Confessions of a Bookseller

I never read Jane Eyre before last week. I was so charmed and surprised by this novel that I am amazed it managed to slip through my grasp for so many years. I purchased a copy of Jane Eyre when I was in sixth grade and my teacher told me I would love it. Thirteen years passed between that one interaction in a bookstore and me finally deciding to read it.

The plot is beautiful. It's a gorgeous love story. I was moved to tears several times throughout the book. I was also moved to read several parts aloud to all of my roommates (four to be precise). I even exlpained the entire plot to three of them to allow them to fully appreciate the prose.

Jane Eyre reminded me what is so great about good books. The strong presence of themes and symbolism helped me realize why this would have been required reading in high school. In short...I loved it.

(i'm also playing a blogging game with friends, hence the horse prompt, feel free to play along)
Horse prompt: What are the top three things on your wish list for Christmas (the more amazing and impossible of getting the better)

Favorite Blog Friday

There's a new blog I am quite fond of. Black Cover.

They compare other Black Notebooks to Moleskines. It's a pretty intense comparison. They test how transparent the pages are with different pens, they let you know how flexible it is, how easy it is to write in and it's precise measurements. It all makes for a lovely blog that I love reading.

If I lived in San Francisco...

I would go to this.

Magazine Round Up

Every Friday we get new magazines. Some of the titles we did not ask for (like Fairway Living Your Luxury Lifestyle Resource and Major League Soccer, The Magazine for Soccer Lovers) and some I love (like The Believer and Juxtapoz).

This week I feel the need to share the thoughts that crossed my mind as I unpacked our magazines today.

My secret boyfriend James Franco is on the cover of Out.

Amy Adams is looking fantastic on Vanity Fair, she used to work at Hooters?

Hugh Jackman is on a horse for Men's Journal

And Martha wants you to make everything by hand for the holidays in Martha Stewart Holiday, Special Edition

I find I never take the time to read magazines, but I do love looking at the pictures.

Library Envy

As a book lover I dream of one day owning a house and finally giving my books a room of their own. In this dream there are floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with well read and loved books. Come to find out my dream library gets put to shame by Jay Walker's real library. I'm a little jealous and a lot in love. Thank you Wired magazine for bringing this national treasure to my attention.

The last paragraph of the article is the best.
"Walker struggles to balance privacy with his impulse to share his finds with the outside world. School children often visit by invitation, as do executives, politicians, and scholars."

I have one question: How do I get invited?

Books and the non-death of reading

I was reading The Olive Reader, and found an amazing article Dave Eggers wrote for Esquire. It's on reading and it is wonderful. I hope you'll read it and love reading all the more! The Future of Words.

Open Mic Night!

October 12, 2008 at 5 pm.

Laguna Beach Books is pleased to host Orange County's first open mic writer's night, an event that will occur the second Sunday of every month beginning in October. Writers of both fiction and non-fiction pieces are encouraged to attend, and everyone will have an opportunity to share their work. This event will be facilitated by writer Meredith Resnick.

The inspiration for this event came from DimeStories, a new program in development for NPR. The show's concept grew out of an open mic series that began in San Diego four years ago at The Grove bookstore. Writers are given a time limit of three minutes to read their story, which allows for a fast-paced evening with tightly-edited pieces.

With the creation of an open mic night, Laguna Beach Books has the goal of creating a more cohesive writing community in Orange County. Because the night will occur on a monthly basis, there will be a consistent focus on the arts/literary lifestyle and it will hopefully benefit the greater community. The bookstore has also been a large supporter of other community organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Friendship Shelter.

This will be a great opportunity for writers to get exposure and receive feedback on their work. Open to all writers and listeners, this event is free to all.

For more information, please contact Danielle Bauter at 949-494-4779 or via email at danielle@lagunabeachbooks.com.

Book lovers unite

Edith Wharton's estate is facing imminent foreclosure, but the good news is we can help! Edith Wharton Restoration has launched a major effort to raise enough money to keep the landmark open to the public. They have already raised a third of what they need! Visit http://www.edithwharton.org/ to learn more!

Blog Crush

The Olive Reader has some of the best posts. It started with this title Jhumpa Lahiri wins short story prize; everyone else sucks, and I just read their love of the new Gossip Girl ads (there’s no such thing as bad publicity) floating around the US.

