The Magic of Harry Potter

I stayed up way too late last night re-reading Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.  I am going to see the movie, of course, but I had been meaning to re-read it for a few years.  When it first came out, I devoured it so fast that I missed the details. J.K. Rowling tells a story like no one else.  She is also a skilled writer, describing the sites of Harry's triumphs and tragedys and the interactions between Harry, Hermoine and Ron in a way that you can almost see and hear them.

There have been some interviews with J.K. Rowling in which she says that she might someday consider writing another Harry Potter book.  As a bookseller, I should be jumping up and down and praying for an early release of whatever she chooses to write.  But I am not hoping for more.  Harry Potter was a phenomenon, special to the place and time in which it was released.  As we await the last movie, reflecting the final chapter of the story, there is a bittersweet feeling that you get at the end of a long and wonderful journey. You might go back and retrace your steps, but the journey will never be the same.  The wonder of discovery comes only the first time around.

And there was a sort of innocence that allowed children and adults alike to love the Harry Potter stories.  Somewhere along the way, the innocence has dimmed a bit.  It is not that we are jaded, exactly, but time and technology have changed so much from the time of the release of the first Harry Potter book.  We live in a different world than the one that existed in 1997.

So, as much as I would love to dress up as Professor McGonagall again and fill my big black cauldron with jelly beans, I think that Harry Potter should remain frozen in time.  I look forward to introducing new generations of readers to the books, and hanging out on rainy weekends watching all the movies in a row. I will enjoy the photos and memories of many happy book release parties.  And I will keep my fingers crossed that lightning will strike again and that in a pub in Ireland or a coffee shop in Minneapolis a writer is writing a story that will grab a generation and take them on an amazing ride.

Falling Leaves

I always think that the new year should start in September.  Here in Westhampton, the summer ends with a bang on Labor Day and everything changes.  Suddenly there are places to park at Waldbaums, school lunches to pack, fewer customers to serve and a completely different feel to the world.  Even when the warm weather lingers on, a sea change has come and you can feel it.

So I have been thinking of some autumn resolutions to take into this new season.  I have great plans for innovations and promotions at The Open Book, but I am making resolutions of a more personal nature.  I am making resolutions about books.

You see, I am up to my ears in books.  I have books everywhere in my life.  Of course, the store is filled with books.  But my car is also filled with books, as is my house. So this year I am going to do what librarians do and "weed" my library.  Here are the questions that I am going to ask myself when deciding whether to keep a book.

1. Do you love it? (This is the easy one.....if you really truly love it, it must stay)
2. Is it autographed and do you like the author enough to care?
3. Has time, dust or the bunny rabbit caused damage to this book?
4. Are you really going to get around to reading it someday or are you fooling yourself?
5. Does it belong to someone else? (If so....it is going to its rightful home.  I will no longer be a book thief)
6. Did it make you laugh or cry?  (If it can evoke emotion, it is probably a keeper)
7. Would someone else be really happy to read it? (Give it away....sharing books is a joy)

I am sure there are more questions I should ask.  But if I spend anymore time making lists of questions, the books will never be culled and you will someday find me lying beneath piles of books, looking  like the Wicked Witch of the East under Dorothy's house, without the cute shoes.....

Happy New Year

I just changed some of my settings on this blog and this reposted with today's date.  Well it is Rosh Hashanah, so shana tova and enjoy a reprint of my January post!

Welcome to a new year of reading! Once again I am going to keep a list of the books I have read this year. I hope you enjoy looking at the list and reading my mini-reviews. Looking back at 2009, I enjoyed remembering all the good books I read. I know that this year will bring some books to fall in love with, some books that surprise me and some real page turners. Here we go....

1. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (My 3rd Inspector Gamache book. I really enjoy Penny's writing and the mysteries are intriguing)
2. Mr. Dixon Disappears by Ian Sansome (Quirky little mysteries with a kind of pathetic main character)
3. Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott (I love Lamott's writing style but this is a tough book for the mother of teenagers - beautiful and sad)
4. Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde (Odd Science Fiction book by the author of the Thursday Next series)
5. A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (I just love this series....)
6. Apple Turnover Murders by Joanne Fluke (silly, cozy mysteries...perfect for a snowy day)
7. The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (I told you I am hooked on these.)
8. Where's My Wand by Eric Poole (For fans of Augusten Burroughs and David Sedaris)
9. The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival by Ken Wheaton (Quirky, funny, just good)
10. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (Great YA mythological adventure)
11. Reckless by Andrew Gross (Good page turner, realistic likeable characters)
12. Bite Me by Christopher Moore (Funny vampires, vampire cats, and San Francisco)
13. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (A parable that makes you think; simple yet powerful)
14. Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman (A literary mystery with interesting characters)

15. Finny by Justin Kramon (If you love Dickens and John Irving, you will love this one)

16. Libertad by Alma Fullerton (A prose poetry book that will break your heart)

17. Royal Flush by Rhys Bowen (A cozy English mystery with flappers)

18. Welcome to Shirley by Kelly McMasters (Brookhaven Laboratory and Shirley in the 80's)

19. The Mapmakers Wife by Robert Whitaker (True adventure.....nonfiction for a change!)

20. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin (Purely enjoyable chick lit)

21. Becoming Jane Eyre by Sheila Kohler (Beautifully written fictionalized memoir of Charlotte Bronte)

22. The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (Great time travel/historical fiction. I could not put it down)

23. The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen (Southern Magical realism...so good)

24. The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz (What!? This is the end of the Spellman series? NOOOO)

25. Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill (Darkly funny look at the life of a reluctant Laotian coroner)

26. House Rules by Jodi Picoult (Great story and I feel like I learned alot about Aspergers)

27. Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo (good, cozy read)

28. State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy (ditto)

29. A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters (Amelia Peabody keeps travelling and stirring up trouble)

30. The God of the Hive by Laurie King (Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes continue to solve crimes together)

31. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris (Sookie Stackhouse cavorts with vampires, werewolves and fairies)

32. You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up by Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn (Funny look at a marriage between two pretty neurotic people)

33. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender ( Haunting, beautiful writing, great characters.....read this!)

34. Women Food and God by Geneen Roth ( An interesting approach to food issues)

34. Little Bee by Chris Cleaves (Intense, very very good)

35. Still Sucks To Be Me by Kimberly Pauley (Fun teen vampire book)

36. Stitches by David Small (Powerful graphic novel)

37. Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser (subtitle says it all: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow)

38. The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine ( I loved the modern day Austen story)

39. Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell (Beautiful affecting memoir of friendship)

40. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson (Great YA road trip novel)

41. Tinkers by Paul Harding (beautiful writing, confusing but wonderful)

42. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich (perfect beach read.....you have to love Grandma Mazur)
43. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler (the original hard-boiled detective novel)
44. A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova (Fascinating memoir of a childhood in Russia)

