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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!

Remember a few days ago when I posted about the National Book Critics Circle blog, and the WOMAN (yes, she’s a woman, as am I, and there’s no reason I can’t call her that, it’s not sexist, just a fact) who called my store not independent because I carried books published by big publishers?

Well, our war of words has continued, and I just can’t stop myself from reading her posts and getting involved. Now another blogger has witnessed our war and taken my side. I will repost it here for effect:

“This post about the NBCC’s Best Recommended list debuting at bookstores is interesting, but the comments on the post really caught my attention. I’m sure to call down the wrath of the internet for even commenting on it, but I have to defend the independents from the first commenter Fran. I get that you’re upset to not have been published, but if this is how you talk to the local indies in your neighborhood, no wonder they won’t carry your book! I’d love to see her open her idea of an “independent” bookstore and see how long it lasts. Besides, is it really a crime to carry the books of Michael Chabon and Denis Johnson? Isn’t that throwing out the baby with the bath to suggest that all books from larger publishers are inherently bad? Maybe your books aren’t picked up because they’re no good! And I’ve got another statement that’s going to piss folks off: Far too many people think that they’re great writers these days. Anyone who’s stubbed their toe thinks they should write a memoir about it. It’s fine to write, go for it, but everyone shouldn’t expect to get published. There’s just no way. Rant over.”

Thanks Book Dwarf! I don’t know you but I can tell you are sane and reasonable, and not a literary asshole in the least bit.

Oh, and to make this story even better (if it can possibly get better) an adorable couple I met playing Bingo at Black Rabbit this past Sunday night have also become obsessed with my nemesis and have added their own comments the fray.

Here they are sharing a copy of George Saunder’s Braindead Megaphone in between Bingo games:

It’s all too good. And boy, it’s wasting WAY too much of my time.

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.

Just finished reading Nick Hornby’s new “Young Adult” novel called SLAM and I really liked it. I also read this article about Hornby getting into the young adult market, and thought it was worth sharing.

It’s hard to know where to stock books like this in the store, because I think many adults, like myself, would really enjoy reading them, even though they are marketed towards the young adult (14 and up) market. But the problem is, kids that age aren’t usually looking in the kids’ section for books anyway, so it makes it all the more complicated. At last month’s book club meetings we discussed this issue at length when we read THE BOOK THIEF, another young adult novel that adults enjoy.

There’s no point to this post, it’s just what I’m thinking about this rainy evening.

I find that the New York Times bestseller list often does not accurately reflect the books we sell here at WORD, so I was happy to see today that the National Book Critics Circle just launched their Most Recommended List, a monthly list of book recommendations compiled from votes cast by NBCC members as well as famous writers and critics. It seems more up our alley, so I will try to post it each month in the WHAT WE’RE READING section of this site. Check it out when you’re looking for recommendations for something new and exciting.

We saw him again last night.

We love him. You should too.

MacKayla Lane used to be a pretty southern belle with happy thoughts of the husband and family she would one day have filling her head.  Now she is a woman changed.  Haunted by the death of her sister, Mac has changed her life of pretty in pink to punk rock so that she can avenge her sister’s death.  Oh and did I mention she can see Fae?  After coming to Ireland to find her sister’s killer, Mac has learned that her entire life is a lie and that she is blessed (or cursed) with strange abilities.  No one is her friend, and she has many enemies, but she is determined to succeed.  This is a dark, brooding book that takes the stories of the Fae and casts them in an eery modern light.  Mac is a lovable character whose whole life has been turned upside down in a short period of time.  I look forward to seeing what Moning cooks up next for our feisty heroine. 

I hope most of you saw our fun Halloween window display where we got to poke fun at some conservative windbags, namely Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Bill O’Reilly.  One of our loyal customers seemed to have liked it, and posted on his blog about it.
Since the timing was right, we had David Rees sign all the books (with fun comments in each) and we’re raffling them off for $1 to be donated to David’s favorite Adopt-a-Minefield charity. Come in now to enter the raffle!

Last weekend was the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association’s annual conference, so Vinnie and I spent the weekend (our 12th wedding anniversary!) in Baltimore.

As with any independent bookseller meeting, the morale boost is the best part of it all for me. I leave there with lots of hope and great ideas of how to improve my store, and I just hope now I’ll be able to find the time to implement them all. As always, please feel free to pass on your suggestions of things you would like to see here at WORD.

It was our first visit to Baltimore and even though we didn’t have time to see much of the city, we had a delicious dinner at a tapas restaurant called Pazo and really enjoyed visiting some local bookstores. One store that made us green with envy was Atomic Books, be sure to check it out if you get to Baltimore one day. They specialize in graphic books and comics, but have a great selection of lit mags and toys and just expanded to a second store around the corner called Atomic Pop. They are way cool and so is their website, and we hope one day we will be able to sell our stock online as they do. So much time, so little to do….

