Bookstore People » graphic novels

Two Unique Bookstores in Bloomsbury, London

Kim — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:19:56 +0000

It’s easy to feel literary wandering around Bloomsbury, this is the area rooted in Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster and their literary group actually named Bloomsbury. If that isn’t enough, the British Museum and the University of London anchor the intellectual life. Little bookstores pop up in unexpected places (see previous reviews London Review Bookshop and Bookmarks), two caught my attention: Gosh! and Oxfam Bloomsbury Bookshop.

Gosh!

I’m not a comic book reader and don’t think I’ll ever evolve into a fan of graphic novels, but I know a good niche bookstore when I see one. Gosh! was packed with people of all ages pouring over everything from mangas to graphic novels to collectible comic books. The store opens into a room dedicated to current graphic novels, I was tempted by the classics in graphic novel form, but then wondered if reading one would be akin to reading the classics in the ‘young readers’ version, essentially killing the story. Gosh! then meanders back into multi-story smaller rooms. The collectible section was impressive, well organized and easy for find all those ancient Peanuts and Batman comic books. If you love graphic novels, manga or comic books, this is your mecca. My favorite aspect was the sign out front, simply the Batman insigna. After seeing hundreds of old pub signs with illustrations from the days when people couldn’t read, I enjoyed this updated version.

Oxfam Bloomsbury Bookshop

All over England I noticed charity stores, in one city in Wales I counted three charity stores on one block. However, I never saw huge block buildings dedicated to public storage. I wonder if the two observations are linked. In Bloomsbury, Oxfam opened a version of charity store, but dedicated solely to books. Personally, I’ve only visited one such store in the US, Housing Works in NYC which gives all of its proceeds to AIDS work. I would love to find more, not just sections of Goodwill for bookshelves, but entire used bookstores for charity. Anyway, off my soap box, the Oxfam store had a wonderful selection of books. My favorite was a section dedicated to the commuter, books or literary magazines that could be read in sections during a single commute. There was a whole shelf dedicated to used Granta magazines at a fraction of the cost. In addition to books the store offers notes/stationary/writing supplies produced by Oxfam. What better way to buy a used book than to support a charity that fights poverty and injustice?

Gosh!

39 Great Russell St.

London WC1B 3NZ

T: 020-7636-1011

Oxfam Bloomsbury Bookshop

12 Bloomsbury St.

London WC1B 3QA

T: 0207-637-4610

Best Gifts for Readers – Young Adult Books

Kim — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:38:49 +0000

Here is the list my daughter has been clapping her hands in anticipation for: a YA list from Jessica, the pied piper of young literature from Latitude 33 in Laguna Beach, CA. Last summer, Kelsey and I visited Latitude 33 and Jessica spent a long time talking books with Kelsey – they were reading soul mates. Luckily for the rest of us, she just started her own blog about children’s and young adult books, Read Schmead: Tales from the Book. We asked Jessica for some favorite YA books that any reader would love to receive as a gift and here are her thoughts:

A Non-Definitive List of Great Books for Young Adults

This list, like all lists, is incomplete. Also, it is definitely not definitive. My fiancee, Nōn, and myself have compiled this list because we love young adult books. Enjoy.

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke – Igraine the Brave, from the author of the Inkheart trilogy, is absolutely delightful. Igraine wants nothing more than to be a Knight, but little excitement comes to her Pimpernel’s castle, until one day when all craziness breaks loose and Igraine—with some help—must fight against the evil sorcerer. I listened to the audiobook version and found Xanthe Elbrick’s voices perfect for all of the characters.

The Maze Runner by James Dashner – Suspense, action, creepy crawlers, The Maze Runner has it all. Thomas awakes in an elevator shaft in a place called the Glade unable to remember anything of his life, only his name. He soon discovers that he and the other boys living in the Glade must stay there until they figure out the ever-changing maze, but it’s not that easy because after dark the Grievers come out. I was utterly captivated by the world Dashner creates and I can’t wait for the next book (this is the first in a trilogy)! For the first time in a while I found myself unable to put the book down and actually used my cell phone to light the page when I was reading late at night. [Kim - check out the book trailer on Jessica's blog.]

Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - Easily the best young adult book in the last few years! This book is the first in a series about Katniss, a sixteen-year-old girl, living in what used to be America and is now called Panem. She is forced to participate in the “Hunger Games;” a government orchestrated game in which a boy and a girl from each district is forced to fight until there is only one survivor. I definitely recommend this book to everyone over the age of twelve, adults included! If you have not read Hunger Games yet then it is a must buy for the holidays!

If I Stay by Gayle Forman – A touching novel, If I Stay left me weepy, but I never felt manipulated. Seventeen-year-old Mia is involved in a terrible car accident leaving her in critical condition and her mother, father and possibly brother dead. Mia, although she is in a coma, is able to understand all that has happened to her and must decide if she should stay or die. This book is an excellent and touching read. I was worried it would be melodramatic but it was not at all. Forman has created an amazing character in Mia.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan – Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, a wordless graphic novel, imaginatively tells an immigrants story. Each panel offers a beautiful magical realism perspective of the struggles, fears, and hopes of the newly immigrated. I highly recommend this book and Tan’s short stories, Tales from Outer Suburbia.

The Graveyard Bookby Neil Gaiman – The Graveyard Book is about a small boy who comes to be known as Nobody Owens and is given the freedom of the Graveyard. After Nobody’s, or Bod’s, family is murdered by the man named Jack, the Graveyard “occupants” adopt him as one of their own. He learns how to fade and dream walk and lives quite contently among the dead with occasional interactions with the living. But Bod and the others know that it is only a matter of time until the man named Jack will return to finish the job. Neil Gaiman, once again, creates a rich, inventive, and masterfully told story. Every sentence is delightful and sometimes a bit frightening. I never wanted to leave the Graveyard!

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow – Little Brother excels at defining what it means to be an individual, ever questioning, ever seeking, ever yearning, in a world that consistently encumbers those innate freedoms. It is wonderfully empowering, exciting and exemplary. [Kim - check out the review on Jessica's blog.]

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli – A story about a young, adventurous lad who finds hope and joy in the small, simple things; a new town reluctant to embrace him; and an author who describes it all in a way that’s evocative of timeless folk-tale wisdom, the magic of boyhood camaraderie and, above all, the unbridled power of the human spirit.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld – Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan is a fantastic melding of rich history and fantastical science fiction. Great for young history buffs, sci-fi aficionados and aspiring steam punks.

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg – Part mystery, part adventure, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a superb depiction of two runaway siblings who choose to hide-out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There, they discover the value of perseverance and family.

Also, check out the following books:

Beautiful Creaturesby Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Flushby Carl Hiaasen

Love Among the Walnuts by Jean Ferris

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Going Bovineby Libba Bray

Gracelingby Kristin Cashore

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianby Sherman Alexie

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

There are so many more, but I must stop there.

Jessica Dobson

Thank you Jessica! Remember, anyone who buys two books at an independent bookstore qualifies as a Holiday Helper and may win an ABA Gift Card.

The Top Ten Books to Read with Your Teenaged Son

Claire — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:57:50 +0000

I’m no expert, just a mom whose son likes to read as much as she does.

My 15-year-old son just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and its sequel Catching Fire (reviewed in these pages by Kim’s daughter Kelsey) and immediately said to me, “You have to read them, too.”

We have a long history of reading books together. Of course, it started when he was a baby and I read picture books to him, but long after I’d stopped reading out loud to him (and anyone who knows me knows I stopped doing that as soon as my kids could read to themselves), he and I would trade books or take turns with them.

I used to sneak into his room after he had fallen asleep to nab the new Harry Potter off of his night table so I could cram in a few chapters before my own bedtime. (Now he stays up later than I do, so that kind of sharing doesn’t work so well anymore and I have to wait my turn. Or he has to wait his.)

We both love fantasy, so I made him read some of my favorites. I gave him the best of the best, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card when he was too young to appreciate it, forgetting that reading comprehension is a different skill from moral nuance comprehension. But a few years later, he agreed to try it again–and loved it as much as I did. Victory.

