February 2009

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Diesel Books, Now in Brentwood

February 16, 2009 in bookstore, cookbook, graphic novels, location by Claire | 2 comments

The neighborhood gains a new bookstore

When you live in Los Angeles, you get used to that feeling of urban anonymity wherever you go, but the first time I walked into the new Diesel Books in the Brentwood Country Mart, I glanced down at the guest list and immediately spotted the name of one of my closest friends just a few rows above where I was about to sign up for their email newsletter, and I suddenly felt like I lived in a small town.

Diesel just opened up a few months ago, less than five minutes from my house.   Locals like me who live near the Country Mart tend to go there regularly for their Reddi Chick fix, since they have the best rotisserie chicken and ribs in Brentwood.  (Also possibly the only rotisserie chicken and ribs in Brentwood.)  You order at their take-out counter, then sit outside in the courtyard, either close to the fire or far away from it depending on how warm it is.  (When it’s really warm, there’s no fire at all, of course.) Read the rest of this entry »

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Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, WA

February 15, 2009 in bookstore by Kim | No comments

Liberty Bay BooksThe Kitsap Peninsula Business Journal recently published a profile on Suzanne Droppert, the owner of Liberty Bay Books in Poulsbo, WA (okay, I had no idea where Kitsap Peninsula or Poulsbo were, they’re in the Puget Sound so it’s gorgeous).  I resonated with Ms. Droppert, she knew that after forty she was going to do something different, that there was life after the corporate world, and she believes independent bookstores are a community center.  She approached the previous owners of Liberty Bay with an offer to buy the store and eventually they agreed.  Hmm, maybe my dream of one day owning Gallery Bookshop isn’t so crazy.

Liberty Bay Books specializes in Scandinavian and nautical/boating books along with general bookstore stock.  They also sell toys and gift items.  Currently, they’re selling reusable tote bags with their logo on it, for everyone sold they donate 5 cents to charity.  They offer books via the Internet with a discount.

Next time you’re soaking up the beauty in Washington, stop by and visit Liberty Bay Books.

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Why Do We Read to Our Kids?

February 13, 2009 in childrens by Claire | No comments

Are we doing it for them or for us?

Of the many wonderfully gaspable moments in Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics (which you you should read if you haven’t), the one that may well have made most parents gasp the loudest is when their research reveals that a child’s academic success is correlated to the presence of books in his household but not to his parents’ reading any of those books out loud to him.

There’s a long explanation why this might be, the shortened version of which is: it’s not what we DO as parents so much as who we ARE.  Smart, well-educated, successful people are likely to have a house full of books–and also likely to have smart, well-educated and successful children for, I guess, the obvious genetic (and sometimes socio-economic) reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

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Recommended Reading for President’s Day

February 12, 2009 in book review, childrens, memoir, recommended reading, tribute by Kim | 4 comments

President’s Day is a celebration of two great Presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  Moreover, President Lincoln, the man our current President calls his role model, was born two hundred years ago today.  I’m joyfully awash with all of the Lincoln information I’ve read and heard about in the last week.  At the end of this post, there are links to music, book reviews, the Abraham Lincoln bookshop and a beautiful tribute.  So many adult books on Lincoln were published recently, it’s hard to keep up with them.  I’m going a different route for this Recommended Reading post.  I’m focusing on a recently published children’s picture book, Mr. Lincoln’s Boys written by Staton Rabin and illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, and Tad Lincoln’s Father, a memoir published 70 years ago by Julia Taft Bayne. Read the rest of this entry »

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Fun with Books

February 11, 2009 in book group, Literary Event, young adult by Kim | 2 comments

Yesterday, Claire and I hosted a literary luncheon as a fundraiser for our kids’ school.  We provided the entertainment and the lunch.  The attendees purchased a place at the table from the school and were asked to bring a book they enjoyed to trade.  We had a lovely afternoon, but anyone can do this with or without the fundraising component.

Here’s how our afternoon progressed–in addition to the attendees, we invited Katie O’Laughlin, owner of Village Books, our local bookstore in the Pacific Palisades, and C. Leigh Purtill, author of Love, Meg and All About Me.  [Aside--when I told Kelsey that I had lunch with Leigh, she squealed and jumped up and down in delight, she loved Leigh's books.  I felt like I earned extra mother points because I'm raising a daughter in LA who squeals over an author.]  After eating and chatting, we jumped into talking about books.  Leigh brought out a stack of YA books that she recommended, giving us a plot summary, a heads up on anything edgy and the appropriate minimum age of the reader.  Katie had a list of books divided into middle school and high school readers.  She brought each of the books and gave us a summary of the action.  We had a long discussion about good books to read after the Twilight series, Katie suggested Mediator by Meg Cabot for younger readers and Leigh highly recommended Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz for older readers.  Claire will be writing posts about the books Katie and Leigh introduced us to. Read the rest of this entry »

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