Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn

November Events at the Community Bookstore

Lots going on at the Community Bookstore in the month of November. The bookstore is located at 143 Seventh Avenue between Garfield and Carroll Streets. The readings and book groups are free.

--Tuesday November 17 @ 7pm

Matthea Harvey reads from

The Little General and the Giant Snowflake

Matthea Harvey –professor of poetry at Sarah Lawrence, Kingsly Tufts Poetry Prize-winner, and poetic inspiration/intellectual heartthrob of several members of our staff—will be reading from her allegorical children’s book, published by Tin House (again, be still my heart), and illustrated by Elizabeth Zechel (Is There A Mouse in the Baby’s Room?).  The book is suitable for all ages, but the free wine is just for grown-ups.  

--Thursday November 19

Jonathan Safran Foer reads from

Eating Animals

Suggested $10 donation.

Reading @ 6:30pm, Old First Reformed Church (729 Carroll St, Brooklyn, NY 11215-2101, 718.638.8300, www.oldfirstbrooklyn.org)

Wine & cheese reception @ 8:00pm at Community Bookstore

--Monday November 23 @ 7:30pm

The Modernist Book Club discusses The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares with a special guest: the editor of the NYRB Classics series, Edwin Frank

About the book:

“Jorge Luis Borges declared The Invention of Morel a masterpiece of plotting, comparable to The Turn of the Screw.  This fantastic exploration of virtual realities also bears comparison with the sharpest work of Philip K. Dick.  It is both a story of suspense and a bizarre romance, in which every detail is at once crystal clear and deeply mysterious.” –Publisher review

 About the book club:

The Modernist Book Club is a lively group of people who delight in a “modern” book and await the opportunity to discuss it in an informal setting at the back of the store, near the garden. Sometimes 8, other times 18, hardy readers gather to discuss the latest selection.   Newcomers and drop-ins are always welcome! No reservations necessary.

 About the celebrity guest lecturer:

Edwin Frank was born in Boulder, Colorado and studied at Harvard College and Columbia University. He is the author of two small books of poetry, The Further Adventures of Pinocchio and Stack, and has been the editor of the NYRB Classics series since its beginning ten years ago.

 --

Wednesday December 2 @ 7pm

100 New York Photographers, book party

Edited by Cynthia Dantzic

“An extensive review of the great range of contemporary New York photographers and their widely diverse, surprisingly divergent, images…  Included are such iconic figures as Annie Liebovitz, Jay Maisel, Amy Arbus, Hugh Bell, Arnold Crane, Bruce Davidson, Carrie Mae Weems, Elliott Erwitt, Helen Levitt, David Gahr, Lee Friedlander, Arthur Leipzig, Builder Levy, Duane Michals, Joel Meyerowitz, Jamel Shabazz, John Loengard, Tony Vaccaro, Mary Ellen Mark, Pete Turner, Burke Uzzle, Deborah Willis, and others, as well as many less familiar but no less brilliant photographers.” –Publisher review

 

 

Oct 24: Launch Party for Greenlight Bookstore in Ft. Greene!

It's happening. Greenlight Bookstore, Fort Greene's new independent bookseller is opening on Saturday. And they're inviting people to celebrate the launch.

Greenlight Bookstore is located at 686 Fulton Street (on the corner of South Portland) and is the brainchild of Jessica Stockton Bagnulo (Book Nerd) and Rebecca Fitting. They say they've got "a combined 25 years of experience in the book industry, an award-winning business plan, a great retail space, and a shared vision of bringing a fantastic independent bookstore to the neighborhood."

Take a look for yourself.

LAUNCH PARTY!
Saturday, October 24, 2009

* 10:00 AM: Kids' Story Time with Michelle Knudsen
* 7:00 PM: LAUNCH PARTY! Complimentary champagne...until we run out
* Giveaways and prizes for customers of all ages

Greenlight Bookstore
686 Fulton Street (at South Portland)
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(718) 246-0200
Subways: C to Lafayette, G to Fulton, any train to Atlantic/Pacific

June 2 at 7 pm: Ben Greenman at Community Bookstore

Hey, I just heard from Park Slope's Ben Greenman and he's going to be at the Community Bookstore tomorrow night reading from his new, much-praised book, "Please Step Back."