More recently, I started passing on to him all the graphic novels I loved and he’s now as eager as I am to read the best of that genre. I’m thrilled to have someone to talk with ad nauseum about Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman and Alex Robinson and a ton of others.

Book sharing took on a more official tone when Kim and I started a parent/son book club with a couple of other families. Once a month we’d meet for dinner, wine (the kids got sparkling cider) and a discussion of a book that had been agreed upon at the previous meeting. Many of our choices were suggested by our elementary school librarian Yapha Mason who has a book blog of her own and an inexhaustible knowledge of what kids at every age like to read.

Some books were huge hits with both parents and kids, but others were less successful. One important lesson we learned was that kids mature fairly quickly and a bunch of 12 year olds will happily read a middle reader book but a bunch of 14-year-olds won’t. We had to “grow” our choices along with our kids. So here are my top suggestions for books to read with your teenaged son, ones that you’ll both enjoy.

This first group is good for 12 to 14 year olds.

1. ENDER’S GAME by Orson Scott Card. You saw that coming, didn’t you? It’s exciting, riveting, action-packed–but the moral implications are explored for every choice the characters make and there are no easy answers.

2. Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby. A very moving book about whether or not a chimp can be a domesticated pet and how inhumane humans can be to animals and to each other.

3. Holes by Louis Sachar. I love this book. So do all my kids. It’s fast-paced, fascinating, funny and moving . . . It’s just terrific. One of my kids read it at a younger age and, while he loved it, found some parts of it to be extremely intense, so even though the reading level isn’t too sophisticated, be aware that the emotional content is.

4. The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer. I love pretty much everything Nancy Farmer has ever written, but for sheer reading pleasure, Sea of Trolls wins out. Norse mythology and actual history combine to make a rollicking tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat, but is smart and thoughtful, too.

5. Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko. Kids love that this is set on Alcatraz (we later visited the island and it was all the more exciting for having read the book). I loved that there’s a realistic and sensitive portrayal of autism in the book and what it would have been like for parents to deal with it back then when it wasn’t even being diagnosed.

6. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. A favorite from my own childhood. It’s more whimsical and less action-packed than the other books on this list, but if you have a son with a good sense of humor, he may love it. And you almost certainly will.

7. Harry Potter and also The Lightning Thief. These are sharing a number because I’m going to assume you and your son have read these series already. BUT IF YOU HAVEN’T, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

For the older kids (14 to 16):

8. Ray Bradbury’s Short Stories. We did these one month in book club, and everyone really enjoyed them. They’re a little unnerving for younger kids–and some of them feel a little dated–but each one has an idea in it that makes you think about life, the universe, or human relationships in a whole new light. I read them when I was young and I still think of them frequently. In fact, I recently wrote a blog post about one of them.

9. Ant Farm by Simon Rich. Snort-sparkling-cider-out-of-your-nose funny. This SNL writer has his own style: each piece is shorter than this blog, but just a few lines from him are funnier than an entire book of knock-knock jokes. Not for little kids, since the masturbation jokes abound–but the older kids will laugh harder than they ever have before.

10. David Sedaris Essays. Again, not for the little kids, but my son and I loved talking about these together. Sedaris writes beautifully and honestly and it’s a great way for teenagers to realize that non-fiction writing can be as captivating as a novel.

So there you have it: my suggestions for what to read with your teenaged son. Feel free to send in any additional titles.

Translated Tuesday–Epileptic, by David B.

Claire — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:08:28 +0000

I didn’t buy the graphic novel Epileptic (Pantheon Press) because it was translated from the original French and I thought, “That will come in useful for a Translated Tuesday post.” In fact, I didn’t even realize it was translated from another language until I started to notice that all the characters’ names were French and so were the locations.

I bought it because I love graphic novels, this one had appeared on some “best graphic novel” lists, and the subject–a sibling with incurable epilepsy–spoke to me. My nephew had epilepsy (happily, he outgrew it, which does happen with certain childhood types) and I remember how terrifying it was to see him suddenly collapse for no reason. The drugs which controlled it made him a little sleepier, a little out of it. That’s one of the problems with neurological disorders: almost any medication that helps also brings with it unwanted side effects. The brain is a delicate and tricky thing.

