Our writers have been around books for a long time and are never shy to share their opinions…
by Jas Faulkner The last meeting of the Central Avenue Readers Group did not happen in the usual place. There was no collection of chairs gathered from throughout the store and placed in a circle near the big front window of Central Avenue Books. There was no dimming of the lights throughout the stacks, a … Read more
Tis the season for holiday celebrations, and when we have time to breathe, reflection on the year that is whirling toward its end. Last week I inadvertently insulted a friend-of-a-friend when I said I wasn’t in it [bookselling] for the money. We were at a holiday party and our conversation may have been slightly impaired … Read more
by Jas Faulkner Reverend Billy and his partner, Savitri, are no strangers to being approached by police officers and security personnel. They have seen many a purposeful walk to their particular brand of disturbance with a message. Some of these approaching men and women wear blank game faces with the intent to intimidate while others … Read more
by Jas Faulkner I joined my first book club in the mid-eighties. We were a loosely organized group of a dozen or so students from three different colleges in Memphis. We met at each other’s apartments and dorm rooms twice a month to discuss the book we’d chosen, what else we were reading and what … Read more
The controversy over the Man Booker rumbles on. Agent Peter Straus argues the rule changes will create surprising submission scenarios and calls on the organiser to open its purse strings to reflect the broader canvas If the reason to sponsor a prize is to get your brand in the news, the Man Group must be absolutely … Read more
by Jas Faulkner If you’re reading this not long after it was written (October 31st, 2013) you have probably seen the many reports about an anonymous woman in North Dakota who declared that she was indeed passing out candy, but not to children she deemed “moderately obese”. They would get letters addressed to their parents … Read more
One of the members of a children’s literature listserv send a query to the group. She explained that she was writing historical fiction and that the setting of her book was the South during the Great Depression. One of her characters was a teenage boy who was poor, athletic and used reading as his escape. … Read more
Across Time and Space… “No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine: if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy … Read more