The Community Bookstore is on Seventh Avenue between Garfield and Carroll Street. There is sure to be wine and refreshments.

New Yorker editor and author Ben Greenman, whose new novel "Please Step Back" is earning acclaim for its vivid depiction of the life of a funk-rock star in the turbulent America of the 1960s, reads from his work tomorrow night, June 2, at 7 p.m. at Community Bookstore in Park Slope. All are welcome to attend.

The book has already earned advance praise from authors like Walter Mosley and George Pelecanos, as well as in many print and broadcast media outlets. Here are some recent highlights:

*"Please Step Back" was selected by Time magazine as a Book of the Week.

*It appeared in New York magazine's coveted Approval Index

*It earned a starred review from Publisher's Weekly, along with enthusiastic coverage from the Village Voice, Time Out New York, the Miami Herald, and other publications.

*Greenman appeared on the national radio shows "Studio 360" and "The Michael Eric Dyson Show."

For more information on the book or to interview the author, please contact Lauren Cerand at lcerand@gmail.com or visit pleasestepback.com.

Columbia Spectator: Community Bookstore is Whimsical and Cool

The Columbia Spectator says that Park Slope's Community Bookstore "is at once whimsical, colorful, striking, cool, and fiercely independent."

Nice. And they did a nice article about the store.

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/2009/04/30/book-lovers-feather-flock-park-slope-outpost

Tonight: Henry David Thoreau at the Community Bookstore

Wednesday, February 18th @ 7:30 p.m.
The Nonfiction Book Group discusses
Henry David Thoreau's Walden

You've heard of Walden, but have you ever read it? 

Tonight at the Community Bookstore join a discussion of one of the classics of American literature and nature writing!

 In 1845, Henry David Thoreau quit working at his family's pencil factory in order to begin a two-year experiment in simple living, building a small cabin outside of town and living a life of self-sufficiency. Join us for an evening of lively discussion as we explore Walden Pond along with Thoreau, and learn about the pleasures of "simplicity, simplicity, simplicity."

 

The group will be reading the Norton Critical Edition, which includes commentary and other related texts.

 

So Much To Do: I Made a List

TUESDAY: Reading  of the Community Bookstore Writers Group. 7:30 p.m. at the Community Bookstore. Also: Special events, coupons and restaurant prix fixes on Fifth Avenue.

WEDNESDAY: Special events, coupons and restaurant prix fixes on Fifth Avenue.

THURSDAY: Brooklyn Reading Works presents: Cupid's Arrow: Writers on Love the Old Stone House curated by Marian Fontana. With Elissa Schappell author of Use Me and the upcoming Blueprints for Better Girls; novelist, poet and editor of Teachers and Writers Magazine, Susan Karwoska; poets Ellen Ferguson and Ira Goldstein and memoirist, Mila Drumke. Marian will be reading an excerpt from her upcoming book.

FRIDAY: Joy Askew  and Pulse present Songs from the Hudson River. Pulse is a New York-based composers' federation dedicated to music that bursts through categories, unconstrained by convention. Their latest project is a song cycle in honor of the Hudson River Quadricentennial Celebration going on throughout 2009, Songs from the Hudson River features singer Joy Askew with a 6-person Pulse chamber ensemble in a dynamic melding of singer-songwriter and classical chamber music sensibilities. Each original song is inspired by historical, fictional, and contemporary life and communities on and around the Hudson River. Joy Askew is an accomplished singer-songwriter who has performed with Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Joe Jackson, Jack Bruce and others, and also leads her own band.

SATURDAY: Valentine's Day

Community Bookstore: Reading of Appallingly Amusing Memoirs

Tonight at the Community Bookstore, your favorite local, independent bookstore:

Tuesday, February 10th @ 7:00 p.m.

It has been said that tragedy is when you slip on a banana peel.

And comedy is when it happens to someone else.

 
Please join the resident writer's group of our own Community Bookstore

for an evening of appallingly amusing memoirs.

Featured readers:

Vinnie Collazzo

Donna Minkowitz

Matt Mitler

The resident writers group of the Community Bookstore have been meeting regularly for over two years.They work on fiction, non-fiction, plays, screenplays, essays, poetry, and memoir.

