I have tried to take time this year  to review the book  reviews.  I get masses of news articles and emails showing me what the next big bestseller is going to be.  I read the New York Times book reviews, The Chicago Tribune reviews and anything in the other news media about books.  Publisher's Weekly does intense reviews and articles on authors and books every week from publishers and reviewers.  Yet, I still cannot discern a good book from a bad book.
Maybe their are no bad books.  Someone at the publisher thought it was good enough to print.  Depending on how many people like it, depends on how far up the best seller list it goes.
I have seen some of the notable lists for 2008 that have come out this week.  I can't understand them.  These are not bestsellers or hot titles.  Many of the titles, I haven't even heard of yet.  It's almost like a self fulling prophecy that if you develop enough hype around a title, people will flock to it out of curiosity.
Two examples come to mind.  The Tale of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.  This tome of a first novel rambles up literacy scales and down into tedium, but it is attracting huge audiences.  The publisher made sure that advance reading copies hit most of the bookstores prior to publication and there have been glitzy ads in all the right places as well as notable reviewers making long winded explorations into what the author was trying to achieve with this first story that took him 10 years to write.  While most reviews begin with a sparkling note, they usually end with a disclaimer that, well maybe it's not so hot after all.  Most people, like me, scan these tributes with a quick eye, seeing the first few paragraphs, noting the glowing reports.  We file the information and move on.
The second title was picked by our Mystery book club based on one of these marvelous reviews.  In The Woods by Tana Woods is a British who dun it with plenty of twists and turns.  The writing is a testimony to a great writing instructor and a good book of synonym's.  Now here comes the but.  It is so weighted down with adjectives and superlatives you can't find the story.  And on top of it all, the initial set up plot in the Prolog is never told.  You wade through it all to never solve the mystery.  Perhaps, that's the goal in this "literary" mystery, but for the avid mystery readers, it doesn't work.
Maybe that's the point.  I read for entertainment and fun.  I love to cuddle down with a Nelson DeMille thriller or Michael McGarity mystery.  These are straight forward mysteries without the introspection into the authors motive or literary value of the work.
To Each Their Own.

Well, it's official, Kazoo Books has become party central.  A parent came in today and booked the annex for a Fancy Nancy Birthday party in January.  So here we go into a whole new branch of bookselling.  I'm looking forward to sprucing up the childrens section and finding tables and chairs for 5 year olds.
Fancy Nancy books are written by Jane O'Conner.  It's about a little girl that loves to dress up, but she lives in a family that likes to be plain.  They don't even put sprinkles on their ice cream.  Nancy loves parasols, stars and sparkles.  She loves fancy words and bright colors.  These are delightful books and come in a picture book format as well as an early read, just right for other fancy girls who want to be just like Fancy Nancy.
This summer I worked really hard to expand our childrens selection for teachers and parents.  It began to expand rather rapidly and began to overflow, then became disorganized, with piles and boxes everywhere.  Slowly we are whipping it into an organized state where you can actually find books on bears or bunnies or the fun series by Buck Wilder that begins with Who Stole the Animal Poop, just for first graders.

Our young adult section is expanding with classics like Tom Sawyer and To Kill a Mockingbird.  Of course you will find Scott Westerfield and Stephenie too.  The publisher is having some problems keeping up with stock.  The printing presses are running full time right now, but her books are getting to us in batches.
You can order any of these hot new titles with a quick phone call to us.  Shipping is free and we get them in stock in a few days.

It's usually one of my energetic staff members that inspires me and it happened again that Jean posted her no guilt Blog and it got me back to the computer.  I wonder where the hours go some days.  But I have been doing a bit of reading before I drift off.

I am immersed in Nelson DeMille's older novel called the Gold Coast right now.  It's a tale of the very elite of the old money type on Long Island that come up face to face with a new neighbor of the every rich NY Mob variety.  A very rich and powerful type mixing with the very rich and powerful type.  Strange bedfellows and I'm still sorting out which one is which.  John and Susan Sutter are about to have their lives destroyed.  I've read it years ago, but DeMille has just come out with a sequel to this story called The Gatehouse.  It's suppose to bring everyone back home, except maybe for the dead guy.  I love the sarcastic humor that DeMille puts into his characters.

But I digress.  A customer ordered a book last week and I just had to sneak a peak.  He let me take it home on Sunday to peruse before he picked it up on Monday.  I love our customers.  The Moneypenny Diraries written by Kate Westbrook take up Ian Flemings Bond series with an interesting twist.  Kate is the niece of the famous Moneypenny who worked in 007's London office.  She inherits the diaries kept by her aunt of the unrecorded happenings behind the scenes of the books written by Ian Fleming.  Kate even goes back and finds the source of the information that was given to Ian to write the books.  Kate weaves an interesting story about her past parents and growing up in Africa.  Moneypenny tells us about her very secret job and her secret romance.
These are British publications.  I could order The Moneypenny Diaries that was just published in the US, but the 2 sequels are still only available in the UK.  I'll bet these will catch on after they come over the pond.
As a side note:
I have to tell you about the great time I had on our local TV access Monday Night Live Program hosted by Keith Roe.  We spent an hour talking about the store and books and literacy.  It was amazing fun.
Here we are in the middle of Holiday sales.  Customers sure do know how to dredge up some of the most unique titles this time of year.  And they want these obscure, out of print interesting items - tomorrow.  We are well over our usual one miracle per day allowance.

