Maine Coast Book Shop Blog

Five Overlooked Horror Books

2010-05-26T12:13:00.005-04:00

Fans of genre literature can be an opinionated lot, and why shouldn't they be? They know what they like, and they aren't willing to settle for mediocre examples of their favorite type of book. Horror fans are no different. Everyone has tackled Stephen King, of course, and most hardcore horror fans burn out on Anne Rice and Dean Koontz pretty quickly. Here are five seriously spooky books we've uncovered that should satisfy the pickiest horror buffs and maybe even win over a few brave newcomers to the genre.

5) Carrion Comfort, by Dan Simmons
Simmons is perhaps best known for his ability to brilliantly blend themes to create historical novels with chilling and utterly convincing supernatural twists (The Terror, his retelling of the story of the real-life mystery of a vanished Arctic expedition, could have made this list), but this early work is straightforward horror of the best quality. Intimate and disturbing, this tale of unscrupulous and violent psychics and the innocent pawns who get caught in their machinations is the kind of story that works the nerves remorselessly.

4) Fevre Dream, by George R.R. Martin
Like Dan Simmons, Martin is not primarily recognized for contributions to the horror genre, but that fact just highlights how murky genre classifications can become. This atmospheric novel seems to borrow equally from Dracula and the film Angel Heart- its pre-Civil War South setting is unsettling all on its own, but the story of a river-boat captain's Faustian bargain with a mysterious benefactor, and Martin's distinct feel for character, mark this as a forgotten classic.

3) The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Del Toro, the fantastically imaginative writer and director behind such movies as Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone, seems just as able when it comes to crafting suspenseful, creative books. With the help of veteran thriller writer Hogan, del Toro manages to both return the vampire to its rightful place as terrifying horror trope while also providing a fresh view of the fanged beastie- namely, vampirism as a virulent, highly contagious plague. By setting the outbreak in Manhattan, the authors make this book, the first in a trilogy, hit just close enough to home to be utterly, convincingly creepy.

2) Neverland, by Douglas Clegg
The creepy-kid cliche is rampant in horror films today, but only as a cheap gag to freak out adults. It usually works, but we won't go into the reasons why that might be the case. Very few novelists can effectively convey the way the world of a child can be daunting and filled with unique fears, but Clegg certainly does so here. Reality and illusion become dubious in this story of two young cousins and the deep-woods god they dub Lucy. When Lucy starts demanding ever-greater sacrifices, things get even weirder. This shivery book reads a bit like Lord of the Flies gone way wrong- and that's saying something.

1) The Monstrumologist, by Rick Yancey
Ostensibly, this is a young adult book, but it serves as excellent proof that even those books aimed at younger readers can be great- and genuinely scary- for adults, too. Yancey's tale of the young apprentice to a self-titled monstrumologist- a scientist specializing in the things that go bump in the night- is, in its elaborate prose and turn-of-the-century New England setting, a terrific homage to pulp writers, especially Lovecraft. The style should appeal to older readers, but it's the compelling characters and gruesome monsters that make this a spooky and addictive read for the budding horror fan. A hidden gem.

Five Ideas for Graduation Gifts

2010-05-17T09:22:00.006-04:00

It's graduation season, and whether your graduate is leaving high school or college, finding a fitting gift can be tricky. After all, this is a big occasion, not something you can just fake your way through like a birthday (come on, we've all been there). There's a balance to be struck for sure- you don't want to head into saccharine territory, and you certainly don't want to risk spooking your graduate by treating them like a complete adult. Here are five books that we think make great additions to the library of any enterprising young soul.

5) Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke
While Rilke addressed these ten letters to a student aspiring to become a writer, the content of these insightful missives is almost universally applicable. He writes about the struggles and triumphs of being young with a humane, utterly sympathetic tone, and for anyone working to find their place in the world, an understanding voice can be very welcome.

4) A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, by William B. Irvine
Whether or not you studied philosophy in school, everyone in some sense seeks a guiding philosophy upon which to build a life. In the fog of the post-grad daze, this can be a baffling exercise, but you could do worse than to take a page from the Stoics, who sought to free themselves from negative emotion. Heartening in its deceptive simplicity, Stoicism, and this brisk little book introducing it, can be a great asset in redefining a focus.

3) Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children's Book, by Anita Silvey
Graduation can be all about looking forward, but to anyone experiencing the unique anxiety attached to it ("senioritis," as it's known among the afflicted), looking back can feel far less daunting. And there's nothing wrong with a little nostalgia- Silvey's expansive book compiling anecdotes from a vast array of personalities celebrating the lasting value and pleasure of children's literature is eloquent testimony to that.

2) A Journal, by anyone
Let's face it, most people when they exit school are not hugely interested in writing anything more than they've had to. But at the risk of sounding preachy, keeping a journal of any sort can serve to get all the doubts, hopes, and miscellaneous thoughts out of an overly cluttered head. And you can't put a price on mental space.

1) Oh, the Places You'll Go!, by Dr. Seuss
Okay, okay, we admit it- just about everyone already gets this for graduation. A lot of us probably have multiple copies. But there's a reason that this book has become such a stand-by, and upon a rereading it, the book's ability to speak to the experience of the post-grad- or anyone striking off in a brave new direction- is uncanny and charming. Like Rilke, Seuss doesn't soften the blow- sometimes, things are rough- but keep your head and things work out. Good advice for all of us.

"Every human interaction was a psychological experiment..."

2010-05-03T14:18:00.002-04:00

I opened this novel (Castle, by J. Robert Lennon) fully expecting it to occupy my reading schedule for at least a few days. I finished it in one sitting.

This is a classical psychological horror story with an unsettling, convincing modern twist. Told in straightforward, unadorned prose which disarms against the plot's twisty progression, this is, in part, the story of one man's uneasy confrontation with his past. Eric Loesch- brusque, unsentimental, and not particularly likable- returns to his withering hometown in upstate New York to purchase a heavily forested tract of land. He sets about renovating the property's farmhouse with an obsessed, steely determination. The clinical, almost dispassionate Loesch makes a grimly compelling narrator, and his disciplined manner makes the disquieting events that transpire all the more eerie. In the center of his woods, all but inaccessible to the outside world and completely obscured, Loesch discovers a ruined castle which does not appear to belong to him. Who it does belong to, and what purpose it serves, remains dubious.

As the novel unfolds, Loesch is forced to peel back the layers on his murky past, yet as the story becomes increasingly urgent, each new development widens the scope until it's almost impossible not to feel implicated. The book picks up, toward the end, genuinely unsettling political overtones, but it never once feels like a parable or a morality play. Lennon's subtle, insidious portrayal of one man's tragic confidence in authority is never belabored. The slow but fevered way in which truths are revealed builds to a nearly hallucinogenic conclusion, and the sense of malaise which creeps under the reader's skin lodges there for a good long while. A deft, unnerving work, and a great possibility for an adventurous book club.

-Chloe

Pre-Order Stieg Larsson's Latest

2010-05-03T14:05:00.003-04:00

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, the concluding volume in Stieg Larsson's best-selling Millennium Trilogy, hits shelves on the 25th, and we'd love it if you snagged your copy from us! We'll be offering a 25% discount to anyone who reserves the book before its release later this month.

If you haven't already checked out this blockbuster series, it's really deserving of a look. Published posthumously by Swedish journalist Larsson, the trilogy is the thriller genre at its best, intelligent, taut, and populated by unforgettable characters. Both The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire are available now in paperback.

We're Back!

2010-04-25T14:08:00.006-04:00

In spite of whatever Luddite misgivings we may secretly (or not so secretly) harbor here at the Maine Coast Book Shop, we've lately been trying to maximize our internet exposure. It seemed like a good idea to revive our long-dormant blog.

Like most participants in the publishing world, the book store has faced some major upheavals over the past couple of years, and it's probably safe to say that we're currently at something of a crossroads, both as an individual and independent business and as a component of a larger industry. The arrival and rise in popularity of digital editions of books has of course been a factor in this atmosphere of change, but of more immediate concern to us as an independent bookstore is the presence of chain stores, who for diplomatic reasons shall remain nameless. (You know who they are.) The aggressive pricing and seemingly ubiquitous and insidious nature of these big-box stores have created an uncertain and sometimes discouraging environment in which small, independent stores are forced to compete. Publishers are forced to sell books at huge discounts, meaning that their profit margins drop across the board, and authors in turn are offered less profitable contracts. It's a difficult situation for everyone.

Handling the changes in store for the industry for us so far has been a matter of reinforcing what makes us unique. We're still working on making some changes to the store and strengthening those aspects of it that we feel are exemplary, and for the time being, negotiating our place in the grand scheme of things will be an ongoing endeavor. However, we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic, among them an extraordinarily loyal and appreciative customer base, for which we are eternally grateful. (You know who you are, too.)

That's the short version of our recent history. Keep an eye on this spot for all manner of miscellany- news about upcoming events, sales, notes about what we're reading, what our local book clubs are up to, and the occasional random observation.

Melissa Sweet

2008-06-06T13:58:00.002-04:00

Sunday, June 8^th the Maine Coast Book Shop Goes To The Dogs to Benefit the Lincoln County Animal Shelter and to celebrate the release of local author Melissa Sweet's wonderful new book, "Tupelo Rides the Rails". From 11am to 1pm there will treats for dogs, activities for children, and information on adopting pets from the shelter. Marcie Bronstein will be here to sign her charming new book of photographs of dogs, "I'll Wait in the Car", and local photographer, Erin Wallace, will be take a portrait of you and your dog. Ten Percent of all sales of animal books will be go to support the work of the LCAS.

