Notes: Flintridge Reopening; Crocodile Pie Closing
Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse, La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., which was severely damaged April 1 when a speeding truck drove into it (Shelf Awareness, May 2, 2009), is officially reopening this Saturday, August 1.
Festivities include free coffee and juice in the morning; a story time featuring firefighters from Fire Station 82, who aided during the accident; face painting; a children's and an adult's raffle; and an evening concert starring Steve Winnaman & Friends.
According to Pasadena Now, the store will have "more book offerings, more drinks to choose from, and a better ambiance that encourages young people to sit down and pick up a book to read." Co-owner Peter Wannier noted that the store is also "going to add, especially in light of these hard economic times . . . deeply discounted books. We have books that are lightly damaged--with only scratches and dusty covers--and we will never sell those as new."
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Crocodile Pie children's bookstore, Libertyville, Ill.,
will close August 14, a year after new owners purchased the shop to
keep it in business, according to Daily Herald. Amy Moran and Kim Zizic "decided last week to shutter the store after months of unprofitable operations."
"People
either don't have the money to spend or they're being cautious--and
rightfully so," Moran said. "We have a great client base--people have
been very supportive. But they just don't have the funds that they
spent before."
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The New York Times chronicles what might be called the feud of Jones County: a battle over Civil War histories about the anti-Confederate inhabitants of Jones County, Miss. In one corner: The State of Jones: The Small Southern County That Seceded from the Confederacy by John Stauffer and Sally Jenkins, published last month by Doubleday. In the other: The Free State of Jones: Mississippi's Longest Civil War by Victoria Bynum, which was published by the University of North Carolina Press eight years ago and served as the basis for a screenplay by filmmaker Gary Ross--whose movie project was the gensis for the new book.
Bynum said the new book appropriates and denigrates her work and is historically loose. The authors defend the new book. Ironically for all the sound and the fury, the movie is nowhere near being produced.
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Booksellers who have struggled even
momentarily with the conflict between freedom of expression and
proximity of an event to the children's section may be interested in
the Guardian's exploration of the question: "Should authors censor their work at public readings?"
Exhibit
A was Jennifer Weiner, who said a bookstore in Framingham, Mass.,
requested a "curse-free" reading from her. According to the Guardian,
"As unimpressed as Weiner may have been by this particular store's
edict, she did comply with their wishes. But thanks to her loyal
readers, she still had the last laugh. Many of the women who attended
her reading requested that she add a little something when she signed
their books: a swear word or two, since they missed out on hearing her
say any."
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Summer book recommendations just keep washing up on the shore. NPR
showcased "Audience Picks: 100 Best Beach Books Ever," noting that
"there's one thing a multitude of book-loving NPR types can most
definitely do, and that's pick a list of books that will appeal to. . .
. book-loving NPR types."
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The Telegraph
profiled artist Su Blackwell, who "creates these spectacular paper
models from old books and sells them for up to £5,000. . . . Miss
Blackwell trawls second hand bookshops looking for novels and then
spends months carefully slicing each one into a spectacular paper
model. The models look as if they 'grow' naturally from the spine and
pages of the book. Miss Blackwell finds inspiration for each model from
the book title or a paragraph or picture inside."
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Obituary note: Booker Prize-winning novelist Stanley Middleton died last weekend. He was 89. The Guardian
noted that Middleton "was remarkably prolific: his writing career
spanned six decades and 44 novels, most of which were set in his home
town of Nottingham, tackling the domestic lives of ordinary people." He
was named co-winner of the Booker in 1974 for Holiday.
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Joanna Goldstein has been promoted to the new position of v-p, marketing revenue, at Borders Group. She will be responsible for "developing and managing cooperative marketing promotions and sales-driving initiatives with publishers as well as other vendors and third-party marketing partners," the company said.
She was formerly merchandising director, newsstand, calendars, games and trend gifts, a post she has held since joining Borders in 2006. Earlier she worked for Source Interlink Companies for seven years as senior director, retail services, and director, publisher services.
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The GBO called I'm Off Then "a travelogue containing a blend of Kerkeling's witty humor and his own form of spiritualism. His journey is enriched by the wide variety of people that he encounters along the way, some for just a few miles and others he travels with for days. He eventually finds two companions, a woman from England and another from New Zealand, and the three complete the last portions of the trail together. It concludes in an enlightening experience for Kerkeling, and one that has inspired countless others in Europe to travel the Camino de Santiago."
With this life-affirming picture book, Johnston and Morales create a loving tribute to the special bond between grandparent and grandchild and to storytellers everywhere. "I live with my grandma. And she lives with me," says the young nameless narrator (who could be a boy or girl). "I call her Abuelita." Morales sets the opening scene for this tightly knit family with three-dimensional dolls dressed in glorious handsewn outfits and bedclothes in fiesta-bright stripes and polka dots. Pictures on the wall honor the absent parents, and a portrait of Frida Kahlo on Abuelita's ruffled pillow offers the inspiration for the name of their tiger-striped pet cat. (The feline Frida even sports a bright red flower on her furry head, just like her namesake.) Johnston sets up a poetic symmetry in the text ("She is my abuelita. I love her. And she loves me") as she takes readers through the trio's daily routine. Even the most habitual activities take on a grandiose quality. A description of exercise, for instance ("She does knee bends and breathes deep, oh, deep. Like a big salty whale out at sea. I do the same"), inspires a gorgeous spread of the 3-D characters starring in a sequence in which they limber up while a whale leaps from a backdrop painted to resemble the ripples of the sea. To Morales' credit, the illustration comes across as a unified whole. The two human protagonists then wash up and yodel while Abuelita cooks. (She "yodels about bedroom slippers '¡Pantuflas--pantuflas--pantuflas!' "). The author peppers the narrative with Spanish words, much as Abuelita seasons the huevos estrellados ("starry eggs") and queso (cheese) she makes for breakfast. Each step of their routine prepares Abuelita for her work, which is only revealed at the very end (though the narrator offers plenty of good clues). Tim O'Meara's photographs of these idyllic scenes capture all the warmth and vitality of the lead characters. Both text and illustrations nicely toggle between the larger-than-life aspects of their days together and the authentic real-world love of grandparent and child as well as the stories they make together.--