Even more meaningful to me than my little familial history of epilepsy was that Epileptic is the story of a family struggling with a son’s neurological disorder that can never be cured. My own son has autism. I’ve written about it in two books. He’s doing great and we are, without a doubt, among the lucky ones when it comes to that particular battle. But it’s there, it’s always been there, and I had a feeling that David B.’s book would have a particular resonance for me because of it.

And it did. The book tells the story–not always in chronological order–of the author’s childhood and young adulthood, from 1964 when he’s five until the 90′s when he’s working on this novel (and occasionally getting his parents’ not-always-positive feedback on it). At first his family is a pretty normal French family, three kids–two boys and a girl-leading what seems to be a relatively content middle-class existence.

Then his older brother has his first epileptic seizure.

And from then on, his family is on a painful, psychological, medical, geographic and emotional journey that never leads them any closer to a cure.

Like many parents of children with autism, the author’s parents are vulnerable to every passing fad that offers the hope of a cure. (The idea of brain surgery terrifies them, especially because the surgeons they initially consult treat their son like some kind of experiment, not like a human being.) They try pretty much every eastern mystic treatment that was popular back in those decades, from macrobiotic diets (which do seem to help) to seances (which don’t).

David B’s drawings captures the beauty, hope and insanity of all the spurious and mystical beliefs his parents succomb to in their desperation to help their oldest son.

Meanwhile, the author and his younger sister fall deeper and deeper into the isolation and pain that come from having a sibling who can’t ever fit in or be normal and a family that never settles down, is always searching for something. Both succomb to depression.

At times the author hates his brother who as a young adult gives up trying to lead a normal life and settles into a sort of angry sense of entitlement, and who shows a repugnant fascination with Hitler and other fascists. But David B. can never forget his brother, never stop wishing things could be different, never stop caring about what happens to him. Eventually, he finds an outlet and hope in his artwork. He changes his name (he chooses “David” because it sounds Jewish and is, in its own way, a response to his brother’s Nazi attraction) and finally finds success and independence.

But the horror of his brother’s unfulfilled life is always with him.

Epileptic is beautiful, moving, painful, and all too relatable for anyone who’s ever had a family member suffer from a disorder that alters his personality. I defy you to say it’s “just” a graphic novel.

Who’s Watching the Watchers Watching Watchmen?

Claire — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:50:45 +0000

When books become movies

I finally saw “Watchmen.” The original plan was for me to run out and see the very first matinee on the very first day it opened–and by “plan,” of course I mean “fantasy.” I didn’t even come close. It had been out for a couple of weeks by the time Rob and I actually made it to the cinema.

I was dying to see “Watchmen” because I read the book this year and was blown away by it. I wanted to roll around inside that book forever–it was that kind of feeling. I like reading graphic novels in general, but Watchmen is to its genre what “The Simpsons” is to prime time cartoons: it inverts and subverts convention and defies expectations and yet somehow stays true to its identity. If you haven’t read Watchmen, I can’t explain it to you–just go read it. (And, by the way, according to one of my husband’s colleagues, I haven’t actually read Watchmen, because I’ve only read it once. For legions of fans, you only really get to say you’ve read the book if you’ve gone through it at least half a dozen times. And it is true that I probably missed tons the first time around–I look forward to rereading it one day.)

So I went off to the movie with a fair amount of anticipation. Almost three hours later, I walked out with a fair amount of a shrugging sort of ”well, that was kind of fun.” Was it faithful to the original? It was. Did it transcend the original? No. Was it as good as the book? Not really. Was the adaptation flawed? I’m not sure. Would I have liked it if I hadn’t read the book? I doubt it.

All in all, it was a bit like reading a photocopied version of a colorful graphic novel: everything was there and I was reminded of what I loved about the original . . . but the intensity and brilliance were gone. I’m not sure why.

Sometimes being faithful to a book isn’t the best way to transfer it to the screen. I say this despite having lived through the painful process of having one of my own novels turned into a TV movie and hating the way they altered everything I loved about the original. Of course, in my case, I think they should have left the story alone, and I honestly do think they lost what was best and most meaningful about the novel in changing things so drastically. Which would argue for staying faithful to books in general–but I’m not sure that’s always the right course, either.