June Event

2008-05-22T15:04:00.005-04:00

The Maine Coast Book Shop is hosting an exciting line up of events in June to kick off our Summer Celebration of Books. On Saturday June 7^th , Buddhist monk and author Jaed Coffin will discuss and sign his new book, "A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants", from 1pm until 3pm. In this affecting and colorful memoir, Coffin relates tales from his childhood and the complications that arise from being the offspring of an interracial couple in the late 1970s. Coffin's father was a U.S. soldier who met his mother in Taiwan during the Vietnam War. Not long after they venture to America to start a new life, Coffin's parents separated and he and his younger sister, moved to Brunswick Maine with their mother.

Coffin was taken back to his mother's Taiwanese village several times during his childhood, and, on one occasion, encountered an elderly Buddhist priest who claimed the boy should come and live as a monk. Years later as a university student, he returned to the village to become a monk in the hopes of finding himself and his true identity. He meditated and learned prayers and chants, but often found himself alone in his room, sleeping on the floor next to his Buddha statue until he begans to question whether he wass meant for the life of a monk. In heartfelt prose, Coffin beautifully captures his journey, both geographical and internal.

2008-05-08T09:33:00.003-04:00

"The Garden Primer" is a wonderful book for Mother's Day. Barbara Damrosch of Blue Hill has completely revised her classic gardening guide and made it 100% organic. This remarkable book is the one gardening book everyone should have. I love her philosophy of gardening. She says that "Good gardening is simple, really. You just have to learn to think like a plant". She makes gardening that simple and down to earth.

2008-05-08T09:22:00.002-04:00

Michael Kodas will be at the Skidompha Library this Saturday, May 10th at 10pm, to read from his fascinating and terrifying book, "High Crimes". Michael will present slides of his many ascents of Everest, and dramatic stories of how the once sacred mountain is being exploited. Please join us for this enthralling event.

2008-05-06T14:16:00.004-04:00

The new Stephanie Meyer book, "The Host" is here now. This is not part of the Twilight series, but a new adult novel that is based on an alien invasion. The plot is just about as ridiculous as the Twilight series is, but just as enjoyable as well. If you liked her other books, then this one is one you will just have to read. It is appropriate for young adults to read, even though it is being marketed to adults. I read it in one night!

2008-05-04T10:26:00.004-04:00

We have a new fantastic bird book in stock. This is like the larger bird book that has calls for North American birds. This one is specific to Eastern and Central America and has more than one call for each bird! There are three different calls for a loon alone! It is a slightly smaller size, with an even better price point than the larger one. This retails for 24.95 and would make the perfect gift for any birder in your family. We have already sold seven copies of the book already, out of the twenty in total that we have on hand. I'm not sure how much longer it will stay on hand with the way it is currently selling. Once a customer sees the book and listens to the calls, they immediately buy it. I'm going to guess that we will run out and the publisher will need to reprint this book. That happened with the North American bird call book and it took us a while to get it back in after our initial order. This is a must have bird book for the summer.

2008-05-03T13:37:00.002-04:00

We had our meeting of Los Libros last night, which is a young adult book club. It was quite a nice discussion over the "Kite Runner". I had a fun time discussing the different aspects of the book and how much everyone hated Amir as a character. He was so self-absorbed that I honestly couldn't believe it. I guess I said that many times, because Seth from the Cafe made fun of me later by trying to mimic me saying it. I am disappointed that I won't be able to stay and be part of the group, but they have decided to continue without me. This is the best thing I could hope for in the situation. They have picked their next book, which is going to be "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs."

This is one of my favorite books on pop-culture. I think it is probably Klosterman's best book that he has written. Of course it is the only book of his that I have read so far, but it is just that amazing. You can't top something that great, no matter how many times you try.

2008-05-02T16:13:00.003-04:00

Last night I read the Kite Runner for the book group that I will be leading in the cafe tonight. Actually in a few minutes. The story is amazing. I kind of feel like I have joined the rest of American society by finally reading it. I read Hosseini's second novel and loved it. A Thousand Splendid Suns focuses on the experience of being a woman in Afghanistan, while The Kite Runner focused on being a male in Afghanistan and the pressures that were associated with it. I highly encourage anyone that hasn't read either one of them to read both!

Bookshop in the Lincoln County News

2008-05-01T09:35:00.002-04:00

I hope that you all have read the Lincoln County News this week, but just in case you haven't, the bookshop has an article about sharing our sales from the Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo with the Morris Farm in Wiscasset. In the picture above is Bo Gallup from the Morris Farm on the right and me passing the check to him on the left. I was reading the paper this week and found it hilarious how many other people were in this exact pose throughout the paper. If you missed this article, you can read it online here:
http://www.mainelincolncountynews.com/index.cfm?ID=31922

2008-04-25T16:13:00.003-04:00

We just got this book in. It is amazing, but only if you find tiny crocheted zombies and robots amazing. It makes me wish that I could actually crochet, so I could make one of these adorable creatures. I am reminded of my friend Sarah, who crochets little animal finger puppets and names them after people that she knows. If you have a hip and crafty person in your family or one of your friends, this would make an amazing gift for them.

2008-04-24T10:07:00.002-04:00

Things have been a little slow at the bookshop, but I can't blame people for wanting to be outside with weather as great as it has been. Barnaby has been dealing with a sidewalk issue this entire week. For some reason we are getting marks and lines imprinted onto the new sidewalk. If someone leans back in one of the outside cafe chairs it goes right into the sidewalk. This is not something that should be happening and Barnaby is trying to resolve this issue.
I hope that everyone has read this weeks Lincoln County News. There is a nice write up about the Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo with some nice pictures as well. I may happen to be in one of them.

Expo Update

2008-04-20T12:44:00.002-04:00

I'm going to go ahead and claim that the Energy Expo this weekend was a success. We had a lot of people come to our booth and chat to us about how great the bookshop is. They were impressed with the selection of books on sustainability that we had. Friday was sort of slow business wise at the booth, but Saturday picked up with the addition of two authors.

Bridget Besaw didn't manage to make it back on Saturday, but we did sell two copies of her book. Hannah Holmes is quite an interesting lady and she inspires me, due only to the trivial fact that we both went to the same college. If she can be doing what she loves to do, then so can I. I love books on science writing and it was quite interesting talking to someone who writes them.

Trudy Chambers Price was a joy as always. I really do miss working with her, but every time that I see her now is so exciting. We sold eight copies of her book and seven of Hannah's.

This is a picture of Trudy speaking to my best guy friend Joel. Joel bought a copy of "The Cows are Out" for one of his friends who is just getting into dairy farming.

If you didn't go to the Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo, it's worth going to next year. I went up to the guy who was selling electric cars and asked him how well they drove in the snow. They unfortunately only go 25 miles an hour, but he said that next summer they will be coming out with a model that will go 80. He also said that there were no complaints about driving in the snow, but I don't know if I believe him on that one. There was also a booth that was selling local organic food. I never made it over there, due to low funds at the time, but everything looked really tasty.

Expo

2008-04-20T09:20:00.002-04:00

2008-04-17T12:06:00.002-04:00

One of the nicest things about either giving a book to someone or loaning it to them is the fact that they someday might turn around and loan you a book. One of the boys (Ben to be specific) from the bookshop's young adult book club just came in to loan me a copy of Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. This was one of the books that we had in the list for options that the club might pick to read for the month. Instead we decided on The Kite Runner. Now I get to read it! I have so many books at home that I should be reading, however I'm also in a book rut at the moment. I'm re-reading High Crimes by Michael Kodas, since he will be at the library on May 10th. Besides that one book there isn't anything else I really want to read at my house! It's a shame to be surrounded by piles of books and not know which one to pick up. Now I don't have to bother making that difficult choice.

Another reminder, tomorrow is the Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo at the YMCA. Please go! It's free to get in and we are going to have a table packed full of books on sustainability. We even have some great books for kids. On Saturday we will be having a couple of authors at our table, so come back if you came on Friday!

2008-04-15T09:40:00.005-04:00

This week Sandy and I will be preparing for the Midcoast Sustainability Energy Expo, which takes place this Friday and Saturday at the YMCA in Damariscotta. We will have a table that is filled with books on sustainability for everyone from the expert to the little kids who will be beginning their sustainable lifestyles. It has been really great seeing all the books come in that Sandy and I have put on order over the past few weeks. Our "Sustainable Living" section is overflowing at the moment. We also have an exciting addition to our author lineup, Bridget Besaw.

She will be signing at our table from 11am-1pm.

Bump in the road

2008-04-10T10:48:00.002-04:00

Well, there is a slight change in our Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo plan. Jeff Wells will not be in attendance and we will have another author in his place. Sandy sent me an email about who it is, but I'll wait to announce it on here until he and I finalize the plans on Tuesday. We do still have copies of Jeff's book here at the bookshop and hopefully he will be coming for an event that we will hold at the library. I'm looking forward to the expo due to the vast amount of information I'm sure will be available there. I am currently doing a project with a group at my college that is focusing on what it means to be a green business. I am reading Stirring it Up by Gary Hirschberg in order to get a better understanding of a business that is environmentally sustainable and also profitable.

2008-04-05T10:46:00.002-04:00

Last night I had the first meeting of the bookshops young adult book club. A name was decided upon, Los Libros, and we have selected our first book pick, which is "Kite Runner". I'm quite excited about this, because all of the book groups in the area are currently an older based group. Hopefully this will grab a younger group of readers and make them excited about reading. I'm lucky with the group of people that gathered, many of them are already excited about reading and reading the types of books that I'm also interested in. I've been meaning to get around to reading "Kite Runner" for a while and now I'm forced to! It's just so hard to read a book that is already out and popular, while there are so many advance reading copies that I can read for free!

