The Boox Toar Staph Suffer a Sudden Death at Glen Ellyn's Spellapalooza

Pictured here is The Bookstore's Spellapalooza team "Boox Toar Staph" consisting of Julia Berg (Glenbard West teen employee), Sue Kowalski and Margie White, standing next to the vexing two minute timer after their sudden death loss in the final round of the village spelling bee.

Spellapalooza is an annual benefit for the Glen Ellyn Children's Resource Center, which provides literacy and life skill assistance to children living in low-income households in Glen Ellyn. More than half of the students served are refugees, representing families from 14 different countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Funds raised at the event will be used to support the Center's after-school and summer literacy programs.

It's a cause that's worth embarrassing yourself for. At first, we entered the spelling bee with the humble wish that we wouldn't be the first team eliminated. Then, as we proceeded beyond the first and second round and into the third, our adrenaline started to surge and we realized we really wanted to win!

Sometimes it's luck and sometimes it's skill, but in the end we found ourselves in the sudden death finals pitted against last year's Co-winners, "Spellin' for Ellen," consisting of Heidi Hann, Diana Visco and Gail Minkus. In a new twist this year, each final team was given two minutes to spell as many words correctly as possible. The Boox Toar Staph won the coin toss and chose to go second, but that still didn't help. We missed the first three words, and after that, we were crazy with stress and the ticking of the timer. Our final word was "formaldehyde," which we'll always remember is spelled with an "e."

Our congratulations and admiration goes to "Spellin' for Ellen," who have some really stellar spelling skills! Our special thanks goes to team member Julia Berg, our spokesperson at the microphone who showed great poise and calm under pressure. Thanks also to all of our supporters and cheerleaders, especially Jenny Fisher who cheered us on with party horns and customized Bookstore cookies. (The best part of Spellapalooza is the Team Spirit Award, which encourages crazy costumes and cowbells in the audience.)

I'm already looking forward to next year!

Cinco de Mayo With A Literary Twist: Luis Urrea at The Bookstore

The Bookstore is thrilled to be hosting a unique Cinco de Mayo Celebration with Luis Alberto Urrea on May 5th at 7pm, featuring margaritas, appetizers and stories among friends.

We'll be celebrating Luis' newest book, Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush (April 2010), a graphic novel based on the first short story in Urrea's Six Kinds of Sky (2002). Luis teamed up with muralist Christopher Cardinale to retell the story set in Rosario, Mexico, the town that Luis visited in the summers when he was growing up in Tijuana and San Diego. It's the kind of town that's full of "cousins and excitement and magical adventures and very pretty girls." Sounds like there's some good stories there!

Local book clubs are also excited to have the chance to talk with Luis about Into the Beautiful North (2009), a girl-power road trip story about a group of funny and brave young Mexicans who travel to the United States (all the way to Kankakee, Illinois) to recruit immigrants to return to Mexico and help them save their village. It's a fabulous book that challenges immigration stereotypes with a sense of humor and poetic insight. This would make a great selection for your May book club meeting if you haven't read it yet. Then you can come and chat with the author over margaritas and salsa.

We're also hoping to hear a little bit about Luis' current project, a sequel to The Hummingbird's Daughter (2005), his magical epic, and of course, his Pulitzer-prize nominated nonfiction title, The Devil's Highway.

So if you enjoy a little literary levity, please join us for this unique Cinco de Mayo. Please call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com to register. Book clubs can register as a group with an estimated head count. Purchase of at least one of Luis' books is required, but trust me, you'll want them all!

Brought to you in partnership with our sponsor, Chicks 'n Salsa, a local, independently-owned Mexican restaurant in Glen Ellyn.

Introducing: Book Blogger Bookmarks at The Bookstore

The Bookstore had a recent visit from local book blogger Jen Karsbaek ("Devourer of Books") along with her adorable son Daniel. Even if Daniel is only 8 months old, he's already following in his mom's footsteps. He couldn't resist trying to devour his favorite board books - everything goes in his mouth!

What a fun visit. We swapped ARC's, talked about our favorite books and discussed book blogs. Oh, and we snuggled with Daniel, who chatted up a storm himself. No surprise he loves The Bookstore.

Then we gave Jen a little surprise - her very own book recommendation bookmarks. Kind of like our blue staff pick cards, but with a flair. They feature a photo of Jen in her wedding dress. (in which she is, of course, reading!)

Anyway, Jen had fun distributing her new bookmarks throughout the store, enjoying one of the best perks of being an indie bookseller. Our customers will benefit too! The more personal recommendations in our books, the better they sell. And as much as we'd like to, The Bookstore staff just can't read everything! We encourage our customers to check out Jen's blog for great book reviews, give-aways, challenges and guest bloggers. Follow her on Twitter as @devourerofbooks.

