Self-Help in Iran and at Vroman's

The Secret is a big hit in Iran, thanks to a growing "self-help" movement that's very popular with Iran's young and largely unemployed populace:

In other Middle East countries with similar demographics, like Egypt and Turkey, young people are increasingly turning back to their Muslim identity for solace. But Iran's mostly well-educated youth are more likely to seek other remedies -- such as self-help seminars, New Age theories, meditation and yoga.

Apropos of the "self-help" theme, I was looking at Po Bronson's book What Should I Do With My Life? when I noticed that it looked pretty much exactly like the cover of a certain edition of Lorrie Moore's collection of short stories, Self-Help. This particular edition of Moore's was published in 1995, while the Bronson's opus didn't appear until 2002, with the paperback pictured at left coming in 2003. Is this a case of the real self-help book imitating fiction or are both covers evoking an earlier, seminal self-help book? I did a bit of preliminary legwork, and I don't see a cover of either The Power of Positive Thinking, How to Win Friends and Influence People, or I'm OK, You're OK that looks remotely similar. What gives?

The crappy JPEGs really don't adequately show just how similar these two covers are. Anybody have any thoughts? Maybe I should send this to Lawrence Weschler as a convergence.

A Few Things

• This interview with Gore Vidal in the New York Times is pure reading enjoyment:

How did you feel when you heard that Buckley died this year? I thought hell is bound to be a livelier place, as he joins forever those whom he served in life, applauding their prejudices and fanning their hatred.

Do you read a lot of contemporary fiction these days? Like everyone else, no, I don’t.

• Bookgasm is a fun site that reviews fun books, books like Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow and Kill Whitey, by Brian Keene. (Thanks to Anne for both of these links!)

• Joseph O'Neill at Vroman's last night:

We have several signed first edition copies of O'Neill's Netherland in stock. They didn't do a huge print run of this, so these first editions are actually pretty rare (They're already on the third printing). Email me if you want to order a signed first.

Collectors are crazy about his book, and after last night's reading, I can see why. He read a beautiful passage describing a rooftop party during the blackout of 2003. The Millions is running dueling reviews of O'Neill's book. Be sure to read the comments on Kevin Hartnett's review.

Hot New Larry Bird Book Hits Shelves

Big Celtics fan? Want this new Larry Bird book, In the Backyard Shooting Hopes? Well, you can't have it. Because it doesn't exist. This is a prop from The Sarah Silverman Program, which shot an episode at our store yesterday. They also hung a banner outside that read "Meet Larry Bird Today!" which caused us a few problems because, you know, no Larry Bird.

We've had film shoots at our store before (You might recognize us in the 40 Year Old Virgin. "We have a great section of Do It Yourself.") My favorite part is the "Foreword by Mark Satterlee" at the bottom. Who's Mark Satterlee? The art designer on the show. Ah, the magic of television. We don't know when our episode will run (we've heard October, but check your local listings), but it's episode 214 and it's called "I Thought My Dad was Dead, but it Turns Out He's Not."

Too Busy to Post

Ever notice how many of my posts have that headline? Anyway, with all the amazing events at the store and the work that goes into preparing for them, I haven't had a lot of time to post any new and interesting goodies. I will point out that all of our July and August events are up on the website now, including our fabulous, not-to-be-missed Summer Author and Music Series, in which we pair and author and a band for your entertainment. It's a great lineup, check it out!

Fiction Week at Vroman's

If you're a fan of contemporary fiction, this week's events are insanely good. I get to host all three, and even though that means staying late, I'm pretty excited about them. First up is Darin Strauss, tonight. He's been getting love on the blogs from Jacket Copy and GalleyCat. Strauss' has been blogging about his book tour at Newsweek.

Tomorrow night, we host Joseph O'Neill, whose debut novel Netherland has gotten rave reviews from everybody, including James Wood in the New Yorker and Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times. O'Neill is interviewed by Maria Russo in the LA Times today. You might even run into Mark at the event.

Finally, on Thursday, we host Leif Enger. You can hear a podcast of him discussing his newest book, So Brave, Young, and Handsome here.

A different event, featuring a different novelist each night. Go ahead, tell us you love us.

Vroman's Podcast #1: David Sedaris

There are certain moments, certain leaps forward in technology and aesthetics that define an epoch. They are moments that have you noting the date and time you first witnessed them, so that you'd be able to say "I was there when..." The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. Man walking on the moon. When McDonalds first introduced the McNugget. And now, the Vroman's Podcast (We're trying to come up with a new name for this thing. Suggestions welcome).

