#5 Kobo, holiday books, and more!

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The last week or two at the store have been amazing—busy, productive, and full of surprises!

Jeff Kinney, author of the Wimpy Kid books, stopped by, and dozens of families came by to meet him and have their books signed. Kinney was wonderful with all his young fans and patiently signed every book, even those brought in by the bagful. And it’s terrific for us to have lots of signed copies of The Third Wheel, the newest Wimpy Kid book, going into the holiday season.

Yesterday morning our whole staff had breakfast with two of our Random House sales reps, Bridget Piekarz and Laura Baratto, who told us about some of the books they think will make great holiday gifts. Laura went through Chris Ware’s Building Stories piece by piece, talking about Ware’s painstakingly detailed work on this project and his ideas about multiple places to enter a story. It may have just been me, but I think Bridget especially enjoyed talking about the cookbooks on the Random House list—The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Foolproof, and Lidia’s Favorite Recipes by Lidia Bastianich come to mind. I also appreciated Bridget bringing along New York Review Books’ new edition of Dorothy Baker’s Cassandra at the Wedding, which had come out earlier this fall and somehow I’d missed! Thank you, Bridget!

After the breakfast, I spoke with Laura and Bridget about possibly making a presentation like this to our customers. They loved the idea and were very interested in helping me get something going—perhaps a series that would include not only Bridget and Laura but also reps from other publishers, large and small. I’m looking forward to putting something together, perhaps in the spring.

Also, yesterday we officially launched our relationship with Kobo. We now sell Kobo eBooks from our website and Kobo eReaders in the store. The eReaders are stylish and have many great features. (See our website for all the details!) And to kick off the holiday shopping season, the pocket-sized one (called the Mini) will be on sale for only $49 on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday. If you’ve been waiting for a low-priced eReader to dip your toe into the eBook pond, this might be the device for you. We also hear Kobo is planning to release a new tablet this winter, and we’re excited about the possibility of offering that at the store, too, as soon as it’s available. I already own an eReader but look forward to being able to order my eBooks from Kobo, which has a much larger selection of books than Google had.

As I write this, the pumpkin pie is in the oven (yes, just one—some of the friends who we used to share this holiday with have moved away, so we’re a smaller group these days). But, after the dinner’s eaten and the dishes are done, four is the perfect number for playing cards! And, of course, we’ll be listening to Christmas music, because we’ve been waiting all year and, well, there’s just no need to wait any longer, is there? And perhaps after the guests leave, I’ll curl up in my reading chair with my new copy of Cassandra at the Wedding. . .

Cheers, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Lynn

Women & Children First, Chicago

#4 Lists

It’s that time of year when I start to think about the books I’ve read over the course of the year and which ones I liked best. I am a natural list maker, and so lists of books . . .well, what could be more fun and interesting? I have kept a list of every book I’ve read for about 30 years now (since about my junior year of college). Over the years it has changed from a pen and paper list to a digital document, and since then has resided on various computers in various formats (I started with a Word doc but recently switched to a spreadsheet). Over all these years, I’ve only lost about half a year’s worth. If you’re into the bottom line, on average I read about 60 books a year (my partner reads about 100 books a year, and you can imagine how competitive that makes me feel, but I’m just not a particularly fast reader), and I do include audio books (unabridged ones, naturally).

But the list I want to talk about here—a list of the best books I’ve read in a particular year—began when I started working at the bookstore. It’s a particular help during the holiday rush when people ask me what book I’ve particularly loved. Being middle aged and not having always taken care of all my brain cells, I am perfectly capable of drawing a total blank when asked what book I’m reading NOW let alone what I read last spring, so Lynn’s Top 10 of the Year list was born. 

Also, list making is fun, which is another reason why I don’t wait until Dec 31st for this. I actually began pondering this a few weeks ago and will probably ponder a good bit more before my 2012 reading is done. At the moment, my 2012 candidates are:

Midsummer Night at the Workhouse by Diana Athill
Carry the One by Carol Anshaw
The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
When I Was a Child I Read Books by Marilynne Robinson
When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams
The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
The Believers by Zoe Heller
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey

Toby’s Room by Pat Barker

These are listed in the order I read them. I haven’t even begun to think about the rankings yet. (OK, maybe a little.) And considering that I work at a feminist bookstore, my rate of 10 female to 3 male authors feels about right to me. Also, you may know that several of these books were published before 2012; it’s just that I only got around to reading them in 2012—although, I will admit I did better this year than I usually do re: reading things promptly.

One thing you may notice right away is that there are more than ten, and there are still two months of reading time left. In the end, this list may or may not actually be 10 books long. Sometimes it’s 10, but sometimes it’s 11 or 12. Just because I like lists doesn’t mean I’m rigid about them!

Do you make lists of books you’ve read, too? What are the best books you've read this year? Do any of mine make your list? 

(And, yes, I’ll be sure to post the final list!)

Lynn
Women & Children First
Chicago