So thanks, Jen! Any other book bloggers out there who'd like to visit and get their own Book Blogger Bookmarks, let us know! We'd love to be one of the stops on your "Book Blogger Indie Tour."

In fact, we just happen to have a bookmark ready for Rebecca @bookladysblog, who has a crazy category for books/authors she really, really likes. (As the bookmark says, if you have to ask you might not want to know. Just a little crazy book blogger humor!)

Book Buzz at The Bookstore's 10th Annual Book Group NIght

Pictured here are Jane, Jenny and Margie at The Bookstore's 10th Annual Book Group Night, holding some books that they just "couldn't put down."

In case you couldn't make it, we're posting a list of staff picks we discussed that night, along with a list of favorites from the local book clubs. If your club didn't make it, or if your favorite isn't listed below, feel free to add a comment with your own book club recommendation!

Jane's Picks:

Generosity by Richard Powers (paperback 8/10)

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier (hardcover 1/10)

Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt (hardcover 1/10)

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (paperback 5/10)

Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (paperback 5/10)

Stray Affections by Charlene Baumbich (paperback)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Newbery 2010, hardcover)

Jenny's Picks:

The Crying Tree by Naseem Rekha (paperback 6/10)

Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff (hardcover 1/09)

Spooner by Pete Dexter (hardcover 9/09)

Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell (hardcover 9/09)

Peace by Richard Bausch (paperback)

A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz (paperback)

Sue's Picks:

Ms. Hempl Chronicles by Sarah Shun-Lie Bynum (paperback)

Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill (paperback)

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa (paperback)

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving (paperback 6/10)

This Is Where I Leave You By Jonathan Tropper (paperback 6/10)

Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann (NBA 2009, paperback)

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (paperback)

Margie's Picks:

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin (hardcover 1/10)

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow (hardcover 2/10)

Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom (hardcover 1/10)

One Amazing Thing by Chitra Divakaruni (hardcover 2/10)

Homer and Langley by E.L. Doctorow (paperback 8/10)

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (hardcover 2/10)

The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Urrea (paperback)

Even More Picks:

Litte Bee by Chris Cleave (paperback 2/10)

A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert (paperback 6/10)

Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon (paperback 5/10)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (2/10)

Half the Sky by Sheryl WuDunn (paperback 6/10)

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (paperback 9/10)

31 Hours by Masha Hamilton (hardcover 9/09)

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Booker Prize 2009, hardcover)

Notes from the Underwire by Quinn Cummings (paperback)

Union Atlantic by Adam Haslett (hardcover 2/10)

Your Book Club Favorites:

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

31 Hours by Masha Hamilton

Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum

Sarah's Key by Tatiana Rosnay

Same Kind of Different as Me by Ron Hall

Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

We'd love to make this an ongoing list, so whenever you have a great book club discussion, just post a comment here or send us an e-mail (justbook475@yahoo.com) and we'll add it to the list!

The Votes Have Been Counted, and the Winner Is?

The Bookstore's Customer Favorite for the Decade, 2000-2009: Harry Potter!

After all the votes were counted, the clear winner was Harry Potter, pictured here "on the podium" with its very own gold medal. It couldn't happen to a nicer book.

We decided to combine all votes, rather than have a separate children's category. After all, many adults enjoy kids and young adult titles from Harry Potter to Twilight. You can tell from the handwriting on the ballots that many of the Harry Potter votes were from adults. (There was a surge of support from the slightly messier kids' ballots for Gregor the Overlander!)

For parents like me, some of our favorite memories over the last decade have come from sharing the excitement over the Harry Potter books with our children, who literally grew up with Harry and Hermione. My kids and I were so impatient to read the newest book that we were unwilling to share - I had to buy one book for each of us. We'd drag our sleeping bags out onto the front porch, and read with flashlights until the wee hours of the night. It was magical.

Some might argue that it's not fair, after all, the Harry Potter series had four books released in the past decade, from Goblet of Fire to Deathly Hallows. But still, we've only closed Main Street for one book in the history of The Bookstore: Harry Potter. Everyone at The Bookstore dreams that some day, there will be another book that can close Main Street at midnight. Until then, Harry Potter stands alone on the podium.

Bringing home the silver medal: Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, a personal favorite. After that, we were surprised how varied the vote was; the vast majority of books received only one or two votes. Which really confirms what we try to do here at The Bookstore, and that is to find the perfect book for the right reader. We can't wait to do it for another decade . . . and beyond.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi Durrow

I can't wait to help spread the word about this wonderful book by Heidi W. Durrow. It's the debut work of a young author who has already won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, an award founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize works of fiction that promote social justice.

It's the coming of age story of a young biracial girl who is the sole survivor of a mysterious family tragedy. Rachel moves from Chicago to her grandmother's house in a mostly black neighborhood of Portland, Oregon. Her father is an African-American GI who met her Danish mother while on leave in Europe. Rachel is trying to figure out who she is, where she fits in, and how to make sense of her history. It's the story of every girl, but yet so much more complicated. It's tender and gentle, but difficult, poignant and thought-provoking.