Oh Olive Reader I wish we were friends.

The Road

Maybe you've already heard and I'm terribly out of some loop...
There's going to be a movie version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road? Is it because of Oprah? Is it because of its Pulitzer Prize? Is it because of No Country For Old Men?

Who knows, but here's an article about it.

Still judging books by their covers

I was reading Harper Perennial's blog, The Olive Reader, and found an interesting site about book jackets! We love talking about book covers at LBB, so check out this amazing site http://covers.fwis.com/. Share your opinion or judge silently.

A Summer List of Summer Lists

Summer is the time when most of us get to take a holiday of sorts and read a little more than usual. To prepare us for that time everyone prepares a list to tell you what is new (or sometimes old) and worth reading. We've gathered a few of those lists and brought them to you.

Richard and Judy’s hot summer reads

Hit the Stack! Top 10 summer reads from MSNBC

Summer Reading WSJ.com

NPR came up with several lists: Summer Books 2008

Real Simple magazine had authors make some lists for them.

If you want to know what we're reading, visit our staff pick page.

Enjoy your summer and your reading.

Special Message from Christopher Paolini!

We have a special video message from Christopher Paolini, author of The Inheritance Trilogy, for all y'all loyal Laguna Beach Books customers, as well as sneak-peak info about the third book in the series, Brisingr, due out September 19th!

Vacation Here I Come!

After a lot of time thinking about what books to take on my upcoming trip I've finally decided what books are going into my suitcase.

There have been many revisions to my previous list of possibilities and almost none of the books I originally had my eye on made it.

I finally had to ask my friend, who is traveling with me, to help decide. We will be sharing books on the trip, that way I get to pack more, so I figured she could cast the final vote (like a superdelegate).

This is the "ballot" I gave Mimi with very poor spelling and not a lot of information other than,
"The last two will be the most fun, the others are kind of suspenseful but literary, so I don't know how you would like them. one almost won the pulitzer prize (the stories) the top and the last were national book award finalists." (I added the * to note the titles I was leaning towards).

Fieldwork* Berlinski, Mischa
Alias Grace? (margret atwood)
Shakespeare's Kitchen* (Lori Segal) stories
House at Midnight (galley)*

Mayor's Tongue* (nathaniel Rich)
spellman files (lisa lutz)
then we came to the end (josh ferris)

And this is what she decided:
Fieldwork* Mischa Berlinski this one also sounds interesting but I like all the other ones better.
Alias Grace? (margret atwood) - this might to be too cerebral for the trip, but i would be interested later
#4 Shakespeare's Kitchen* (Lori Segal) stories
#2 House at Midnight (galley)* - This one seems to have an uncomfortable love story... i like it

#3 Mayor's Tongue* (nathaniel Rich) - I like that it sounds like there will be great language like raw shark text.
spellman files (lisa lutz) - I'll read this one when I come home, you own it right?
#1 then we came to the end (josh ferris)- if the office was a book? how could I pass this up?

So my bags are packed and I'm ready to go! I'll let you know how the reading goes. Feel free to make bets on how many books I actually finish (I'm shooting for two).

What books do you take on vacation?! A plea for help.

I'm going on a trip in May. I think one of my favorite things to do when preparing for a trip is planning what books to take. The thing that is unique about this trip is that it is three weeks long. I'm stumped on what titles to take, and how many of those titles is an appropriate amount to travel with.

I have no way of knowing how much I will be reading, or what kind of book mood I will be in while I'm away. There are so many books that I want to read - I keep a very long list - it's hard to narrow down my reading potential to a few titles.

Here are the main contenders:



I've been meaning to read Then We Came to the End for quite awhile now. I've heard amazing things about it from coworkers and everyone else. I'm 90% sure that it will make it into my suitcase.

I just finished reading Mysteries of Pittsburgh my Michael Chabon, and I've decided it would be fun to read his books in order of publication date. Wonderboys is his second novel and sounds petty interesting.

I've read many of Margaret Atwood's books and I've never been disappointed. I'm tempted to throw Alias Grace in as a safety. If all else fails at least I have Margaret?

