A Big Congratulations!

Martha Frederick, Our Famous Customer!

In late September, Martha Frederick won the USTA National Women's 70, 80 and 90 Indoor Championship.  "Martha defeated Patricia Yeomans in straight sets to win the national singles title for women who turn 90 and older during 2011."  The above quote is from The Columbian, which wrote a great article about Martha that we had taped to our window:  http://www.columbian.com/news/2011/sep/29/champion-at-any-age/

Recently, we asked Martha if she could drop by our store so we could talk with her and get our own photo of her posing with her trophy and racket. 

Martha always has a smile on her face and a story to tell.  She is one of our favorite customers and we all hope we can be as spunky, healthy, and happy as her at her age.

Congratulations, Martha!      

New Publisher & EBook - Ebook and Bookstore Synergy?

We are now working with a new EBook publisher, Spirehouse Books. Spirehouse specializes in Science Fiction and Fantasy for both young adult and adult readers, and provides their content in three different formats, for e-reading across multiple devices - including the Amazon Kindle!
 

What is especially intriguing to us - "us" being an mostly analog, old-school bookstore - is that Spirehouse offers brick-and-morter bookstores a discounted rate on their EBooks.  The book we are currently featuring, Artemis Rising, is available in-store for $2.99, but the price on Amazon; iTunes; Spirehouse's website; etc.; is $6.99.  We have a placard in the store with the cover of the book and a description of the story - much like a physical book has - and if the customer wants to buy the book, we sell them an activation card with a unique number (garnering the customer the discounted "in-store" rate of $2.99) for use on Spirehouse's website.
 

We think there is some good synergy going on here: a small publishing house like Spirehouse can get their EBooks placed in a physical location, thereby extending their exposure beyond the web; we can sell EBooks in our store immediately, without having to direct customers to our website; finally, our customers benefit by receiving a discounted rate when shopping with us, not to mention finding out about new EBooks and publishing houses without going on the web.   
 
 
Spirehouse's website:  http://www.spirehousebooks.com/
Artemis Rising listing:  http://www.spirehousebooks.com/item_description.php?IID=52
Artemis Rising Promo Video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dl9bFVQUj2E

 
 

Hello All,

We're happy to be participating in this year's Banned Books Week Virtual Read-Out! 

 The Read-Out gives people the opportunity to be recorded reading from their favorite banned or challenged book.  All the videos are viewable at Banned Book Week's youtube site: http://www.youtube.com/bannedbooksweek

On OurGoodStore blog, we are featuring those individuals that stopped by Vintage Books to do a reading.  Thanks to all of them for participating!

 

Jemeshia reads from A Scary Story Treasury

Sarah Reads from Little House on the Prairie

Mark reads from The Sorcerer's Stone

Peace and Justice Fair Recap

I originally got excited about doing this fair because I knew we have SO MUCH material that would find an audience there, many books that don’t get much attention unless someone is looking for them specifically.  For example, books from our black history section, or sociology, gay studies, women’s spirituality, and even politics.  I knew we had good books to show. In the end we took books from all these sections and more, and some magazines.

The broad mix of causes that came out for "Peace & Justice" was really
inspiring--Christians & Muslims, Fair Trade organizations, Veterans for
Peace, Animal Rights groups, the NAACP, and various human rights groups--the whole spectrum.  It felt right to be there, and there was a
nice comraderie among the participants.  This is something we'll think about doing next year...


-Pepper Parker

Hello All,

We are going to have a booth at the Vancouver Peace & Justice Fair tomorrow (Sept. 10, 2011).

We'll have everything from green living, to history, to animal rights, to spirituality.


Please stop by if you can. We'd love to see you! We are there from 9-5:00 PM this Saturday (9.10.11)

p.s. The Farmer's Market will be open, and there will be lots of food and live music all day long.

Best,

Vintage Books

http://www.vancouverpeaceandjusticefair.org/

Mother's Day

I recently received a text from a nearby big-box store, suggesting that for $64.99 I could purchase a gorgeous bouquet for Mom, for Mother's Day. "Oh, lovely," I thought to myself. "Those might last a week, then they'd start to droop and then deposit their petals all over the dining room table. Do I really want my mother to spend the week cleaning up after my gift?"

But hold on...what if - instead of buying Mom a bunch of soon-to-be-rotten vegetation - I bought her BOOKS instead! There's an idea. She could keep them forever; or share them with friends; or bring them into Vintage Books to trade in for other books later on.

Oh, my goodness, that is a smart move.

The following are some great gift ideas that match that Big Box Store's $65 weed bundle.

Let's kick it off with $65 worth of kids books: new and used! A few classics, a few board books; some stickers; 20 items in all!

Gardening; crafts; herbs; card-making; baking chocolate; sewing; quilting - man, so many things to create and accomplish with this bundle of fun!

How about some Literature? Or some science, with the mind-bending, always interesting Malcolm Gladwell? His books are guaranteed to intrigue. Or the so, so popular Forgotten Garden. So many books clubs are reading or have read this one. And magazines! Vintage Books has so many darn magazines to choose from it hurts!

What if she's into older magazines, ephemera, rare stuff in plastic bags?! We've got that, too. Elizabeth Taylor on the cover of Look. See. Old Better Homes and Gardens. These are collector's items.