Life isn't easy for Rachel, a light brown-skinned, half-African-American-half-Danish girl with bright blue eyes and "nappy hair." Her new friends accuse her of "talking white." This novel explores what it's like to live a life that requires so many hyphens. It makes you wonder: why do we still categorize people when we live in a modern melting pot world? Aren't we all a mix of something? And it's often not just black or white.

But still, young Rachel's task is more difficult than most. When she explains she is half Danish, people respond: "oh, really?" with that tone of voice that makes it a challenge. One of my favorite scenes is when Rachel is invited to a Scandinavian family dinner with a friend. Food is family, memory and heritage, and Rachel needs a good taste of kartoffel , bonner and aguker salat after a long, lonely fast from her Danish mother's cooking. Rachel thinks: "I don't want the Danish in me to be something that time makes me leave behind." It makes you want to raise your glass and give a hearty "Skal!" to this wonderful girl.

The book has haunting parallels with Nella Larsen's Passing, the 1929 story of a biracial woman who died in a mysterious fall out of a window. I'm already planning to order a copy of that book for follow-up reading.

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky would make a great discussion for a book club, or a great cross-over for teens. I had the chance to meet Heidi Durrow at the ABA's Winter Institute, and she's as nice as she is smart. I'm happy to put her book on the Staff Pick shelf at The Bookstore.

What's Your Favorite Book of the Decade?

Let's Vote!
























From now until February 18th, polls will be open for The Bookstore's Favorite Book of the Decade. You can place your vote here on the blog (see the sidebar), or you can fill out a ballot at the store.


It might take you some time to think about it. Unless you're really good about keeping book lists, you might wonder, what have I read? What did I love? It's fun to think about. Maybe you'll have time to meet with your book club yet this month to talk about it.


That's why we went through The Bookstore's computer to put together a list of our bestselling titles over the last 10 years, both paperbacks and hardcovers. We also brainstormed about some of our favorite staff picks over the last decade. Just e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com with your selection. The ballot box in the store is strictly write-in, but there is a list of ideas at the counter too.


Bookstore Bestsellers 2000-2009 (Hardcover Fiction/Paperback Fiction):

2009: Little Bee/ Olive Kitteridge

2008: The Art of Racing in the Rain / The Shack

2007: 1,000 Splendid Suns/ Water for Elephants

2006: Water for Elephants/ Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

2005: The Mermaid Chair/ The Kite Runner

2004: The Five People You Meet in Heaven/ Dearest Dorothy Are We There Yet?

2003: The Da Vinci Code/ The Secret Life of Bees

2002: The Secret Life of Bees/Empire Falls

2001: A Common Life (Mitford)/ The Ladies Auxilliary

2000: Friendship Cake/ The Red Tent

A Few Favorite Bookstore Staff Picks 2000-2009
Suite Francaise, Peace Like a River, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, History of Love, The Known World, The Time Traveler's Wife, What is the What, Rope Walk, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, People of the Book, The Inheritance of Loss, Gilead, March, Middlesex, The Corrections, The Road, The Hours, Interpreter of Maladies, Unaccustomed Earth, Atonement, Echo Maker, Let the Great World Spin, (not to mention kids and teen books like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Twilight . . .)


Plenty of ideas out there, and hopefully more of your own. So vote already!

Our Wonderful Event with Melanie Benjamin

Tweeps at our Melanie Benjamin Party on Thursday, January 28th: Sue Kowalski (@suejustbooks), Melanie Benjamin (@melanieben) and Jen Karsbaek (@devourerofbooks). Like the mom in most family photo albums, I'm not in the photo (Margie White, @justbooks).


It was a great night at The Bookstore. We had a great turnout, we had plenty of food and wine, we ordered enough books (whew!) and we squeezed tons of people in our little store without the Fire Chief finding out.

Melanie did a fabulous job chatting about the background to her book, Alice I Have Been. You can tell she loved the research she did on Lewis Caroll, because she's a fountain of really juicy information. She's also a great public speaker, with a nice theatrical presence. When she read a passage from her book, you get the feeling she could actually play Alice on stage.

Customers have been calling and stopping by to thank us for a wonderful evening. But I don't feel like The Bookstore deserves any thanks at all. It's authors like Melanie who deserve all the thanks. They're the ones who have the imagination and the talent and the artistry to put their stories on the page. They're the ones who make the sacrifices to do what they love; they rarely get rich and make a pittance on each book. They schlepp around the country on book tours because that's what it takes to generate sales, when all they really want to do is sit down, be still, and tell us another story.

So here's to Melanie and all the writers out there. If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here. You guys keep writing, and we'll keep selling.

Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin: Wondering about Wonderland

What fun it is to be selling this book!


