Do you have favorite bookstores that you only get to visit while away on a trip?
What/Where are they?
You can't keep me out of bookstores when I'm on vacation! When I'm on Nantucket I love going to Nantucket Bookworks and Mitchell's, as I've written before, and I always love to visit local bookshops (or even the local Borders!) and pick up books that are special to a place. When I was in New Mexico once, I bought some great local poetry; the last time I went to France I got books about local myths. When I came home from a four-month stay in Ireland I had a veritable mini-library of Irish books. One thing I love to do when I travel is to pick up a dictionary of the local language- so I have an Occitan dictionary from the Languedoc region of France, a Hawaiian dictionary from Maui, a Canadian-French dictionary from Quebec, an Irish dictionary from Dublin, and more. This summer I'm going to Vegas and San Francisco and I already have a literary itinerary in the works. Travel is such a great opportunity to learn and enrich yourself, and books and reading help it stay with you forever!
Last Saturday, after running some errands, my husband and I decided to take a ride down to Boston's South Shore, to visit the town of Wareham, and the new Borders Concept Store, which had just opened a couple of days before.
First, let me be clear about one thing: I love Borders. It has always been my favorite of the big-box bookstores, hands down. I love the Boston stores (there are two now in downtown Boston) and I've spent countless hours in them shopping, browsing, reading, hanging around with friends- you name it. I read a lot of literary fiction, and I love to browse, and two things have always been true for me about Borders- I can always find what I'm looking for, and they have great displays. I also love their in-store pickup service. I love indie bookstores too, but they are different, and provide a different experience; basically I'll shop for books anywhere but when it comes to those big stores, Borders is just my favorite.
So I had high hopes on visiting the Concept Store, and a lot of questions. What exactly is a "concept store"? How was it going to be different from the regular Borders? What are all these kiosks and computer stations? Luckily for me, the manager of the Wareham Concept Store, Mary Dillon, was nice enough to take some time from her workday to do an impromptu interview with me and gave me lots of really good information. I also found this video, wherein Borders CEO George Jones gives an introduction to the Concept Store idea:
Wow, look at all the books, I thought as I wandered the gorgeous displays just inside the entry- curving tables laden with new books, standing and in piles, offering themselves up for browsing and handling. Then I noticed the excellent signage, raised above the shelves for easy navigation. Ms. Dillon told me that the company had brought in merchandisers just to design all this spiffy shelving, signs and displays, and all the work really shows. It's gorgeous, eye-catching and made me want to buy stuff. A lot of stuff!
The idea behind the Concept Store seems to be to provide more services than are traditionally associated with a bookstore, and to locate those services in appropriate areas of the store. These areas are called "destination areas" and include cooking, wellness and travel. Kiosks in these areas allow customers to search for recipes and even arrange vacations right in the store. The children's area is likewise filled with a combination of books and educational toys- to my librarian's eye, maybe a few too many toys- but the idea behind this merchandising is to pair the books with other materials of interest to the customer.
One of the most visible distinctions between the Concept Store and the ordinary Borders is the media area. It's smaller than in most Borders; instead of a vast selection of CDs, there are workstations where users can download songs and either burn them to CD or download them right into their MP3 player- as long as you don't use an iPod! Hopefully this oversight will be fixed quickly. I also learned about Borders' new self-publishing venture, which is operating in conjunction with Lulu.com. The service allows customers to publish their own books and ties them into Borders by allowing others to order self-published books in-store. In the future there are also plans to have a section of the store where people can actually buy self-published books, and to hold author readings for self-published Borders authors as well.
The store also boasts a nice Seattle's Best Coffee outlet, thoughtfully set up with a huge bookcase in front of the seating area for privacy and quiet. The cafe also has outdoor seating, an added bonus. We stayed and relaxed with an ice coffee for a few minutes after speaking with Ms. Dillon and liked it very much.
Overall I really enjoyed my visit to the Borders Concept Store. It's too far away from where I live (1-hour plus driving time) to go there too often, and I am blessed to be in a great community for bookstores, but I have a feeling it's going to be a real asset to the Wareham area, where someone told me it is the only bookstore in a 30-mile radius. I hope they stay open late and take advantage of the hang-out traffic- the Borders nearest me closes at 9 and on those nights when I'm out late and want to browse or grab a coffee, I have to go to that other big chain bookstore. Oh well. It's a really nice store. I gather that the company is planning to open a total of 14 of these stores nationwide- that's too few, in my opinion. I'd love to see one of the downtown Boston stores converted into a Concept Store, so that there's one closer to me!