"Nothing ever happens in Florence on a Sunday morning..."

2008-04-04T12:56:00.004-04:00

Douglas Preston was at the Skidompha Library yesterday speaking about his upcoming non-fiction book, "The Monster of Florence". It is the story of a serial killer in Italy and how after researching the story, Douglas becomes intertwined with the story, along with a local journalist who has been covering the crimes from the beginning. This was the first book of his that I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm a non-fiction gal myself and I love a good crime story. The monster is the Italian master of horrific scenes of terror and Douglas is a master at story telling in recounting the crimes. I tried to take some pictures of the event, but I kept paying more attention to every detail that Douglas was saying. The entire event was interesting, this being the second Chats with Champions that I have attended and each one seems to get better. I'm glad that I get to sit there through the event and then justify being there by selling books. It's a nice excuse to listen to intelligent people talking about fascinating experiences in their life. The only thing I like about the pictures that I took at this event are how dark they are. I think it represents how dark the topic was.

2008-03-31T09:45:00.002-04:00

The Ladybug Girl book in this picture has done a wonderful thing. I read it just the other day at my neighbors house and it is absolutely adorable. We sold out of all six of our copies in less than a week. I think that has a lot to say about what a great book this is for kids. The pictures in it are amazing, perhaps even at times overshadowing the text. Ladybug Girl is a little girl who is left along to bide her time as she pleases and comes across some great adventures while doing so. She can do absolutely anything, as small as she is, which she reaffirms throughout her tale. Ladybug girl is one of Laurie's staff picks for this month. To see more of her staff picks, visit our website: www.mainecoastbookshop.com.
She certainly does have a knack for picking great children's literature.

2008-03-30T11:28:00.003-04:00

It's funny how once a dog sees that you are down on their level and want to take a picture of them, they rush right in to sniff out what is happening. My own dog does the same thing, making it very difficult to take a picture of ol' Woofie. In this picture Teddy is rushing in to say hi to me, while Cooper is being slightly pushed to the side. It was a dog convention in the bookshop yesterday, with Raymond in here and also a surprise appearance from Blueberry. I had never seen Blueberry before, but he is a puppy that looks a lot like Fly (Sandy's dog who is in the Photo Gallery). We also had a golden retriever and a black lab. I think I might have lost count of all the dogs that we had in here, but every one of them got along. Sometimes not all the dogs in here get along, but one can't expect every dog to like every other dog. It's not like every person likes every single other person they meet. We fortunately do not bite or growl at each other when we do come along someone who is disagreeable to us.

2008-03-27T15:11:00.004-04:00

Barnaby and I went up on the roof today to check out the area for the webcam. I think my legs have finally stopped being like Jello after such a daring feat. We had to climb two ladders in order to get to the top of the building. It was slightly frightening, but I tried to appear as if I had taken it in stride. I'd post a picture of the view, but I don't want to spoil Barnaby's web cam shot.

2008-03-22T10:46:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite reasons that I work in the bookshop is this:

All the doggy love that comes into the store. You can tell how much Jack's owner loves him in this picture. Jack came in last night and was particularly brave by exploring each section of the bookshop. Normally he stays right next to his owner, but last night he was all over the place! It was great. I've decided that the best dogs that come into the bookshop are the ones that are rescue dogs/adopted dogs. Jack is a rescue dog and he is just so happy. I love how excited dogs get when they come into the bookshop too. It's great to see the excitement carry over to another animal.

2008-03-21T17:04:00.003-04:00

Tupelo Rides the Rails has officially made his first stop at the Maine Coast Book Shop today!!! It is very exciting whenever our local author Melissa Sweet has a new book out. It is extra special this time because there is a very special shout out to our very own Sandy Vogels in the acknowledgment section. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, so you really should just come in, buy it and then read the entire book. It is currently featured in the staff picks section of the bookshop.
Melissa Sweet is really a talented illustrator and author. We are having a signing with her here in June. It is going to be a big celebration of dogs day at the bookshop. She will also be at the Nobleboro school in April with the bookshop there supplying books for sale.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins

2008-03-20T15:19:00.003-04:00

Today the bookshop was at the library supporting the Chats with Champions with cookbooks by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. Nancy put on a talk that included many slides of the lovely Mediterranean areas that she has visited. It was kind of hard to sit there and listen to her talk, because all of the wonderful food items that she was describing started to make my stomach growl. I came back from the event starving.

If you wanted to come to this event and missed it, we do have many signed copies of Nancy's newest cookbook, Cucina Del Sole. She said that the title means cuisines of the sun. Cuisine is plural, because that area has so many different cuisines. I learned so much about wheat and pasta that I can now have amazing dinner conversation solely based on those two topics. The slide show that she had was a nice backup to what she was saying. To be able to see how women in that part of the globe make pasta was quite fascinating. They roll the dough out so thin that you can read the newspaper through it. Imagine the skill it takes to work with such a delicate medium.
The next Chat with Champions will occur April 3rd and the speaker will be Douglas Preston. He will be discussing his upcoming book, "The Monster of Florence." Chats with Champions starts at 9:30am in the Skidompha Library's meeting hall.

2008-03-16T14:26:00.004-04:00

There is a really good explanation of the differences between a mass market paperback and a trade paperback book in the New York Times book review section today.
To read article click here
I highly suggest reading it if you have any questions in regards to the differences between the two paperback formats. I even learned some interesting paperback facts that I was previously unaware of. I have talked to many non-booksellers about the difference between a mass market paperback and a trade paperback and there is always confusion even after the conversation is over. Granted, I'm not the best at explaining things, but this also happens to be a confusing differentiation for the non-book business individual.

Trivia Night

2008-03-15T09:32:00.003-04:00

Was a fantastic success again. It's funny how much I enjoy hosting it. I really like seeing how the local high school students interact with each other trying to answer the questions. The majority of them are high spirited and have just a good time doing it. I keep saying a certain group is my favorite group, but at this point it seems I have four of them.

One of my favorite groups. Always ready to play with a good sense of humor.

It was great to see so many girls this time at trivia night. Last time it was predominately a male event, but now there are women edging into the game.

Picture of me in between questions.

I think he's comparing answers? This is definitely after everyone had turned in their answer sheets. Turning in the sheets is done so that nobody can change an answer while we go over them.

A high five was warranted for every single correct answer they had.
And finally, the winners!!!

The Epic Fail Guy team (part of the fun is naming your team something ridiculous), edged out another team by correctly answering our tie breaking question. I think they had 23 questions correct out of the forty that I asked and then it came down to two tie breaking questions. Both teams answered the first one correctly and then the Epic Fail Guy team answered the second one correctly. The tie breaking questions were both centered on art history. The pot was a massive forty dollars this week. The next trivia night will be on April 11th, to keep the continuity of having it on the second Friday of the month.

2008-03-14T13:20:00.002-04:00

It's been quite busy here at the bookshop the past few days. There have been a few people out with colds, so it's left us a little short staffed. This is fine normally, but for me I feel like I have so much that I have to absolutely get done right now. I'm sure the majority of it can wait, but Trivia Questions need to be made and answer sheets to be printed out for tonight. That alone can not wait. Nor can calling people to tell them their special orders are in, which Kathleen is taking care of right now. Barnaby is busy creating a top secret t-shirt project, although it's not really top secret, since if you walk by him he'll grab your ear and ask your opinion about it. I definitely still have some more trivia night prep to take care of. Expect great photos of the event and next time if you didn't make it, perhaps think about swinging down to the ol' bookshop to play some good trivia. Perhaps I'll post a few of the used questions so that people can get a flavor of what I ask.

2008-03-09T12:49:00.002-04:00

I think maybe I should have specified in my last entry that the women I was referring to are the wives of the astronauts. I think I might have ruffled Barnaby's (The Janitor) feathers a little by saying how women were only a side note in the story. He thought I meant female astronauts, but then Frank and I are discussing how few female astronauts there are in comparison to male ones. I won't keep dwelling on this topic, but the book in the below entry is one to read, even though there are definite downsides from the exclusion of the wives of the astronauts role in the story.

2008-03-08T10:27:00.005-05:00

Barnaby is always giving me books that he liked to read, so that I can then read them. I am currently reading Too Far From Home, which is currently a Staff Pick for Barnaby on our website: www.mainecoastbookshop.com.
It's definitely a book that is written about guys, for guys. The women in the story take a side seat and are only supporting characters to the drama that unfolds. The author emphasizes how they are only supporting characters constantly. The story is about the three men that are stranded in the international space station after the space shuttle Columbia's accident. It is a book that I don't want to put down, because the author does have such a sense of the men's emotions that they are going through during this event. Imagine how hard it is to be so far from Earth and not sure that you will ever make it home. There is also a lot of history included about the space program, on the American side of it and the Russian side. I've learned a lot about the experience of an astronaut and I highly recommend anyone who likes adventure or scientific books to give this one a go. It's written so that it is easy to read and isn't bogged down by technical details. I read this book while I'm getting ready to fall asleep at night.It's hard to put it down when my eyes are drowsy, because I might be in a section that is packed with action and I have to know what is going to occur.

I'm turning into an adventure junkie, now with astronauts in addition to all the Everest books I just have to read.