First of all, Melanie Benjamin is a local author and friend of The Bookstore. She's gotten some great press over the last couple of weeks, so a lot of people come in already planning to buy the book. Then there are those who see our fun Alice In Wonderland window display and come inside to ask about it. And finally (these are my favorites) there those who just saunter in to browse. Next thing you know, we've handsold the book and they've signed up for our book signing party! (Details below.)

In our chat-ups with our customers, we love sharing the story behind this book. Melanie Benjamin says she was inspired to write Alice I Have Been when she went to an exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago. (This is when our customers smile. Isn't a train ride down to the Art Institute just the best way to spend a day?) Anyway, several years ago there was a photo exhibit that featured the photos of Lewis Carroll. Melanie saw a photograph of Alice Liddell, the girl who inspired Lewis Carroll to write Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Melanie says that the photograph haunted her and made her uncomfortable. It sparked her imagination and made her wonder about Wonderland.


I used to wonder about Wonderland myself. As a child, I'd found it unsettling, a little creepy. Alice was always shrinking and growing and getting into these nightmarish situations. Kind of like Kafka for kids. (But of course, I was a pretty wimpy kid. I was also freaked out by the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.)


As an adult, however, I read Alice in Wonderland and I see Alice, not the craziness that surrounds her. I see a curious, independent young girl who defies stereotypes, exercises her powers of reason, and speaks her mind. She learns how to adapt to her surroundings and seeks to establish order out of the chaos. And to think that Lewis Carroll created such a strong female character nearly 150 years ago - in the middle of the Victorian era. It gets curious and curiouser!


So who was the real Alice and what exactly was her relationship to Charles Dodgson, the real Lewis Carroll? We'll never know, but we do know there was mystery and scandal. Was the scandal the result of an overprotective Victorian society, or was their relationship inappropriate? The photo at the Art Institute (shown in the book) really makes you wonder.


Thanks to that day at the Art Institute, Melanie's curiosity and imagination were sparked. She knew it would be great raw material for a book. There was mystery, scandal, a literary icon, and a rich story begging to be told. With an innate talent for writing historical fiction and a sense of womanly wisdom, Melanie imagined Alice's story. And not only what happened when Alice was a child, but also what kind of young woman she was and how the scandal changed her life forever. As Alice becomes an older woman coping with loss and regret, we feel like we've aged and suffered with her. Melanie has created a wonderful character, just like Lewis Carroll did so long ago.


We hope you agree that Melanie and her new book deserve a party! Please join us at The Bookstore on Thursday, January 28th at 7pm for a signing and celebration. Melanie will speak about the book, and we'll toast to her success. To register, please call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com. Purchase of the book or an equivalent gift certificate is required. You can stop in and pick up the book early, as long as your book has our sticker on it, you'll be welcome to join in the festivities!


Finally, we've decorated our window in honor of Melanie and Alice I Have Been. Come downtown and check out our own Alice in Wonderland, who seems to be enjoying Melanie's new book!

Remarkable Creatures, Remarkable Women

Tracy Chevalier, the author of Girl With a Pearl Earring, has written a new novel and I'm thrilled to add it to our Staff Pick shelf at The Bookstore. It's hard to beat a book like Pearl Earring, and I don't think any of her other novels have matched it until now. Remarkable Creatures is a remarkable read.

It's a beautiful piece of historical fiction based on the life of Mary Anning, a 19th century working-class fossil hunter in southern England who discovered the world's first ichthyosaur at the age of eleven. Her discoveries are still on display at the Natural History Museum in London.

The book explores and celebrates Mary Anning's scientific curiousity, which was considered an improper pursuit for women of that era and an unacceptable challenge to religion. The book also examines the complicated, cross-cultural friendship and rivalry between Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, an unmarried upper-class woman twenty years her senior. The women shared a fascination with fossils and the search for recognition in a world that marginalized women.

Book clubs will enjoy the distinctly feminist edge. The Geological Society of London didn't permit women members, so when Elizabeth Philpot seeks to participate in one of their meetings, she is forced to sit and listen on the backstairs.

Lord Henley, who owned the cliffs in which Mary Anning discovered her first ichthyosaur, attempted to claim ownership over the specimen: "It belongs to me. Besides which, Mary Anning is a female. She is a spare part. I have to represent her, as indeed I do many Lyme residents who cannot represent themselves." (It's enough to make you want to travel in time to give him a reparative kick to the shins. Represent this.)

Chevalier tosses out plenty of issues for great book club discussions. Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot had a mutual admiration that crossed into envy. Have you ever had a moment with a dear friend that crossed over into a no-man's land of anger and jealousy? You instantly regret it but you don't know how to take your words back and retrieve what you had.

The religious issues that were stirred up by Mary Anning's scientific discoveries are still unresolved centuries later. We'd still like to be able to reconcile the bible's story of creation with our knowledge of evolution; we still wonder where God's hand ends and nature's begins.

