more that I want to tell you all about what's exciting coming up. I'm not sure how I'll do it, but I'll try!

I haven't made mention of it (partly because I'm never happy to see anyone losing jobs or storefronts closing, partly because I'd like to spend my time focused on us more than our competition) but recently the Barnes and Noble down the street from us shut their doors. Dana, our fearless general manager and co-owner, wrote a little something about it for Shelf Awareness that you can read here (scroll to the bottom).

In other news I was able to read Temple Grandin's Animals Make Us Human in time for our event last week (As suspected, I was working the register during her talk. I would insert a Debbie Downer wah-wah here but the popularity of the event meant we were piping audio through the whole store for those who couldn't fit downstairs so all was good. ). The book was wonderful and insightful and heartbreaking and, sadly, totally confirmed that my lifestyle is in no way conducive to owning a dog. I'm very glad that I get to pet all the dogs that come into our store and feed them biscuits or I would go crazy from doggy deprivation.

My Staff Pick

New staff picks were due today and as usual I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to recommend. There were A LOT from which I was trying to choose. I thought about my recent faves, Blindspot, Graceling, and then I thought about doing something a little more old-school and recommending Cooking for Mr. Latte or Tender at the Bone (there's something about the winter that just leads me to food memoirs). In honor of Sasha and Malia I thought of recommending The President's Daughter and I still think I might see if I can slip that in as an extra this month.

Finally I decided on a book I loved last year that just came out in paperback--Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips. It tells the story of Greek gods run amok in modern London and the unsuspecting humans who fall prey to their shenanigans, and it completely charmed me when I first read it. Thinking about the book always makes me smile, and while part of me feels like maybe it's more of a summer read I decided in the end that maybe it's actually good to have something light and fun to turn to while cold brutal winter sets in over the next few weeks.

Temple Grandin's New Book Is Here Today. Temple Grandin Will Be Here Next Week!

Today we got in a ton of new titles, but the one I'm most excited to pick up is Temple Grandin's new book Animals Make Us Human. I need to get a move-on and finish The Yiddish Policemen's Union because I want to make sure to finish Ms. Grandin's book before next week when she'll be reading from it here at the Booksmith. That's right, TEMPLE GRANDIN WILL BE SPEAKING AT BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH A WEEK FROM TODAY--Tuesday, January 13th at 7:00!

(Hmm, I seem to have caught caps lock fever from Christopher Moore)

Galley Grab!

Up for grabs today is Fool, the new novel by Christopher Moore that goes on sale February 10th.

It comes wrapped in brown paper that proclaims: "WARNING! THIS IS A BAWDY TALE. Herein YOU WILL FIND GRATUITOUS SHAGGING, MURDER, SPANKING, MAIMING, TREASON, and heretofore UNEXPLORED HEIGHTS OF VULGARITY and PROFANITY, as well as NON-TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR, SPLIT INFINITIVES, and THE ODD WANK. If that sort of thing bothers you, then gentle reader pass by, for we endeavor only to entertain, not to offend. That said, if that's the sort of thing you think you might enjoy, then you have happened upon THE PERFECT STORY!"

I think that pretty much says it all. Well, not quite. If you want to find out what it's actually about you can click on the title above which will go to a fuller description.

Want it? Leave a comment with your name and I'll put one on hold for you. Right now I only have one but I may be able to find another (sans plain brown paper wrapper) if there is demand.

Brookline Booksmith's Bestselling Books of 2008

Happy New Year Blogsmith readers! With no further ado I present to you our list of the past year's top selling titles.

25. Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
24. Boston Restaurants 2008-2009 by Zagat
23. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
22. The Given Day by Dennis Lehane
21. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
20. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
19. Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje
18. Better by Atul Gawande
17. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
16. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
15. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
14. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
13. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
12. What Is the What by David Eggers
11. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle

Our top ten...
10. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
9. The Gathering by Anne Enright
8. The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
7. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
6. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
5. Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
4. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
2. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

and our top seller of the year...
1. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama

If you'd like to see how this compares to last year's list, you can check it out here. You'll see we have a few repeats: Three Cups of Tea, Eat, Pray, Love, The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Gathering, Water for Elephants, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, The Road, and Zagat's Guide.

Of note for me this year are our triple doubles--two titles each from President-Elect Obama, Michael Pollan, and Stephenie Meyers (Why is it that New Moon, her second book, outsold Twilight, her first? Curious. Perhaps because there are multiple editions of Twilight out there? Hmm, something to check.).

Thank you so much to all of our wonderful customers and friends. Here's to another fantastic year of great books!