2008-03-07T17:46:00.002-05:00

Sandy and I have been working hard trying to get together as many authors as we can for the upcoming Midcoast Sustainable Energy Expo. So far we have one. We are also still trying to schedule events with authors for the upcoming months. We have a few upcoming author events that will be quite exciting. As a reminder, we do have trivia night coming up next week.

New Earth night

2008-03-04T16:37:00.003-05:00

Sandy and I have decided that he will run a book group discussion night on the newest Oprah pick, A New Earth. This will take place at the bookshop on March 31st, from 5pm until 6:30. We know there have been many people in the area reading A New Earth and hopefully we will get a good turnout for this discussion. Sandy has met Eckhart Tolle and A New Earth is one of his current staff picks. If this event goes well, we will have another one planned for Eckhart Tolle's first book, The Power of Now. Sandy will also be leading the discussion for that one as well and it will take place at the end of April.

Both book group discussions will occur in the cafe and there will be snacks and coffee provided.

2008-03-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

Our website has been updated for the month of March! Please go read all of our new staff picks and there is even a contest going on.

2008-03-02T13:54:00.002-05:00

This coming Thursday (3/06) at 9:30 am at the Skidompha Library (the big brick building next to ours), we will be supplying the books to the Chats with Champions event. The author for this month will be Nancy Harmon Jenkins, known for her cookbooks dealing with the Mediterranean lifestyle. She is currently promoting her newest cookbook, published in June of 2007, Cucina del Sole.

The cover of the cookbook is so inviting that it makes you want to go on a gastronomic tour of Italy.
So please, come out with your friends and enjoy this event.

2008-03-02T10:22:00.002-05:00

It has been an entire week since I have blogged last! I started an entry yesterday about how it was snowing, but then got sidetracked by moving large book cases around. I personally wasn't moving them, that was a job for the BM (Building Manager), Barnaby. He kept trying to tell me how busy he was, trying to order window stickers about the bookshop, but I told him how much more important this job was. He and I shifted the bookcases so that we are able to see each side from the front desk. We then reorganized the front of the store. I moved the new hardcover fiction from the right side of the store to where our new and noteworthy non-fiction was. That is now in the section that the paperback fiction was, which is now where the paperback non-fiction is! How seemingly confusing, but when you see it you will love it. Frank and I agreed that the flow of the store is much better now. Where we had hardcover new fiction we now have an entire wall devoted to staff picks, which is a very popular feature in our store. I now will have to get people to write little cards up for each staff pick that is there. Not an easy task, but I'm sure we can get it done!
The staff pick wall also has a smaller section that is devoted to Book Sense picks for each month. If you don't know what a Book Sense pick is, they are books that are hand picked by independent booksellers across the United States. We write reviews and then send them into the Book Sense staff that will pick which books will be featured each month. In the handout they send each participating store, there are reviews from the booksellers for each book that was picked for the month. Our store has had a few bookseller reviews in it over the past couple of years. I think Sue Richardson is in the current issue of Book Sense for Ice Trap or it could have been the February issue. It's hard to keep up with them sometimes with the months going by so fast.

I forgot to mention

2008-02-24T14:06:00.006-05:00

Today I am in the Boston Globe's Shelf Life column under the pick of the week. Click on the below link to see:
http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2008/02/24/shelf_life/
The woman who writes the Shelf Life column, emailed me recently asking if she could use an edited version of my staff pick review for High Crimes by Michael Kodas. I, of course, said yes. So please, I'll autograph your copy of the Sunday Boston Globe, but only for the first fifty people.
In all honesty, it's quite an honor to be in a national newspaper. I'm convinced that I'm on somebody's good list right now. I keep getting books from publishers in the mail and an example of that is the other day a package came in with a t-shirt and a book. I'm giving the t-shirt to Barnaby to wear, because it is quite too big for me and he loves book t-shirts, but I think I'll read the book first before passing it on to him.

2008-02-24T11:49:00.003-05:00

In the past couple of days I have managed to finish one of my many Everest books. This one is by David Breashears called High Exposure. I'm not sure what book sparked my interest in Everest, but now I am on a one woman campaign to read as many books about it as I can. The most recent one that I've read that is my favorite is called High Crimes, by Michael Koda. It is one of my staff picks at the moment and it seems to be getting a good amount of press.
David Breashears was on Everest during the 1996 climbing season that so many climbers lost their lives. I think what made this season so shocking as well was the fact that two of the climbers that died were well seasoned climbers, that were the head of some of the expeditions on the mountain. It made Everest even more deadly to climbers, since some of the best and seasoned climbers in the world could succumb to the mountain. It's quite interesting to see how different points of view of this one event can differ in regards to what happened. So far I've read three different accounts of that one climbing season. One was by Beck Weathers, who was left to die on the mountain. His story is one of inspiration. He was left, considered dead, three times. The other one that I have read, of that one horrible climbing season, was Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer.
What really bothered me about the Breashears book was one line that was included in his memoir. It's funny how this one line, one word more like it, has changed my view of who Breashears is as a person. He was recounting one of the climbers on the mountain during his last few moments over a radio. Rob Hall was stuck on the upper section of Everest, unable to make it down, because he refused to leave one of his clients behind. Instead of showing the bravery of what Rob had done, Breashears refers to Rob's voice during his last few moments of radio broadcast as "pathetic". This makes me really angry. Breashears does mention how it was noble of Hall to do what he did, but I didn't think it was appropriate to refer to someone who is dying, who had sacrificed their life trying to save someone else's, as having a "pathetic" voice.
Besides that one little mishap i did enjoy reading Breashears memoir. It made me respect his IMAX Everest movie more, since I have been saying that it wasn't that impressive. His book goes into detail on how hard it was to film it and that it wasn't meant to be seen on the small screen. Everything they filmed they had to take into account that it would be several stories high. This reduced the amount of plot that the story could have and instead focused on the surroundings and beauty of Mt. Everest.

The buzz around trivia...

2008-02-19T15:15:00.003-05:00

has been amazing. There will be a press release in the Lincoln County News this week and it will include a picture of the winners. The next trivia, as stated before, is March 14th at 5pm. In order to get ready for trivia night, I suggest the following reading material:

You never know what information is actually useless, until you try to come up with an answer in a trivia night. I like to get questions that will go across the board of knowledge and include everyone in the game. I really want more people to come in next time and the people that I've talked to so far who didn't go to this past one, really do want to attend next time.
I was watching the Today show this morning and they were discussing how Americans are lacking in knowledge. They had the author of the Intellectual Devotional on discussing this topic in length. I'm convinced that we have brilliant citizens in our area, unlike some of the people they had polled on the city streets.

The Intellectual Devotional is set up so that you have 365 days of reading material, each page is a new day and new information for you to learn. The information in the book is varied and interesting. I'm going to get a copy of each one, there is a general one and then one that is focused on American History. I take trivia questions from the information in the Intellectual Devotional books and the Useless Trivia books as well. I also have my backup question creator, Barnaby, who comes up with the essential Damariscotta Trivia and Lincoln County trivia.

Message from Barnaby

2008-02-17T11:28:00.002-05:00

Now that Barnaby has his very own desk at the bookshop (unfortunately for him) located at our information desk, he gets a lot of bookshop related questions, which prompted him to create this sign.

Trivia!

2008-02-16T00:24:00.003-05:00

Trivia tonight was an absolute success. We had seventeen people playing, so the pot was up to thirty four dollars. Some of the questions were a little too hard, but I think that everyone had a good time that came. I decided that I would do trivia again next month, due to the overwhelmingly positive response we had tonight.

All of the teams that we had tonight were great. There were so many pictures of young guys giving thumbs up, it was hard to pick out the best ones that Neila (the lovely and oh so helpful assistant) had taken.

and the winners were...

Strangely enough, team We <3 Bobbi...Hopefully next time everyone will see the kissing up the host works wonders. I had some suggestions on topics that people would like trivia questions to be on and I'm going to take that into consideration for the next trivia night, which will be March 14th. Same time, same trivia place!

2008-02-15T00:22:00.000-05:00

For Valentine's day I had a basket of dark chocolate Hershey Kisses. They were so good. Unfortunately I think that Barnaby and I ate more than the customers took.

2008-02-14T12:50:00.002-05:00

Barnaby and I are currently trying to come up with trivia questions for our trivia night tomorrow. It will run from 5-7pm in the cafe. I have no idea how big of a turnout we will get, but I'm hoping that a lot of people come. I've personally invited some customers that are always in the cafe, so hopefully they will show up. I'm really pushing for people to get teams, because it's so much easier to play when you have other people helping. Plus they sometimes will know the answer to a question that you won't! It's two dollars per person to play and then the winning team or individual will take home all of the money. It's hard to come up with trivia questions, because I don't want to make them too hard, but I also don't want to make them too easy. I have Barnaby creating some questions that have to do with local trivia. I'm hoping that this event works out and we will regularly have a trivia night in the cafe.

2008-02-12T09:55:00.000-05:00

Well, the weekend is over and I am back at the bookshop. It seems like I was gone for so long. There is so much to do right now at the bookshop it is slightly overwhelming. Sandy and I are trying to get together some events for the spring and early summer. There are also books to make sure are on order and returns to figure out how to do. We haven't done a return yet on this new system, so that might take a while to learn how exactly we are supposed to do it. Sandy is teaching me new things that he has figured out on the system almost daily.
The advisory council meeting down in Massachusetts went really well. What I did down there was to come up with ideas for the NEIBA educational workshop day that will be in May. I was on the education committee and we also brainstormed some ideas for education that would take place at the NEIBA trade show that will take place in September. These educational workshops are vital for booksellers to keep on top of what is going on in the world of book selling. The American Booksellers Association will put on some educational programming at each of the upcoming NEIBA events, but NEIBA wanted to plan some that would be directly tailored to our needs as booksellers in this area.

