May We Recommend?
One of the things our customers seem to really appreciate and value, and one of the things we love most to do here at Village Books, is to recommend "just the right book." Indeed, this kind of customer service is one of the things that sets independent bookstores like Village Books apart from the "Big Box" stores or that large online book retailer (It Who Must Not Be Named!) So stop by today to browse and, if you'd like a friendly recommendation, don't hesitate to ask! Or check out the wealth of staff reviews of favorite books here on our website. Just click on "Our Staff and Their Picks" from the menu at left, and then click again on "Staff Picks."
Take Heart, Fellow Readers (and Book Lovers)
As avid readers (and sellers!) of books, a recent report from The National Endowment for the Arts was enough to gladden the hearts of all of us here at Village Books. According to the NEA, an exciting new trend is afoot. For the first time in more than 25 years, the number of people reading fiction is on the rise!! Could this be a response to the darkening news of economic uncertainty? Perhaps, for reading is an incredibly inexpensive source of entertainment. For about the same price as a movie ticket, a book provides days or even weeks of escape while a movie only lasts a few hours. But surprisingly, the category that showed the greatest increase in reading was the 18-to-24-year-old demographic, presumably not those of us worrying about paying the bills. According to Ann Patchett, author of seven novels including Bel Canto and most recently Run, "This is the first crop of newly minted adults who were raised up on Harry Potter novels. They came of age attending midnight release parties at their local bookstores and then faking mysterious illnesses the next day for the absolute necessity of staying in bed to read." (As hosts of those midnight parties, we would add to Harry Potter the more recent Eclipse phenomenon that has caused Stephenie Meyers' series to practically evaporate from our shelves!) Whatever the reason, we celebrate the trend, hope it continues and offer these suggestions for doing your part to make it so.- Read a book, and another and then another.
- Read to your kids. Read WITH your kids.
- Read at Starbucks, or in line at the grocery store, or in a waiting room.
- Join a book club, or start a book club.
- Give a book as a gift. Write something personal on the inside cover.
- Give inexpensive books as party favors.
- Have a party and ask each person to bring their favorite book (wrapped) then play the "open and steal" game.
- Come to an author talk at Village Books - and bring a friend.
- Recommend the books you like, even to strangers.
- Keep a list of the books you've loved (because maybe, like us, you can't always remember their names?)
- Keep a list of books you want to read. Or come by the bookstore and let us recommend a few. It's what we love most to do.
Whatever you do, celebrate with us the written word and all it offers. Happy New Year from all your friends at Village Books!!
Award Winners
Unlike the Oscars and Golden Globes, there is no single season for book awards. The National Book Critics Circle Award nominees have been announced - the winners will be named in March. The Pulitzer Prizes are given in April. The Mann Booker Prize is awarded in October and the National Book Award Winners are selected in November. But with the announcement last week by the American Library Association of its 2009 children's book awards, now seems as good a time as any to look forward (and back) at recent award winners and nominees. For those of you who are interested in reading such highly acclaimed works (recent and past award-winners) check out the display immediately to your right as you enter Village Books. While we provide no red carpet, nor do we require fancy ball gowns!!
Bickie Thursday is now Bickie Wednesday
The staff here at Village Books has had a little tradition of enjoying a home-baked "bickie" on certain afternoons with one another and any customers in the store. (In Australia and other parts of the British Commonwealth, a biscuit or "bickie" is what Americans call a cookie, or other kind of sweet treat.) We used to indulge in this tradition on Thursday afternoons but scheduling changes have put our most avid - and talented! - bakers on Wednesdays now. So stop by the store some Wednesday afternoon - in addition to that perfect book, you can expect to find a bickie waiting for you. To add yet another layer of meaning to the expression, "eating your own home cooking," our bickies often come straight out of the pages of cookbooks sold in the store.
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