Photo by Pedro Viti on Flickr

NY Writers Coalition Reading at Community Bookstore and More

There's a very interesting event on Tuesday January 27th @ 7 p.m. at the Community Bookstore: The Hidden Chorus from The NY Writers Coalition.

What would Grandma Moses's poetry have been like? Or a Minnie Evans short story?  Join us for a night in recognition of "outsider authors" whose writings appear in the NYWC  second anthology.

The NYWC introduces a varied body of voices to literary discourse by providing free writing courses around the city for authors in seldom-published demographics (senior citizens, the formerly incarcerated, and the homeless, to name a few).

They tell us that fifteen of their workshop participants (six of whom are under 18) are coming to read from the collection. Wow!  Join us for an evening of Only In New York stories delivered in non-traditional literary style.

For more information, please go to: www.nywriterscoalition.org 

Wednesday January 28th at 7:30 pm: What a month! Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday on the 19th, the inauguration of Barack Obama on the 20th, and our Modernist Book Club meeting to discuss Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man on the fourth Wednesday, January 28th. Join us at the back of the Community Bookstore at 7:30 p.m. to engage in a lively discussion over this American classic. As always, the book is available for puchase near the cash register. Do visit the store to get your copy today.
 
And in February:

Monday, February 2nd at 7:00 p.m.: Rosemarie Hester, a local learning specialists, answers your parenting questions

Tuesday, February 3rd at 7:30 p.m.: Diana Spechler reads from Who By Fire

Wednesday, February 4th at 7:00 p.m.: Community Bookstore Knit Night!

Tuesday, February 10th at 7:00 p.m.: An evening of short fiction from the Community Bookstore's Resident Writers' Group

Wednesday, February 11th at 7:30 p.m.: Books Without Borders discusses A Mind At Peace

see the bookstore's website for more details!     www.communitybookst ore.net

New: Non-Fiction Book Club at Community Bookstore

Over at the Community Bookstore, they're starting the Non-Fiction Book Club.

Third Wednesday of Every Month @ 7:30 pm

Moderated by Debbie Everett-Lane debra.everettlane(at)gmail(dot)com

This club will read thought-provoking and entertaining nonfiction, both classic and modern. The books will be chosen on a common theme, with the club switching themes every six months or so. Every third session, a book will be paired with a movie shown at the bookstore – film first, then discussion afterwards.

The first theme is "Nature" and the book/film list so far includes:

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac (1949)

Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance (1982, dir. Godfrey Reggio, music by Philip Glass)

John McPhee, The Control of Nature (1989)

Jared Diamond, Collapse (2005)

Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma (2007)

The first event will be: Wednesday, January 21 at 7:30

You've heard of Walden, but have you ever read it?  Now's your chance to read one of the classics of American literature and nature writing! In 1845, Henry David Thoreau quit working at his family's pencil factory in order to begin a two-year experiment in simple living, building a small cabin outside of town and living a life of self-sufficiency. Join us for an evening of lively discussion as we explore Walden Pond along with Thoreau, and learn about the pleasures of "simplicity, simplicity, simplicity."

We will be reading the Norton Critical Edition, which includes commentary and other related texts. Though our discussion will focus primarily onWalden, feel free to explore these other materials also. The book will be available at your favorite local bookstore, Community Bookstore.

A Field Guide to Monsters: Googly-Eyed Wart Floppers, Shadow-Casters, Toe-Eaters, and Other Creatures

At the Community Bookstore on Thursday, October 30, at 5:30 there will be a lecture on the subject of Monstrology by world-famous Senior Monstrologist, Johan Olander, the author and illustrator of A Field Guide to Monsters: Googly-Eyed Wart Floppers, Shadow-Casters, Toe-Eaters, and Other Creatures.

The Where and When

October 30 at 5:30 p.m.
The Community Bookstore
Seventh Avene between Garfield and Carroll

LONELY HEARTS AND "PARIS, TEXAS" AT THE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE

The Lonely Hearts Valentine's Day party is on for tonight at the Community Bookstore on Seventh Avenue between Garfield and President. Stop in to see the red and pink themed party. They're also showing movies and serving red food.

Here it is, late Wednesday night . . . . . we're sitting around, talking about . . . . .oh, stuff, but tomorrow night, we're having this red and pink party. Sam Greenhoe has made sure the projector works, and we're scheming red food . . . . all we need is . . . . YOU! Please come.