45. The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer (Funny and pointed, great writing)

46. Pride and Avarice by Nicolas Coleridge (Funny take on modern English society)

47. A Brush with Death by Elizabeth Duncan (Cozy Welsh mystery)

48. Brava Valentine by Adriana Trigiani (I loved this book....Valentine is a great character)

49. Tales from the Yoga Studio by Rain Mitchell (light and fluffy)

50. In Harm's Way by Ridley Pearson (A good mystery but a little confusing)

51. Our Kind of Traitor by John Le Carré (Thumbs down, I am sorry to say)

52. Amagansett by Mark Mills (History and mystery and the east end of Long Island!)

53. Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane (So, so, so good......buy this one when it comes out!)
54. Dead Line by Stella Rimington ( Another great MI5 story)
55. Room by Emma Donoghue (disturbing, beautifully written story)
56. The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz by Laura Toffler-Corrie (cute, ya, New York story)
57.  The Viognier Vendetta by Ellen Crobsy (good, almost a cozy)
58. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (great ending to my new favorite YA series)
59. The Widower's Tale by Julia Glass (beautifully written, character driven story)
60. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult (one of my favorites.... )
61. The Trinity Six by Charles Cumming (more British spies....page turner)
62. Graceling by Kristin Cashore (good YA fantasy)
63. The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva (Gabriel Allon is back and better than ever)
64. Black Echo by Michael Connelly (the first Harry Bosch book.....hardboiled page turner)
65. The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger (interesting graphic novel)
66. Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh (Agatha Christie-esque mystery)
67. A Lonely Death by Charles Todd (Post WWI mystery, shell shock, serial killer and English countryside)
68. Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson (Beautifully written, emotional and fabulous characters)
69. No! I Don't Want to Join a Bookclub by Virginia Ironside (Hilarious, especially if you are a woman of a certain age....)
70. The Sentry by Robert Crais (Joe Pike and Elvis Cole......a great pairing)
71. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow (YA story of teenage hackers and the Department of Homeland Security.....really good)
72. The Uncoupling by Meg Wolitzer (Wicked humor, suburban life, intelligent characters)
73. Worth Dying For by Lee Child (Jack Reacher lives!)
74. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (A re-read in time for the movie....made me cry the second time)
75. A Few Green Leaves by Barbara Pym (Comforting, English, vicars and lots of tea)
76. Plea of Insanity by Jilliane Hoffman (Legal and Psychological Thriller)
77. I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron (Funny, one-hour read)
78. Silent Mercy by Linda Fairstein (ehhh.....)
79. How Did You Get This Number? by Sloane Crosley (laugh out loud funny)
80. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman by  P.D. James (good classic mystery)
81. Good Eggs by Phoebe Potts (lovely graphic novel about infertility.....really)
82.  Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry (makes you want to visit Salem....great characters)
83. The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey (good, noirish mystery.....loved the writing)
84. The Fifth Floor by Michael Harvery (just as good as the first)
85. Fire and Ice by Dana Stabenow (OK. Alaska setting is interesting)
86. Strange Return of Sherlock Holmes by Barry Grant (great!!0

Lollygagging

I have gotten terribly behind on my reading. The chaos of the summer, getting the girls ready for school....oh, you have heard all my excuses before. But here it is September and I have only read 52 books this year. Will I ever make 100?? Stay tuned.

I am tempted to dive into Jonathan Franzen's Freedom despite its immense length and my limited time. The Corrections is one of those novels that I still remember years after I read it. I am not sure that I would say that it is a novel that I loved, but it certainly made an impression on me. Early reviews of Freedom and a quick reading of the first chapter have intrigued me. I am also interested in the debate over whether this book would be classified as "women's fiction" had it been written by a woman. Jason Pinter, one of my favorite mystery authors, interviewed two prominent women authors, Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Weiner, in the Huffington Post regarding their views on this debate.

A book that I did take time to read this summer and truly loved was Lets Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell. I wrote a long review of it for the Rogers Memorial Library "By the Book" blog. I love this book for its fine writing and lovely description of a friendship. If you have a chance to pick it up, please do.

So I need to stop writing and start reading! Come by the store and tell me what you have read that you loved this summer.

And, as always, keep those pages turning.....

Turning a Page

I remember lying in my bed reading Little Women the night before I went to college . Little Women is a "comfort" book for me, as much as mashed potatoes are a comfort food. I called out to my mother that maybe I had made a mistake and I should stay home. She reminded me to set my alarm clock because we were leaving early in the morning.

Tonight I am wandering around looking for a copy of Little Women. Today I dropped my older daughter off at college. As we drove away and I saw her standing on the sidewalk holding a bag of hangers, I thought, "Wait....I'm not done." But while I hope to have many years of parenting ahead of me, there is a part of my job with Rachel that is done. Today she turned a page in her life.

Since she and many of her friends practically grew up at The Open Book, I have been thinking alot about the books that have defined their childhood years and the lessons they might have learned from the pages they have turned.

One of the first children's events that we celebrated at The Open Book was the birthday of Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline. We had cake and took pictures with a giant Madeline doll and read the book over and over again. By the end of the day I could chant by heart, "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines....." I have always loved Madeline because although she is the smallest, she is brave and plucky and joyful.