Vroman's Podcast #1 features none other than David Sedaris discussing, among other things: his new book, smoking, monkeys in hot-tubs, business elite, French waiters, and a few book recommendations.

(NOTE: Being a techno-ignoramus, I had a few volume difficulties (I think in the business, they call them "levels." Anyway, you may want to turn up the intro and the outro, and turn down the actual interview. Just a tip.)

David Sedaris will be at Vroman's on Sunday, June 29 at 5 pm. While the reading portion of the event is sold out, you can still hear the reading (we'll be piping it throughout the store) and get your book signed by him. Stop by Vroman's main store on Sunday and pick up a signing line ticket. This ticket WILL NOT get you into the reading, but it will get you a spot in line to meet David Sedaris and have your book signed by him. You must show your Vroman's receipt to receive a signing line ticket. Tickets will be available at 10 am on Sunday.

Listing into the Weekend

My love for lists of all sorts is well-known, so you can imagine my joy when I discovered Entertainment Weekly's list of "The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008." When a magazine like Entertainment Weekly, which consists primarily of lists anyway, releases a list like this, well, I take notice. All joking aside, this is a fascinating list. A few things jumped out at me:

1. I'm not a Harry Potter guy, but it's interesting that was the Potter book to make the list is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Is that the consensus best Harry Potter book? I'm guessing they limited the list to one book per author, otherwise Toni Morrison, JK Rowling, Haruki Murakami and a couple other authors would've had about half the list to themselves. (By the way, at BEA, Scholastic had huge banners up advertising the 10th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It made me feel very old).
2. The Da Vinci Code, a book I thought would've been a fave of many EW readers, comes in at 96, one spot ahead of Jesus' Son. Shows what I know.
3. Where else would you find a list that includes books by Alice Munro, Lorrie Moore, David Foster Wallace and other literary heavyweights rubbing shoulders with Jon Stewart's America (The Book)?
4. A couple of books I was happy to see get some love: Neuromancer, by William Gibson. I'm not a huge sci-fi nut, but this book has influenced literature, film, and academia about as much as is possible. It's a very important book, and it has a kick-ass opening line ("The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."). The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood. If you've only seen the movie, read the book. My wife taught this book in a class at the University of Iowa and read it about thirty times. She pointed out all the incredible language games happening in it. It's brilliant, and people who don't like it are stoopid.
   

What books would've made your list?

The Silence of the Blogosphere

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of the blogs have gone silent? Not just this one, but a bunch of them. What's up? Summer doldrums? Everybody's busy reading Ulysses after I zinged them on Monday? Over at Jacket Copy, they've been going on and on about Denis Johnson's serialized novel in Playboy. Am I the only one who doesn't really care? Maybe it's just that I don't read Playboy. Counterbalance has been silent since Monday. The Elegant Variation is on the road. Everybody's busy. Even Madonna's brother's tell-all book barely caused a ripple.

As for me, I've been busy with work (both related and unrelated to the blog), and it's really hot here. Like summer-in-Riyadh hot. Yeah, I know, it's a dry heat. People keep telling me this, like I'm supposed to be happy about it. I'm not. The only person less happy than me is my dog, and he wears the same white fur coat every day, like Jay-Z.

Anyway, this post is my way of saying I'll pick up the pace a little in the near future. On Monday, I'm going to unveil some very exciting new stuff, so you'll want to be here then.

Until then, let me just say this: Lewis Black. At Vroman's. Friday night. For free. See you there. Bring your own mist machine, if you have one.

Salman Rushdie at Vroman's

Salman Rushdie was at Vroman's on Saturday. I was surprised by how many people saw him on stage, then said, in hushed tones, "I'm surprised he's just out in the open like that, with those people after him." This is a big misconception about Salman Rushdie, that he's an endangered species and very serious guy, hidden away behind tinted glass and whisked off to do the occasional Charlie Rose appearance. Nothing could be further from the truth. He's a very easy-going guy, and really, really funny.

After reading from his new book The Enchantress of Florence (signed copies available at Vroman's!), he told several amusing anecdotes, but I like this one about how he first became a writer (unfortunately, a young audience member sang a little ditty right behind the camera for almost all of Rushdie's answer, so you'll have to be diligent if you want to hear the story, which includes a little jab at V.S. Naipaul). Again, I apologize for the Blair Witch-ness of the video clip. Consider it an indictment of the USC Graduate School of Cinema and Television (or just chalk it up to my ineptitude on a camera meant primarily to take still photographs).