Mary Anning's and Elizabeth Philpot's interest in fossils became more than just a hobby or a pastime. It became their vocation and their identity in a world where women weren't supposed to have either. However, they paid a price for their passion. Neither ever married and were viewed by closed-minded villagers with superstition and derision. Would you be willing to risk acceptance to pursue your passion? Do you have a secret interest that you're embarassed to embrace? What kind of childhood collections are hidden away in your closet that you can't bring yourself to throw out?

Speaking of childhood collections, I have a special connection to this book that made it particularly enchanting to me. My son had a sweet boyhood passion for dinosaurs. We took him to the Field Museum to welcome Dinosaur Sue, we played paleontonogist with coral, rocks and shells discovered on the beach, and we helped him amass an enormous collection of plastic toy dinosaurs at great cost from museum gift shops.

We were horribly permissive parents, allowing him to watch Jurassic Park as a mere toddler. Remember the scene when the velociraptor ripped off the lawyer's head as he sat in the outhouse? My son was completely unfazed. He turned to me and said very matter-of-factly: "Dino num-num." He slept in dino PJ's, he ate dino chicken nuggets, and proudly wore a brightly colored felt hat with Stegasaurus spikes. His toy dinos had nicknames like Steggie, Rexie, Cera and Compie. Ah, the wonder years.

After I read this book, I went down to the basement, dug out my son's old plastic bin of toy dinosaurs and arranged them all on the ping pong table. And then I had a really good cry over things of wonder -- like childhood curiosities, the passage of time, and evolution, both large and small.

My son even had an ichthyosaurus. Mary Anning would be proud.

Just the Bookstore's Top Ten Staff Picks for 2009

Our Top Shared Staff Picks for 2009:
























As our loyal customers know, these books have been front and center on our Staff Pick Shelf at The Bookstore ever since their release. The staff doesn't always agree, but on these four picks we do. Chances are if you've been to the store you've heard at least one of us sing the praises of these books.


To celebrate the New Year we've put together a list of our Top Ten Staff Picks for 2009, and starting in January, we'll be asking our customers to vote for their top ten as well. And then, because we're just a little wacked out on lists, we thought we'd take a customer poll on The Bookstore's Book of The Decade. Details will be in our January newsletter.

You might notice we didn't limit ourselves to just 10. Whether it's indecision or a common rebellious streak, we each have at least 11. You might also notice how much our lists overlap. Part of this is because of the way we share our favorite reads (passing from hand to hand: "You HAVE to read this!") Another reason? They're just great reads - stop in with your Christmas gift certificates and pick some up!


Margie (twitter.com/@justbooks)
1. Little Bee/Chris Cleave
2. The Gate at The Stairs/Lorrie Moore
3. Let the Great World Spin/Colum McCann
4. Homer & Langley/E. L. Doctorow
5. Wolf Hall/Hilary Mantel
6. The Anthologist/Nicholson Baker
7. A Short History of Women/Kate Walbert
8. 31 Hours/Masha Hamilton
9. Delicate Edible Birds/Lauren Groff
10. Generosity/Richard Powers
11. Manhood for Amateurs/Michael Chabon
(Can I just keep going? How can I possibly say that one book is #10 but another isn't? How can you make a finite list out of something as magical as a good read? I also loved Family Album/Penelope Lively, Home/Marilynne Robinson, Zeitoun/Dave Eggers, Last Night in Montreal/Emily St. John Mandel, Love and Obstacles/Aleksandar Hemon, Strength in What Remains/Tracy Kidder, and about 90% of what Sue's putting on her list.)

Sue (twitter.com/@suejustbooks)
1. Little Bee/Chris Cleve
2. The Gate at the Stairs/Lorrie Moore
3. Let the Great World Spin/Colum McCann
4. A Short History of Women/Kate Walbert
5. Last Night in Twisted River/John Irving
6. The Wilderness/Samantha Harvey
7. Waiting for Columbus/Thomas Trofimuk
8. 31 Hours/Masha Hamilton
9. The Song is You/Arthur Philips
10. The Believers/Zoe Heller
11. Delicate Edible Birds/Lauren Groff
Tied: The Housekeeper and the Professor/Yoko Agawa

Jenny (despite our efforts, Jenny's a Twitter hold-out)
1. Little Bee/Chris Cleave
2. Labor Day/Joyce Maynard
3. Under the Dome/Stephen King
4. The Crying Tree/Naseem Rakha
5. 31 Hours/Masha Hamilton
6. The Gate at the Stairs/Lorrie Moore
7. Delicate Edible Birds/Lauren Groff
8. Under This Unbroken Sky/Shandi Mitchell
9. Strength in What Remains/Tracy Kidder
10. That Old Cape Magic/Richard Russo
11. Say You're One of Them/Ukem Akpan



And to all you naysayers who don't like lists, or who can't believe what idiots we are to have missed your favorite book (fill in the blank), please leave a comment. And stay tuned for the poll results in January, when our customers will get the last word. As they always do!