Is there a Concept Store near you? Want to learn more from Borders? Go to the PR page here.
Today's topic: Book-swapping. Do you do it? What site(s) do you use? How did you find out about them? What do you think of them? Do you use LT's book-swapping column feature for information on what to swap? Do you participate in any of the LT communities that discuss bookswapping, like the Bookmooch group for example?
My answer: Yes, I do some book-swapping, exclusively on Bookmooch. I got into it after playing with the swap column in LT and realizing that some of my books which I considered dogs, were actually in high demand elsewhere. I thought- hey, I can get rid of this, and get something I want in return! I tried a couple of other sites, including PaperBackBookSwap, and it just seemed like too much hassle to have accounts on more than one. I like the simplicity of Bookmooch and once I was up to speed on mooching etiquette I've had mostly good experiences. I have a few "friends" on Bookmooch (I'm mariekat over there- friend me!) but it's not a feature I use much. I used to be in the LT Bookmooch group but the questions tend to be repetitive. Overall I really enjoy being able to swap books and get the things I want for very little money. And it's recycling too- always a good thing.
The Professor's Daughter, by Joann Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert. Published 2007 by First Second.
This has to be one of the weirdest graphic novels I've read in a while. The Professor's Daughter isn't bizarre or surreal or idiosyncratic, but it feels a little rough around the edges nonetheless.
It's about an archaeologist's daughter who falls in love with a mummy, is kidnapped by the mummy's mummified father and has a quick series of adventures including a murder trial, a fight between the mummified father and the archaeologist one, and an episode in which Queen Victoria is tossed into the Thames.
Got all that? Good for you. The book has its merits- the artwork is beautiful, inky and fluid and done in a moody palette of blues, greens and yellows. The characters are basically pencil-sketch stereotypes but the types work together nicely. And the story bumps along quickly, to a very silly and morbid conclusion.
Having said that, I didn't really like it. The beginning was abrupt and I wish there had been a little more exposition to set up the premise. I found the characters shallow and the action confused me and had me wishing for a slightly less bumptious and slapstick approach to plotting. There's no adult content and it would probably be fine for kids, and I think I'd only suggest it for kids interested in mummy stories or hard-core fans of Joann Sfar. Which was the reason I picked it up in the first place. Otherwise it's a pretty marginal choice for most graphic novel readers.
(You might have noticed there is no link on the book to buy it; the BookSense folks have changed their name to IndieBound and until they either get back to me with the new URL for linking to them, or I join another affiliate program, I won't be able to offer you all that service for a while. My apologies.)
I'm not sure what this Sunday holds for me in terms of reading. I'm within twenty pages of finishing The Madonnas of Leningrad, a quick but satisfying (so far) book about a woman who survived the siege of Leningrad, and I'm still working my way through American Wife.
Yesterday my husband and I visited the new Borders Concept Store out in Wareham, Mass., (more on that in a couple of days) and I picked up Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie, because it just won Best of the Booker and I haven't read it, or anything else by Rushdie either. And he's one of those people I feel like I should read. I may even get to it someday! Hey, if it's on my shelf it has a fighting chance, right?
Today we are going out to Hingham, Mass., and a park called World's End, which is featured in Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands, which I was given to review. I've read the book but I want to take a couple of trips before I write my review, because the islands are nearby and I think it would help me write a better review. Next weekend we're going to an author event on one of other islands, and that will bring the grand total I've visited to four.
I picked up Election 2008: A Voter's Guide at a conference, and then realized I don't have much use for it, so I'm offering it to you, my loyal readers.
It's a paperback compendium of the candidates for President this year- all of the major Republican and Democrats anyway. It was released in time for primary season so obviously most of the candidates are out of the running now.
I know some of you are homeschooling parents and I wondered if it might be of interest as you cover politics and the election with your children.
Anyway if you'd like me to send it to you, just send me an email at Bibliophile AT bostonbibliophile dot com with your address and it will go out in my next batch of mail. First come, first served.