While we're on the subject, if anyone went to the Town Hall event which featured Rushdie in conversation with Carrie Fisher, could you explain to me why Carrie Fisher? I'm not trying to be a smart-ass (no, really), but what's the connection?

Happy Bloomsday, Everybody!

Today, June 16, is the day on which Ulysses takes place. So today, more than any other day, is the day when your friends and coworkers will pretend to have read Ulysses.

Book Spotting Faux Pas

This morning on the train on my way to work (Take that, New York! It's beautiful here year-round, and I can take the train to work), I was When You Are Engulfed in Flames. When the train jostled into a station, I looked up to see a woman a little ways down the car reading it as well. I caught her eye and gestured excitedly, pointing to her and then back to me a few times, all the while, nodding knowingly. She gave me a creeped-out look and exited the train at what I don't think was her intended stop. Confused and, I suppose, a bit insulted, I went back to reading my book. It was then that I realized that I didn't have the jacket on my book, meaning that she couldn't see that we were reading the same book, meaning she probably thought I was suggesting something else. So to you, woman on the train, I apologize. I was just trying to make a literary connection, nothing else.

It's Not Everyday You Get To Meet the Booker of Bookers

While everybody else on the net seems contractually obligated to recommend you go to the Salman Rushdie event on Monday night (an event that costs $20, by the way), I'd like to point out that tomorrow evening, Vroman's will be hosting the Booker Prize winning author in our courtyard. For free (well, if you want to get a book signed, you need to buy it from us, but the reading and talk is completely free). Now, Carrie Fisher won't be there (or, she might be, she just won't be on stage), but Salman Rushdie will be here tomorrow. For free. Which event would you rather go to, the one that costs $20 or the one that's free? That's what I thought.

And it's free.

I've Been Busy, Okay?

It's been a slow week, blogging wise, which means it's been a really busy week otherwise. I promise that new and terrifying developments are coming soon to the Vroman's blog. I don't want to build it up too much. I learned my lesson from the ABA, who hyped their "new initiative" all day long like it was the Super Bowl, and then at the end of the day it was like, "Oh. You changed the logo. Right on." (I kid the ABA.) Anyway, I can't say much about it, but suffice to say that once you've experienced it, you'll never play the piano again.

In the meantime, may I direct you to a few interesting literary bits on the internet:

• Please read the terrific interview with Julie Klam on the Granta website. It's every bit as funny as you'd expect from her.

• Max, the founder and editor of The Millions, appeared on Minnesota Public Radio this morning to discuss the role of literary blogs in the critical sphere. You can check it out here.

• The Inside Flap, the excellent blog from Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in Milwaukee, WI, has some nice things to say about David Benioff's City of Thieves, a book we at Vroman's also really like.
  

• The Book Digest at The Morning News features a couple of authors with upcoming events at Vroman's -- Darrin Strauss, for his new book More Than It Hurts You, and George Lakoff, for The Political Mind. Get your George Lakoff tickets at Vroman's today!

• So...what'd ya think of the Top Chef finale? I was pulling for Richard, but I'm happy that Stephanie won. You just knew Lisa wasn't going to win, no matter how good her final menu was. According to Bravo's in-show poll, only 3% of the people watching the show wanted her to win. That's a sub-Bush level approval rating right there. While I bet her food was good, how much better can you make Tom Kha Kai soup? Living in LA, I'm pretty sure I've had amazing Tom Kha Kai soup, while I don't think I've ever had most of the stuff Stephanie made (to say nothing of Richard's bacon ice cream).
  

The Habits of Highly Successful Writers

Emma Straub, whose Avery Anthology blog has been terrific the past few weeks, has an interview up with author Rae Meadows (Calling Out, No One Tells Everything). At the end of the interview, she asks a funny question:

ES: Lastly, is there a secret talent or obsession of yours that you'd like to share with the Avery audience? I find that most writers I know spend quite a bit of time every day not writing anything at all, and instead go bird-watching, or turn to soap operas, or or or...

RM: Before having a baby, I was a potter, but I won’t be doing much clay work for a while. Luckily there are so many more fantastic distractions to fill my time: Top Chef, Scrabulous, keeping the squirrels out of my garden, the Willy Street Co-op….okay, okay, and The Hills.

