The Written Nerd

Happy Easter! Here's the (quite literate) Easter sermon from my church, Old First in Brooklyn. ( Check out what our Rev has to say on the Atlantic Yards ; it's as close as he gets to fire and brimstone.) And here's a poem from one of my favorite poets - perfect for the month and for the day. Enjoy your eggs, family feasts, or just a day off Easter Communion Pure fasted faces draw unto this feast: God comes all sweetness to your Lenten lips. You striped in secret with breath-taking whips, Those crooked rough-scored chequers may be pieced To crosses meant for Jesu's; you whom the East With draught of thin and pursuant cold so nips Breathe Easter now; you serged fellowships, You vigil-keepers with low flames decreased, God shall o'er-brim the measures you have spent With oil of gladness, for sackcloth and frieze And the ever-fretting shirt of punishment Give myrrhy-threaded golden folds of ease. Your scarce-sheathed bones are weary of being bent: Lo, God shall...

Couldn't resist showing you this article (via Shelf Awareness): how cool is Book Cellar, a bar/bookstore in Chicago? Check out the store's website for photos of Studs Terkel and series of astonishing book cover cakes... How's Harry Potter treating y'all? Here's a bookstore, the Learned Owl in Hudson, Ohio, that has tackled the "to discount or not to discount" problem by donating the extra cash to a literacy foundation. "Loss Leader" chain bookstores, take note... And in another philanthropic gesture (via Lance Fensterman's blog), a benefit concert at BEA! No, not Bon Jovi -- it's the Rock Bottom Remainders , the literary supergroup including Stephen King, Amy Tan, Matt Groening, and some other good-natured sports. The concert and VIP reception will benefit 826NYC (aka the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Store, very dear to my heart), as well as Get Caught Reading and the American Booksellers Foundatino for Free Expression. Okay, a quick ...

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...