Bookdwarf

I liked this phrase that David Mitchell used in his interview for The Japan Times. He was speaking about the different perspectives on culture one can have from reading different sources. What’s your idea of Japan? Is it geishs and samurais or anime and manga? I like the sound of the novel he’s in the [...]

Guess who has a review in this Sunday’s New York Times Book Review? No, not me. Mark Sarvas has written what I think is a spot on review of Larry Doyle’s I Love You, Beth Cooper. I read this book a few weeks ago and found the writing mostly funny, if a little sloppy. The [...]

I think Mr. Bookdwarf expects to die under a pile of the many many books I bring home each week. I can see it now, coming home to find him under that pile of fiction that I swear I’m going to get to read one of these days. Or perhaps it will be one of [...]

I’m excited that Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie won the Orange Prize last week for Half of a Yellow Sun. She’s one of my favorite novelist. I was lucky enough to meet her when she came to my store for a reading last year—she’s as lovely a person as she comes across in the media. I love [...]

I’m going to quit apologizing for the silence here. Life gets really busy sometimes and there’s not much you can do. often feel like a slacker because I don’t post something everyday, but I rationalize it by saying that one well-thought-out post is worth more than many hastily written ones. I think this is true. [...]

Dave Weich at Powell’s came up with a brilliant idea—create short films about writers and their works and have independent book stores across the country screen them. The first film features Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, a novella whose short size belies its powerful language. As of BEA, 54 bookstores across the country were planning [...]

Friday I won’t say that getting up on Friday was easy. BEA is all about long days and long nights. You sort of have to get back into that college vibe of staying up late and still getting up for that 9 am class (or in this case getting up at 7 for the 45 [...]

Wednesday After returning from pizza at Grimaldi’s, I met up with a lot of other younger booksellers at a bar in Brooklyn called Floyd’s—they’ve got a bocce court in the bar. We’ve started a network of the next generation of booksellers so that we can meet one another and provide support for one another. It [...]

Friday night: in which I attend a dinner and inadvertently imply that Jack Gantos is old. Friday night I attended the ABC Annual Secret Garden Silent Auction and Evening with Children’s Booksellers.  I sat at a table sponsored by FSG and had the great honor of meeting (and sitting between) Jack Gantos (author of many [...]

First off, I’m so tired, but am having so much fun. We’re having internet problems at our hotel, so I’m behind in posting—I’ve seen and done a lot, including meeting Philip Roth. I’m hoping to catch up later today. I’ve met a lot of old friends, including other bloggers like Anne, Bud, Ed, Mark, and [...]

Friday: First, I just have to get this out of my system: I met fabulous YA author (and internet sensation!) John Green! Go Nerdfighters! (That was my entire allotment of exclamation points for the weekend. I promise.) Now, to something that doesn’t sound quite so fangirl-ish. I work with the children’s section in the store, [...]

Thursday I spent most of yesterday at Random House and Harpercollins, meeting with publicists. These are the people that I usually only talk with on the phone, setting up events, so it was nice to see them in person. It’s good to touch base with them personally, letting them know how events have gone for [...]

Wednesday It’s been a long day and a half without internet access, but a lot has been accomplished. After arriving on Wednesday afternoon, I was able to sneak in a quick visit to the Cooper Hewitt Museum, where I spent some time viewing their Triennial exhibit — an exhibition of the best of current design. [...]