I work a lot of book events (it's kind of my thing--er, job), and at almost every event, someone in the crowd asks the writer to describe his or her writing process - what time of day, where they write, what sort of computer they have. I think all of those questions should be replaced by Emma's question. Really, do I care that you always write in a pair of Gucci loafers, or that you write exactly 252 words a day? Does anyone hear about someone's writing process and then try to duplicate it? I'd much rather hear what kind of TV shows the writer is into or how serious they are about model trains. I hope someone asks a question about The Hills at my next event.

Stating the Obvious

I haven't posted anything today. I've spent the last few hours researching various podcasting software so that you may one day be able to hear my voice on this very blog (and, I suppose, the voice of the author I'm interviewing). In lieu of a real blog post, I offer you Kevin Nealon, who will be at Vroman's on Thursday night.



God bless you, You Tube.

Friday Link Fest

After two marathon posts about BEA, I'm not sure what blogginess I've got in me today, so I'll make this brief.

• Stephanie Klein, who will be at Vroman's this Tuesday, is guest blogging at Powell's. Check it out.

• Emma Straub interviews Lorrie Moore about what kind of music she likes over at the Avery Anthology blog. We all know in what high esteem I hold Ms. Moore, so you can imagine my jealousy to discover that Moore made Emma a mixed CD. That would be like getting a birthday card from, I don't know, Pedro Martinez.
  

• The new Hipster Book Club is up. Yay! Included are interviews with Sloane Crosley and Josh Kilmer-Purcell.
  

• Mark Sarvas interviewed at LA Weekly: "LA Weekly: Do you find that the power balance has shifted? There is a sense, with lit blogs, of the seizing of the means of production.

  Sarvas: There is, but I wonder if the power is a bit ... illusory? My blog has a great deal of visibility, but I’m not finding that the turnout for my events is necessarily much higher than for any other literary-fiction book tour coming through town. I’m starting to get a sense of what the limits of our power are." That's the pain of working bookstore events. You see so many talented authors come through town and the turnout is sometimes not what you'd hope. The level of stress before a sparsely-attended event can be too much to bear. I hate to think what it's like for the author.
  

• I got a new chair yesterday. It's awesome. It swivels and tilts and rolls, and it has ass-kicking lumbar support. I don't really have a joke here, I just...it's a great chair.
  

BEA: Part 2

Friday morning, groggy and stiff, I took the train to the LA Convention Center. I spotted Steve Bercu, owner of legendary Austin, TX indie Book People on the train (this is what passes as a celebrity sighting in the independent bookstore world). At the Convention Center, I got my badge and wandered over to the West Hall to prepare for the BookSense.com users group meeting. The excitement was palpable.

After waiting in the longest Starbucks line imaginable, I drank my venti coffee ($14.50 for a large coffee, a muffin, a cookie, and a bottle of water...Burn in a fiery hell, Aramark) sitting on the floor. I bumped into our Harper rep Gabe Barillas, who seemed stunned to see someone at the show as early as he was, and Emily from Skylight, who was also getting a jump on things.

One of the interesting things about attending any convention is putting a face to the names you deal with everyday. It was fun to meet Scott and Ricky from Book Sense (er, Indiebound...more on that in a second). I never would've guessed that Scott had a pony tail. He was probably equally stunned to see that I had a beard. We just never talk about these kind of things. It's always server failure, slow load times, and adding inventory with us. Anyway, at the Book Sense meeting, they unveiled some new website capabilities that I thought looked very good.

Book Sense, of course, is on the way out. By the end of the month, it will be replaced by IndieBound, a newer, hipper brand that hopes to unite all sorts of independent business together in an effort to capitalize on the growing shop local movement. This means no more Book Sense picks, no more Book Sense logos on our website, no more Book Sense anything. All of that will be gone in a month's time, replaced by the IndieBound brand. I think it's a good thing. Book Sense had served its purpose, but it was time for a change. I like the idea of uniting local businesses and stressing the incredible advantages of supporting local businesses (keeping the money in the local economy, less of an environmental impact, preserving the unique local character, etc.), although I wonder if the local shoe store will be as psyched about it as those in the culture industry -- bookstores, movie theaters, record stores -- will be. At the very least, the logo is nice.