It was quite nice to have an official name card like that. It is always great to be able to talk to different booksellers and at the advisory council there were also some sales representatives that were there. One of the sales reps is coming to the store in a week or two, but unfortunately it is on my day off. She was on the same committee that I was on and was so nice. It constantly amazes me how nice people that are involved in book selling are. Perhaps by now I should just expect it?

2008-02-06T11:46:00.000-05:00

Sandy and I have been working on the events that we will be having this summer. We are trying to get some big name authors to make it up to the bookshop, but it's really hard to get many people past Boston. It makes it even harder that we are a tiny bookshop in the Midcoast and most of the people that we get are either already from the area or are going to be vacationing in the area around the time they will do a signing. I'm not above bribing people with lobsters or any other Maine oriented thing that I have at my disposal. I sent out a request to our Harper sales representative and hopefully she will get back to us soon. I would really like to have some successful author events this summer and with Sandy and the rest of the bookshop as backup, I think that this could be a possibility.

Sometimes author events just fall in our lap, such as one that we will be having this summer (not to be revealed just yet) but most of the time it's a struggle to get people. I was convinced that I was going to get Bill Bryson, because he lived in New Hampshire, but then it turned out he had moved back to England. I unfortunately don't think I have enough persuasive powers to get someone to cross the Atlantic for a book event at our store.

Speaking of events, my brother will be getting married this weekend, so there will be a lack of blog posts until probably Tuesday. I apologize for this in advance. I am also going down to a NEIBA (New England Independent Booksellers Association) advisory council meeting. I am on the educational committee and will be brainstorming different workshops that will be put at future NEIBA events. These workshops are enhance our bookselling skills and make our industry stronger.

2008-02-03T15:17:00.000-05:00

The bookshop has been a little bit slow today. I've missed many of the regulars since I went away last week and not all of them have been in when I've worked. I haven't seen Elisabeth and her mom (Erin) for at least a week or two. Elisabeth is my favorite baby customer and her mother is not so bad herself.

It's funny how people that come into the bookshop regularly become almost a part of the bookshop family. It's the same way with the dogs that visit us. Twister will just walk right into the office and the receiving room to visit with all of the people back there. I think he really likes Shell, our bookkeeper, the most. I just remembered that today is Super Bowl Sunday and that is probably why it is so slow this afternoon. Even I, a non-football fan, have plans for a Super Bowl party. I think that any reason to eat is good enough for me to go to something. If only we had Super Reading Sundays with snack foods and a lively discussion of books.

2008-02-02T13:05:00.000-05:00

Barnaby and I have been working on our email newsletters today. I learned about an email marketing website that can help us compose these emails and, believe me, it is much easier doing it through them. This was one of the many things that I learned while I was at the Winter Institute this past week. I don't think people should be worried about us sending them too many emails a month, because it is quite time consuming creating them. It is interesting though, as Barnaby would say. Barnaby did teach me how to change the colors of an image that I had already created, which is something I didn't already know. Barnaby is the husband of Susan (the boss) and is our building manager. If you ever want to sample his writing style, read our monthly newsletter. He is also the author of one of our bestselling books, Twelve Miles from the Rest of the World. Twelve Miles is about the Damariscotta River. We should be having another website update soon, but we are not quite sure when the web developer will get around to it. I find our updates to be exciting and I hope our website visitors do as well.

Winter Institute Part 2

2008-01-31T14:26:00.000-05:00

During one of the lunches we had the opportunity to listen to the founder of Stoneyfield Farms (the yogurt company!) talk about how to become a more "green"/ecologically friendly business.

It was really enlightening to hear a business person, who needs to make a profit, be so concerned about the effects that their business has on the environment. I'm quite sure that he said they were now a carbon neutral business, which is one of those things that not many people, let alone a business, can achieve. I want to start having some re-usable bags that we can have for customers to buy and then bring back when they buy books again.

I made sure to take a lot of notes. We had these little notebooks that had the schedule of events in them and a map of the hotel. The hotel was huge. I needed that map on multiple occasions. When I would walk back to my room there wouldn't be anyone in the hallway, which started to creep me out. I kept thinking of the Shining when the little girls were at the end of the hallway standing together. Of course the hotel had this lovely carpet to take my mind off it:

It was one of the big topics of conversation the entire weekend. That picture does it no justice. It is amazing what some decorators think is beautiful.
In the hotel the ABA had a room that was full of advance copies and some books that had just come out. I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I see piles of free books. It was also how nice everyone was. I went to this conference by myself and I never felt alone since I was talking to so many booksellers the entire weekend. It's amazing how much you can learn just from talking to other people that work in the same profession. It makes me want to travel across the United States visiting book stores the entire way. I'm going to have more Winter Institute related posts, but I just need to digest everything. I still think it's last week and have just caught up on my sleep. Traveling confuses me far too much.

2008-01-29T16:08:00.001-05:00

I am back from the great state of Kentucky. The ABA's Winter Institute was so informative and I met so many great other booksellers from across the country. The first night I was there I went to the Muhammad Ali Center.

That wall is covered in pictures that were done by children across the world. It was really beautiful when you looked at it from afar and when you were close to it to see the small details in each one.

I attended many different educational sessions, most of them being focused on making your business more profitable or enjoyable to the customer. There was a lot of information at the sessions and that large binder is full of handouts for each one. The ABA had the genius idea to give each attendee a binder with every single handout in it, so if you missed a session you would have the information that was given in it. This was great because you were not able to go to every single one. There were four classes going on at a time, so sometimes I missed out on classes that I wanted to go to because I was going to another one. I'm going to do another entry about the trip on Thursday. I didn't want to do it all in one. It is nice to be back and see the regulars again and the regular dog customers as well.

2008-01-22T15:57:00.000-05:00

This will be my last post until I return from the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute in Kentucky. I will be flying out on Thursday and returning on Sunday, hopefully full of new ideas for the bookshop. I'm going to hear many authors speak and have the opportunity of meeting them. The whole thing is very exciting and scary. This won't be the first time I've traveled by myself, but it has been quite a while since I've been anywhere on a plane. I'm really excited for the educational programming and hopefully will learn a lot of things that I can bring back and apply to the bookshop.

The current changes here are going to get some taking used to. I have yet to master the phone system, but to be honest, it is a lot easier than that last one. The new ring is also an easier tone to listen to than the last one. It is actually quite soothing. We are slowly getting used to the new point of sales system, Anthology, so please be patient with us! That is one of the reasons we are having a sale this week, so that people will not mind us being a little slow or when we have technical difficulties. I hope that everyone stops in to take advantage of it. It is 20% off regularly priced books, which as one customer stated, "It's like early bird!" I will be back in next Tuesday.

2008-01-22T11:09:00.000-05:00

I'm writing this blog entry from our very new cash register. The new computers are quite overwhelming at this point, but I think that we can handle this change. It is kind of fun learning all the new quirks in the system. Actually, I don't think I've found any quirks yet. Maybe it is our personal quirks with learning this new system. It is definitely beautiful. There are handy features on the register, such as we can now look up our inventory from the register do special orders from it as well. In fact, we can also look books up that we don't have in our inventory from our registers as well. Now I must try to learn some more.

The countdown to reopening has begun

2008-01-18T16:33:00.001-05:00

Barnaby is hooking up all the electrical components to Jo's computer in the back room.

I accidentally startled Frank when I took this picture of him gathering books for the New York Times bestseller list. We are putting it back together after we did inventory this week.

Hester is our wonderful helper right now. She is organizing and cleaning the young adult section in this picture. Many of the sections had to be reorganized and alphabetized after our inventory frenzy.

Jo and I put the Folkmanis puppets on Anthology today. She had a really good system set up, so it didn't take very long for us to go through the puppets once we started. I feel like we did get a lot of things accomplished today. Hopefully everyone likes the changes that have been occurring here when we reopen.

2008-01-18T08:55:00.000-05:00

The scanning is done. At least with the most important part, which are the regularly priced books. Today I'm not sure exactly what we will be doing. We could be scanning in sale books or just re-organizing. As you can tell from the pictures the bookshop is in a little bit of a mess right now. We are doing some heavy duty cleaning, such as getting the top of the bookshelves that hardly ever get dusted. Barnaby is going to paint the doors today and cover up where we had the fire damage. There may be another update later in the day. We did get a new phone system installed yesterday. It will take some getting used to. There is a few second lapse before we have to say the obligatory "Maine Coast Book Shop" when we answer. This is probably going to cause a bit of confusion at first, especially for us.

Cafe Deep Cleaning

2008-01-15T16:26:00.000-05:00

Anne and Amanda scrubbing the floor.

Unfortunately, the photographer Barnaby, didn't take any pictures of the bookshop staff while we were scanning today. He claims he was too busy. The door in the cafe did get painted and the walls scrubbed down, so I won't complain too much. We have been able to scan a large part of the store. I'm guessing a third of the store. The part that takes the longest is waiting for it to go onto the computer from the scanner. We have to wait for it to look up all the files before we can move on and use that scanner again. Kind of confusing, but we'll make it through it.

2008-01-13T15:52:00.001-05:00

For the past couple of hours, Susan and I have been pulling together some of the books we are returning. We want to get them out of the way before we start the big inventory process tomorrow. There are at least five or six boxes for FedEx to pick up in the morning. Barnaby primed the area that was blackened from our fire this fall. This afternoon was very productive.