It's silly, it's something to do. We have great movies (Love Story, Jules & Jim, Dr. Zhivago, Shakespeare in Love, Paris Texas*) We have good company. We have an awfully nice space. We have some red food (maybe you'll bring more?), and we have the great sincere desire to spend a nice evening together. No pressure, nice way to spend an evening . . . . please come?

Catherine, Rebekah, Abigail & Chris (Waltah, Lima etc)

* I have no idea what Paris Texas has to do with anything, but we have it. Much love

PARK SLOPE BOOKSTORE'S SUCCESS: LOCAL SHOPPERS AND TWENTY INVESTORS

The owner of The Community Bookstore has finally gotten around to her occasional newsy newsletter, The Slant. Here's the latest from Catherine Bohne. It's been a busy and exciting year since the store nearly went under. Bohne has much exciting news to report. Sales are up, inventory is up...Yay team!

The State of the Store. Hi Everyone! Greetings and salutations! The last time I wrote to you, almost one halcyon year ago, was to say that perhaps you’d heard we were in trouble (dire, grim, Dickens-worthy trouble), but not to worry (who me?), solutions were on the way. So many of you have been so kind, present, concerned, supportive, and often actively involved, that it hasn’t seemed urgent to sit down and actually write (haven’t I spoken to each of you, but recently?), but . . . it was one of my save-the-store resolutions of yester-year to be better about communicating. Here it goes, then – New Year, New Beginnings (autres temps, autres whatsits). So. The financial news is that . . . . (fingers crossed and all that, but ) . . . it seems to be working. No, we’re not totally out of the woods, yet – although our rent is generous (or whatever the opposite is, rent-wise . . . . restrained?) by Seventh-Avenue standards, it does tend to go up every year in the manner of these things, and we do have only two years to build up reserves & repair credit before we’ll have to refinance our current situation, and the ambitious benchmark we’re boldly setting is that the business won’t actually be sustainably healthy until we can afford health insurance, which we can’t yet (crazy that in this day and age that seems like the dizzying heights of success . . . . did someone mention Dickens?) – but we’re definitely seeing blue sky through the trees.

Sales are up! (no, seriously – 40% over same period last year – that would be thanks to you, methinks?), and accordingly, inventory’s up! (50% over last year!), and not only are there more books, but better books! Just last week we ran out of room in literature and had to go through and weed out every weird old thing (you know, those in the ‘how did this get here?’ category) and send ‘em back to make room for the good books. It’s incredible to stand in the doorway, and look around the store, see the shelves jam-packed, and be able to reasonably suppose that there isn’t one dingy book in here.

How did this happen? How is it possible? Twenty Advisors, who came up with a plan, a dozen Investors, who bravely decided to put their money where their home is, one amazing neighborhood, and the determined support of the Community. On behalf of the bookstore, it feels a bit like having been a Dodo, translated (oh, Bottom!) to a Phoenix . What next? And what can I say, but: Thank you.

THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE THAT COULD: IN THE TIMES TODAY

Good story in today's City section with a really nice pix of Catherine and others (is that Josh, THE Josh? and who's the other guy) in the back of the store.

I just wish the lizard had been more visible.

Here's an excerpt from the article about the beginning of the community crusade to save the bookstore from foreclosure last winter:

It was around this time that Erika Doering, a local interior designer, paid a visit to the store and found Ms. Bohne in tears behind the register. Ms. Doering went home, telephoned a dozen loyal customers and invited them to a meeting in which participants divvied up responsibilities. Within a week, Ms. Bohne and a local real estate investor named David Sweeny had drawn up a business plan for the store and contacted the bank to renegotiate the loan.

In April, an investment offering went out in which Ms. Bohne offered up to 49 percent ownership in the store to a group of friends willing to put up at least $10,000 apiece. So far, six people have signed up, including the actor John Turturro, a neighborhood resident and longtime customer.

“I’d never done this with a store,” Mr. Turturro said. “But now as I’m getting older, all these great small bookstores and art house movie theaters, so many things I love, are being swallowed up by a supermarket mentality.”