After the thrill of the website meeting, I wandered onto the floor for a quick tour of the booths. I dropped in on McSweeney's and chatted with Andrew Leland, managing editor of The Believer. We talked about McSweeney's newest book, All Known Metal Bands, which is a list of...wait for it...all known metal bands. That's it, just a long list of every metal band this one guy could think of. What's interesting about the book -- aside from very sharp design (silver ink on black paper) -- is that, if there were multiple bands named Destroyer, the author lists the name "Destroyer" multiple times. There's a certain charm to the book, which I compared, perhaps inappropriately, to the Vietnam War Memorial.

After my McSweeney's visit, I headed over to hear Thomas Friedman give his keynote address. I ran into our IT guru Henry, and we sat together to hear Friedman. I like some of Friedman's columns, but I found his reading style to be overly didactic. His new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded is about how emerging middle classes in India and China are forcing Americans to adjust many aspects of their lives, primarily how they produce and consume energy. He makes a compelling argument. (As an aside, who decided that we need a "Manhattan project for sustainable energy?" Both Ed Begley, Jr. and Friedman used exactly this phrasing, and I've heard it several other times as well. Anybody know who coined this term? Maybe it was Thomas Friedman himself...) After that, I had a free hour or two before the panel I wanted to attend, so I drifted off in search of food.

My main complaint about BEA was that the food was miserable and miserably expensive. It was like being trapped in the Jet Blue terminal at JFK airport for three days. On Friday afternoon, I ate a plate of cold, slimy "Chinese" food. It cost $8, beverage not included. I heard later on that the tacos were better, but we can't undo what's done.

In the afternoon, I decided to drop in on a panel entitled "Evolution of In-Store Events: From In-Store to Online." The panel included Tyson Cornell, who runs events at Book Soup, Charles Stillwagon, his opposite number at the great indie Tattered Cover in Denver, the director of online promotions for Powell's, and the events and promotions director from Book Passage in San Francisco. While there were some interesting ideas thrown around (Powell's has become a mini film production company, producing slick documentaries about Ian McEwan and others), I felt like none of the people on the panel had really cracked how to put an event online in a relatively easy yet still compelling way, which just goes to show how hard that is. Tattered Cover seems like they've done the most in this direction, podcasting and video-casting some of their events, but Stillwagon confessed that they haven't necessarily seen sales resulting from that. Towards the end of the panel, the discussion disintegrated into more of a discussion of how to get a big-time event, as several authors asked what bookstores look for in a prospective event.

After the panel, my energy was beginning to ebb, but I forced myself to see a few booths before i knocked off for the day. I went straight to the Small Beer Press booth, were I talked with Gavin and Jedediah about the NBCC Good Reads list, the Book Sense picks, and how a small press like theirs can break out. They're both really nice guys, and I think their catalog is great. They gave me a copy of The Baum Plan for Financial Independence, by John Kessel which I'm eager to read.

After that, I checked out the Grove/Atlantic booth, where their rep gave me a copy of How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone. It's always interesting to see which books the major publishers have decided to push at BEA. Grove/Atlantic had copies of Leif Enger's newest (we're hosting Enger later this month), Mark Bowden's book about the NFL championship game between the Colts and the Giants, and a few other books. FSG was pushing Jonathan Carroll's The Ghost in Love, Marilynne Robinson's Home (which is the story of Gilead from the women's perspective), and Robert Bolano's epic 2666, which has the best design of any ARC I've ever seen -- blood red ink on a craft paper cover. I picked up a copy of all three books from FSG. Over at the Picador booth, they had Tree of Smoke and The Shock Doctrine prominently displayed, but I didn't take a copy of either, since I watched a guy argue his way into multiple copies of each. The whole scene turned me off to swag grubbing for the day. It was time to go home.

After a quick shower, I threw on my best duds and raced off to drinks with Alec Baldwin at the Sunset Tower Hotel. Okay, it wasn't just me and Alec. I mean, Stephen Baldwin was there, too. And like fifty people from St. Martin's. And a few librarians. And my wife. They served really tasty finger foods like sliders and damn good pigs-in-blankets. I talked to some folks from Books Inc., a Northern California chain of indie stores, and then had a strange discussion with a reporter from the New York Post who was in town specifically to cover the party. Alec gave a pretty moving speech about how hard divorce and custody battles often are for fathers. For a cocktail party, it was pretty heavy stuff.