2008-01-12T09:42:00.000-05:00

I just figured out how to make anyone able to comment, not just GMAIL/Google users. So, please, if you see anything that interests you on this blog I would appreciate a comment. Barnaby and I have been commiserating on the lack of feedback from the public. We have received a few emails, each of which we print and then give each other high fives on the support we have received or the constructive criticism that we can hopefully use to make our site better.

2008-01-11T18:19:00.000-05:00

The week after we are closed for inventory, I will be heading out to Kentucky for the ABA Winter Institute
ABA stands for the American Booksellers Association and the bookshop is a member of this larger group of booksellers. They often put on educational workshops, which this is, that aid bookshops in becoming more efficient and better at what they do. The boss has often told me that without the opportunities she had to learn from the ABA, she wouldn't be as successful as she is today. She learned a lot about the book business through the ABA, so it is exciting for me to be able to go to one of their educational programs.
I'm quite excited, since I will be hopefully learning a lot and be able to use what I learn when I return to the bookshop. There will also be the opportunity to meet authors and hear reps speak about what are the important books, from the publishers they represent, in the months to come. These conferences are really vital for booksellers to be able to network with other booksellers and also speak one on one with members of the publishing industry. When Sandy, Jo and I went to NEIBA (New England Independent Booksellers Association) I was able to talk to so many of the representatives for the publishers and also I was able to meet Ha Jin, who happens to be one of my favorite authors. I had just finished reading his new book, A Free Life, a month or so prior to going and it was such a joy to actually meet him.

2008-01-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of changes going on in town right now. Not only will the bookshop be cleaning up the store and re-painting, Reny's is also updating their store front!

I'm not sure exactly what they are doing, but Barnaby told me that they were fixing up the outside of their store. I'm excited for the changes here at the bookshop, but I think that once they are done with the Reny's building it will look a lot nicer as well.
I took this picture of the church with the steeple off, just for those individuals that might not be in Damariscotta everyday. We do have some visitors to this site that are from around the country. Our frequent buyers come from across the country and this is one of my favorite things about the store. There is such a wide variety of individuals that come in here. In this picture you can also see our wonderfully confusing stop light. I swear, it takes me so much longer to get off Church street now that the light is there. They did however take down the no left turns onto Church street sign. Thank goodness, because everyone I know (myself included) continued making left turns onto it.

2008-01-09T13:00:00.000-05:00

With all the ongoing renovations and improvements here at the bookshop, I don't want people to forget the guy behind the scenes. Barnaby is here making sure that everything is in tip-top working order. He will be painting the bathrooms while we are closed and doing other essential work. The bookshop would probably fall apart without our building manager who takes care of the nitty gritty details that we always forget about.

Sandy and I have been busy moving things around the bookshop. Yesterday and today he has been busy moving biography and memoir to where we used to have our current events section and our business/computer section. I hope the flow of the store will make more sense to our customers and we will also be getting some new signs to hopefully point everyone in the right direction.
We did separate the religious inspiration from what we consider historical or more factual books about religion. We now have a gigantic inspiration and religious inspiration section where we used to have our parenting section. The parenting books for older children has been absorbed into our psychology/self help section, while the pregnancy and toddler books were moved to where our health section is. If anyone has any questions about all this confusion, feel free to ask us. Hopefully by then we will all know what is going on with the changes that have been made. The whole process is really exciting. I love moving books around the bookshop. The idea that maybe now someone will see a book that they might not have noticed before thrills me.
We've had complements on the flow of our bookshop before, so hopefully this new organization will be just as welcomed by our customers.

2008-01-08T18:05:00.000-05:00

We have really been doing a lot of organizing here at the bookshop. Today I went through the craft section, because I've never really been happy with how it was organized. After some careful negotiations with the boss, I spread the craft section into the art section just a little. Now we have all the knitting books in one section and all the crochet books right next to those. We also have some of the knitting and crocheting books featured above them. The rest of the craft section was organized by what kind of craft they are and hopefully they will stay somewhat neat? It's an ongoing battle, but hopefully we can do it.

I'm really proud of how it looks now. I've always wanted to be able to have the knitting books all together and then the crochet books right next to them. I'm a closet crafter and I wish that I had more time to indulge in this hidden passion. I'm hoping that people will start buying more craft books now that they can see more of the selection we have.

2008-01-08T09:44:00.001-05:00

Today Douglas Preston's newest novel came out in hardcover. It's called Blasphemy and his wife said that he was quite excited about this book. His wife and his mother, Dorothy, come in here quite often. In fact his wife made quite a large purchase yesterday, due to the fact that we are going to be closed for a week. Those are two of our nicest customers, but it's hard to say that when we have so many wonderful people that come in.

His next book, that is coming out in July, is called The Monster of Florence. I'm quite excited about that one, because it's non-fiction and about a serial killer in Italy. Doug was researching about this killer and got so wrapped up into the story, that he became part of the story. In fact, he was arrested while in Italy, but then released since there was no reason for them to be holding him. There was a Dateline episode that was dedicated to this story, but unfortunately, I missed it. I'm hoping that it is online so that I can watch it and then read the book when it comes out. Now, Sandy and I have to get to work sorting out the store before inventory. Expect a big update with pictures of what is going on here.

2008-01-06T13:41:00.000-05:00

Now that it is winter, I would think it would be a good time to perfect your cooking skills. I'm a cookbook addict. I buy them and then look at the pictures once, but then never actually cook anything. I've decided to make it my goal to start learning how to cook. I did make a delicious ginger and winter vegetable side dish that I've been eating for the past week. Unfortunately, my parents don't always embrace my veggie loving lifestyle. They did eventually try my concoction, three nights after I made it. The recipe came right out of Vegan with a Vengeance. Many of the cookbooks that I've bought in the past couple of months have been vegan cookbooks. The only problem that I have run into, novice chef that I am, is that many of the ingredients that are required for recipes are things that are not in my kitchen cupboards. Most of the things I have no idea what they even are. I actually had to ask a man that worked at Hannaford if what I had in my hands was a parsnip. I had never seen it in it's original form, but I knew that it was supposed to look like a carrot. I just wanted to double check before I bought something that I might not be able to use in my recipe. The package wasn't even labeled!

I'm very tempted to buy that How to Cook Everything Vegetarian book. The only drawback, for me, is that it is huge! I like things to be of a moderate size, so that I can easily flip the pages and then maybe set it down, open, on the counter. We do have a fairly impressive vegetarian cookbook section. I've gone to larger bookshops and seen horrible sections that are "dedicated" to vegetarians. They would only have one or two books, one of those being a book dedicated to salads. I don't know where people first got the idea that vegetarians only like to eat salad, but I know I like to eat something with a little more substance once in a while.

Not to get people too concerned that all we have are vegetarian books, these two books are our top selling cookbooks at the moment. We do have a large selection of celebrity chef cookbooks and then the basic cookbooks (Fannie Farmer,etc) that everyone needs in their kitchens. The Dishing Up Maine is one of Frank's favorite cookbooks. He has, alone, sold most of the 209 copies that we have sold. That is a lot of cookbooks. The Damariscotta Kitchens cookbook is put out by the Miles Memorial Hospital League. If you happen to look at the chili recipe put in by Neil Genthner Jr., fire chief of Damariscotta, you will see my brother and my father in the picture of the Damariscotta fire department! I like to point out the books that my family members are in to the customers. Sometimes they are interested, but most of the time I think they just humor me. I just checked how many copies of the Damariscotta Kitchens that we have sold, and so far, we have sold 278. Frank is going to have to start pushing Dishing Up Maine even more in order to catch up!

2008-01-05T13:06:00.000-05:00

I hope that everyone has checked the January update on the bookshop's website. We have a lot of staff picks, even some people who didn't have staff picks last month! Barnaby had to twist some arms, but we did manage to get some really good choices for this month. Surprisingly to me, many of our staff picks this month are from the publisher Random House. It's not a huge surprise that we picked so many books from them, they do publish good material, it just seemed so odd to have so many picks from our staff being from one publisher this month. I once asked Susan if a book I was holding was any good, because I wanted to read something that was well written. She then responded "Well, Random House published it, so it must be alright." She was right on that one. The book was Kabul Beauty School, by Deborah Rodriguez. This book is now one of my staff picks and I highly recommend it to anyone. It's one of those stories where women are being empowered to help themselves out of horrible situations. It's not overwhelming or intensely sad, it really is such a nice story of a hair dresser from the United States helping out women in Afghanistan.

2007-12-31T11:11:00.001-05:00

It's so snowy today! Susan and Barnaby (the collective bosses) are stuck in their driveway this morning. Even using their truck, they were unable to make it out. Hopefully the snow will start to be cleared up now that it is starting to slow down. The bookshop is never busy during snowy days, at least not until the afternoon rolls around. It does tend to pick up then, as long as it isn't snowing very hard. The die-hard cafe fans always make the trip in. Luke and Seth are manning the cafe today. They are the ones who always make it in, no matter the weather outside.
Neila and I shall use this slow day to alphabetize and organize the bookshop, due to the post-Christmas disorder. I may also get some returns out, since we are trying to get everything cleaned up and cleared out before we do our big inventory in two weeks. Nerves are getting a little frayed, since learning the new system, Anthology, is going to be hard for quite a few. Learning something new will always take some time, so I hope that our customers will be patient with us while we go through the weeks after we reopen.