The business is not out of the woods. Ms. Bohne has yet to work out a payment plan with one of her biggest distributors, and as a result, some shelves are still empty. She is still seeking another dozen investors, and the bank loan will be up for renegotiation in three years. But sales have been running well ahead of projections, and Ms. Bohne’s de facto business manager, Mr. Sweeny, sees things looking up.

“It seemed, at first glance, pretty bleak,” he said. “The creditors were at the door. But at least for now, I’m cautiously optimistic.”

NOTE FROM "A LA MODERN" JOSH

Josh is back with the latest pick of the a la Modern Book Club (open to the public) at the Community Bookstore.

Just quick message to say that the a la Modern Book
Club has chosen Jean Rhys's WIDE SARGASSO SEA as its
next pick.  We'll be meeting to discuss it on
Wednesday, October 24th at 7:30 pm. 

It should be a really interesting meeting  -- this may be the first
book that will really force us to think about where
modern and postmodern collide in literature. 

You may want to brush up on some JANE EYRE, too!

I hope to see you then.  Wine to be served, as
always....

Josh

The bookstore is located on Seventh Avenue between Garfield and Carroll.

ON PUBLIC SPACE AND COMMUNAL LIVES

A nice note from Catherine at the Community Bookstore.

Weeeellll . . . guess summer's kind of getting to be over, so time to get back to the . . . no no no -- NOT the bloody grindstone, but . . . the fun business of steering this old ship?  Eh, well, whatever.  And there's plenty of Indian Summer left, anyhow.

 

Those of you who saw the City Section piece on the closing of Liberty House on the Upper West Side (started by Abbie Hoffman and the like to help finance the civil rights movement in Mississippi) may have been struck, as I was, by what one patron said:  "It was really sad, because it is one of the last places that had really expressed the values of the old West Side, which have literally disappeared store by store." (italics mine). 

Is it just me, or is it rising to the collective conscious that "stores" not only define the character of a neighborhood, but in some weird way serve as the public space in which people play out a big chunk of the communal part of their lives? 

Or, another funny anecdote which occurred to me . . . some years ago, certain stores were asked to put yellow stickers in their windows, which would indicate to children that if they were in trouble, they could go into such a store and expect to receive help.  We had one.

What strikes me as funny, now, is the idea that you'd need a sticker -- this place is more often than not positively heaving under a mass of children, all of whom don't seem to have a doubt in their mind but that the place is theirs -- part of their home . . . as, indeed, it is. 

And a last sweet one -- today there was a woman wandering around in here, taking it all in . . . "This place is amazing!" she said -- sort of barked it at me, as if maybe I didn't know.  Then she wandered around some more, and as if she couldn't take it in anymore, she came back and said again "It's amazing . . . " and then with a wail "I wish Manhattan had places like this."  Huh. 

JOSH AND HENRY MILLER AT THE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE

I do love Josh Millstein's updates about the à la Modern book club at the Community Bookstore. It's fun to participate vicariously and even plan on attending. That never quite happens. But it feels oh so civilized. And Josh sounds like such a nice guy.

Hello all,

 

The à la Modern had another wonderful meeting last Wednesday night.  We've also decided to move on from war and death to unadulterated you-know-what in the form of Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer. 

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday, September 26th at 7:30. I, unfortunately, won't be able to make it, but somebody from the bookstore will be there to moderate the discussion.  Or, if that's not possible, we'll drag in a random person off the street and force him/her to do it.  I do hope you'll be able to make it.  It should be a very interesting discussion, to say the least.

 

Hope you are all well.

 

Take care,
Josh

COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE HAS BIG PLANS FOR TONIGHT'S HARRY POTTER EXTRAVAGANZA

The Community Bookstore knows how to do the Harry Potter release party thing like no other. Here's a teaser of what to expect tonight.

The Community Bookstore's fourth Harry Potter Extravaganza is already defying expectations. With more than 500 costume and pajama clad fans expected to queue for block after block, the store is set to transform itself into a kingdom of magical wizardry on Friday at midnight. For each of the previous parties, we added more and more surprises," says Catherine Bohne, the Community Bookstore owner. But this year we've gone over the top! The pre-party party of lining up should be utterly wonderful. We have, not ONE, but TWO horses coming, and we are buying a ton of sparklers and other child-friendly pyrotechnics.” But that's just the beginning. After midnight, she explained, the store will be utterly incredible. We're adding a Dark Arts Center , a working Quidditch Pitch with flying balls, battling wizards and more surprises than ever.