After a non-BEA related dinner (one of the perks of being the hometown for BEA), Edan and I rolled to the Book Soup/Ecco Press party at Palihouse. All the folks from Book Soup were there: Charles, Manny, Joseph, Julia, Tyson, and Glenn Goldman, the owner. Gabe from Harper's introduced me to Harper's Senior Vice President or sales, Nina Olmsted, and we had a great discussion about how one comes to do what one does for a living (she has a degree in molecular biology and now she works in publishing. Go figure). After a few hours and a couple of sickly sweet cocktails, it was time to go home. We passed on the after party, which was going to be held at a bar frequented by transvestites (that wasn't why we passed on the party, we were just tired).

Saturday morning, I let myself sleep in until 8, then ate a big breakfast (I learned my lesson after Friday's extravagant meals) and headed down to the convention. My plan was to do nothing but walk the floor, seeing as many booths and meeting as many people as I could. I think I did alright. I ran into Mark from The Elegant Variation, and he introduced me to Jim Ruland, who hosts the Vermin on the Mount reading series. Mark led us to the Greywolf Press booth, where we met some of the marketing and publicity folks. I picked up an interesting short story collection by Jeffrey Renard Allen called Holding Pattern. At the Da Capo booth, they had all my favorite books: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, Ghosts at the Table, and the new Sonic Youth biography Goodbye 20th Century, of which they graciously gave me a copy.

The best part about BEA, for me at least, is meeting all the cool small presses out there and seeing what they're putting out. I made a point of thanking the New York Review of Books for keeping so much great literature alive. It's because of them that I'm obsessed with J.F. Powers, and for this, I thank them. I had a great conversation with the people at the Tin House booth, and they gave me a copy of Adam Braver's interesting novel November 22, 1963 (I'll give you one guess what it's about) as well as a copy of Jim Krusoe's Girl Factory (we're hosting Krusoe in July, and I'm psyched). Crown Point Press was tucked way away in the back corner of the main hall, but some clever jacket design caught my attention and I grabbed a copy of Beer, Art, and Philosophy, a memoir about modern art by Tom Marioni. I had a great talk with Laura from Ammo books. They publish the most gorgeous books of art, graphic design, and pop culture. I loved a book they had there called The Red Shoes.

Towards the end of the day, I ran into Janet and Amy from Avid. They had a crazy weekend in LA. In addition to immersing themselves in ABA and BEA craziness, they saw fellow Athens natives REM at the Hollywood Bowl. After the show, a friend of theirs was hit by a car and they had to race him to the hospital. Hopefully he'll have a full and speedy recovery. Janet and Amy introduced me to Eric and Eliza Jane Obenauf, of Two Dollar Radio, another great small press. They have a great catalog of books out right now, including titles by Amy Koppelman and Rudolph Wurlitzer, who I mentioned here earlier this week.

On my way out, I nearly made the mistake of talking to someone dressed as a pirate. They were there selling Scientology books. Thankfully, someone warned me, and I steered clear of them.

In the end, I thought BEA was great. I met so many impressive people and caught up with a few old friends. I had lunch with Lucia Silva, the buyer and manager of Portrait of a Bookstore in the Valley, and one of the best booksellers I know. That was a lot of fun, despite the disgusting barbecue we ended up choosing. Meeting so many talented and bright independent booksellers was a treat. People like Karl Pohrt (owner of Shaman Drum in Ann Arbor, MI) and Steve Bercu are really legendary figures in the independent bookstore world, and getting to hear their thoughts on bookselling was a treat. Meeting booksellers like Emily Pardo, the incredibly sharp Children's Events coordinator for Books & Books in Coral Gables, FL, and Shannon Mathis, the Children's buyer for Books Inc. (and former Vroman's employee!), was a real thrill. It made me feel like I was part of something larger than just my store (hey, maybe this IndieBound thing will work!). Obviously, dealing with the huge crowds, the oppressive lighting, the overpriced, sub-prison grade food, and the other woes of the conventioneer can be a drag, but it's worth it when you can meet great booksellers and cool publishers. I'm glad it's over for now, but I hope get to go again next year. (I might try to bring more of my own food, though.)

Vroman's folks Justin and Guinevere embrace the new brand.

BEA: Part 1

Like any major convention, Book Expo America, the largest publishing industry trade show of the year, makes for fast friends, exhaustion, some free food and booze, and sore feet. When such a trade show occurs in your hometown, it can be devastatingly tiring -- when you get home from slogging through the convention, mingling until you feel your face has permanently frozen into a sad, misshapen smile, you get to walk your dog, do the dishes, and pay your bills. I'd rather just hit the hotel bar and pass out, but that's just me.