Gift Idea for Dad: When the Game Was Ours by Larry Bird & Magic Johnson

If the dad, your husband, or man in your life loves old-school basketball before the days of Michael, Shaq and Kobe, then this is a great gift idea.


Larry Bird and Magic Johnson tell the story of three decades of basketball rivalry that started with the 1979 NCAA Championship game in Salt Lake City, Utah, still the most watched college basketball game in television history. Chances are your dad not only remembers that game , but knows where he was and what the final score was. (75-64, Michigan State).

Stop by The Bookstore and pick up a copy for Dad. ($26.00 hardcover.) We'll even wrap it for you. Call ahead (630) 469-2891 or e-mail justbook475@yahoo.com and we can have it waiting for you!

Ladies Night Out 2009: "Best Appetizers in Town!"

Women in big hats and snow boots braved the snow and slush for a fun and successful Downtown Ladies Night 2009.

Sue once again showcased her wine pouring skills at "the bar" between Nature and Sports. (Some of that delicious Trader Joe's Olive Bread is right in front of her, yum.)

20 stores and about 250 women participated in this year's event, which was twice as big as last year's. From what we could tell, everyone was in great spirits and sales were great.

I don't mean to brag (oh, yes I do) but one of our customers remarked that The Bookstore had the "best spread in town," pointing to the appetizers on the front table.

Sue, Jenny and I made samples from some of our favorite cookbooks, including Trader Joe's Companion and Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics. Customers received a 20% discount on any of the featured cookbooks. The new Trader Joe's cookbook sold especially well -- it's pocket sized so it can fit in a purse or a Christmas stocking!

Thanks everyone for stopping in and sharing the holiday cheer. It was fun meeting new people from nearby towns -- lots of new friends and customers.

Holiday Gift Recommendation: "Women Who Read Are Dangerous" by Stefan Bollman

Women Who Read Are Dangerous by Stefan Bollman ($24.95) is a gorgeous book that would make a perfect gift for the female booklover in your life.


It's filled with a fabulous collection of paintings, drawings, prints and photographs of women reading, including such artists as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, Whistler and Hopper. The painting on the cover, Dreams by Vittorio Matteo Corcos (1896) shows a young woman reader who appears slightly inspired and defiant. You can't help but wonder what she just read.


The pictures alone are enough, but there is interesting commentary by Stefan Bollman, who is an author of several books on literature, including Women Who Write (Merrell 2007). It traces the history of reading, and notes that private, silent reading is a relatively modern phenomenon.


Women who read were regarded as dangerous, it claims, because they began to acquire privacy and independence of mind. As Bollman states, "the woman who reads acquires a space to which she and no one else has access, and together with this she develops an independent sense of self-esteem; . . . she creates her own view of the world that does not necessarily correspond with that conveyed by tradition, or with that of men."


Here's to space, independence, and a little "dangerous" rebellion!


To have us hold a copy for you (with free gift wrapping!), just call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail us at justbook475@yahoo.com.

Celebrity Reader in the Window: Glen Ellyn Holiday Walk Photos with Charlene Baumbich

Here are some fun photos from the night of the Glen Ellyn Holiday Walk. Local author Charlene Baumbich had a wonderful time reading in the window and surprising passerby! All of our customers are invited to sign up for an hour of Holiday Reader in the Window too! It includes hot chocolate and a $5 gift certificate to The Bookstore! Call (630) 469-2891 to sign up now!

Photo credits: Charlene Baumbich

Local Author's Latest Book, Stray Affections, Is Featured in Bookstore Window

Loyal Bookstore customers know about our annual "Holiday Reader in the Window" program. Customers and friends of The Bookstore sign up for an hour to read in the rocking chair in our window during the holiday season. They get to sit and relax, while they watch all of Glen Ellyn hustling by. Plus, you earn a $5 gift certificate! Children are welcome and encouraged. To sign up, just call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail us at justbook475@yahoo.com.

This year, The Bookstore's Holiday Window features local author Charlene Baumbich and her new Snowglobe Series. The first book in the series, Stray Affections, is available now. It is a Midwest Bookseller's Association Pick, and would make a wonderful holiday gift (for you or someone on your list!) Charlene will be making a special appearance as our Celebrity Holiday Reader in the Window on Friday, November 27th during the Holiday Walk.



The Chamber of Commerce hosts a Village Holiday Window Decorating Contest every year, and this year's theme is "Glen Ellyn Glitters." Jane suggested we feature Charlene's book in the window display, and I voluteered to try to paint the snowglobe scene featured on its cover, complete with three different colors of glitter. (Gold at the base, silver around the edges of the globe, and snow-colored glitter at their feet.)