Located in the heart of historic Park Slope, the Community Bookstore has been in operation since 1971 and is one of the neighborhoods most beloved institutions. Amidst a landscape of superstores (one just down the street!), the Community Bookstore serves as both literary epicenter and unofficial town square of Park Slope .

In the aftermath of September 11th, over 250 volunteers participated in relief efforts organized from this small but feisty store. Similarly, after Hurricane Katrina, Catherine, the staff and volunteers assembled and shipped vast cartons of relief supplies. The store is known for its integrity, staying power and commitment to providing connection to families, schools and local colleagues.

For more information:
Catherine Bohne, Community Bookstore Owner: Store phone- 718.783.3075
Jennifer Einhorn, Press Contact: Mobile- 646.872.0173

IN BRIEF:
PARK SLOPE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE HOSTS HARRY P. EXTRAVAGANZA
COMPLETE WITH WATERFALLS, SPARKLERS, GALLOPING HORSES, A KINGDOM OF DARKNESS & BIG SURPRISES!

143 Seventh Avenue (Between Carroll and Garfield Streets)
Friday July 20, 2007: Horses debut at 10:30, Store Opens at Midnight

COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE: HARRY POTTER PARTY PREPARATIONS IN FULL SWING

The preparations have begun for another Harry Potter release extravaganza at the Community Bookstore. The team there is trying to top their last party two years ago. That will be a tough one to top. But it sounds like they're taking this one to the moon. Here's the news straight from the store's owner, Catherine.

Greetings & Salutations, Everyone!

 

Just so you know, the battle plans are progressing nicely.  It's going to be an ABSOLUTELY AMAZING party.  I, and my dimunutive (sp?) helpers, started planning a couple of months ago, with the result that -- not what you might expect (that everything's totally prepared way ahead of time) -- everything's gotten exponentially more extensive and over-the-top.

 

If you've been to the last three parties, you'll know that we've added something every time.  But let me be the first to tell you, that this time we've gone seriously NUTS.  The pre-party party of lining up should be utterly wonderful. We have, not ONE, but TWO horses coming, and J.W.'s driving to PA tomorrow to secure a motherload of sparklers and other child-friendly pyrotechnics.  And that's just the beginning.

 

And for AFTER midnight, well -- the store's going to be incredible.  We're adding a Dark Arts Center, a working Quidditch Pitch (well, our version -- seriously crazy and fun -- flying balls.  No really.) . . . and lots of other stuff.  But I mean lots of other stuff (battling wizards -- REALLY!!!)  Well, I think it will all work.  As ever, it's all home-made, so you'll bear with us if some of it is a little bonkers?

 

ANYHOW -- the subtext reason for writing this is to say a couple of things:

Number One -- I wanted to make sure you all know that because we have so many reservations for the book, we're sadly limiting attendance to people who're getting the book (with their attendant guests/handlers/ house elves).  It's going to be a squeeze getting everyone in here, and it just doesn't seem fair for the people who are paying full whack for the book not get first shot at enjoying it all.  I, of course, wish everyone in the world could come, because it's going to be the most magical thing I can imagine . . . but there just isn't room.  It's going to be a squeeze, as it is.

 

Secondly, it's looking like we could still use some extra help, so if anyone wants to volunteer to be part of making all the magic, please call the store and talk to me.  We can always use more people with performing abilities to entertain the line, we could use a couple extra bodies to set up inside, and there's one or two things we could use help with, after midnight, during the party inside (anyone want to dish up Potions in Snape's Dungeon?).

 

Finally, if anyone out there knows (or are) journalists, we'd kind of love for the party to get covered.  It should be amazing, and it seems a pity not to have it reported.

 

Okay.  That's it for now.  Thank you so much for your excitement and enthusiasm.  It's great to have such support and encouragement for the unleashing of our imaginations . . . .

 

See you then!

 

Much love,

Catherine.

                                       

 

DEATH BY CHICK LIT: READING AT THE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE

This book is fun -- great first page. Got this email from author Lynn Harris about her reading on Thursday, June 28th at 7:30 p.m. Community Bookstore on Seventh Avenue near Garfield.