The Bookshipper is partnering with Hachette to sponsor a huge Summer Reads Giveaway - go on over to the blog, enter and you could win a package of 14 books!
Bitter is the New Black, by Jen Lancaster. Published 2006 by Penguin. Click on the cover to buy from your local IndieBound-affiliated independent bookseller.
Okay, so something published in 2006, to which there have already been two sequels, is not exactly hot off the presses. But then again, like little black dresses and Jen Lancaster's brand of sarcastic self-depreciating humor, some things never go out of style.
Bitter is the New Black is Lancaster's first book, the beginning of her very successful series of memoirs; I reviewed the second, called Bright Lights, Big Ass, and her most recent book, Such A Pretty Fat : One Narcissist's Guide to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie is Not the Answer, just came out. What makes her books so much fun is that she makes a big deal about how unlikable she is, or was- how frivolous, insensitive, self-centered, etc.- and then subverts that premise at every turn with her wit and candor. Nowadays Lancaster is a successful blogger turned writer, but Bitter takes us back to the days before her fame, when she lost her lucrative, challenging job in the corporate world, and had to not just find a new job, but find herself in the process. Out of work for much longer than she expects, she struggles with self-doubt and shame, with moving from stylish digs in a nice Chicago neighborhood to ever more and more squalid surroundings, finally being evicted from a place she thought she'd never even end up in.
The book is about what she learns through these transitions and how she bounces back. In the mean time though she makes you believe in the real humiliation and shame of losing everything, being unable to find work despite her considerable strengths, and having to face up to how her own behavior landed her in the hole in which she finds herself. But she does it with grace and a light touch and a sense of humor. When she agonizes over selling her purses on eBay to come up with rent money, or bemoans the mani-pedi-less state of her hands and feet, she reminds me a little, in a very silly way, of St. Augustine- "Lord, give me chastity," (or in her case, fiscal responsibility and healthy priorities) "but not yet." I think we can all feel her pain.
Anyway her books are fun reading for the beach or for a little spare time here and there. When I was unemployed for a pathetically long time after finishing my master's degree, I had some pretty bad bouts of self-loathing and self-doubt; I could so relate to her experiences. And I could smile at and with her pratfalls and struggles. She made me laugh, and she made me think. Not bad.
By the way, if anyone in the U.S. would like my copy of Bitter is the New Black, just leave me a comment with your email address saying so. First come, first served.
Update: the book has been claimed. Congrats to Michele at MicheleOneL. Enjoy! I'll get it out next week.
The Story of French. I picked this one up the other day at a substantial discount, like $7 for the hardcover instead of $25.95- much better, thank you! I'm so spoiled on free books these days that I have to really want something to go out and pay for it, and even then I'm still pretty cheap. But I'm also an unrepentant Francophile and a history of the French language written in a friendly, accessible tone was too good to resist. Did you know that French is the only language besides English taught in every country of the world? Or that 10% of Israelis are Francophones? Or that the number of Francophones worldwide has tripled since World War II? And that's just in the introduction. I don't know quite when I'm going to get around to reading it but I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Also, in the mail this week, courtesy of Random House, is the ARC of Curtis Sittenfeld's new novel, the weighty but very readable American Wife. It's one of those books that I started in on right away- it clocks in around 600 pages, so I won't be reviewing it next week or anything, but I'm enjoying it so far. Fifty or so pages into this first-person story of a woman who grows up to be First Lady, and we have sex and secrets and illness and first love. Should be good!
What did you get this week that you're excited about?
Hi, and welcome to my book blog, where I talk about books and review what I read. I feature a graphic novel review every Monday and host the weekly Tuesday Thingers group. Visit often or subscribe here, and thanks for stopping by!
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About Me
Marie
I'm a thirty-something librarian in the Boston area. In addition to reading, reviewing and working I love to quilt, do a variety of other crafts, exercise and spend time with my husband and cat.
If you'd like me to review, send me an email at Bibliophile at BostonBibliophile dot com and let me know. I'm particularly interested in literary fiction, graphic novels and books with a Jewish twist as I'm a synagogue librarian. I'll bump your book to the top of the TBR pile as soon as it arrives!
