Mountain, Cloud, Water...Dance

Every year during the holidays, our stores choose a school, organization or agency that needs books for children. We ask customers if they'd like to donate a book to the agency that our store has selected.

Booksellers have set up displays, featuring books that people might choose to purchase and donate. The other day I saw MOUNTAIN DANCE, WATER DANCE, and CLOUD DANCE for the first time.

            

These are gorgeous books. The artwork is incredible, and each book gives a little science, though it's science told through poetry and art.

Any child would be lucky to have one of these books.


Clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon's page for each book. Clicking on the underlined book title may take you to Barnes and Noble's page for each book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog. You can send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Happy reading!

Some Good Parenting on Black Friday

A man came into the bookstore with his little boy. The man, maybe in his early 30's, about 6'3" tall, with short brown hair, and wearing a red t-shirt with a blue pullover sweater and jeans, came to the register. His little boy, about five years old, wearing a dark blue raincoat, was blond and quiet.

"Do you have a piece of paper I can use?", he asked.

"Sure," I said, getting a piece of paper from the printer and giving it to him.

About ten minutes later, the man and the boy came back to the register. The man put a small Legos building set on the counter.

The man said, "He has something to tell you, but he couldn't say it, so he wrote it down for you." A co-worker and I moved from behind the register so we could see the boy. The boy handed me the piece of paper. On it, in large crooked printed letters, we read:

          "I'm sory. I stole the legos.
            I'm here to pay you back."

The boy looked at the floor.

We both started talking to the boy, "Thank you for coming back and being honest. The most important thing is that you were honest and you came back to take care of what you did wrong," we both said.

The dad picked the boy up and said, gently and firmly, "Did you hear what they said? They said that the most important thing was to be honest."

The boy tucked his head in his dad's arms, face crumpling. He couldn't look at us.

The dad pointed to the Lego set on the counter. "This is the same one he took, but he completely dismantled it at home before we knew what was going on, so we'll pay for this one and leave it here." I rang up the Lego set and he paid for it.

I tried to catch the boy's eye, "It's really important that you were honest and came back," I said again. "Thank you for coming back, I know it's hard," I said, my own voice breaking.

"Thank you," the dad said to us. "See?", he said to his son, "They weren't mad, they said it was good to be honest. We have to come back and fix things when we do something wrong," he said, making sure his son understood.

I still have the note the son wrote.

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The Language of Flowers - A Gift

I read THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS when it first came out. I really enjoyed Vanessa Diffenbaugh's story of Victoria, a florist with a rough background who learns about life as well as the symbolic meanings of flowers.

       

At the bookstore last night, a woman with dark shoulder-length hair, wearing a black jacket, brought THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS to the register.

I looked at the book and said, "Oh, I really liked this."

"I thought it would be appropriate," she said. "There's a woman where I workout who is just wonderful. She brings flowers every Monday to cheer up the place. She was just diagnosed with cancer. So I thought we could all sign the book and give it to her."

"Oh, wow," I said. "I'm so sorry. This sounds like the perfect book to give to her, though."

"Well, she always brightens everyone else's day." She shrugged. "It doesn't seem like much to do for her."

"I think it's a really nice idea."

"Well, thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," I said. "Have a good night."

That conversation brightened my day.

Clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon's web page for the book. Clicking on the underlined book cover may take you to the Barnes and Noble page for the book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Vacation Reading and Releasing (part two!)

Our vacation was very relaxing, and very satisfying. Both of us got a lot of reading in, which was lovely.

THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky was quite good. Recently made into a movie (which we haven't seen yet), a young man tells his story through letters to a mysterious "friend".

THE LIKENESS by Tana French, like IN THE WOODS by the same author, is a mystery. In this one, Cassie Maddox tells the story. A murder victim is found, but the victim looks exactly like Cassie, and was using an identity Cassie used as an undercover agent. How is this possible? Filled with twists and turns, this was a good read.

IF I STAY by Gayle Forman was lovely. Classified as a teen book, Mia, the main character, is in a car accident and is in a coma. She has to decide whether to stay and wake up, living with the horrific aftermath of the accident, or to die.

DEATH OF SWEET MISTER by Daniel Woodrell was intense and not so cheery. If you, like a few people we know (very few. okay, one), found WINTER'S BONE (which Woodrell also wrote) uplifting, then you might like this.

THE TWELVE by Justin Cronin is second in the trilogy he started with THE PASSAGE. There are vampire/zombie-like creatures (called "virals"). People die. Many people die. This has the extreme good vs evil feeling as Stephen King's THE STAND. Great vacation read.

