Cool idea of the day: KidLit celebrates Women's History Month every day in March with a children's book author or blogger. The Fourth Musketeer (Margo Tanenbaum, studying to be a children's librarian) and Shelf-Employed
(Lisa Taylor, practicing public librarian on the Jersey Shore) are
co-hosts of the event and members of the Kidlitosphere. Their line-up
includes authors Sue Macy, Candace Fleming, Tonya Bolden, Anita Silvey
and Tanya Lee Stone.
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Obituary Note: The Rev. Peter J. Gomes, a Harvard minister, theologian and author "who announced that he was gay a generation ago and became one of America’s most prominent spiritual voices against intolerance," died Monday, the New York Times reported. He was 68.
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The St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance, formed last month by the owners of Subterranean Books, Left Bank Books, Pudd'nhead Books and Main Street Books (Shelf Awareness, February 18, 2011), was front page news in yesterday's Post-Dispatch, which noted that the alliance "isn't a response to Borders' move, but simply evolved from an effort to support a smaller competitor: [Kelly] von Plonski's Subterranean."
"What a bookstore adds is quality and attractiveness to neighborhoods," said Kris Kleindienst, co-owner of Left Bank. "There are customers who would start crying if we said we were closing." Of her chosen career, she observed: "I may not have a retirement fund, but, oh, will I have the memories."
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The Chicago Tribune checked in with local independent booksellers in the wake of Borders bankruptcy, noting that "on Main Street in Glen Ellyn, in a small shop [The Bookstore] tucked between a yarn store and the alley, Jane Stroh and her staff are trying to write another chapter in the ongoing saga: How Independent Booksellers Survived Death Valley."
The secret? "You can't sit in your four walls and do nothing," said Becky Anderson, co-owner of Anderson's Bookshops. "Besides, that's boring. You've got to make it fun for yourself and fun for your customers."
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Revisiting Explore Booksellers four years after the business "was bought and preserved, as-is, by Texas billionaire and part-time Aspenite Sam Wyly," the Aspen Daily News recalled that "some worried it would lose its independent, liberal character." The bookstore, however, "has stayed largely the same, other than a remodel of its upstairs restaurant. And over those recent years, other local bookstores in Aspen and Basalt have folded, while Explore has survived. Its endurance in the face of an increasingly unsustainable book market is more the result of the Wyly’s generosity than a loyal, local customer base."
"I wish the community would get more solidly behind the concept of buying local," said former general manager Lynda Schultz, who retired last week. "When Explore Booksellers was for sale, it was a headline in the paper just about every day. It was the uproar of the town. Everybody from the mayor on down was saying that if Explore goes away this community is going to suffer a huge loss. People were saying, 'If Explore goes away, I'm moving.' All this kind of stuff was happening, and yet I've continued to see a decline in support from the local population, as far as buying books. They forget. It's complacency."
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The Bookshelf, Medina, Ohio, hosted its grand re-opening recently after having been closed for seven weeks due to severe water damage from a leaking water heater on Christmas day, the Cleveland Sun News reported.
"It pretty much destroyed everything,” Linda Smalley, executive director of Project: LEARN, which runs both the Medina and Brunswick Bookshelf locations. "We have expanded the amount of space for retail. And we've cut down on office space. We've installed new shelves and made the space much more efficient."
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"Money" by the Flying Lizards, a "sloe-eyed anthem of hipster materialists everywhere," is on Flavorwire's literary mixtape for Jay Gatsby, who "is the epitome of both the wealthy example of the functionality of the American dream, and the nouveau riche upstart who will never find true acceptance into the world he so desperately longs for. Here are the songs we think Gatsby would woo, party, and get paid to."
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When children read to their "listening dogs," they don't have to be worried about four-legged criticism. The Guardian reported on a program in the U.K. that is modeled after America's Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ).
"It helps with their self-esteem in reading out loud because he is non-judgmental," said Tony Nevett, owner of Danny, a greyhound that is encouraging primary school pupils to read. "He doesn't judge them and he doesn't laugh at them. He's just a tool--the children don't realize they are reading, which they might not have the confidence to do in class.... We've had some success stories, including a girl with Down's Syndrome who really took to the dog and improved her reading. When Danny goes to sleep I tell the children that he's dreaming about their story."
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"Remember the whole Crystal Antlers/Crystal Stilts/Crystal Castles thing? What about Wolf Eyes/Wolfmother/Wolf Parade/AIDS Wolf and Grizzly Bear/Bear Hands/Bear in Heaven?" Flavorwire suggested that tiger-titled books might be the latest trend.
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Abnormal, accursed, antediluvian--Boing Boing showcased H.P. Lovecraft's favorite words as charted by CthulhuChick, who edited the e-book edition of Lovecraft's complete works.
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Book trailer of the day: Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want by Jenny Blake (Running Press).