2007-12-29T10:16:00.000-05:00

Today has started out quite slowly. Neila and Frank are both here. I've written three staff picks for the website and Frank is currently writing up some of his. I keep trying to convince Neila that she needs to write some, but she keeps telling me that all she is reading are classics for high school classes. I'm convinced that she needs to do some extracurricular reading more often.
We have quite big news. We will be closed the week of January 14th through the 20th. We will be reopening the 21st. This is due to our bookshop aquiring a new point of sales system and also doing inventory. There will also be some major housekeeping issues that will be addressed at that time, along with the bathrooms getting a much needed makeover. The cafe will only be closed for a few days, but the bathrooms will not be accessable during that week. There will also be no way for books to be sold during that time period, even though the cafe is open. The cafe will be taking over the newspaper duty, thankfully, so there will be New York Times for people that are dedicated readers. This is a big change for the bookshop, and we hope that it will be a smooth transition for everyone.
Thankfully the weather didn't turn out to be as horrid as the newscasters forcasted for us. I don't think the rest of the state turned out as lucky as we on the coast are. I still think it is a day to stay in and read. Rainy and snowy days are always sleepy and perfect for reading. At least in my humble opinion they are.
We should be having an update for the website coming up the first of January. The staff picks are updated on a monthly basis, the newsletter is as well and the calendar will also be updated.

2007-12-23T08:13:00.001-05:00

So far this Christmas season has been quite hectic here at the bookshop. The past couple of days have been non-stop running around and helping customers. I barely make it back to the register after wrapping for one person, when one of my coworkers will pass along a few more books for me to wrap for someone else. If you weren't aware, we do free gift wrapping and not just during the holidays! There are some exceptions, such as when we had our wrap it up sale the past couple of days. The kids books and toys on sale were not included in our free gift wrapping. I for one was happy about it when someone wanted a very large and awkward shaped toy wrapped. Toys and puppets are always the worst to wrap, only due to shape. I can wrap books all day long, but show me a puppet and I will cower in fear!
I realized yesterday that we are lacking in the graphic novel department. This is one of those departments that has kind of been left up to the younger generation at the bookshop, because the older one just doesn't seem to understand that genre. If anyone has any fantastic graphic novel suggestions I would really appreciate it. I already know and love Maus, Maus II and Persopolis.
Another Christmas note, it is quite surprising to me that so many people have left getting a certain book to the last minute. People have been coming in and asking for very specific and not all that well known titles. They are then surprised when we don't have it in stock. It makes me feel bad, but also, do your Christmas shopping a little earlier next time people! Or at the very least plan ahead a little better. Then we can special order your book and have it ready for you to pick up the day before Christmas if you choose to wait that long. Well, this is definitely going to be the last post before Christmas, so have I hope everyone has a happy holiday.

2007-12-22T16:15:00.000-05:00

Today is the last day of our Wrap it Up sale. Kids books (including young adult) are all on sale (unless they are previously marked down) and so are toys! The toys include our fabulous Folkmanis puppets that everyone raves about. It has been quite busy the past few days here at the store. Even the snowstorms haven't slowed down our faithful customers from getting their Christmas presents! This is the first year in a very long time that I can even remember having this much snow in December. I find it fantastic, because it really seems to make everyone slow down just a little bit. It's nice to take it easy and enjoy what is going on around you.
I hope everyone comes in before the holidays, even if it's just to give us a Merry Christmas. I'm not sure I'll find the time again to update before Christmas, due to how busy it is!

2007-12-21T16:10:00.001-05:00

Well the contest is over! The wonderful Ann Swanson is the winner of a brand new copy of Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs. She sent me a really nice email about the store, giving in detail what she liked the most. Here is a little snippet of what she said:
"Unexpected service, real help when needed, friendly folks, these are some of the wonderful reasons to love the bookstore. I have to add that I greatly appreciate the selection of books --- I am sure they are carefully selected (compared with what I see elsewhere)." ~Ann Swanson

I'm going to add what I feel is my favorite aspect of the bookshop. I really like that we care about our customers as people. We don't just like that they come in day in and day out, but really appreciate what kind of people they are. We have many people that have taught me so much, even during the brief interactions that we have. There are times that we've had to take people to the hospital, from the hospital or just take the paper to someone who was housebound for the day. This kind of caring about customers doesn't happen just everywhere. It truly occurs in places where there is a sense of community. I'm just happy that I live in such a place.

Contest Time

2007-12-16T10:18:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to have a contest for a little while, and hopefully this will become a fairly regular occurence on the blog. This is the first, official, Maine Coast Book Shop Blog contest. The rules are as follows:
1. Email me (bobbimainecoastbooks@gmail.com) telling me what your favorite thing about the bookshop is. Please include your full name and your phone number.
2. You must be able to pick up the prize at the bookshop, unless I find your entry to be absolutely amazing, in which case I will ship the prize to you.
3. You must email me by Thursday the 20th. I will be choosing the winner on Thursday the 20th after we close.

Your entry doesn't have to be mind-blowing amazing. I'll be the one picking the winner, so it will be whatever I find to be the best. Now for the prize...

A brand new, Hardcover copy of Richard Russo's newest novel, A Bridge of Sighs.
This would make a great Christmas present for the Richard Russo fan in your life.

2007-12-13T09:57:00.000-05:00

Here at the bookshop we have a really nice selection of winter/Christmas books for sale.

One of my favorite children's books for Christmas is The Story of Holly and Ivy, by Rumer Godden and illustrated by Barbara Cooney. I'm one of the lucky ones to have an autographed copy from when I was younger. This is one of those Christmas stories you want to return to through the years. I haven't read the year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, but it looks like a good book as well. If I had young people to buy books for, I'm not sure I would stray all that far from our Maine Authors and Illustrators section in the Children's Department.

We are also expecting a shipment of puppets to come in anytime.

This is one section of our store that is a favorite with children and adults. I'm actually convinced that adults enjoy the puppets more than the kids do. I have bought my mom some of the bird finger puppets, such as the hummingbird and the owls. They are really sweet and I'm thinking about getting one for her stocking. Hopefully she doesn't read this.

2007-12-08T08:05:00.000-05:00

One of our regular customers was kind enough to lend me the Twilight trilogy, by Stephanie Meyer, a few weeks ago. I finally had enough free time to sit down and start it. The first book, Twilight, was a little bit much for me. The premise of it is a teenage girl (Bella) moves to a small town in the Northern part of the country, where she falls in love with a vampire (Edward Cullen), and all of the hardships that go along with such love. It was a little overwhelming/boring for the first half of the book, this is due to the fact they fall in love at first sight and are instant "soul mates", but then the action started happening and I really got into it. Bella's life is always in danger, not only due to her own clumsiness, but also due to other vampires that are acquaintances with the Cullen family.
The second book, New Moon, was really enjoyable to read. The action continues in this book, but it does dwell a little too much on the intense love story between Bella and her vampire boyfriend. I think I might be a little biased when it comes to love stories though, because I've never enjoyed reading them in fiction. Bella develops more as a character and develops bonds with other characters in this book, besides the vampires from the first. One of my favorite characters is Jacob, a boy from the nearby Indian reservation. Bella becomes good friends with Jacob and learns about the history of the reservation and how that relates to the vampire family that she loves so much. The majority of the characters are ones that you will always want to learn more about how they came to be, such as the vampire family that Bella is taken in by. Each character has an interesting story that is told throughout the books. I think one of the signs of a good book, is the fact that you come to care a lot about the characters and do want to learn more about them.
As of right now, I'm in the middle of the third book. This is the kind of series that I really couldn't put down once I got into it. I think that is what happens to most of the people that read it, because even though the last two books are in hardcover, we keep selling them. I'm not sure this series is for everyone, it is targeted towards a teenage girl audience. However, many of the people that have read it and enjoyed it, have been women that are older than that. It is an interesting take on the vampires versus werewolves' saga, that is continually told throughout movies (such as Underworld) and other books.

First snow

2007-12-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the first snow so far in Damariscotta. It actually accumulated and now we have around 8 or 9 inches of snow.

We here at the bookshop braved the slippery roads (two of us live within walking distance) and were actually open until four pm. The cafe, however, were not so brave. It was closed all day long, which upset some of our regular cafe customers. We did have coffee for whomever decided to face the weather and it was free!

2007-12-02T16:04:00.000-05:00

Lauri finished our Christmas windows early this week. We tried to go for a vintage feel, using some of Barnaby's toys from when he was a wee lad.

I think they look very classy. Barnaby cut the trees that are in front of the cafe and decorated them with white lights. The whole town looks lovely and ready to celebrate the holidays.

Lou Ureneck Event

2007-12-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

The event that we had for Lou Ureneck went quite well, I feel. There wasn't as large of a crowd as I would have liked to have, but Lou did give a good reading and talk about his book. My parents came to it, which is amazing, since they hardly ever go out for anything. My mother really enjoyed Backcast and my father is starting to read it now that he saw Lou speak.
The first picture is of my mother getting her copy of Backcast signed by Lou, after his major faux pas of assuming she wasn't a fisherman. Susan Porter is in the background.

Sandy and I are obviously very hard at work, selling books while Lou signs them.

Although the crowd was small, it was a good crowd, and we did sell a lot of books. I found Lou's talk to be very interesting and humorous at times, as did the rest of the crowd. The audience asked well thought out questions that prompted honest and thoughtful answers from Lou. It is nice to have such an open discourse with an author and to have the opportunity for such.

2007-11-29T09:05:00.001-05:00

Today is the Lou Ureneck author event over at the Skidompha Library. He will be giving a short talk and answering questions, then he will sign copies of his book, Backcast. I'm excited, due to the fact that this event has been months in the making or at the very least, months in the waiting for it to happen. It starts at 5pm, so don't be late!