Oscar Wilde's most famous play. A classic of wit, intelligence, and sophistication. This Easton Press is a collectible, red leather bound wonderful item for those interested in plays.

16 paperbacks!!! How can you go wrong with this, Darn it! That's like 64 hours worth of reading right there. Keep your mom out of your hair for 2.67 days straight. Add on the time it takes to sleep, shower, eat, go to work, and you've got like 4 weeks worth of mother- being-occupied time with this great gift.

But seriously, this beautiful book of poetry by Tess Gallagher & Jakucho Setouchi will mean a lot to the mom in your life. It's an accordion-style masterpiece, limited edition, in a slipcase. It's an art piece. And at 30 dollars, you'll have money left over to spend on a windsurfing lesson for yourself, or for bowling a few games, or some sausages, or whatever else you want to spend all the leftover loot on.

Mother's Day.

A Time to Celebrate Great Savings and Value.

-Vintage Books

We Have Arrived!

Vintage Books is now selling dog toys.

We have: a floppy frog; a bone that floats; a teddy bear (not pictured); Tux (a strange shaped rubbed toy that bounces around); and various chews. The rubber-like chews are 100% recyclable.

We guarantee that your dog will at least look at them.

Some new Stuff on our Shelves w/ Spring

It is quite a sunny day today. Of course, all Debbie wants to do is play with the paper cutter. Typical.

We just received a large shipment of these Puffin Classics. Wonderful stories in super cute covers!

Debbie bought some books that have stuffed animal tie-ins. I like the dino and the bear.

We have TONS of Spot right now!

Our front table is also stuffed with new books!

Library

What's on G.U.S. ?

(Remember: G.U.S. is our new Gardening, Urban Farming, and Sustainable Living Shelf. We will be featuring books from G.U.S. from time to time on this blog.)

G.U.S. is featuring The Backyard Homestead: Guide to Raising Farm Animals

Edited by Gail Damerow

-reviewed by Tom

This book is simple and straightforward. It offers a great introduction to different animal breeds and how to care for them. Rabbits, Chickens, Ducks, Turkeys, Sheep, Pigs, Cattle, and Bees are all covered. The book includes clear drawings on how to build hives, pens, fences, and how to handle animals properly. The book is a good way to both familiarize oneself with potential homesteading animals and to take the first step in their raising and care.

All the Bookshelves Fit to Print

Just for fun, I'm going to start posting pictures of shelves of books.

Enjoy.

What's New on G.U.S.'s Shelf?

The Food Lover's Garden: Amazing Edibles You Will Love to Grow and Eat

by Mark Diacono

This wonderful book came across my desk yesterday. It's currently on display on our new Gardening, Urban Farming, and Sustainable Living shelf. (This shelf's name is too long, so I'm going to use the acronym G.U.S. from now on. As in, "It's over there, on G.U.S.'s shelf.)

I really appreciate Diacono's approach to gardening: basically, don't spend time and money planting and harvesting what you can get cheaply and easily, rather, spend your time cultivating and nurturing exotic, unfamiliar, or indeed better fruits, vegetables, and trees. For example: don't plant potatoes when they are so cheaply found at the store and local farms, plant Oca, a versatile tuber that acts partly like a carrot, and partly like a potato or radish, depending on how you prepare it.

If the novelty of growing something unusual isn't enough for you, Diacono describes each fruit and vegetable's use in simple and varied recipes from all over the world. He really wants us to try different foods. "Make Your Garden Unbuyable," he says, meaning grow things you can't find anywhere else, or else grow things that you can harvest when they are naturally ready. Instead of rock hard peaches at the grocery store, plant a peach tree and harvest them at their prime.

I know I'm not going to stop going to the grocery store and farmer's market. And these places have all the essentials. Why grow an onion when you can grow this beautiful monster?

Or these fantastic peppercorns. (I currently pay a premium for these at specialty shop down the street.)

Why grow the basics when they're so readily available and cheap? Why not be adventurous and grow something new and interesting?

I just can't argue with his logic.

Gardening + Sustainablity + Urban Farming = Loads of Fun

We've had lots of fun lately buying a lot of new stuff - books, magazines, journals and cards. And more books and more books. Some of this new stuff makes up our new section on Urban Farming, Sustainability, Do It Yourself House and Home, and Gardening. We've got books on raising chickens and building coops. Actually, we have books on raising all kinds of animals in urban and non-urban settings; goats, ducks, and pigs included. We have book on honeybees, magazines on organic gardening, books on starting small plot gardens, and a classic book on container gardening. We also have books and magazines on beer and beer making - everything to get you started in your adventures in alcohol! Come in or give us a call if you have questions or would like a book on a specific topic. We'd be happy to try and order whatever you you're looking for.

A New Year Brings You More

Yes, the New Year has brought us more. Much more. Our Civil War section has tripled in size and many are book club editions - reasonably priced around $10.00.

And Pepper has created a great new Spirituality section, with selections by authors Ken Wilber; Pema Chodron; Thich Nhat Hanh; and Tim Freke.

Also, our Judaica section is growing and growing...

And finally, we just received a giant Doonesbury collection, so stock up before these disappear.

Happy New Year everyone.