We have had a good summer and now heading into the fall season with schools in session we are hoping our business stays even.  We know people are cutting back on purchases, so we are doing our best to give our customers the best possible stock we can find.  Also, we made the decision to keep our pricing at the same levels they have always been.  That goes for our used books and keeping the discount on most of our new books.
We just purchased a wonderful batch of history and biography titles that are coming out of boxes and onto the shelf.  It's a huge batch, but we have opened the sorting room in the annex for the fanatic book lover and treasure hunters.  So even if it's not on the shelf yet, you may find just what you need in the treasure room.
Next week is the annual book show put together by our Regional Book Association.  The Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association brings together publishers, distributors, and authors for 3 days.  It's a great time to learn about the new hot titles coming out and talk directly with publishers.  We tend to come back with lots of great books and advance reading copies.

I didn't get a chance to do much reading this summer, but I did just finish A Welcome Grave by Michael Koryta.  It was excellent.  He really packs a lot into his plot and builds the suspense.  Cleveland and Indiana may not seem a likely place for murder and suspense, but he weaves a story that holds your attention.  His dialog gives each of his characters their own voice.  You see them through the way they speak on the page.  Ending a novel and wrapping up all the loose ends in a mystery is an art and Michael did it well.  Just when you think you have all the answers, there's another twist.   Great read.

School has started and we are ready.  We stocked the shelves this year with some great back to school books, especially for teachers.  The elementary classroom always has a need for more books.  Young people who are early readers are hungry to read as much as they can.  We have taken the new annex area and packed it with titles.  New and used books at great prices.

A couple of university teachers have tapped us this year to provide the books for their class on campus.  We love getting the college student in.  They can pick up outside reading suggestions from the used shelves and save lots on their school costs.

The Kalamazoo Community Read books have been announced and those should be in next week.  Rick Bragg did a series of memoirs and all three titles will be used this year in the program.  It's All Over but the Shoutin, Ava's Man, and The Prince of Frogtown.  The author grew up in Jacksonville, AL and has had an eventful career in journalism his whole life.

I can't believe we have been in business for 20 years.  Wow.  I can relate to the saying, "you've come a long way, baby!".  We certainly done our share of changing and improving.  We currently have about 7,000 sq. ft of store space if you look at all 3 buildings.  We hold about 90,000 books, give or take on a daily basis.  We carry old collectibles, like a first edition of Ralph Ellison's, Invisible Man.  We have everyday popular fiction paperbacks new and used.  We order new and out of print all day long.  We even do the big orders for schools and businesses.  It's amazing how much goes on in a regular bookstore these days.  Our online business has stayed steady for the last few years.  We don't put much of our inventory online, just the special books that are a bit unusual or hard to find.
We enjoy the walk in customer.  As a local business, we want to support our walk in trade.  That's why we keep the doors open.  So many people close up and do the internet, that independents are fading.  That's why we do so much community networking.  Our book clubs have a place to meet, we bring authors into the store like William Kent Krueger, who is coming in on Sept 18th.  We share our space with our customers.  It builds community and neighborhood more than anything else in our world today.
Funny that I'm saying this as I type a blog on the internet for our website that is on the internet, that our customers see, because they understand the internet and use it.  Of course, it is our most productive tool these days for communication.  And I know that book readers like to get books from everywhere.  So we have to be even more competitive with what we can offer.  Whether it is selection, quality, price or service, we can shine.  I'd like to say we have the best staff in the world.  Their knowledge and helpfulness is top notch.  We also offer a great selection of books, yes that's what we do - books.  I know many places do a huge sideline business, but we have chosen not to do that -yet.  There's always tomorrow to grow and change.

Good Gosh - where did the summer go.  One minute we are planting our flower pots with tiny potato vines and Coleus and now the trees are scattering their first leaves on the deck and our vines are creeping across the sidewalk.  Where did the time go?  Perhaps its true, you can leap through time.  Yesterday we had gardening books on display and summer beach reads.

Now the displays are all about back to school.  We have the latest Danica McKellar math book.  She wrote Math Doesn't Suck and now has written Kiss My Math and tackles the Algebra questions that plague us all.

There are some great chapter book series for those looking for increasing their vocabulary or just for fun.  Who can resist Freddie Fernortner Fearless First Grader by Johnathan Rand or Who Stole the Animal Poop by Buck Wilder.  Great reading for any first grader.