A brave group of 15 contestants participated in our first WORD Define-a-Thon last night, and everyone seemed to have a blast. Free beer was flowing to calm the nerves, and our grand prize winner of a $25 WORD Gift Certificate was Brianna McGurran. We’ll definitely make this a regular event here, so start brushing up on your definitions!

Our brave participants:

Sipping and thinking…

Our winner!

This week we rented out our store (mainly the basement) to a great group from BEAM camp. Emily (Clerk II) worked there this summer and had the time of her life. The camp’s purpose is to “explore creative problem solving and collaboration through fine and manual arts” and since Monday was a holiday, they organized a Halloween craft day for some of their campers. The results were two awesome Halloween decorations, one of which will be on display in our front window for Halloween.

If you’re interested in checking out the camp, their website is www.beamcamp.com.

We were thrilled to have Mo here last week for a reading and book signing. This event has been planned for months, even before we opened here, and Mo was the nicest to deal with. He answered my email right away and agreed to do an event here because the neighborhood was near and dear to him (he lived in Williamsburg for 9 years before moving to Park Slope). Kids and their parents sat on chairs and rugs downstairs while Mo read from his newest book, Knuffle Bunny Too and one of his Elephant and Piggie early readers. Then everyone came upstairs to have their books signed. Here are some pics from the day:

To the THRONGS of people who read this blog, I’m sorry I’ve been so elusive lately. I’ve been seriously busy getting the store ready for all its October fabulousness, including five–count ‘em, FIVE!–book clubs, three amazing events (Mo Willems, the American Heritage Define-a-Thon and David Rees) and a major renovation of the store’s shelves and layout. Moleskines have finally arrived (whew, no more disappointed Moleskine fanatics!) and believe it or not, calendars and holiday cards are being received into inventory and waiting in the wings to be displayed. It’s crazy.

Last weekend we went to the Brooklyn Book Festival and had a great time meeting people and watching authors read and discuss their books. It was a book-lover’s paradise. We also watched a Define-a-Thon in action which was a total blast, and met the authors behind Brooklynites, another great event we will be hosting here at WORD on November 6th.  I will post pics from the festival as well as some photos of the store’s new look on my flickr site.

Hope you can stop in for a visit soon and check out all we’ve got going on!

All our hard work trying to come up with creative window displays has paid off, literally! Lonely Planet Publications chose our window as the winner in their Encounter Window Display Contest. It was our Literary Encounter display from a month or two ago, and we were just written up in Shelf Awareness (for the second time!) with a photo:

Image of the Day: WORD Is Display Winner

WORD Bookstore, the new store in Brooklyn, N.Y., owned by Christine Onorati (Shelf Awareness, May 1), has won Lonely Planet’s Encounter display contest and will receive a $500 cash prize. In June, booksellers were challenged to design an original window or table display featuring Lonely Planet’s new Encounter Guides. Onorati’s display included an old typewriter and suitcase and many Lonely Planet titles.

Thanks to our “Clerk Extraordinaire” Matt Lombardi for his never-ending devotion to creating awesome window displays. If you haven’t seen his most recent masterpiece, here’s a taste:

No dry erase marker is safe around Matt. (PS. Check out Matt’s blog in the Clerk Diaries section of this site.)

Oh…and the cash prize from the contest has been put toward a new projector for our downstairs event space. Keep your eye on our event listings, we’re planning our first WORD Wii Invitational soon!

Here’s some more press we’ve received about our upcoming grownup Harry Potter party:

The New York Times:

Word, Greenpoint, Brooklyn: A customer told the owner, Christine Onorati, that the last time she went to a “Harry Potter” party, a 6-year-old flipped to the end of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and screamed, “Snape killed Dumbledore!” So Ms. Onorati decided to hold an adults-only party. She’ll be serving sangria in a cauldron, running a trivia contest and giving away “Harry Potter” pens and notebooks. The store’s event space is being transformed into a dungeon, but Ms. Onorati insists that the adults-only theme extends only to the alcohol. 126 Franklin Street, (718) 383-0096.

Daily News:

Adults only! The indie shop cards for underage wizards, so grown fans can groove with “magical punch,” a deejay and Potter swag. Reservations required. 10 p.m., 126 Franklin St., Brooklyn. (718) 383-0096.

A friend just sent me this article on independent bookstores and I thought it was worth sharing. For the record, I totally would have known she was talking about Ian McEwan.