The Written Nerd

Oh my friends, life is crazy -- sometimes I feel as though I'm paying some kind of karmic dues for the beautiful few weeks surrounding the wedding. You don't even want to know the details -- you've all had that kind of week. Anyway, here's just a few links to tide you over until things calm down. - This article from the San Francisco Gate is a bit old (June 17), but since it's a pump-your-fist-in-the-air, triumph-over-naysayers piece about Diesel Books in San Francisco, I recommend reading it anyway. (Thanks to LitMinds' Book Industry Forum for the link.) - This is old, but awesome news too: according to the NY Post via Brownstoner , Borders ain't coming to the Williamsburg Bank . (I'm fairly unsurprised, given what I've gathered about Borders' flagging fortunes.) What's almost as interesting is the comments below about what Brooklynites would like to see in that space... Anybody got a bazillion dollars to finance an indie bookstore ...

As an exercise in the process of writing my Brooklyn bookstore business plan, I dashed off a description of the ideal Brooklyn bookstore that exists in my head. It's a long one, so here's the first part. I'd love to hear what you think, and what your ideal bookstore would look like. The Brooklyn Bookstore, Part 1 The bookstore has big windows in which new books are displayed face out, along with book posters and large signs about upcoming author events (e.g. Three Lives ). Stenciling on the windows displays the old-fashioned but freshly designed logo (e.g. Jack's Coffee ). The exterior is well-renovated and clean-cut but retains traditional Brooklyn architectural elements, as does the interior of the store. (Tin ceilings, molding, and antique-wood counters and shelving fixtures would be ideal, but I'll work with what I've got.) Upon entering the door and passing through an open transitional space, customers first see a display of important new (and perennia...

After much dithering, I of course ended up taking along half a dozen books on the honeymoon -- far more than I could possibly have time to read in a week; but the ALP did the same, as this is apparently the packing curse of the book nerd. Here are the ones I did get to. Frommer's Puerto Rico, 8th Edition (July 2006) Yeah, I know, not your typical narrative to review. But this is the one that's got the most signs of wear, and I probably read the whole thing cover to cover in various increments. Mostly we were interested in good restaurants (mmm, mofongos and mallorcas ) and bars ( mojitos of course), and a few historical sights (the 500-year old fort of El Morro, evocative of horrific barracks life as well as the occasional excitement of a pirate raid; and the well-preserved home of Dona Felisa, the beloved long-time major of San Juan, the first woman to be elected mayor of any Western city; and our own hotel, El Convento, which has its share of history from convent to flop...

The ALP (whom I will continue to refer to as such, since he's still my Adorably Literate Partner as well as my legally wedded spouse) and I have just returned from our honeymoon -- a blissfully lazy week of good food and drink, ocean air, and of course, reading. Here you see the Book Nerd in vacation mode, and one of the books that made the honeymoon cut. We had a totally sweet and wonderful wedding -- our family and friends pitched in with cakes and decorations, and we danced the night away in our little Brooklyn church hall. I'm just coming back to earth, and I feel like I'm way out of the loop on happenings in the book world. But here are a couple of exciting links I've managed to glean from my inbox, for at least a token Link-Mad Monday. *In case you haven't noticed, it's Harry Potter Season. Along with the latest movie installation already out, the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , comes out at midnight on Friday, July 20. ...

Dear readers, those who are about to marry salute you. Next week is going to be a whirlwind of family barbecues, pedicures, flower arranging, and packing for the honeymoon. The ALP and I are getting married in Brooklyn a week from tomorrow, and the next day we're off for our honeymoon in Puerto Rico. I have a feeling I won't find time to blog during the next few weeks, so I'm declaring this a hiatus. I've got a backlog of books I've read and have set aside to write about here, and since it looks like I'm not going to have time for detailed reviews any time soon, I'm giving them all to you in a pile with brief commentary. Consider it my rundown of recommended summer reading, with bookseller-style pocket commentary to help you decide what's the book for you. I can't remember what order I read them in, so they're just alphabetical, within their genre categories (just so I don't have to work in "graphic novel" to every description...

John Freeman asked me to write up my impressions of the Friday night Out of the Book event; you can see an abbreviated version on the NBCC blog Critical Mass . Friday night, June 15, McNally Robinson hosted one of many incarnations of Out of the Book . You can check out the project website for details about the other events that took place all around the country, and the project's mission and future; this is just one event coordinator's take on how our evening came together. Ever since I realized that being a bookseller was my calling, my passion has been the various ways of creating space – for readers to discover books, for authors to present their work, and for literary conversations to take place. When Dave Weich of Powell's first sketched out for me the idea of the Out of the Book project when we were both in Portland for the ABA Winter Institute, I was on board even before I entirely understood what he was talking about. It seemed obvious to me that this project ...

Stay tuned for a posting later today, dear readers -- working on it.