Coming in July:  'Where's Waldo in Vancouver?"

Twenty one intensely Local businesses will host a family-friendly search for Waldo next month,

celebrating both the 25th anniversary of Where's Waldo and July as the month of Independents.

There will be prizes, and, best of all, a chance to discover some pretty amazing Vancouver-centric

shopping choices.  We're pretty excited about this!

Books can do many things for us.   When "Sandra" was in today,
she mentioned how her reading has changed, and how "cozies" had
carried her through the illness and death of her partner.

Her current reading list is full of challenges and a spectrum of
ideas.  At that time, comfortable fiction and cozy mysteries were
read and reread.  No challenges, no threats, no deep thinkings.
Survival mode was assisted by friendly reads, just like slipping
into well worn denims and a flannel shirt.

How many different purposes our reading serves.  How we,
as booksellers, appreciate that books & people connection.
Thanks for sharing.

Just finished "The Light Between Oceans", an August title you may want to recommend
 for your Reading Group.

Setting:  A remote island, off the Australian Coast, post World War I.
A veteran finds working as the lighthouse keeper gives him little time for reliving
memories of the war.   His bride loves their life, but after losing three babes in
miscarriage or stillbirth, she begins to unravel.

Conundrum:  A small craft washes ashore, with a baby and the body of a man.
What do they do?  The decision shapes the rest of their lives.  Full of love,
memories, anguish and filtered through the lens of a post war Coastal village,
this is a remarkable read.  Take a chance on this first time novel.

Worried about losing the printed word to the digital age? Brewster Kahle has you covered.

The theme of today's blog is cats, inspired by this picture sent in by Karla Von Huben:

This is Zeek, and he sits like a human.

Zeek's cat-friend, Frankie, probably thinks that Zeek is kind of ridiculous when he sits like a person but is too nice to say anything. This is Frankie:


And since we're showing off cats in various positions today, here is my (Katie's) Meiko-kitten, upside-down:



And our Dickens snuggling his pet lion:



And of course handsome Henry, who needs no further description:

CALLING ALL LOCAL WRITERS!

A Message from NIWA, The Northwest Independent Writers Association:

We don't have to tell you: writing is hard. And getting published, even harder. But you're not alone. There are hundreds of other struggling writers just like you, trying to break into the ranks of the elite professionals. The Northwest Independent Writers Association is a group of Pacific Northwest authors of all types and all levels of professional achievement, dedicated to helping each other be the best writers they can be.

We hold regular monthly meetings, which are open to anyone interested in the group. We're a friendly bunch, and we're entirely open to new people dropping by. Occasionally, we also do group activities such as conventions, signings, and anthologies. If you're interested, check out our forum, our Twitter, our Facebook, or send us an email.

ALSO--

Following up the success of NIWA’s first Spec-Fic anthology, Magic to Mayhem, the Northwest Independent Writers Association is now open to submissions for the 2012 Speculative Fiction Anthology.

The 2012 anthology will feature stories with strong connections to the Pacific Northwest, past, present, or future. All submissions should include elements of the Pacific Northwest that are central to the story; whether through plot, setting, or characters, the story must contain strong ties to the Pacific Northwest to be considered for inclusion in the anthology.

Deadline for submissions is April 30th, 2012.

Please check out this link for more details:

https://sites.google.com/site/niwahomesite/home

Check out AbeBooks' catalog of bookstore cats residing in independent bookstores across the US & Canada. Henry & Dickens aren't included but this one sort of looks like Dickens.

The Joy of Books

Have you seen this yet? Awesome short by an awesome independent bookstore in Toronto.
(You can check them out here: http://typebooks.ca/).

From Aimee Bender's Review of "The Room", in the NY TImes

Emma Donoghue’s remarkable new novel, “Room,” is built on two intense constraints: the limited point of view of the narrator, a 5-year-old boy named Jack; and the confines of Jack’s physical world, an 11-by-11-foot room where he lives with his mother. We enter the book strongly planted within these restrictions. We know only what Jack knows, and the drama is immediate, as is our sense of disorientation over why these characters are in this place. Jack seems happily ensconced in a routine that is deeply secure, in a setting where he can see his mother all day, at any moment. She has created a structured, lively regimen for him, including exercise, singing and reading. The main objects in the room are given capital letters — Rug, Bed, Wall — a ­wonderful choice, because to Jack, they are named beings. In a world where the only other companion is his mother, Bed is his friend as much as anything else. Jack, in this way, is a heightened version of a regular kid, bringing boundless wonder and meaning to his every pursuit.


Donoghue navigates beautifully around these limitations. Jack’s voice is one of the pure triumphs of the novel: in him, she has invented a child narrator who is one of the most engaging in years — his voice so pervasive I could hear him chatting away during the day when I wasn’t reading the book. Donoghue rearranges language to evoke the sweetness of a child’s learning without making him coy or overly darling; Jack is lovable simply because he is lovable. Through dialogue and smartly crafted hints of eavesdropping, Donoghue fills us in on Jack’s world without heavy hands or clunky exposition. The reader learns as Jack learns, and often we learn more than he can yet grasp, but as with most books narrated by children, the gap between his understanding and ours is a territory of emotional power.

Donoghue’s ingenuity also soars as she animates the novel’s physical space through her characters’ rituals: they run around a homemade track; watch TV, but not too much, because “it rots our brains”; string eggshells together with a needle to make a kind of snake. Toys and books are treated like gold. A lollipop is a revelation....

On the whole, Donoghue goes the distance with “Room,” and she brings her story to a powerful close that feels exactly right. This is a truly memorable novel, one that can be read through myriad lenses — psychological, sociological, political. It presents an utterly unique way to talk about love, all the while giving us a fresh, expansive eye on the world in which we live.

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!