The Ruins of California. Laura read this novel awhile ago and convinced me to buy it, but I haven't been in the "right mood". For some reason I'm hesitant to pick it up. Fear of not liking it? If it's just me and the book on a plane wouldn't that force me to read it and undoubtedly like it as much as Laura did? I trust Laura's opinion. We're "kindred spirits" when it comes to books, she likes everything I've loved and vice-versa...

The Savage Detectives recently came into the store in paperback. It sounds phenomenal, but Patrick said it was a little strange. He wasn't saying that it was bad it is just off the beaten path. I secretly wondered if he thought it was too smart for me and hence wasn't recommending it strongly.

Fieldwork - a National Book Award finalist. That alone makes me want to read it... It's kind of a mystery, but literary...whatever that means.

I put Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao on the list, and then I took it off because it is a hardcover. For some reason people don't like traveling with hardcovers, I guess it's because they are heavy and cumbersome, but Oscar Wao is pretty petite for a hardcover. I've heard increasingly good things about Oscar (and Junot Diaz). When it first came out it got a stellar review and we couldn't get any it back in the store. Since then it just keeps getting more popular. It was just given The Rooster via The Morning News Tournament of Books - brought to us by the fine people at Powell's Books.

Side note: The Tournament of Books has to be the most creative thing in the book world. It's like March Madness for books, it's over now, but you can still read the reviews of the 16 beloved books from 2007. This also made me want to read Remainder by Tom McCarthy.

If anyone has any input on these titles let me know!
I'll keep you updated on who makes it into the suitcase and who is left on my nightstand at home.

Goodbye, Mr. Pinsky...

In case you aren't one of the loyal and your internet trolling has gone a little stale, add to your favorites the Washington Post column Poet's Choice. Don't be intimidated -- it's a weekly article featuring selections of poems surrounded by careful and understandable explanations of them.

Up until March, the column had been written by Robert Pinsky, the former United States poet laureate, and he did a wonderful job. Written in a warm, unintimidating style, he could get anyone to fall in love with his selected poems and to understand why they were essential, what about them speaks our soul's deep little human corners. So hat's off to Mr. Pinsky! (And by the by, his new book of poetry, Gulf Music, is a prime example of the best of American poetry.)

To fill those big, wonderful shoes we have Kay Ryan, whose shoes are undoubtably smaller but possessing more elegance. And she lead's off with one helluva poem, written in the seventh century by a man who has been scorned by his friend:

Liar

Swept overboard, unconscious in the breakers,
strangled with seaweed, may you wake up in a gelid
surf, your teeth, already cracked into the shingle
now set rattling by the wind, while facedown,
helpless as a poison cur, on all fours, you puke
brine reeking of dead fish. May those you meet,
barbarians as ugly as their souls are hateful,
treat you to the moldy wooden bread of slaves.
And may you, with your split teeth sunk in that,
smile, then, the way you did when speaking as my friend.

That is painful! But it's the vitriol we love, the kind we feed off of in gossip magazines and lap up from political pundits. So maybe I should feel guilty for loving this poem so much, and though it may be trashy, it's in verse -- how bad can it be?

Keep an eye on the Poet's Choice column. You won't regret it.

-Patrick

A Covers Addendum

I hope Kristiana doesn't mind a post so soon after hers, but I wanted to add my two-blogcents to her comments.

I, too, get really frustrated at the horrible renditions of book covers for young adult. For example, look at the 3rd in the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson (hardcover) versus the massmarket paperback. Okay...that isn't really that bad. And we are talking king-of-mass market, James Patterson.

Here are two that will really make the point--the (vomit) massmarket paperback version of Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Who the heck are they marketing to? Who are these masses??!!

I realize my examples all fall into the sci-fi/fantasy realm, but boy do they make the point. The Herbie Brennan series' covers are all so beautiful and their massed counterparts are campy at best (think Napoleon Dynamite's liger drawings). Then there is poor Ender...an insulting cover to anyone who's read the book. Am I right?!

So, the mass market paperback is an inexpensive publishing format. Its purpose is to sell. Again, who are the masses the marketers have in mind? Creating an ugly version of an original cover sells more books? Even if a mass market publisher cannot use the original cover, can't they find someone to create something appealing? Seriously, call me. I work fairly cheap and would love to draw my own frontspiece for these books. If anyone has any insight (or knows a publishing house that wants to hire me), please let me know.