I think there are basically three ways an adaptation can go: you get your totally faithful renditions like Watchmen or the Harry Potter movies. This can be a solid strategy: since J.K. Rowling writes fairly cinematically, the movie version of her books are pretty much what you’d want them to be. Her readers would be disappointed with any huge liberties, so for the most part the movies have stuck with including as much of what’s in the novels as they can in their limited running time and they’re serviceable and satisfying.

Then there are the ones that deviate completely from the book, like the TV movie of my novel or the Charlie Kaufman version of The Orchid Thief which wasn’t so much about the actual book as it was about the process of trying to adapt the book–which is why the movie was called Adaptation. I happen to love Adaptation. I don’t know how Susan Orlean, the original author, feels about it, especially since the movie shows her fictional alter ego doing drugs and attempting to commit murder–but I thought it was tremendous fun and, yes, I had read the original book and liked it. So score one for changing things around hugely.

Finally, there are the brilliant riffs on the original, movies that are completely faithful in tone and subject, but deviate (sometimes out of necessity) in details and plot points.

Since Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite novels, I’ve seen pretty much every movie adaptation. The three best-known ones sum up the three variations I described above. There’s the Colin Firth Masterpiece Theatre mini-series which is incredibly faithful to the original, down to almost every bit of dialogue and is so well done that watching the whole thing feels like a very similar experience to reading the actual novel.

Then there’s the old Laurence Olivier black and white version. Somehow the writer of that one managed to cut the story down to an incredibly streamlined hour and a half–and yet kept the spirit of the original wholly intact. Things are definitely changed–a ball becomes a garden party, Mrs. Bennet has a wonderful carriage race at the very beginning to beat another woman home with the news of the new tenant at Netherfield Hall, even poor Mary has a suitor at the end, and, most importantly, Lady Catherine has a hidden soft side–but all the changes are in service to the story which they speed up without ruining. The soul of the book shines through the minor changes (except for one horrible moment when Jane says, “You have to learn to dream, too!” which is just embarrassing). There’s so much wit and energy to that movie that even the new feels like it’s channeling Austen.

Finally, there’s the Keira Knightley version which does have its strengths (her beauty, the pigs running around the Bennets’ yard, a slightly skanky Lydia) and keeps as closely to the original material as it can given the running time, but which feels like it’s filtered through a twelve-year-old girl’s sensibility. Who else but a tween would want to watch that incredibly uncomfortable “extra scene” of Elizabeth and Darcy fondling each other at the end? I mean, sure, I fantasized about what their wedding night would be like–that doesn’t mean I want to see it.

So, oddly, while the Keira Knightley version is more loyal to the book in many ways than the old Olivier version, it ultimately feels less like Austen and more like some cheap Regency romance imitation.

Which brings me back around to “Watchmen,” which is deeply deeply loyal to the book–many shots line up perfectly with the original panel. (As someone pointed out, it looks like Zack Snyder used the graphic novel as his storyboard.) So why doesn’t it sing the way the book does?

I DON’T KNOW. Maybe when it comes to film adaptations, it’s more important to capture the spirit than the letter of the original?

Which maybe explains why I love Clueless so much. It’s probably my favorite Austen adaptation of them all and there’ s not a word of Austen in there. But the spirit. Ah, the spirit . . .

Any movie adaptations of books you especially love or don’t love? Tell us what you think works and what doesn’t.

Diesel Books, Now in Brentwood

Claire — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:41:19 +0000

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.)

Reddi Chick has always been in the Country Mart (and by “always,” I mean as long as I’ve lived here), but more recently a Barney’s Burgers, a Frida Taqueria and a City Bakery (pretzel croissants, hallelujah!) have all set up shop there, too. So you can now order a turkey burger or some enchiladas, take the beeper they give you, and go right on into Diesel Books while your food is being prepared. Browsing away your waiting time–that’s just heavenly. I used to feel like it took forever for my burger to cook and now it’s ready way too soon.

