“In our house we don’t usually go for picture books on the subject of love. Too much sweetness before bedtime rots the teeth, after all. But I took a chance on Maudie and Bear, written by Jan Ormerod and illustrated by Freya Blackwood. Five short, simple, realistic episodes depict the relationship between a little girl …
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 12. We thought we’d share this lovely letter on the subject from Roger Page, owner of Island Books on Mercer Island. Our editoral board met at Miriam’s house for breakfast last week to hash out the May newsletter. Amidst coffee, croissants, and six month old twins, I was assigned Mother’s …
The wheels of publishing grind slowly by 21st century standards. Once a manuscript is completed—no rapid thing itself—it can take months or even years for it to be accepted, edited, scheduled, printed, and distributed. This is frustrating when you’re waiting for a new book from a favorite author (or you’re a bookseller explaining to an …
“If you work at Island Books day after day, surrounded by the weight and mass of fifty idle, old, black typewriters, it may occur to you that they have personalities, stories, and lives of their own. It may occur to you that some mysterious chatter might happen amongst them at night in the store when …
One of the occupational hazards of my profession is accumulation. Somehow all too many of the books I’m supposed to be selling to other people wind up coming home with me. Yes, you’re thinking, you know all about that–the to-be-read pile on your nightstand is a veritable leaning tower. Well, my nightstand is a to-be-read …
We’re starting to wonder if Island Books might actually be a front for a writers colony. From the bossman, to a couple of regular NWBL contributors, on down to the teenager on the staff, this crew can compose. This lit crit piece revolving around Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore and Alif the Unseen is from Emma Page, the …
“The New England witch hunts endure as a fascinating piece of history, and before I graduated to The Crucible, The Witch of Blackbird Pond whet my appetite for fiction about the era. Set in the late 1800s, this coming-of-age story follows the orphan Kit from her home in Barbados to a Puritan community in Connecticut. The death of …
“This month we are sharing our Top 40 list and have a display of the hot-selling titles from last year. I have an increasingly cranky view of this yearly exercise. It seems that all the press, media, blogosphere is focused on telling us what is most popular. What’s cool, what’s now, what everybody else is …
The tail end of the year is a stressful time for retailers, what with all the concerns about whether they’ve ordered enough of the books that people want or too many of the ones they don’t, but here’s the inconsequential thing that keeps them (OK, me) up at night: What do you say to your …
Nearly 50 years into her publishing career, Ursula K. Le Guin lives in a rare zone where she’s simultaneously iconic and contemporary. She has major literary awards dating back to 1968 and three new releases this fall that are at the forefront of indie bookstore holiday campaigns throughout the Northwest. One of those new titles is …