In other exciting bookshop news, Sandy left me a note telling me that the Peak will be hosting their book club next Friday (December 7th) here at the bookshop. Their next book is going to be Skydog, which is the story of Duane Allman, from the Allman Brothers Band. The radio station djs will be here from 1pm until 2pm. Come and see them or listen to them on the air at 102.5 FM. You can also get your copy of Skydog at the bookshop!

2007-11-23T16:59:00.000-05:00

The day after Thanksgiving is supposed to be the biggest shopping day of the year. Here at the bookshop we have definitely had a good day. There was almost always a line at the register, but everyone was so cheerful. I wish that it was always this busy at the bookshop. It is always so exciting to see so many people excited about books and to see what they buy as well. Today was a big seller day for I am America and So Can You, by Stephen Colbert. I think we also sold quite a few of Pillars of the Earth.
We have a few events coming up at the bookshop, the upcoming one being Lou Ureneck on Thursday the 29th at Skidompha at 5pm. I highly suggest that anyone read his book. It has won a couple of awards, one of them being the National Outdoor Book Award. Backcast was also featured in a current issue of the National Geographic Traveler. My mother read it and she loved it. I'm in the middle of it at the moment and it really is a good read if you love travel books. It is about a father and son fishing trip in Alaska, where the father is trying to re-build his relationship with his son.

2007-11-15T12:27:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday night at my Self and Society class, we watched a film called Sidewalk. It was a documentary that went along with a book that was published under the same title. The pretense of it is that many homeless individuals in New York city sell books in order to survive. It was interesting to see how they go about selling the books that they either find, have given to them or they buy from other individuals. One of the men commented that if the cover of the book says "New York Times Bestseller" then it will sell. He also made the comment that "Charlie Brown always sells", which I found hilarious and wrote down in my notebook. I have a habit of writing down funny things that a teacher will say or one of my fellow students in my notebook so that i can remember it in the future.
It was really interesting to compare how the homeless people were selling their used books to how we sell our books here at the bookshop. They were really business savy, determining what they would bother to pick up when they were looking for books by if it would sell or not at their table. It's hard to do that in this business when there are so many books that you want to have on hand, but you have to keep in mind what will sell in your area.

2007-11-13T15:16:00.000-05:00

The manager of the Peak called today in order to discuss the book club. The Dj's have already started the book and did a couple of segments on the radio station last Friday. I hope that there is a positive response to the book club. I know that I'm going to listen to the Peak this Friday at 1pm, which is when they will have the book club spot.

I've been trying to talk up Lou Ureneck's book, Backcast, since we are having a signing for him on November 29th. I've started reading the book and am currently on page 103 or around it. It's actually a really good story of a father and a son on a fishing trip to Alaska. Lou is trying to use the trip in order to re-connect with his son after a divorce tore them apart. I've enjoyed the book due to the wonderful travel writing, with the added storyline of Lou reflecting upon his life. There are a lot of humorous parts of the book that have to do with a teenager being frustrated with pretty much everything that a parent does. I could relate to that due to the fact that only five or six years ago I myself was one of those teenagers. It's interesting to have an outsider's viewpoint into a situation that I went through when I was younger. I feel sorry for anyone that has a teenager!!

2007-11-08T10:39:00.000-05:00

Well, I feel like an idiot. If you've tried to add your email to our email list, please try to do it again. I've accidentally been deleting them. It comes in as an email to our inbox and the sender says "nobody" so I thought it might have been one of the many spam messages that we get on a daily basis. Boy was I wrong! So I apologize for the three or four people whose email addresses I've deleted.
Barnaby and I have been going over the websites traffic details and it is really interesting. We are able to see from how many countries people have visited from (so far we are up to five or six) and so much more fascinating information. From what we could determine, so far the favorite page is the bestsellers list. Information that we will use for the future I'm sure!

2007-11-07T19:00:00.000-05:00

The bookshop and The Peak have teamed up for a book club that two of the DJ's will host on Friday's. I'm not quite sure of the details yet, but the first book they have picked is going to be Eric Clapton's autobiography "Clapton". We are supplying the books that they are reading and will be giving away on air. I find this to be an exciting partnership opportunity. The two DJ's will be coming in sometime early this coming week and I'll have some more information to post about it when they do. Their website is http://www.1025thepeak.com/main.html, but as of right now I didn't see any information about the book club.

2007-11-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

Tomie Depaola gave a talk today in the Skidompha Library and signed books here at the bookshop. I had the pleasure of trying to entertain him while he signed some of our stock before he went over to the library. He was really nice and funny, which are always the two most important things to me when I meet an author. I love it when authors are nice, because then it's even easier for me to try to sell their books to people! He is also just a really interesting person. The stories that he told gave me an insight into what the world of being a children's book author is like. The behind the scenes stories are always the most interesting.

Tomie at Skidompha Library reading to the audience.

A large crowd of kids and adults showed up to see him speak and to get their books signed. I don't think I have seen a crowd as big as the one that showed up today since our Harry Potter event this summer. I tried to get a picture of the line, but I'm not quite sure that it really conveys how many people were actually in the store at that time.

It was great to see all the kids so excited about the books. I even saw a baby looking through one of Tomie's books while he was speaking. It was one of the most touching things that I have seen in a little while. It's always so thrilling for me to see so many people excited about reading.

The Early Bird

2007-11-03T19:38:00.000-04:00

Even though I didn't technically have to be at the store for early bird, I gave Neila a ride to work due to the fact that I was going to go shopping and I felt bad for her parents getting up that early and driving her in. So I thankfully went into the store to warm up while I waited for Stars to open. I missed all the craziness in the bookshop, but Barnaby was kind enough to take some photos.

Lisa and Ann were ready to take on the Early Bird crowd!

I know that is the Hardy Boat's table on the left and I can't remember who that other table is unfortunately. There were a lot of tables out in front of the store! I know that the Rotary was out there selling nuts as well.

It's amazing how busy it can be that early in the morning.

These are two of my favorite kids and Twister who decided to come out for the sale.

cute babies love the Early Bird sale!

Halloween at the Book Shop

2007-11-02T16:00:00.000-04:00

2007-10-30T15:45:00.000-04:00

Today at the bookshop we have been doing a little winter cleaning. Going through the children books and seeing what is old and not selling and reorganzing so that they are easier for customers to find and easier for us to put away! Hopefully this reorganizing will be beneficial for everyone. It's amazing how many Christmas books that we get in for kids during this time of the year.

Another thing that happened today was that Ha Jin's latest book finally arrived at the bookshop! A Free Life is one of the best novels i've read in a long time. I'm not one to read fiction very often, but I love Ha Jin's writing style. It is also a booksense pick for November and I just happen to be the one that wrote the blurb for it. When you pick up the November copy of Booksense at the bookshop make sure to read my review! I've shown pretty much everyone at the bookshop, my family and my friends. I was in Boston this past week and I noticed that Ha Jin was doing a signing at the Boston University book store. I really wish that I could go back down to see him, since I saw him speak at the New England Independent Booksellers Association's meeting back in September. He is really funny and nice too! I went up to him afterwards to get him to sign my advance copy of A Free Life and he couldn't have been any nicer. It is really important to me when an author I really like is actually a nice person as well.

Don't forget! Early bird this weekend!

2007-10-27T10:54:00.000-04:00

The website has been moving along steadily. Today the cafe is having a group photo taken. Barnaby and I have been working hard (hardly working?) on the text that will be on the site. I'm looking forward to having it up and having people visit it.

Personally, I've decided to take a book reading challenge. I'm going to read a classic book a month. I've asked Frank for suggestions. If anyone else has any suggestions I would be very welcome to hearing them. I think i'm going to start with Sense and Sensibility, since I have a copy just laying around right now.

2007-10-21T14:52:00.001-04:00

Today is a lovely fall day here in Damariscotta. The temperature has to be in the low seventies and this is why I've come to the conclusion that it's been a little slow today. I don't blame the customers for not coming in, the fall leaves are gorgeous! We have had our faithful "paper" people as I like to call them.
There are still a few pumpkins from the Pumpkin Festival weekend and Regatta. One of my favorites is the pumpkin that is in front of King Eider's pub. Speaking of pumpkins, Halloween is coming up! We've had a lot of Halloween books come in and the Christmas books have already started to come in as well.
One of my favorite childrens book author, Judy Schachner (author of Skippyjon Jones) is featured in the Portland Sunday Telegram this week. I guess that she will be down in Falmouth on Thursday, which is great for people that are available to go! I unfortunately will be going to Boston to see a concert, but I am really tempted to skip it to see Judy speak. I saw her speak a year ago down at NEIBA (New England Independent Booksellers Association) and she is just so full of energy. She has to be one of my favorite authors to see in person. Skippyjon Jones also happens to be one of my favorite children book characters and he has another installment of his adventures that Judy just released this month. We have a couple copies on hand, just as we have a couple of her other books as well. She is a must to check out for those that love a silly story.

The Beginning

2007-10-18T14:44:00.000-04:00

Here at the Maine Coast Book Shop we have finally decided to enter into this "internet" age. This blog will be the beginning of our process of getting our book shop online. In the coming weeks we will be working closely with a local web site developer (Red Door Media/Michael Richard) and hopefully have made progress to the point that our web site will be up and working. We had a meeting to get it started this morning and so far it is working out quite well. If there are any suggestions on what anyone might like to see on the website please let us know! You can either email us at mcbooks@midcoast.com or me personally at bobbimainecoastbooks@gmail.com.