Working with all that glitter reminded me of all the messy art projects I used to make with my daughter when she was little. Now I also remember how hard it is to clean up glitter from hardwood floors and carpeting. (Sorry, Jane, for the trail of glitter from the back room into the Young Adult section of The Bookstore, but secretly? I kind of enjoy it. What the heck, it's the holidays.)

Jenny did a great job gathering all the snowglobes, glittery fabrics and sparkly ornaments to complete the window display. (More than one customer has inquired whether the snowglobes are for sale! -- sorry but no.) We're really proud of our little window, but we don't have high hopes for the contest. We were pretty proud of our little Polar Express train last year, with it's real headlight and glow-in-the-dark windows, but the judges didn't give us a single ribbon. So Jenny kept saying: "We're not trying to win the contest, right? We're just doing this because we're nutty bookstore people!" You've got that right, Jenny!

So please stop by The Bookstore and do your best to shop local for the holidays. Love your local bookstore, support Glen Ellyn merchants and celebrate our local authors.

Thinking of Thanksgiving? Check Out One of the Best Family Dinner Scenes in Literature

In the spirit of the approaching holidays, Julia Keller of The Chicago Tribune Books section recently asked readers to send a letter recommending a good family novel. I couldn't resist, and sent the following:

I've got to nominate To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf (1927) to the list of the best family novels of all time.

At this time of year, when families are gathering for Thanksgiving dinners, you can't find a better family dinner party scene than the one that lasted 20 pages in To The Lighthouse. Family and friends gather for a formal dinner of Beouf en Daube at a seaside retreat in pre-WWI England.

At first the guests are all pretty crabby and seem to be one word away from a family feud: the husband is frowning in a heap at the end of the table; one of the male guests refuses "to be condescended to by these silly women;" the hostess notices how shabby the room looks, and wonders how she'd ever felt any emotion or affection for her husband. This dinner party is about to become a train wreck.

The hostess knows that if she doesn't do something to coalesce the group and shepherd them into a kinder, gentler conversation, no one will. ("They all sat separate. And the whole of the effort of merging and flowing and creating rested on her.") Through the magic, intuition and sheer maternal willpower of the hostess, the candles are lit, the beouf is served, and the guests all come together in mutual admiration and goodwill.

To which I say: thank you moms and hostesses everywhere.

By the way, I have a great recipe for cranberry sauce. The secret ingredient is the jalapeno pepper.

Margie's Cranberry/Pineapple/Jalapeno Sauce

One 12 oz. bag of fresh cranberries

(Heat for 10 minutes or until they burst)

2 packed cups coarsely chopped pineapple

1/4 cup sugar

1 scallion coarsely chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 to 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pulse in food processor until coarsely chopped. Place in serving bowl and cover with plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes but no more than 2 hours. Serve chilled.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Locally Born Author Mary Doria Russell Rocks the House

I love books and the people who write them. But I don't know if I've ever had as big of an author crush as this. Let me just say: Mary Doria Russell rocks.

Looks are deceiving. She came in the room and looked like a quiet, introverted author: a petite, gray-haired woman holding a cup of tea. But then she opened her mouth, and you see she's a real pistol with a wicked sense of humor, a dazzling imagination and great stage presence. She admits she's been a ham since high school.

She's the author of four bestselling books, soon to be five. She grew up in neighboring Lombard, Illinois, and was invited back to inaugurate the Mary Doria Russell Chapter of the National English Honor Society at Glenbard East High School. She also spoke and signed books at the Helen Plum Library in Lombard.

She had us at "hello." She greeted the crowd by saying: "Hi, my name is Mary and I'm a book junkie." The crowd picked up her cue and answered her back, as if we were all at an AA meeting: "Hello, Mary!" Later, we joked that our crowd's familiarity with that greeting was revealing. Mary said with a wink, "well, we all know it from TV, right?"

She chronicled her addiction to books in the language of a true junkie. Dr. Suess was her gateway drug; Nancy Drew her tobacco ("made me look older and smarter"), Zane Grey her cocaine. Teachers and librarians were her dealers. Nothing got her more excited as a young reader than a nice, long "Also by" list at the front of a book. That's how she knew she wouldn't have to worry about where to get her next fix.

Speaking of fixes, fans of Mary's fiction are due for another one in 2010 with the release of her newest book, Eight to Five, Against, a western murder mystery set in Dodge City, Kansas featuring Doc Holliday. Mary says it's about "vice, bigotry, violence and living with a terminal disease," and claims that Doc will break your heart. Can't wait to read it -- we'll let you know when it comes out, and hopefully we'll get Mary back to celebrate.

Fun and interesting scoop on her other books: Brad Pitt wants to make a movie about The Sparrow, the story about the baby on the bomb in Thread of Grace was completely true, and she got the idea for Dreamers of the Day by seeing a documentary on the History Channel. By the way, when Brad Pitt called to meet with her about making The Sparrow, she turned him down in favor of a much needed and long-planned vacation. Although they plan to reschedule, she loves to claim that she blew off Brad Pitt. You go girl.

