Independent Book Stores

Booksellers: "A Very Special Class Of Condescending Nerd"

by

  “Book stores employ a very special class of condescending nerd…  “If bookstores fall, America will be inundated with a  wandering snarky underclass of unemployable mock purveyors of useless and arcane esoterica.” The Daily Show on Comedy Central usually targets politicians, pop culture, movie stars, and finds hilarious behaviors to out and bring to the forefront. Either by Jon Stewart, or by one of his many ‘correspondents’, a point will be made about something highly ridiculous and whatever the subject be, it gets … Read more

Book Mania or I'll Eat Some Other Day

by

What have you done, and what would you do, short of commit a crime, to attain a certain book you can’t live without. I mean, you really don’t think that life would nearly be as wonderful if you don’t buy the book sitting on the desk, or up in the bookcase, or in a shaded … Read more

Billy Dead. Best 100 Mysteries of All Time

by

Billy Dead—Lisa Reardon–Viking Publishers-1998–IP Not an ordinary crime novel.  The story is shocking, hard, and to some, I’m sure, distasteful. It’s also heartrending, compassionate and creates a reality so strong, the characters and events linger long long after the pages have been read and the book closed and perhaps traveling on to the next reader. … Read more

Banking on Their New Coffee Shop

by

Washington NC is a sleepy  town of 10,112, unless someone died or was born since we visited. It was deserted when we arrived, but  it was 100 degrees in the shade and maybe most humans preferred to survive and declined strolling outdoors. Self titled “The Heart of the Inner Banks,”  it’s bisected by the waters … Read more

Murder Between The Covers. Best 100 Mysteries of All Time

by

 Murder Between the Covers—Elaine Viets–IP Oh what a perfect book for independent booksellers to revel in. The action takes place in a chain store, albeit a small one in Florida, but still oddly reminiscent of the local B&N. And why is that? Because Ms. Viets, the author of the Dead End Job series, worked at … Read more

Little Did We Know!

by

What is it about this obscure writing duo called the Little sisters that made so many customers in the mystery book store where I worked willing to pay fairly large sums of cash for so-so reading copies of their titles? After providing a particularly thrilled recipient with a copy of Constance and Gwenyth Little’s BLACK … Read more

Hide in the Dark, An All Hallow’s Eve Mystery. Best 100 Mysteries of All Time

by

Hide in the Dark—Frances Noyes Hart–1929–Doubleday Doran–OOP–but inexpensive copies are abundantly available Ah, a book after my own heart! Practically everything I love is within this title. An old manor in Maryland named Lady Court with ghostly undertones, a group of Jazz Age friends called the March Hares (anything that alludes to Alice in Wonderland … Read more