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Buy Books for the Holidays – What a Great Idea!

November 14, 2009 in bookstore, childrens, gifts, giveaway, holiday, young adult by Kim | 1 comment

button-wideThere is a new website is in town and we love it – Buy Books for the Holidays!  Their goal is to introduce literacy charities, spotlight independent bookstores (YAHOO!  what could be better?), and provide gift suggestions and printable shopping lists.  We are instant fans of anything that reminds people to shop at independent bookstores.  Starting on Monday, Buy Books for the Holidays will be highlighting various independent bookstores. 

Buy Books for the Holidays has already directed readers to several terrific literacy organizations.   Want to donate funds to organizations that promote reading?  Look at the post on Reading is Fundamental or the list of organizations that need your money or your books.  More charity profiles will be added in the future.  For most of our fans, reading is a passion that we can feed by buying or easily borrowing books, but for some it is a hard won privilege.  Take this opportunity to feed the hunger for reading in others.

The website also includes some fun book lists:  a children’s booklist that is further broken down into books for “Mommy and Me,”  “Daddy and me,”  and ones that celebrate the family; a vampire list; a list for teenage girls (some would argue that a vampire list and a teenage girl list is redundant); and, a list for “if you like that author, then try this one . . .”  More lists will be printed each week, so check out all of the options.

As I’ve said before, my mantra is “the best gift is a book.” We’ll be providing you with lists throughout the holiday buying season (look for our parenting book list on Monday) and Buy Books for the Holidays is another great resource.   Remember, once the gift giving season is over, you’ll have a chance to win a book gift certificate for yourself if you are a Holiday Helper and you buy two books at an independent bookstores.

Happy shopping!

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Green Books Campaign – 100 Bloggers for 100 Books PLUS a Giveaway!!

November 10, 2009 in book review, environment, giveaway, poetry, publishing by Kim | 8 comments

100bloggers

Designed by Susan Newman

GIVEAWAY OF AL GORE’S NEW BOOK AND FROM GREEN TO GOLD DESCRIBED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!

We’re joining Eco-Libris and 99 other book bloggers in reviewing 100 books that were published in an eco-friendly manner.  Eco-Libris organized this event (see our post about Eco-Libris and Kim’s interview on their blog) to highlight both the need for and availability of books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper.  “Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible ,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Very few books are currently printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to “green” books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”

FC9781553800675We are so happy to join today’s blogging event.  Since I am trying to read more poetry, I decided to chose From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico as our review book.  This poetry collection is not only printed in a green manner, the poems themselves evoke an awareness of the beauty of nature and life.   I experienced a sense of melancholy and an awareness of the beauty of every moment as I read the poems.  

The theme of the time passing repeatedly occurs:  in the appropriately named “Time,” time is ”the mongrel bitch, limping along on three legs . . . She holds a bleeding forepaw tightly against her chest and whimpers from time to time.”   Even more poignant for me was “Marston-Bigot, Somerset” which describes the antics of WWII soldiers on New Years Eve at a temporary encampment juxtaposed with the animals (badger, mole) that will continually be present in an ongoing cycle of life.  

Several poems refer to aging, another aspect of time.  My favorite is ”Kontrapunkt” with the repeating lines “I crave another body.  This one will never do.”  References to autumn and winter as stand ins for aging Read the rest of this entry »

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Holiday Helper Added to Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge

November 4, 2009 in bookstore, Challenge, giveaway, holiday by Kim | 6 comments

Claire and I launched the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge earlier this year to encourage people to seek out and visit new bookstores.  Robin, from A Fondess for Reading, satisfied the scout category by visiting Murder by the Book in Portland, Oregon, and  Snow Goose Bookstore in Stanwood, WA.  Allison Staton, from Soccer Mom in Denial, is also a scout after visiting Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC, and The Blue Bunny Bookstore in Dedham, MA.  We’ve had several other people sign up and we’re looking forward to hearing from them.  It’s not too late to enter the competition  – just visit at least two new bookstores before the end of year and tell us about it (in a post, or an e-mail or a comment on the Challenge post).   What a great activity while traveling for the holidays!  Everyone who satisfies the Challenge will be entered in a drawing for a $20 ABA Gift card.  Click here to enter.