I looked at many books while researching this topic. For the most part, in the YA/teen category, the mass market or paperback covers were not the worst. It's just that when they were bad, they were rotten!

I'm going to end this with one last example...and this one's for the ladies.

Judy Blume's novels had quite an impact on me growing up. I had all of them and ALL of them had dogeared pages, frayed edges, bent covers, and the most love I could give a book. Anyway, look at the following covers. Which do you remember? Which do you like? Are there any you don't? (btw, I had so much fun finding all those covers. memories!!)

Covers and where I am coming from - a brief history

It is disappointing to me when hardcover books have great covers and when they are released in paperback they are...how should I say this...not as cute. Then when I realize how awesome the UK covers are I get pretty sad.

I realized my obsession when "Spot of Bother" - a book that is totally strange, but enjoyable and great - came out in paperback. The HC was beautiful, and probably why I picked up the book in the first place. The paperback was just plain creepy. My thought is, maybe Random House wanted to make sure people didn't pick up this book expecting another "Curious Incident about the Dog in the Night". That would be understandable, but it seemed that Random House is trying to scare their potential readers away.

Another book cover I was mildly disappointed in is "The Double Bind". There seems to be only one cover for HC, paperback and the UK. This cover doesn't make me want to read the book. It wouldn't make me pick it up. I would assume terribly bad things about this book if I was only judging it by the cover. Good for me I've wanted to read this book for a number of different reasons. Now that I have started it I see why the cover is what it is, but I still think it could have been better - and by better I mean more to my liking.


I get really excited for books to come out in paperback. A lot of times people don't want to buy hardcover books. They can be a little pricey, and I think that is why we get so excited for trade paperback releases. It means more of our friends and customers will take the chance and read something we're crazy about.

Sometimes the TP cover is scary, sometimes it hasn't changed at all and sometimes it totally rocks. In the slew of books recently out in TP Moral Disorder arrived. Everyone knows I'm pretty crazy about Margaret Atwood, so I was elated with the new cover. For the record I did not have a problem with the HC. It was a nice jacket and the cover itself was a rich red cover. What I love about the new cover is that it is so different from the HC. It is bright and colorful and unique, and I think...way better than the UK version.

As you can tell this cover discussion is just getting started, but we hope you like the new books we're excited about, with or without their covers.

Google Reader

I've started using Google Reader which means I'm reading blogs all over the place. I feel like I am spying on other bookstores, but in a fun, non-competitive way. It is very fun and educational. I stumbled across this link to an amazing set of book store pictures. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

Thanks to The Written Nerd for finding it in the first place!

Judging Books by Their Covers

Hypothetical situation, here:

Say you wrote your first novel. It was funny, moving, brilliantly-executed. You were hoping for a minor success, a deft Goodbye, Columbus before your Portnoy’s Complaint. But people caught on, and you were nominated for a National Book Award. Everyone in the bookselling world tells you to wait until your book comes out in paperback. Sales are gonna take off, they said. You won’t even believe it.

And then we came to the paperback cover:

Now tell me, why does a book that has the potential to not only be a big, trade paper hit but a solid and long-running midlist seller get a cover designed like this? The little caricatures are straight out of the For Better or Worse comic strip. Which isn’t a bad comic, as comics go. It isn’t Calvin and Hobbes, or The Adventures of Doctor McNinja (Chris’ fave), or even Luann (my high school secret passion), but at least it isn’t Cathy.

I digress, which my mother said never to do in public.

But this cover is frickin' Cathy, and the inside is such goodness! And it is in this spirit we launch the series, “The Brits Do It Better.” We’re not talking healthcare, or dance music, or espionage. We’re talking book jacket design. And first up is the British cover for Then We Came to the End, which I asked (well, told) our Little, Brown publicist not once but twice to use for the U.S. paperback:

Look at the little people, in the little cubicle letters! It's almost like a Chris Ware comic. I’m sure there were rights issues, but in the words of Will Arnet, “C’mon!”

Kristiana offers up The Raw Shark Texts -- a book she has been a huge evangelist for -- as a second example of the United Kingdom of Better Design Effect (or U.K.B.D.E., for the Tom Clancy fans).