That’s because Diesel is my kind of bookstore: small, cozy, well-stocked and airy. (Cozy and airy are not easy to achieve simultaneously but they manage it.) There are two other Diesel bookstores, which makes it, I guess, a mini-chain, but in feel it’s pure Indie. Maybe that’s because it doesn’t have that big chain store attitude of “put out the bestsellers and to hell with everything else.” The “bestsellers” out by the front entrance are specific to the store, and not to the New York Times, so you can check out what other people in Brentwood are reading these days and either join in the fun or eschew it altogether.

They pride themselves–rightfully–on their art and cookbook collections which are impressive ones for such a small store. I checked out the graphic novel section which had migrated from one visit to the next, so I had to ask where they had moved it (way down low as it turned out) and, again, they had an impressively wide range of interesting titles given their limited space.

The graphic novel section wasn’t the only part of the store to move around: sections and display tables were shifting a lot at Diesel for the first couple of months, but someone who worked there assured me that they’re pretty happy with the current lay-out and I think things will stay the way they are for a while, although they’re still getting a feel for the local community and are shaping their inventory to respond to people’s interests and needs.

Here’s my advice for them: offer lots of books with pictures of hot, juicy hamburgers on the cover. They’ll sell like hotcakes. Or, you know, burgers.

Diesel Books
Brentwood Country Mart
225 26th Street, Suite 33
Santa Monica, CA 90402
310-576-9960
info@dieselbookstore.com

(also in Malibu and Oakland)

Want to Buy a Calendar?

Claire — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 16:52:15 +0000

A bookstore transforms itself at the New Year

Much as I loved to write at an early age, I never considered becoming any kind of a reporter because I hate talking to strangers. (I could never become a talk show host, either, I guess). That neurotic problem of mine definitely affects the way I judge bookstores: Kim chats up the owners and gets all the back story, while I lurk and shop. (I have been known to ask questions, but the story has to be empty and the shopowner amiable.)

I approach new stores from a different angle. At any given moment, I’m usually obsessed with a specific writer or subject, and will, when I walk into a new bookstore, check out their offerings in that particular interest. I figure it’s like random polling: it gives me a quick idea of how good their overall selection is. (Of course, that doesn’t work on specialty stores–I wouldn’t walk into a cookbook store looking for a graphic novel.)

So when my family and I walked the several blocks from one of our favorite places on earth–The Bone Room in Berkeley–to a bookstore we vaguely remembered was up the street, I knew what I was going to look for. Pegasus Books offers a mixture of new and used books, separated out so you know what you’re getting and can, say, buy that new bestseller for a friend’s birthday gift, then go look for something to read for yourself in the used section.

I’m happy to say that Pegasus totally came through for me that day: I was working my way through Alex Robinson’s graphic novels and had just finished one. Since we were on vacation, I was enjoying spending my evenings curled up with a book (no laundry to fold! no homework to help with!) and was desperate for another. And Pegasus had exactly what I wanted. It felt like winning (an admittedly small-potted) lottery. I mean, I wasn’t looking for a Tom Clancy novel–this was a graphic novel published by a small press. I found some other things I wanted–all used, and therefore discounted–and my eight-year-old son was thrilled to find a used collection of Thor comics.

I could have spent all day in that store: the selection was varied and eclectic with a lot of good deals in the used book sections. It’s a beautiful, spacious store with a lot of room to stand and leaf through books. Unfortunately, we were due to meet friends back at the Bone Room so the rest of the family left while Will and I bought our books.

Now was the time to chat a little bit–my fear of talking to strangers soothed by the familiar interaction of exchanging money for goods–and I found out that Pegasus is actually a mini-chain: there are two of them in Berkeley (we later passed the second one on our way to lunch) and a sister Pendragon store in Oakland.

I also discovered that some of the open feeling of the store that day was due to the fact they were starting to clear off some of the books and move some of the bookshelves out of the way for a big New Year’s Day event: their annual calendar sale. Every year on New Year’s morning, they put out a huge assortment of the new year’s calendars at a discounted price (1 for $3.99 or 3 for $10). Their stores are almost entirely given over to the calendar sale for several days–apparently there’s a line of people waiting for them to open their doors that first morning.

