Classics

The man who shot John Lennon and the man who shot Ronald Regan both had copies of The Catcher In The Rye with them.

That's your useless book trivia for the day.
Vickie and I were discussing the awesome classics we just got in. They are beautiful and old (in the good used book kind of way).  It's pretty exciting when we get in whole sets of classics. I know not everyone is quite a neurotic as I am about their bookcases, but I love when all the spines of my books match and most of the classics that just came in are part of sets.

Other than a lamentable lack of Steinbeck they're pretty amazing. The copy of 1984 is a cover I've never seen it so old, but it's still in good shape. They are wonderous.  

What's your favorite classic? Mine is a toss up between The Grapes of Wrath and The Scarlett Letter. Most hated is, hands down, Ethan Frome. The literary gods tortured me with that one no less than three times.

We're still getting in new books in too. Diversity's the word at the moment with us not ordering any fantasy this week. We're getting in new mysteries in the next couple of days. Dennis Lehane and the like, since we accept that not everyone wants to read Game of Thrones (I don't understand, but to each his own). 

We place orders about once a week, so if there is ever a title coming out that you need (yes, need. Books are not a want, they are like air) just let us know. In the next couple of weeks I'll start posting up titles that are imminent so you'll know whats coming out and if they peak your interest just let us know and we'll put it in that weeks order.

As always we have a wish list for the store. This weeks most wanted items are current DVD's, Romances released in the past couple of months,  Manga and Graphic Novels.

Till next week then!

-meg

Well, after a week off from the blog, I can say with confidence that I have recovered from A Dance With Dragons. In the past two weeks I've read three books (well, two and a graphic novel) and they seemed to have cured my initial agony over the end of dance. The next 47 years till Winds of Winter comes out should do the rest.

Not all book experiences end quite as horribly as my dance one. Vickie ran out of Dresden Files again and decided since it would be about two years before another one came out that it would be a good idea to live vicariously through me.  I love Harry Dresden. I had forgotten how much I adored Harry. Even after meeting Mr. Butcher I didn't remember.  Grave Peril was so good. Except the part where I couldn't find my copy so Vickie lent me hers and that was terrifying. It is nigh impossible to keep a mass market paper back looking like new. Vickie managed it and returning that book in the same condition it was lent in was like when home ec teachers use to have you have egg babies. Wicked high stress.

I digress,  the point I was working my way (very slowly) toward was that I am happy to get lost in Harry Dresden's Chicago. It's well crafted. It also reminded me that even if I'm a little discontent with George I still like Westros and I'm going to be really sad when Ice and Fire is over. Both series have really fantastic, rich worlds. I love them almost as much as I love Damar (Robin Mckinley, read her, she's amazing.) Moral? Read more Jim Butcher and Winds of Winter might come out too soon for my tastes. Six years might be the right amount of time between George RR Martin books.

We haven't done anything super fun in the store the past couple of week. We've gotten a ton more new and used books in and we've been trying to get them all on the shelves. Among our new book acquisitions was Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I've been told that it was really good. Steven Levitt mentions it in Super Freakonomics (the other book that healed my dragon wounds).  We also got in a beautiful book of photography called Daylight Noire, it's really pretty.

In used book news. Dante Club!!! Literary mystery, can't go wrong with that. Also, more RA Salvatore. The good new covers, not bad 80's ones.  If anyone needed a make over after the 80's it was Drizzt.

I think that pretty much sums up the past couple of weeks. It's been a little boring to be a bookseller of late.

Discontent Bookseller Rant...

It could have been an awesome week. Really it could have. Vicki and I stared the week by going to a Jim Butcher book signing. It was good times. Jim was wicked good people. He defaced my Dresden and my Alera and he answered fans super geek questions. In case you're wondering apparently Robert B. Parker is an amazing author and when Jim can't remember small details about The Dresden Files he checks Wikipedia because his fans are more neurotic than he is about the little stuff.

See, look at that me and Jim smiling. How could my literary week go awry?

I finished A Dance With Dragons today.  But Meg, you were so excited about Dance, how could that be a bad thing? 0-670-81364-8. 

That all I have to say about it.  

I'm going to need to find an awesome rebound book. Maybe Super Freakenomics. Nothing in there could possibly go wrong. Grumble and Rage. Although I would accept recommendations if you have something to soothe my wounds.

Moving on from my literary angst. 

We ordered more new books this week but we're having a bit of a problem diversifying. I'm a fantasy reader and Vicki reads lots of literature, so we keep ordering things we want to read. You guys should give us some ideas as to what you would like to read in the comments, that way you will have more options than Jim and George (they've been a recurring theme lately, I promise we do read other things). Terry Goodkind is coming out with a new book this month. This summer is really heavy on the big name sci fi releases.