Thursday morning, I took the Metro to the Renaissance Hotel (or "Hotel ABA" as it was known for the convention), and immediately regretted that I'd had to work an event at the store the night before. I was about to embark on a three day long odyssey around LA, leaving business cards in my wake and I was already dog tired. Not a good sign. Immediately, I made some friends. Janet Geddis and Amy Salley are two women from Athens, Georgia who are opening a new independent bookstore there called Avid. On Thursday morning, they were two of the many people with no idea where the Grand Ballroom was located (Why put the hotel's Grand Ballroom outside the hotel? To confuse tired, caffeine-deprived conventioneers, that's why.). Having stumbled upon it earlier while searching for the registration desk, I was happy to lead the way. We chatted a bit, joined eventually by Jen, the Vroman's promotions director, as we waited for Ed Begley, Jr. to give his keynote address.

Mr. Begley spoke about how he'd come to live the incredibly eco-friendly existence he currently does, and how each of us, doing something, can make a big difference in the future of the earth. He also saluted the independent booksellers in the room for carrying on the rich tradition of independent thinking in America. His speech would prove to be a harbinger of things to come, as much of the ABA's Day of Education, and BEA in general, would focus on bookselling and its impact on the environment. Quickly after Mr. Begley was finished, I was off to my first seminar of the day, "Booksellers at the Tipping Point," a discussion of leveraging localism and the shop local movement to better brand an independent store.


I'm a big proponent of the shop local movement, beginning, like many people, I imagine, with a change in how I shop for food. This seminar offered some ideas for why people had begun to resist what seemed irresistible a few year's ago -- the allure of the big box chain retail experience. Higher fuel prices, a generally sagging economy, a desire to preserve the character of the area, all of these are reasons why people are beginning to see the benefit of staying within their immediate area when shopping for, well, just about anything. I thought there were some useful bits of insight, including the idea that, while a store like Vroman's can't compete with Amazon or some of the chain bookstores on price, it can offer a better shopping experience, winning customers with its service, its charm, its superior quality. The example given was Starbucks, which has raised the standard price of coffee by about 200%, yet offers a pleasing shopping experience. "You're not getting any bargains at Starbucks."


After a quick break and buoyed by my third cup of coffee, I went to the second seminar of the day, a panel discussion on "Thought Leadership and Children's Events." The panel, I thought, had a lot of terrific ideas for creating fun, inventive programming for kids and teenagers. The focus of the panel was how Thought Leadership, a nebulous term I understood to mean forming loose alliances with people in related industries -- zoos, non-profits, etc. -- and then rely on one another to build networks to help promote events and share ideas. The other main focus was to "give away knowledge", which is basically what we at independent bookstores do everyday. The customer comes in to learn about books, and we offer that information free of charge (the books, of course, cost money).



At lunch, I ate a mediocre sandwich (turkey, I think, but don't hold me to it), and chatted with some women who run a bookshop called The Traveler on Bainbridge Island, WA. Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, was the luncheon speaker. She spoke about librarians protesting the Patriot Act and other simple acts of defiance. At the end, she threw her fist in the air and said, "Democracy Now!" This earned her a standing ovation from much of the room, and left several people in tears. Frankly, it was a bit heavier than I was looking to get at lunch. No matter, it was off to the afternoon panels, starting with one on managing blockbuster events.

At Vroman's, we've had our share of blockbuster events: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barbara Walters, etc., so there wasn't a lot to be learned at this panel, but we did pick up a few useful pieces of information that will no doubt come into play next time we get 500 people here for an event. After this seminar, I began to drag just a little. I went to the final meeting of the day, a report on the Shop Local movement, but I couldn't make it through the entire presentation. I blame the turkey.

As the Day of Education wound to a close, Vroman's big moment was approaching. At the ABA's annual Celebration of Bookselling, Vroman's accepted its award as Publishers Weekly's 2008 Bookseller of the Year. Our CEO Joel Sheldon III gave a fine address, saying that he wasn't, personally, the best bookseller, although he wondered allowed whether he might be the best bookstore owner (we like to think he is). After that, Allison Hill, our president, took the stage and recognized the over 120 employees who "work so hard every single day to make Vroman's the best it can be and make the world a little better." Allison got a little misty-eyed, but she held it together. I'm not embarrassed to say that at the end of her speech, it was very dusty in the Grand Ballroom.

