The Written Nerd

I love National Poetry Month -- all that wealth of words flowing around and everyone remembering to love it. You all probably know about this, but for the month of April, Knopf Publishing will email you a poem a day. You can subscribe by emailing sub_knopfpoetry at info dot randomhouse dot com (see the clever spam avoidance?) To whet your appetite, here's yesterday's poem from Marge Piercy. The streets of Detroit were lined with elms I remember elm trees that were the thing of beauty on grimy smoke-bleared streets stinking of death and garbage, but over the cramped rotting houses, the elms arched. They were cities of leaves. I would lie under them and my eyes would rise buoyed up and surfeited in immense rustling viridescence. They enclosed me like a cathedral. I entered them as into the heart of a sanctuary in a mountain pure and vast and safe. I wanted to live in their boughs. They gave no fruit, no nuts and their fall color was weak, but their embrace was strong. I would...

- Well, the final results are in, and your Book Nerd finished rock-bottom, dead-as-a-doornail last in the Office Blogger Pool of the Tournament of Books . (Have I mentioned this is why I've never gotten into sports?) Perhaps a better reading of the current literary marketplace temperature would have made me a better predictor (it seems the TOB is right on the same page as our gal Oprah in naming Cormac McCarthy's THE ROAD as the must-read of the season). But as the ALP and I agreed in our own post-tournament wrap-up conversation, the only way to make it any fun is just to vote for the books you like -- that way at least you know why you're rooting for something. I'm sorry my love for Richard Powers and Brian K. Vaughan couldn't quite carry them to victory, but I admit I had a damn good time reading the reasons why. Maybe I'll actually have to pick up the McCarthy book now that it's out in paperback. Or maybe I'll wait until after I get married to...

Two cool projects/promotions, coming to your local independent bookstore! First, you've probably noticed that the final Harry Potter book is coming out this July (on the stroke of Saturday the 21st, to be exact). The American Booksellers Association has announced the "Independent Muggles for Harry Potter" campaign, available to all their member stores. It's a partnership with Harry's publisher, Scholastic, to offer cool giveaways with HP purchases at indie bookstores -- and give American indie bookstore customers a chance to win a trip to Harry Potter's London. Ask your local store about it -- not bad for the little guys, eh? Next, indie superstar Powell's has announced the Out of the Book project, in which a Powell's-produced documentary on a famous author and his new book will be offered through independent bookstores around the country. The documentary screenings will also feature actors, commentators, refreshments, and any other accoutrements...

Oh my friends, there is so much going on at the moment you wouldn't believe it, and not two minutes to rub together for blogging. So today I'll just toss you this story to ponder (thanks to David for the link), and this pull quote: "...some industry analysts see the book-selling business as ripe for the picking..." Coupled with my anecdotal observations of the great seasons many indie bookstores of my acquaintance are having, I don't think this sounds very "gloomy" at all. Enjoy the spring day -- see you when my head stops spinning!

I'm off to an early meeting today, so for your Monday dose of book world goodness I'd like to refer you to today's Shelf Awareness. Here's a permanent link to the story on the Caravan Project, by which bookstores can order (through Ingram, the largest and most commonly used book wholesaler) books for customers in the following formats: traditional book, POD book, large print, e-book, online download, audio CD, or audio download. The practical details of how this works are in the article. This is something we talked about at the Digital Task Force meeting: a means to involve all the traditional parts of the book industry (including the bookstore) in the profit chain, while offering customers easy and versatile options for buying reading material. The project is in its pilot phase now, available only through certain bookstores and certain publishers (mostly university presses), and time will tell whether bookstore customers will catch on to getting their multi-media f...

Man, can I just say that I'm getting my butt kicked in the Office Blogger Pool on the Tournament of Books ? The Pool was a clever move on the part of The Morning News , since I'm now checking the matches every day, and it makes for a very fun literary diversion. But ever since ECHO MAKER got knocked out in Round 1 , your Book Nerd's brackets have been suffering. See, this is why I never got into sports: there are enough sources of emotional drama in the world without getting all invested in who's going to win a darn game. Still, it's making for some very interesting reading, and a kind of book reviewing that's fairly unique. I liked the first round judges better (I almost never agree with Jessa Crispin's often snarky reviews, and my fellow LBC member Mark Sarvas still seems to be under the impression that Firmin talks [ HE DOESN'T TALK ]), and it's hard to watch my favorites go under. But it is an exciting thing, and now seems like anybody...

I'm a little lightheaded after last night's Emerging Leaders Night Out, Booksellers Only (hosted by the ever-generous Toby at Three Lives - thanks, T!), which turned into a very exciting discussion about potential alliances between New York City bookstores (with quite a few beers downed to refresh during the heated discussion). You'll be hearing more about what we came up with, but in the meantime, I've also collected a lot of links to share with ya this week. You'll just have to forgive my loopiness. - First, I would like to trumpet the opening of not one, but TWO new bookstores in the borough of Brooklyn! The first I heard about is Pranga Bookstore , a mostly used shop in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood. They don't seem to have their own website yet, but the link will take you to a picture on a local Brooklyn blog that's quite delighted by their presence. Hooray! The second I found out because the owner, Christine Onorati, attended our get-together l...