Another way the vacation was satisfying was that we released quite a few Bookcrossing books (see this recent post: http://www.notthenewyorktimesbookreview.blogspot.com/2012/11/vacation-readingand-releasing.html for details about Bookcrossing and how one "releases" books).

We released three in the hotel where we were staying, one in the main lobby (Tana French's THE LIKENESS), one by the pool (I AM THE CHEESE by Robert Cormier). We went to a local spa where there were books in the waiting area and we released one of the books there (NEVERWHERE by Nail Gaiman). Two books were released outside in shopping areas (PAPER TOWNS by John Green and
We also released several books in airports, mostly in waiting areas by departure and arrival gates, two in the Dallas Fort Worth airport (THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky and AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker), and one in Miami (IF I STAY by Gayle Forman).

                              

Releasing the books did give us more room for souvenirs!

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Amazon's web page for each book. Clicking on the underlined book covers may take you to Barnes and Noble's page for each book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog. You can send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thanks for stopping by!

Politics...Discuss? Or sell?

About a week ago, a woman was standing at one of the tables by the cash registers. She looked to be in her late 60's or so, short blond/grey hair, wearing a light blue sweater. She was holding four copies of Bill O'Reilly's new (hardcover) book, KILLING KENNEDY. She was looking at O'Reilly's previous book on a presidential assasination, KILLING LINCOLN. She looked up and caught my eye.

"I'm wondering whether or not to get his first one," she mused. "These right here," she gestured to the books she was holding, "are for gifts, and I might want to give a copy of this to someone too. Have you read this?", she asked.

"I haven't," I said, not telling her that I disagree with Bill O'Reilly's politics and that I have no plans to read any of his books.

"He makes history so easy to understand," she said. "I think everyone should read this. I learned so much."

"That's great," I said. There was part of me that wanted to actually discuss the book and the author. But the bookseller in me won out. If she wants to buy five Bill O'Reilly books, all hardcovers, then that is good for business.

We are out of the country today, on Election Day. We've met people from Canada and Holland as well as from the U.S., all of whom have opinions about U.S. politics. We'll be watching election results tonight in a restaurant or bar, somewhere where a lot of diverse people will be gathering. We've been enjoying the lively discussions!

We hope you vote today. You can send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. You can also subscribe directly to this blog right here on the page. Thanks for stopping by!

Vacation Reading...and Releasing!

Before the holiday crunch really hits (it's already started for me a little bit, I work in a bookstore), we are taking a badly needed vacation.

And of course, we will be reading.

Some books we'll be reading digitally, and some we'll be reading and releasing in the wild.

Are you familiar with Bookcrossing?

Say you have some books that you've read. You don't want to keep them, necessarily, you've decided that you are done with them. You can register the books at Bookcrossing. (www.bookcrossing.com) Each book is assigned a unique ID#, which is written on the book (usually the inside front cover). The book can then be released "in the wild" - at a coffee shop, on a park bench, in a bar...in some public place where someone else can find it. Hopefully that someone else will take it home and journal that they found it online (you don't have to join Bookcrossing to journal that you found a book!). Then they can also read it and release it, either to someone they know (a "controlled release") or back in the wild. You, as the original registerer of the book, through email updates, can see where the the book goes on its Bookcrossing journey. It's pretty brilliant.

Therapist and I have been Bookcrossers for years. In fact, we met through Bookcrossing. (awww) We have had books that we've released travel around the world. We are excited to start some books on their journey, as well venture on our own.

You can see my Bookcrossing profile here:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/2of3Rs/

And you can find out more about Bookcrossing here:
www.bookcrossing.com

Digitally on our trip (and obviously not releasing) we'll be enjoying Justin Cronin's THE TWELVE, the second in his series he started in THE PASSAGE. We'll also be reading DEATH OF SWEET MISTER, by Daniel Woodrell.

As hard copy books (or "book books", as I sometimes call them), I'm taking Tana French's THE LIKENESS to read and release, also THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER by Stephen Chbosky and IF I STAY by Gayle Forman.

Other books we're taking to release are:
I AM THE CHEESE by Robert Cormier
PAPER TOWNS by John Green
LIVE BY NIGHT by Dennis Lehane
NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman
AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker

                              

As for taking books on a trip? Yes, we know books are heavy. AND, after releasing them, we will have more room in our luggage for souvenirs.

Clicking on the book covers will take you to Amazon's web page for the book. Clicking on the underlined book title may take you to Barnes and Noble's web page for the book (it's been glitchy, but it's worth a try!). Purchasing books through these links helps support the blog. You can send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Happy reading!