Picture books gave way to chapter books and for the kids that are going off to college this year, that meant The Magic Tree House series. I still love to recommend this series to early readers. Jack and Annie, brother and sister, take care of each other as they travel back in time and in and out of reality. The sense of adventure celebrated by these books, as well as the safety and comfort of returning home, speaks to many young readers venturing into the world outside their homes.

Then came Harry Potter! This generation was the lucky one to grow up with Harry. I remember the anticipation of the release of the latest book. The excitement about what would happen at Hogwarts. Unwittingly, the kids absorbed epic storylines and difficult vocabulary as they matured with Harry, Hermoine and Ron. We celebrated by dressing up as the characters, eating gallons of jelly beans, and staying up really late to finish the latest book. Harry teaches kids about courage and standing up for your convictions when others believe you are wrong. Ron showed us that the one who may seem to be the silliest can be your best friend when times are tough. My favorite, though I should not admit it, is Hermoine. She is brainy and a little neurotic, but she will pull you through the the hardest times with intelligence and heart.

Before I knew it, those litte kids that loved the Magic Tree House were reading Catcher in the Rye, Slaughterhouse-Five, Les Miserables and Jane Eyre. When I saw those books going out the door of The Open Book, I knew that soon their readers would be going out into the world.

That day has come for many of the young readers who I have watched grow up over the years. It it right down the road for many others. To all of you I wish the joy of Madeline, the adventures of Jack and Annie and the courage of Harry Potter. I wish you years of wonderful books and good friends to share them with.

Keep turning those pages.......

Don't Forget The Books....

A New York Times article that came out today speaks of the struggle of The Open Book against the newer, bigger bookstore down the street. While it has been a challenge and we have worked hard to come up with many ways to draw people just around the corner, what is really important is what happens when you walk in the door of our cozy little shop.

For me and for the employees of The Open Book, what has always been important is matching readers with books. We are readers and we take great joy in that activity. To be able to share that joy with others is what made me want to be a bookseller over 11 years ago. Jessica, the manager of The Open Book, takes the publisher's catalogs with her on vacation. She is always looking for that book that people will fall in love with. Rachel, Sara, Danielle, Vincent, Bret, L.J. and Richard all work hard to make sure that the adults and children who walk in our door find a book that will make their day a little more entertaining or interesting.

We are proud of the work we do. We know that The Open Book is a bit of an anachronism in a world of big box stores that have a million titles. We are a little store and we do not always have every book. But if you tell us what kind of books you like, we will do our best to find you something new that you will enjoy. Or if you have your heart set on that book that is not in stock, we will get it for you as quickly as possible and drop it off at your door if you live nearby.

I do not think any of us would fight so hard to protect the store if we sold screwdrivers or hats. Books are not just a product to us. We know that a book can bring comfort or make someone laugh or sometimes even change a life. Putting the right book in the right hand is what we strive to do and what we love to do. After all the talk of author appearances, story times, balloons, and sandwich boards, what really matters is connecting people with books.

Life in Verse

For the last two weeks, I have been in book-lover's heaven. The Open Book was lucky enough to be asked to be the bookseller for the Southampton Writers Conference. Jessica and I carted a ton of books to the Stony Brook - Southampton campus and set up a little satellite bookstore stocked with books by the faculty of the conference.

As we took turns taking care of the mini-bookstore we saw some talented and amazing authors wander through: Elizabeth Strout, Colson Whitehead, Meg Wolitzer, Melissa Bank, Julie Sheehan, Roger Rosenblatt, Peter Hedges, Elena Gorokhova, Helen Simonson, Justin Kramon, Ursula Hegi and Jules Feiffer just to name a few. Oh, I know I

am name dropping but I was totally star struck by these people who have given me many happy hours with their books. I tried not to stammer as I sold books to people who put their hearts into the books that I sell. The conference participants, aspiring writers and poets, were full of creative energy - interesting and friendly. I cannot wait to sell their work.

One of the highlights of the conference for me was the chance to hear Billy Collins speak and read from his work. I love poetry and I love Billy Collin's poetry especially. Some of his poems make you laugh out loud and others bring a fuzzy nostalgia for love long past. It was a special treat during a busy summer.