We are also still trying to add a manga and graphic novels section to the store. If you are looking to rehome any titles in either of those genres, think of us please. We are also looking for some newer romance novels and current DVD releases. 

We sent out our first email newsletter this week, so don't forget to head over to our website to sign up to get news, coupons and other literary tid bits.

That's all I've got for now. I'm going to get back to cursing Mr. Martin and hopefully I will be less rage filled next week at this time.

Meg

Do Nothing But Read Day

Did you know that on August 6th it's Do Nothing But Read Day? How cool is that, right? We're pretty thrilled about the idea here in the shop. We'll be working Saturday, maybe participating occasionally.
I will be reading this one....   

Who else is a George fan around here? I'm totally looking for someone to geek with. So, if your at least 700 pages in you should come and bask in the wonder of Ice and Fire with me. Although I am quite fond of the Wild Card books as well. If you haven't read them you should check them out.









Vicki will probably try and work through the entire day, but I'm going to try and make her read for at least a little bit. She was all kinds of angry when Ghost Story got pushed back and she hasn't even opened its cover yet! For shame! Harry deserves much more respect than that (especially since he puts Gandalf and Belgarath in the same level of epic wizardly awesomeness).  I must confess a fondness for Alera myself, but all of Jim Butchers works are fairly genius.




What are you guys going to read? If you haven't made up your mind yet you should swing by the shop on Friday or Saturday. We've decided to celebrate by offering our readers Buy One Get One 50% Off Used Books. That way you'll have a spare book in case you finish your first one. Might I also take a moment to point out that we have three Steinbeck books in stock that you could read in a day (or Animal Farm) and you'd feel super cool and cultured that the end of them. That is unless Lost ruined the end of Of Mice and Men when you only had 15 pages left in the book (but I'm not bitter at all).


In other bookstore news, we'll be launching our news letter soon. You should sign up for it. All the cool kids are doing it. Click here to be super cool.



 -Meg

This week in book world

Happy Monday beloved readers,

Lots going on in the book world this week. We continue to expand our new book offerings by beginning to arrange our ordering process for schools and libraries. We're very much looking forward to providing to the community on a larger scale.

Both Vickie and I are tremendously excited for the release of Jim Butchers newest Dresden Files novel tomorrow. Ghost Story is much awaited and we are eager to have it in our hands. In celebration we will begin carrying the entire Dresden Files series new in store. If you haven't read them, you're totally missing out. Harry Dresden is one of my favorite fantasy heroes in recent years.

On a much more somber note, this past weekend began the liquidation of almost 400 Borders locations. Both Vickie and I spent many years peddling literature at Borders and are saddened to see the company go. We send out best to our fellow booksellers. This will be a hard couple of weeks for them. Feel free to share a Borders story in the comments below.

Lastly, please check our website for our updated list of most wanted books.




Meg

BOOKS!!!

Not just any books, new books. We're not talking new to us books. These are brand new, never opened straight from the publisher books. We are super excited to be able to have a better selection of in demand titles for our readers.



Mockingjay? yeah, we've got that.

Game of Thrones? We've got that too, all of the Ice and Fire novels even.

Been meaning to read The Help? We can get you started on that.



We can Special Order for you too if we don't have the title you're looking for. No more "We had that for a little while, but some one picked it up last week" No, sir. We can now get you just about any book that you can dream up and it brings us great joy.




Not to belittle the broken in books, we've also gotten some amazing used books in. Beautiful R. A. Salvatore hardcovers (you should pick those up now if you dig him, because you get first dibs on them, but I don't have my collection complete yet). Also, All Souls in hardcover. Wicked good Boston biography, I highly recommend it.  Speaking of books by Boston authors, I touched my first hardcover copy of Shutter Island this week. It's beautiful and doesn't have a picture of the movie poster on the front or any thing.  

So, come in and check them out.


Especially Game of Thrones, but I'm not biased at all.

First Blog Post

This is the first blog post of our brand newe Broken In Books Blog, The Broken In Blog, on our new Broken In Books website. We will be covering a variety of topics in this blog, but for the first post, I though it would be important to introduce myself. My name is Vickie. I purchased the store four months ago. I have been selling books for over 10 years. This is my first experience with used books. I will be able to bring some of the book knowledge I have acquired through the years to this new endeavor.
Our first goal is to organize the store into more cohesive sections, which includes alphabetizing. Thus far we have alphabetized and organized, Sci-Fi, Biography, Fiction, Classics, Poetry, DVD, True Crime, and Young Adult, with more organization happening every day. We have also begun the process of inventorying the store with our new inventory system. Our goal is to have everything priced, organized, stickered and shelved by the beginning of the summer. Those are just some of the wonderful changes in the works for you at Broken In Books. Why don't you stop by and see what we have to offer? You won't be disappointed.