Another customer–clearly a regular–stuck his head into our conversation at this point and said, “Yeah, well, I just wait for it go back to being a normal bookstore again–that’s what I like.” No argument here: I love a good bookstore. But if a lucrative calendar sale helps any independent bookstore stay in business, I’m all in favor of it. Especially if I could zip in and buy my calendars without talking to a single stranger . . .

Pegasus Fine Books
1855 Solano Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94707
510.525.6888
(Fax)510.525.1646
admin@pegasusbookstore.com

Announcing the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge!

Kim — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:14:52 +0000

Announcing the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge!

Thank you Robin for the image!

I recently found scores of reader’s challenges on the Internet, I’d never heard of them. There is a reader’s challenge for everything: short stories, WWII books, world citizen (history and politics), art history, graphic novels (Claire should join this one), RYOB (read your own books), essays, chick lit (everyone participating in this challenge should read Claire’s three fiction books), Notable books, chunkie books (books longer than 450 pages), young adult books, and many more. Then it occurred to me, Claire and I could do the same thing. I’m really excited about hosting our own challenge right here on Bookstore People. So we’re announcing the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge. Claire’s a bit terrified about the prospect, but I’m confident she’ll love it.

Challenge Guidelines

Here are the rules: go to independent bookstores that are new to you between January 1 and December 31, 2009 and have some sort of interaction. The challenge comes with different levels you can sign up for:

Scout – Visit 2 independent bookstores (easy!)
Specialist – Visit 2 subject matter specialty bookstores (i.e., travel, children, cooking)
Nationalist – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore in a state you do not live in
Continental – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore in another N. American country (that would be the USA, Canada or Mexico)
Globetrotter – Visit 2 independent bookstores and 1 additional bookstore on a different continent (if you’re going to Europe, check out Bookstore Guide)
Type A Personality to the Max – Satisfy any two categories

We’ll have a page dedicated to the challenge where you can sign up and leave comments. Plus, we’d love to have a review of the stores you’ve found and liked (we ignore stores with bad service or stock), we’ll post it with a description of you and a link back to your blog (if you have one), just e-mail it to me at kim@bookstorepeople.com. In fact, we encourage cross posting bookstore reviews so post on your blog, Indiebound, Yelp, City Search, City Guide and any other place that would like it.

We’ll Give out a Prize!

But wait, there’s even more, at the end of the year we’ll have a random drawing among everyone who satisfied their challenge for a gift certificate from BookSense. What more could you want? Sign up now and start exploring the wonderful world of independent bookstores.

Best Gifts for Young Men . . . and Me

Claire — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 18:12:58 +0000

The Greatest Graphic Novels (that I’ve read)

I love graphic novels. It all started with comic books, for me. When I was a kid, I devoured Mad Magazine (my family had a subscription) and Archie Comics–a friend of mine had hundreds of them–I’m not sure why, I just know that all I wanted to do when I went over to her house was read about Betty and Veronica and their never-ending battle for the oblivious and indecisive Archie’s romantic attentions.

But I can’t say I truly loved the art form until I went off to college and, in my freshman year, dated a guy who was obsessed with good grades (he was also gay, but that’s another story and one you have to pour a couple of drinks into me before I’ll tell you the details of). Our dates consisted of his worrying about homework over dinner and then insisting we go to the library to study after dinner. Woo-hoo. This was a problem for a lazy English major like me who had worked way too hard in high school to get to college to want to continue working once I was there, but then I discovered that in the Quincy House library there was an enormous collection of original Marvel comic books–and a truce was reached. The guy studied. I read comic books. For hours on end.

I liked Spider-man. Who doesn’t like Spider-man? (And for you kiddies, this was YEARS before Tobey Maguire was even a twinkle in Sam Raimi’s eyes.) But pretty soon it was all about the X-Men for me. I didn’t know that one day Hugh Jackman would turn the rough and crude Wolverine into something unbelievably sexy and graceful–that was a bonus that came years later. But what I did know was that the story of Jean Grey turning into dark Phoenix tapped into all the reasons I was an English major in the first place. It was mythic, exciting, complicated, romantic and doomed in a good way. I was hooked.