Then we have the Mystic Michigan series by Mark Jager.  A Sixth grader can learn all kinds of interesting facts about our wonderful state. 
There's lots more but you'll have to come in and see it for yourself.

I suppose if I were going to do any time traveling, I'd rather skip the rainy, snowy cold February that is probably right around the corner.

Great News today.  Our new community room is finished. 
We hosted our first Author reading in the new space last night.  Troy St. Charles from Sacramento California came in to read his inspirational poetry.  His wife is from the Portage area, so it was a trip home for them this spring.
The Hadassah book group was also scheduled last night, so they were able to enjoy the new space for their book club.  The new kitchen is up and running and a handicap accessible bath is near the meeting space.
It has been a rush to finish this project for our 20th summer anniversary schedule.  We started on Clarendon in 1988 with 1000 square feet of space and 5,000 books.  We have grown that store to 3000 sq ft and 50,000 books.  It is an interesting building with rooms of paperbacks as well as a fun lower levels with non-fiction sections.  There is a huge section of Science Fiction, Fantasy that is very popular.
The Parkview store began 5 years ago when we bought the building that had an existing bookstore in it.  There was potential for expansion, but we started with 1000 sq ft over there too.  We bumped into the back portion of that building 3 years ago and created our first community room.  We also purchased the building adjacent to it about the same time.  We put a meeting room there a couple years ago, but this last project bumped into the rest of the main floor to add another 700 sq ft of space.
So, I figure now we have about 80,000 books and 7,000 sq ft of space between the 2 stores.
I don't want to think about it, but we have 1 more project to finish the lower level in the annex.  But, not today.  This summer we are going to enjoy the space we have and greet the many out of town visitors that find us.
Please stop by to check out a real treasure of a bookstore next time you are in town.
The coffee pot is on in the kitchen.

    A few years ago the Great Lakes Booksellers Association put together a Buy Local promotion for all of the members. We are independent bookstores from Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.  It's a great way to stay connected to the book industry. 
    Through this promotion and others like it, Buy Local Alliances began forming across the country for larger purposes.  Austin Texas has been successful with their program as well as Louisville.  Their focus are all locally owned independent businesses in the area.  These alliances are bringing together the small business owners and giving them a voice.  It also let's consumers know how important it is to support local business.
    Generally, big chain stores or franchises, send a portion of the dollars you spend at their stores out of state or even out of the country.  It erodes the local economy in money and jobs.  By spending your dollars locally you can build a healthier economy right in your own town.
    Kalamazoo area has seen enormous job loss and business moving away from this area the past few years.  Along with that is a drop in business, especially to small independent businesses.
    We are putting together our own Buy Local Kalamazoo.  We hope to have it up and organized in June and our promotion ready to go.  There is a lot to put together.  As a non-profit organization that represents business, this program has to be professional in all aspects.  We have a steering committee working out the details.  By keeping it a team effort we hope to represent many different types of business.
   
It's wonderful to see people come into the store because they want to support a local business.  And as a business owner I want to do the best job I can for them.  But we want to bring those customers back to the store.  To do that we have to be a well run, professional store that can meet the needs of our customers.
    We have always tried to provide more service.  We have staff that is extremely knowledgeable.  We keep the stores clean and have the inventory in order, but with today's economic trials with high gas prices and food costs rising, we need to do more.

    We are expanding our community space for book clubs and events.  We are hosting programs every week of some sort or another.  We are providing a meeting place for people to come and share ideas and talk with fellow book lovers.
    This is what we can do to become more than just a bookstore. 
    We can offer our community a place to gather and meet friends.
   

The daffodils are up and I’m out washing windows.

We are going ahead with the project to expand into more space in the annex.  We are punching out the wall to the back part of the house.  There is a nice community room back there with a full kitchen and bath.  I’m getting my hands dirty by helping with some of the construction and clean up.  I can’t help it, I love construction projects.  It’s a throwback from my many years in real estate and owning rental property.  It’s keeping me away from my blog and other things I should be doing, like reading.

We have some plans for our 20^th parties.  May 20^th will be the opening of the new space with a foodie with R. Stanley.  Then we have a bunch of programs and events you can see listed on the site.  I’m working on other author events and fun programs for later in the summer.  August 20^th is the real anniversary date at the main store on Clarendon, so we have to do something big for that one.

Speaking of the Clarendon store, some of you may not realize what a treasure that is.  We expanded over there in 2000 and doubled the size of the building.  It holds roughly 50,000 books most of the time.  And a lot of them are slightly used books at great prices, lots of topics for reading too.   The romance section is huge as well as the paperback mysteries, great for summer, kick-back reading.  Also, the history shelves have a big choice with a lot of subjects.

We are going to start on the gardens this week.  More of me being outside, but our staff is so good.  They read more than I do and know the new titles better too.  It’s better that I stay out of their way.

Happy reading.