When Annie Bloom’s Books‘ February newsletter arrived promoting “books that are great for Valentine’s gifts, or that help explain one of life’s most powerful feelings” (it’s love they’re talking about), we poked around to see what other bookstores were up to in support of—or at least in response to—this chocolate-powered, pollen-laden lover’s holiday.
“If you read 2009’s Beat The Reaper, you’re familiar with Josh Bazell’s Dr. Peter Brown, a former mafia hitman turned ER doctor, now in the Witness Protection Program. In Wild Thing, Pietro “Bearclaw” Brnwa has a new name and is sent to the Minnesota Boundary Lakes region to accompany a scientist in her investigation into reports …
“The Journal of Best Practices may be one of the most unusual memoirs ever written. Author David Finch’s marriage was getting increasingly strained by his quirks and idiosyncrasies, which seemed perfectly normal to him. He finally discovered that he has Asperger’s Syndrome, a mild form of autism, which is more common than most people realize. His effort to …
“Blueprints of the Afterlife is a creative move away from the dragons, vampires and spaceships that dominate the sci-fi fantasy field. Set in a futuristic Seattle, corporate-sponsored armies do battle, medicine is dispensed by way of a version of the Internet, and a sentient glacier wreaks havoc on the continent. Imagine a Kurt Vonnegut treatment …
“Goodnight iPad by 'Ann Droyd' is a clever parody of the classic Goodnight Moon. It has an exasperated grandma trying to get everybody to shut their gizmos down, put them away, and go to bed. Even the publisher information page is funny.”—Terry, Sage Book Store & Coffee, Shelton, WA. Buy Goodnight iPad from Sage Book …
“I was prepared for a sappy romance and was so pleasantly surprised. It’s 1960, and Jennifer wakes up from an accident unable to remember anything . . . How excited I was when the story took a complete left turn. Yeah, I said, here we go! It’s 2003, and Ellie starts research on some love letters …
It would be really fun to work for Carolyn Olsen, who let her staff at Sage Book Store (Shelton, WA) give away books, gift items and coffee at random on Saturday, in remembrance of 9/11. “All day long the staff could randomly pick, and the joy it brought to the customers spilled over to all …
“If . . . is a wonderful collection of fanciful illustrations sure to spark young imaginations.”—Sage Book Store, Shelton, WA
“Since my father died of dementia I am always thinking of ways to improve my memory. I have long wondered why I attach a certain feeling to words and sometimes think I have a unique way of retaining information. Moonwalking is so enlightening. Foer spends a year trying to become the memory champion of the world. Who …
