Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA)–This Month's Killer Books

As a former indie bookseller, this association’s monthly lists helped me find new authors to recommend and confirmed some of my own choices. As the website states: “Who better to pick the best mystery books of the month than people who run mystery bookstores? Each month a rotating editor selects 5 great reads from our … Read more

Touchy Feely Books

No, I don’t mean self help titles or sob stories, but how a book feels in your hands while reading it. ABE books again came up with an interesting topic, tactile reading.I know I send links to ABE a lot, but they have fantastic collections and ideas that are unusal in the book world. So, … Read more

Liquid Creative Writing

Is it possible that alcohol helps the creative juices flow? Another fab ABE article asks this question and gives a nice look at those writers who for better or worse used liquor and various drugs while at their craft. I’ve asked the rhetorical question–if Van Gough had anti-depression drugs in his day would he have … Read more

Question for–Booksellers, Librarians, Teachers: What are 'Age Appropriate' Books?

In my discussion about the banning of Water for Elephants for high school age kids  by a school district in NH, the question of  age appropriateness came up, and I started wondering what that really means, and to what age does what book belong? Can one really take an age appropriate brush and color all kids … Read more