In honor of the upcoming gift giving season, we’re adding a new category, “Holiday Helper.”  Buy two books at an independent bookstore, scan the receipt and send it via e-mail to Claire (claire@bookstorepeople.com) or me (kim@bookstorepeole.com) and we’ll enter you in a drawing for a second $20 ABA Gift card.  Not sure what books to buy?  No worries, we’ll be starting our Best Gifts for Readers lists next week.  We’re gathering lists of travel literature, fiction, YA, children’s, independent publishers and more.

We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

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We’re Giving Away What EVERY Reader and Book Blogger Needs!

September 14, 2009 in bookstore, giveaway by Kim | 19 comments

BBAW_Celebrate_BooksThis week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week (BBAW), an annual extravaganza sponsored by Amy Riley of My Friend Amywith the help of many kind elves.  For the last several weeks, BBAW accepted nominations for the “best” of several types of bloggers.  Voting occurred last week on the finalists and the winners will be revealed this week.  Today the real fun begins.  Check out the BBAW website for scavenger hunts that race across the blogosphere, all culminating in a prize for some and a chance to look at book blogs for everyone.  Articles are posted daily, today there is one from the editor of small press about book bloggers, another from a blogger about reviewing classics, and a third from an author grateful for the impact of book blogs.  Moreover, dozens and dozens of book bloggers are giving away prizes in honor of BBAW and Amy’s efforts. 

ABAGiftCard-largeWhile we’re not officially book bloggers, our mission is to highlight independent bookstores, we talk about books a lot.  Plus, Claire and I don’t want to miss out on the fun.  Our prize fits both our goal and the secret wish of every reader and book blogger:  free money for books.  We’ll give a $20 ABA gift card to the winner of our drawing.  We’ll be purchasing the gift card from Skylight Books in Los Angeles, but it can be used in hundreds of independent stores across the nation.  For those of you without an independent bookstore (consider opening one up!), the gift card can be used at many stores online.  Skylight Books assured me that the winner could order a book from them and they would ship it.

How to enter?  One entry for leaving the name on an independent bookstsore you love and a second entry for twittering about this giveaway (put @bookstoreK in the twitter so I can find it and/or leave a comment below about the twitter if I won’t know you by your twitter name).  Leave your e-mail and the winner will be picked mid-day on September 19th with random.org.

Good luck!

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Dudley’s Books Shares an Example of “Community”

July 25, 2009 in bookstore, classics, giveaway, used books by Kim | No comments

One of the reasons independent bookstores are so important is that they 320_6447399provide a place to build and support community, more so than almost any other type of retailer.  We’ve discussed this various times on the blog and posted a list of what some stories around the country are doing to promote a sense of community.  Last week, Terri Cumbie of Dudley’s Bookstore and Cafe in Bend, OR shared this story that typifies what lovers of bookstores mean when they describe community:

I had something amazing happen in the shop last week….  I found a leather-bound copy of the Collected Works of Thoreau at a thrift store and put it in the window of my shop.  Some guy came in the store and was having coffee when a young woman came in and said she wanted to buy the Thoreau book but didn’t have any money today.  She wanted to know if I would hold it for her until the next day, which was no problem.  After she left, the man came up to the counter with the book in his hands and said he wanted to buy it for the young woman so she would be surprised the next day.  I asked him what I should do if she didn’t come back for it.  He said to give it to the next person who inquired about it.  Well, the young woman didn’t come back, and on the 4th day, I put it back in the window.  A young man came in with a dark cloud over his head, and asked about the Thoreau book.  I told him he was welcome to take it, as it had been bought as a gift by a previous customer.  He was so shocked!  He told me that he’d just gotten back to the States after spending a year in Peru with Patch Adams, painting/repairing some slums in a town along the Amazon River, and when he returned to the States, he was distressed at our wealth and how we seemed not to appreciate it.  And then he was given this book by a complete stranger.  He was so thankful and wrote a note to the man (who remained nameless).  I was so very honored to witness this.  It’s all about community, isn’t it?

Yes it is all about community!

If you have any bookstore stories you’d like to share, please tell us!

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