Here's the U.S. paperback cover:

The most inspiring part of this cover is the National Bestseller tagline, and that ain't saying much. But you look at the Brits' cover, and it's a wonderland of dense, visually arresting design that not only stands on its own but gives you a sense of what's printed on the four-hundred odd pages of pulp behind the cover.

This might sound like judging a book by its cover, but it's not. Both of these books are on our personal list of favorites from last year. But to face facts, everyone judges books by their covers. And why not? If it's reasonable to go out for dinner and expect both a well-prepared meal and some nice presentation, the same should go for books. Most of the art of a book comes from its language, but who can deny the seduction of thick, heavy-bond paper, uncut pages, and a fine, thoughtfully-produced cover. It's part of what makes books an object of art as well as its vessel.

Books into Movies

I stumbled across an article about Chuck Palahniuk's Choke being made into a movie. Fox Searchlight bought it and it will be released August 1st. Patrick was not impressed because he already knew this. He is aparently in love with Sam Rockwell, despite his role in Charlie's Angels, and says he is a "freakin' genius". I did not know who Sam Rockwell was until I imdb'ed him, and realized I knew him from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Angelica Houston will be playing Rockwell's mother. Sundance awarded 'Choke' with a Special Jury Prize: Dramatic, Work by an Ensemble Cast. It seems to me like it is off to a good start.

The other day I was looking through a catalogue for Random House and read that Dreamworks is making Revolutionary Road into a movie too. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett will be staring in it - you might remember them from a little movie they did called Titanic, which was the last movie they worked together on. I had to read Yates' novel, about marriage and domesticity in the '50s, for a class in college. I absolutely fell in love with it. It's a great story and I am fascinated to see it adapted into film. Sam Mendes will be directing it - he won an academy award for American Beauty. I guess it's kind of a backwords remake of American Beauty: suburbia...marriage? I suddenly realize this could break my heart. This movie is either going to be really good or really disapointing. I think this probably happens a lot to people who read a lot. Here's something that I love and is dear to me, and it is in the hands of strangers and they are giving it away to the masses. We'll find out December 19, 2008

This got all us thinking of all of the other books that are being made into movies in the near future. Here's the list we've compiled that is of interest to us:

Mysteries of Pittsburgh - novel by Michael Chabon, it has a ton of famous actors in it, and a plot that veers a little away from the original - it takes out an entire character?!

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - this young adult novel is set to release October 3. This is exciting news because Michael Cera is playing the title character Nick. We, in the store, love Michael Cera...a lot...and I'm pretty sure will see anything he is in!

The Tale of Despereaux - Kate DeCamillo's Newberry Award winning young adult book is being made into an animated film. Emma Watson (aka Hermoine Granger) leads an amazing cast of voices, to name but a few: Dustin Hoffman, Matthew Broderick, William H. Macy. This sounds like it might be plugged at the big holiday movie for 2008 - like Golden Compass but without the polar bears.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men - David Foster Wallace's novel is in post-production. Here's what I've read that is exciting: John Krasinski is adapting the novel into the screenplay. John Krasinski is directing. John Krasinski is acting in it. To recap: John Krasinski, John Krasinski, John "Jim Halpurt" Krasinski. Also on the roster, Rashida Jones and Will Forte. There's no release date but you bet we'll be there with bells on. In the store we love The Office as much as we love Arrested Development.

I told Laura the topic of this blog and she immediately had a few things to say. "Silk should not be made into a movie, and it should not be starring Keira Knightly." Don't get me, or Laura, wrong, she has nothing against Keira Knightly, she just doesn't want Keira in all of her novels.

There's no steadfast rule about what makes a good book into a good movie, but we'll keep reading and watching and let you know what we think.

Young Adult News

The release date for Book 3 in The Inheritance Cycle has just been announced. Christopher Paolini’s first two books in the series, Eragon and Eldest, sold over 12.5 million copies worldwide. The third novel, Brisingr, will have a first printing of 2.5 million copies, and will be released September 20, 2008.

Recently announced, Brian Selznick received the 2008 Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children. His young adult novel, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, stunned all of us in the store when we first saw it last year. The book comes in at 526 pages, but don’t let that alarm you, more than 300 pages of the book is illustrations, done by Selznick himself. Selznick uses both narrative and illustrations to move the story forward, the book could not stand on one of those alone. It is an amazing and inventive book.

Picture by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times