We have a few extra signed copies of her books left to sell at The Bookstore. Call (630) 469-2891 or e-mail us at justbook475@yahoo.com if you'd like us to hold one for you. For more information on Mary Doria Russell and her books, go to her website.

What Makes the Great Lakes Great

What makes the Great Lakes great?

This collection of essays by Great Lakes area booksellers and librarians answers that question in a myriad of ways, but it all comes down to the people who willingly, even joyfully embrace harsh winters and bug-filled summers, who have an uninhibited jones for Indiana basketball, or who admire a sprawling Illinois cornfield, a squeeky Wisconsin cheese curd, or a dive bar on the south side of Chicago.


I hope you come in and pick up this wonderful little book. First of all,the cover is gorgeous. That's reason alone.


Secondly, it's only $10.95, and a portion of the proceeds go to The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, (ABFFE) a not-for-profit organization that promotes, among other things, Banned Book Week. It is currently lobbying Congress in support of a bill that would better protect bookstore customer privacy. Wouldn't it be creepy if your favorite bookstore was served with a subpoena and we had to produce the titles of all of the books you've purchased? So the money goes to a great cause.


A lot of really nice book industry people (isn't that redundant?) donated their time and resources to make this book possible, which is even more impressive in these tough times for book publishing, so let's make it worth their while. Check out the Great Lakes Reader website for excerpts and the story behind the book.


Another reason you should buy this book is because yours truly (that's me, Margie) has an essay in the book about Wisconsin. When the call came out for booksellers to write an essay about their home state, I put together some of my thoughts and memories about growing up on Lake Winnebago, and sent it in. It's my authorial debut, unless you count the briefs I've written as a litigator, the cringe-worthy journals I kept in college, and all the love notes I used to sneak into my kids' lunch boxes.


But it's not all about me. There are other really wonderful stories in this book by other booksellers and librarians. The other author writing about Wisconsin (Kirk Farber, a librarian from Colorado) cracked me up by reminding me of the Mars Cheese Castle on I-94, or Hayward's enormous fiberglass musky sculpture -- Wisconsin's shrines to cheese and fish. Others write about Indiana dunes and knobs, Chicago's lakefront, Michigan's "U.P.," and Ohio's small towns. There are stories of Great Lakes women, "as steadfast as a barn beam," who snow-shoe to work with their dogs, detassle corn and grow up loving to read.


There's a wonderful theme running through many of these essays, and it's no wonder, because the writers are all in love with books. There are stories about a young girl who used to read Nancy Drew on family boat rides in Wisconsin (yes, that's me), a just-starting-out Cleveland bookseller whose savvy manager gave him a weekly must-read list, and a Michigan teen who discovered Kurt Vonnegut and Jack Kerouac (and himself) on the shelves of his local independent bookstore. If you like books, you'll like these stories.


One more final reason to buy this book: I talked Jane into buying a bunch of copies for our store, and I don't want her mad at me. So please come in and buy one or two. Heck, we'd really love it if you'd buy one for each of your Great Lakes friends and family members. And if the lobbying efforts of ABFFE are successful, we won't have to tell Homeland Security about it!

And because it doesn't make sense to walk into your favorite independent bookstore and walk out with just one book, I also recommend the books pictured below, for a Great Lakes trifecta!

State by State, A Panoramic Potrait of America ($16.99 paperback),












The Booklover's Guide to the Midwest, A Literary Tour by Greg Holden ($14.95 paperback)

Bookstore Breakfast for Breast Cancer with Meg Waite Clayton

In the photo, from left to right are; Sue, Meg Waite Clayton, Jane, Elizabeth Lewis and Margie.

The Bookstore turned pink for its Breakfast For Breast Cancer on Thursday, October 22, 2009. The event was a benefit for customer Elizabeth Lewis' Avon 2-Day Walk Team, The Wednesday Sisters. Elizabeth named her team after her favorite book by Meg Waite Clayton.

Meg donated copies of her first novel, The Language of Light, with 100% of the proceeds going toward the team. The Bookstore donated a portion of all purchases made during the event, as well as 100% of the proceeds of a raffle for pink gift baskets full of books. HealthTrack massage therapist Julie Barbee was on hand to offer free chair massages for a donation to the team.

Meg signed books, read a passage from The Wednesday Sisters, and told a wonderful story about her own mother, a breast cancer survivor whose life may have been saved by early detection.

Meg shared some details about her newest manuscript and I'm already excited. It's about four friends who meet at the University of Michigan Law School in 1979 (Meg and Elizabeth's alma mater). She drew a lot of comparisons between her new book and The Wednesday Sisters. Can't wait until it's ready for our shelves!