After Vroman's was honored, the awards for sales rep of the year, and Book Sense Book of the Year were given out. Brian Selznick, who won an award for his book The Invention of Hugo Cabret, wore a plaid suit that absolutely rocked, and every woman in the audience (and probably most of the men, too) swooned as Khaled Hosseini accepted the award for fiction. He was Clooney-esque in his debonair suit.

After the reception, Edan, Jen, and a bunch of folks from Vroman's headed over to Skylight Bookstore to check out their new space and attend the Skylight & City Lights party. I took the train (I'm eco like that, Ed Begley, Jr. style) down to Patina for the Disney Book Group dinner. I'm not a huge kids book guy, but even I recognized many of the authors in attendance. Right away, I was introduced to Jonathan Stroud, who was very cool. He had taken up residence at the bar, and he and I chatted for awhile about blogging and the best way for a working author to use the internet. After I got my Basil Hayden (Is there anything better than top-shelf liquor? Yes: free top-shelf liquor), I mingled into the crowd. I talked with a few of the booksellers at the dinner, and it didn't take long before I realized that all of them knew a lot more than I did about kids' books.

When we were seated for dinner, I ended up between the kids' books buyers for a couple of major independent stores. Rick Riordan was seated at my table, and we all had a blast listening to the various authors introduce themselves, their work, and each other. Mo Willems, the famous illustrator and author, made the mistake of missing this year's dinner. His absence was greeted with applause from Dave Barry and opened him up to ridicule from pretty much every other author at the dinner. Eoin Colfer, author of the Artemis Fowl series, was as funny as most professional comedians. He even took a shot at Roald Dahl. Brian Selznick and the legendary Ann M. Martin performed a bizarre and hilarious skit for their new book The Runaway Dolls. The evening reached its peak when Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told a joke that involved a leprechaun and a penguin coupling in the woods. Good times.

After the event, I led a group of apprehensive children's booksellers to the subway, convincing them it was a good idea to follow a scruffy webmaster they'd just met into the bowels of downtown LA. After catching the last train out of downtown, I finally returned home. Where I did the dishes and walked the dog (Nah, I'm just kidding. The dog was asleep when I got home).

All photos courtesy of Guinevere.

Tomorrow I'll post the second part of my BEA experience and discuss the ABA's new initiative IndieBound!

David Sedaris Tickets On Sale Now!

I probably should've mentioned this in my previous post, but what the hell. David Sedaris' newest book, the excellently titled and covered When You Are Engulfed in Flames, comes out today. Vroman's is hosting Sedaris on Sunday, June 29 at 5 pm. Tickets are on sale now. They are $25.99 plus tax (that's the price of the book), and they include one copy of the book. We're not selling the tickets over the phone or the internet, so you'll need to actually come down to Vroman's to get a ticket (limit of two per customer). Happy hunting!

My Tuesday Morning Hangover

Well, BEA is over. I staggered into work this morning to find about a thousand RSS feed updates to read in addition to a whole mess of emails. A full write-up (with pictures!) is coming tomorrow, but in the meantime, you can read a condensed version of my experience at The Millions. In lieu of the full-on BEA post, I offer you some quick hits to other literary bits of note.

• Alan Furst is at Vroman's tonight. Scott Tamberg interviews him for the LA Times: "With the present book, I wanted to write a "9/10 novel" -- what went on before the catastrophe. And the way to do that was to look at Poland and France, the countries that were early occupied, the real crushing defeats. I thought it would be natural to have a French military attaché in Poland, concentrating on German war plans."

• David Benioff's City of Thieves is getting rave reviews all over the place. Here's one from an independent bookseller down at Warwick's in San Diego. David Benioff will be at Vroman's tomorrow night.

• The final episode of the first season of Titlepage is up.
  

• I'll drift into BEA land for a minute. One of my favorite stops on my death march across the BEA convention floor was meeting Eric and Eliza Jane from the small press Two Dollar Radio. They've recently published a book by novelist and screenwriter Rudolph Wurlitzer called The Drop Edge of Yonder. Wurlitzer has an essay on Maud Newton's blog chronicling his move into the world of small presses. It's pretty great. (Wurlitzer wrote Two Lane Blacktop. So now you have to read the essay.)