Locally Owned Businesses 'Run Our Economic Engine'
"Not only are locally owned independent businesses the economic backbone of this country and of each and every community in which they exist, they are also the key to economic recovery. On a national level, small firms have generated 60% to 80% of new jobs annually over the last decade and employ almost half of all private-sector employees. Let's quit looking for the pot of gold at the end of some corporate rainbow and realize we have the keys to the kingdom in our hands already--the locally owned independent businesses in our state that run our economic engine and keep our communities alive and connected."--Betsy Burton, co-owner of the King's English Bookshop, Salt Lake City, and co-chair of Local First, Utah, writing in the Salt Lake Tribune.
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The piece concluded: "The man who sleeps five hours a night and rides the bus to work to save on costs seems ready and willing to share endless amounts of knowledge, either about his business or about any book or author a customer is looking for.
Earlier this month at Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, Ill., Eric Litwin and James Dean, author and illustrator of Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes (HarperCollins), helped celebrate the arts. Here Dean (drawing at the easel), Litwin (on guitar) and a young guest shared their talents.
Impatient with Desire: A Novel by Gabrielle Burton (Voice, $22.99, 9781401341015/1401341012). "Impatient With Desire tells the story of the trials of the Donner Party through the eyes of Tamsen Donner--wife, mother, adventurer and, ultimately, survivor--who made great sacrifices for the sake of her family. Her story is told simply, in letter and journal format, and, in the end, you'll understand and appreciate the pioneer spirit that is the foundation of the westward movement."--Mary Toni, R.J. Julia Booksellers, Madison, Conn.
The Journal Keeper: A Memoir by Phyllis Theroux (Atlantic Monthly, $24, 9780802118974/0802118976). "The Journal Keeper is a radiant display of Phyllis Theroux's considerable talents with pen and paper but even more remarkable is her window on a mystical world of universal wisdom that she unveils in her daily task of record keeping."--Barbara Meade, Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse, Washington, D.C.
Sudden Fiction Latino edited by Robert Shapard, James Thomas and Ray Gonzales (Norton, $15.95, 9780393336450/039333645X). "A collection of short-short stories that immerses readers into a unique style of literature--Latino and Latin American. Depicting both brutally real and imaginatively mystic meanderings through humor and sincere emotion, each story stands alone as a separate insight to the creative minds of a culture."--Z.G. Tomaszewski, Literary Life Bookstore & More, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper (Atheneum, $16.99, 9781416971702/141697170X). "This is the touching story of a gifted child, trapped in a barely working body. Melody, age 11, struggles to communicate with a world of children and adults, most of whom can't see beyond her physical limitations. A provocative change of pace for Sharon Draper"--Peter Moore, The Blue Marble, Fort Thomas, Ky.
Opening lines of books we want to read:
While light to the point of occasional frothiness, Christie Mellor's all-purpose guide for women over 40 provides such a wide and free-ranging variety of tips and advice that just about every woman in her target audience will find something to take away. Mellor herself is a likable and assured narrator--optimistic and cheerful without veering into mania, and just self-deprecating enough to be relatable without descending into bitterness or, worse, excessive cutesiness. The personal anecdotes with which she peppers her book are lively and often funny. In other words, she is one of the girls, someone who can be trusted.