I thought this was an interesting blog post by actress Gwyneth Paltrow on her blog. Where else could we learn that Madonna loves The Time Traveler’s Wife?

Author Roy Blount Jr. published a great holiday message on the Author’s Guild website. You can check it out here, but it’s so good we just went ahead and copied it in full in case your clicking finger is feeling lazy today.

Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.:
Buy Books From Your Local Bookstore, Now

December 11, 2008. I’ve been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren’t known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don’t lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn’t in the cards.

We don’t want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let’s mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that’s just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they’re easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children’s books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they’ll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books. Then tell the grateful booksellers, who by this time will be hanging onto your legs begging you to stay and live with their cat in the stockroom: “Got to move on, folks. Got some books to write now. You see…we’re the Authors Guild.”

Enjoy the holidays.

Roy Blount Jr.
President, Authors Guild

Addendum: Forward and Post!

December 11, 2008. The Guild’s staff informs me that many of you are writing to ask whether you can forward and post my holiday message encouraging orgiastic book-buying. Yes! Forward! Yes! Post! Sound the clarion call to every corner of the Internet: Hang in there, bookstores! We’re coming! And we’re coming to buy! To buy what? To buy books! Gimme a B! B! Gimme an O! O! Gimme another O! Another O! Gimme a K! K! Gimme an S! F! No, not an F, an S. We’re spelling BOOKS!

Yours,

Roy

We thought this photo of famed librarian Nancy Pearl was too cute not to share. Maybe next year at WORD, Nancy?

We’re always so happy when praise for the store surfaces in our google alerts. This one just came today. Thanks Colleen! (and for the record, ABE books is now owned by Amazon, so they are not quite as independent as they once were).

Here’s more recent praise from the cyber world:

Thanks to our friend Maura Madden, the queen of crafts, for telling the world she’s obsessed with the store on her blog.

David Rees’ thanks on his site made us smile.

Here’s a glowing review of our Rick Moody event.

Finally, thanks to Miss Heather for profiling our exclusive “Greetings from Greenpoint” postcards on her site.

According to the New York Press, at least.

And we agree.

Thanks to all that braved the UNBELIEVABLE heat to spend time hobknobbing with book folk at the Brooklyn Book Festival on September 14th. It was the best turnout yet, according to organizer and Akashic publisher Johnny Temple, and the crowds definitely proved it. Our booth was packed from open to close and we met lots of nice people and hopefully turned them on to WORD. We had three authors read and sign at our booth, and overall thought the day was a great success. Check out more pics on our flickr page, but here’s one of our booth:

We know many of our lovely customers like this one have hoped for an expanded art section and we are currently working on doing just that. So keep your eye out for some new, reasonably-priced art books to adorn the WORD shelves in the very near future.

TWELVE NIGHTS
A journey through Italian cinema

(All projections start at 7.30 pm. Free entry)

09.29.08 Deep Red (Profondo rosso, 1975) Directed by Dario Argento

10.27.08 Toto who Lived Twice (Toto che visse due volte, 1998) Directed by Daniele Cipri & Franco Maresco

11.24.08 Rabid Dogs (Cani arrabbiati, 1974) Directed by Mario Bava

12.29.08 Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia, 1971) Directed by Luchino Visconti

01.26.09 Three short films:
Toby Dammit (Toby Dammit, 1968) Directed by Federico Fellini.
The Drop of Water (La goccia d’acqua, 1963) Directed by Mario Bava. La Ricotta (s/t, 1963) Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

02.23.09 The Consequences of Love (Le conseguenze dell’amore, 2005) Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

03.30.09 Almost Human (Milano odia: la polizia non puo’ sparare, 1974) Directed by Umberto Lenzi

04.27.09 Girl with a suitcase (La ragazza con la valigia, 1961) Directed by Valerio Zurlini

05.25.09 Divorce Italian Style (Divorzio all’italiana, 1961) Directed by Pietro Germi

06.29.09 Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom (Salo o le 120 giornate di Sodoma, 1975) Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini

Check out the great poster that we’ve proudly displayed on the Milton side of the store. We love the message of supporting local independents. Help spread the word!

Thanks to Kat at Neighborbee Blog for this great post!

We will now be open 12pm - 8pm on Sundays. That gives you two more hours of shopping. Woohoo!

Thanks to Brooklyn Based (a must-read email for all Brooklynites, I think) for doing a “What We’re Reading” update from Brooklyn independent bookstores. WORD got top billing, check it out!

We had a great listing in the L Magazine for our first monthly game night which happened last night.

Check it out here.

And from the turnout, obviously other Greenpointers like games too. Here are some pics from our packed Scrabble night. Each third Tuesday of the month at 7:30pm we will have some fun game thing going on, as always with free booze. We’re thinking Taboo for next month, what do you all think?

I just finished the new novel by Greenpoints’ own Kate Christensen called The Great Man. I realized half-way through that I was pretty wrapped up in it when I actually thought a customer in the store could have been Teddy, a character in the book. The book takes place in Greenpoint and the writing is so good, it’s hard not to picture these characters roaming the streets around WORD. I definitely recommend reading this one, especially if you’re a Greenpointer.

Yesterday I read an article about another Greenpoint writer, Anna Godberson, whose young adult book The Luxe is getting great reviews. I was happy to recognize her name as a customer here at WORD. I just ordered her book in and will check it out soon.

Watch your back Park Slope! Greenpoint’s writers are ready for a fight.

Whew. What a great holiday season. You needed gifts? We sold them. You wanted boozy hot chocolate? We served it. You supported us in our first holiday season here at WORD and we thank you for it. We’re trying to get back into the swing of things, after several days sitting on the couch playing Guitar Hero. But we couldn’t let the holidays wither away without sharing our holiday card with you, it was sent to all our nearest and dearest and proclaimed the two things we were most thankful for in 2007: WORD and Wii. Enjoy!

As you know, I owned a small, half-used, half-new bookstore in Northport, Long Island for six years prior to moving to Brooklyn. Some of my best and most loyal customers still order from me on a regular basis, emailing or calling when they need something shipped to them.

One customer has used me as her personal shopper for the last several years, providing me with a list of her nieces and nephews, their ages and interests, and I come up with gift ideas for all of them. She would usually pick up the boatload of books on Christmas Eve when she traveled home to be with her family, but she moved to London this year so she won’t be home for Christmas. However, she still emailed me her ever-growing list and I have been wrapping and shipping books to her various family members all weekend. This is the kind of loyalty that really touches me, and makes me feel like all my hard work does often pay off.

PS: Sure, I’ll be your personal shopper too, just ask. That’s what I’m here for.

They put us on their blog. Check it out here.

And then check out the snarky reply I couldn’t help posting to some bitter woman’s comment. I hate when people make assumptions and insist on criticizing people they know nothing about.

We liked this piece in NY Magazine, we thought you might like it too.

We’re so excited for our event with author Bob Eckstein on Tuesday, December 18th, even though we’re still not exactly sure of the tastiest recipe for spiked hot chocolate (any suggestions? I’ve heard Peppermint Schnapps is the way to go, but I’m not convinced).

Check out Bob’s website for some fun snowman updates to get you psyched for the event. I love yesterday’s post about the snowman amusement park in Norway.