Years later, I gave my husband a boxed set of the original Mad Magazines from the 40′s and that somehow led to my reading as many issues of Tales from the Crypt as I could order, which so scared the crap out of me that to this day the mention of “button eyes” on a doll or tapeworms makes me run to my room to curl up in the fetal position until I’m not shaking anymore. (Some of you out there know what I’m talking about, and, if you don’t, that’s good, you’ll sleep better at night not knowing. )

For a while, I confined my graphic novel exposure to the occasional Marvel collection or encyclopedia (supposedly for the kids, but really for me) and the AGE OF BRONZE series which tells the story of the Trojan War in great detail and which 8-year-old Will loves. But this past year I happened to go to two book fairs–the Book Expo of America and the American Library Association conference–and brought back a couple of graphic novels and suddenly remembered how much I loved them. One of them made the list below.

Around the same time, an article about the legal battle over the movie version of WATCHMEN caught my eye. A bunch of people were quoted saying it was the greatest graphic novel of all time. I got hold of a copy. Reading it was one of those experiences–the kind where you wish you HADN’T read the book so you could go back and read it for the first time again. It was incredible.

And then, in October, it was my birthday. Rob–who is occasionally the best husband in the world–consulted with Matt Selman, Nerd-World blogger and Simpsons writer and apparently world class graphic novel reader and SHOWERED me with graphic novels for my birthday that Selman recommended. That led to one of the happiest reading orgies I’ve ever known. Days and days of immersing myself in weird art and weirder storylines, of superheroes and anguished villains.

I’m still on the lookout for good new ones. I’ve read a lot of Alan Moore so his books appear a disproportionate amount on the list below. Please let me k now if there are any great graphic novels out there that I’ve missed. I haven’t read as many as I should and I want more. More. More.

But, for now, here’s my list of the best graphic novels (that I’ve read), in no particular order. Give one or two to someone you love this holiday season. And buy them at an indie.

(I’m tempted to do this list in holiday colors but Kim makes fun of me when I use color in my posts.)

1. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Simply the best. This isn’t a “comic book.” This is a great American novel.

2. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. Yeah, the movie sucked and the book feels dated and like it’s trying too hard. It’s still a fun read. And the Guy Fawkes mask makes a great visual.

3. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volumes 1, 2, and the Black Dossier, by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill. I love these, more than they merit probably. It’s like someone wrote them just for ME–”hey, let’s write a graphic novel for a middle-aged housewife who was an English major in college.” Seriously. All sorts of literature is referenced in these. Warning: the Black Dossier gets VERY sexually graphic so don’t give it to anyone under the age of 18. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Don’t say I didn’t enjoy it, either.

4. The Alcoholic by Jonathan Ames and Dean Haspiel. Not a super-hero in sight in this one. I picked up this sort of autobiographical (and sort of not–he makes a lot of it up) life story in an advanced reader’s copy at one of the book events and found myself completely engrossed in it. Maybe I’m just a sucker for a lot of pictures. I don’t know. I liked it.

5. The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. I’ve only read one of these–the second one, “The Doll’s House”–and that was because someone gave it to Kim for free (She wrote about it here) and I snagged it from her because I love Neil Gaiman and I love graphic novels so it seemed like “my kind of thing” to say the least. Man, this was a DARK one. You might even call it sick. But maybe I just have a problem with cannibalism? At any rate, I’d like to read the others but I don’t want to spend a lot on them. That’s seriously a problem for me–how expensive this graphic novel habit is.

6. The Age of Bronze series by Eric Shanower. History, mythology, expsure to stuff you’re going to have to know in high school and college–all in exciting graphic novel form. More for the kiddies than for the adults, but pretty cool.

7. X-Men, the Dark Phoenix Saga by Chris Claremont. I don’t own this one but I would like to. That’s a hint to anyone who knows me who’s reading this. Anyone out there? Seriously, this is the story that got me to see that the comic book can hold its own with great literature.

8. Watchmen. Yeah, I know I already recommended it. But just in case you didn’t get the message the first time: read it.