Forgive me if you've gotten word of this more than once; I'd blame a computer glitch, but frankly, I've just been disorganized. Anyway, I'm letting you know/reminding you about my reading/signing of DEATH BY CHICK LIT this Thursday, June 28th 7:30 PM at Park Slope's beloved Community Bookstore on 7th Avenue between Garfield and Carroll. Would love to see you there / have you join me in supporting the best of the indie bookshops! Many thanks. Lynn www.lynnharris.net

GOOD NEWS FROM THE COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE

Here's the latest email from Catherine Bohne, owner of the Community Bookstore. It is FULL of OPTIMISTIC NEWS. We're glad to hear that because we can't wait for this summer's Harry Potter release party, which will surely be as great as all the others.

Hi Everyone! Greetings and salutations! I’m delighted that I can begin to counterbalance the various waves of gloom we accidentally unleashed about the store back in February (I think it was in February?). As many of you know (but in case you don’t), an email I’d written in a dark moment (and stupidly forgot to delete) was accidentally forwarded to . . . oh, 1,500 people. Some of the recipients then forwarded said email to yet more people, and . . . ugh.

    A word-of-mouth panic was started!

    The dark moment had to do with facing up to the fact that the store, despite how lovely it often is here, wasn’t on a path that was ultimately fully functional, and I’d sort of gotten to the end of my tether as far as feeling like I had the resources (either money-wise or emotionally) to deal with it. Those two things are facts. The store needed some help, and I was exhausted (it was February, which I’ve always maintained is the cruelest month). Well.  As my father once said (after listening to my sixth grade orchestra concert) – It’s an ill wind that blows no good. This is Park Slope, and we are amazing!

    The word went out that the store was in trouble, and before you can say anti-corporate- monopoly, the wagons were being circled. An amazing group of professional (and impressive!) people have stepped in, appointed themselves a pro-bono ad-hoc (ipso facto and hey presto) Advisory Board, and have been combing through the details of the store . . . and guess what?! There’s light at the end of the tunnel! We’ve just been suffering from classic small-business problems (under-capitalized! ) and are working to implement the more-than-several solutions we’ve come up with together. It’s actually really exciting! So stay tuned as we unroll new stuff.

In the meantime, you can help! Some of you have already been buying gift certificates – this is a great help, as it can be a way of directing new people to the store (just this evening, I overheard a woman saying to a friend “Can you believe, I’ve never been in here? And I live around the corner!”) and it feeds us much needed cash, which we can magically transform into books on the shelf! It’s also worth noting that blank gift certificates which are bought and then donated to a non-profit organization become magically tax-deductable!

You can also help by spreading the word about the things we do and services we offer that make us competitive – I’m afraid I’ve been kind of lousy about tooting our horn over the last few years, and let people forget (if they ever knew) lots of things about the store. Do people know about our Frequent Buyer’s Club (often referred to mysteriously as “that thing”), which is free to join, requires no dopey card that gets lost or left at home or in your other coat pocket, and offers $10 off every hundred dollars spent (making it, I suspect, a more generous discounting than the chains do generally – you actually don’t spend more, shopping here).  Remind them about how magical it is to go into a bookshop where the books are hand-picked (like so many fat, low-hanging grapes) with intelligence (!), a sense of adventure, humor and curiosity. How about the Mystery Book Swap which lets you cart home mysteries for a buck a piece (good for a lazy, cheap weekend!). Did you know that we can have titles drop-shipped from our distributor’s warehouse to anywhere in the country (just like they-who-must- not-be-named) ?  You can use us to send books all over the place, and we discount ‘em too!. (And shhhh . . . . in a couple of weeks we’ll be unveiling a new chunk of the website which allows even more sophisticated orders . . . but that’s a secret).

One of the most important, long-term ways you can help is by spreading the word about supporting local businesses. I think most of us choose to live here because in some way we love the human scale of the place – the beauty of the streets (and what a relief to be somewhere where it’s tacitly acknowledged that beauty matters, has meaning and is important), the friendliness (or when not friendly, charming eccentricity) of the neighborhood, and the freedom from the faceless monolithism (which is NOT a word, but you know what I mean) that seems be thriving almost everywhere else.  Well, yeah. Park Slope is lovely. It’s charming and it’s warm, and it’s livable. Quirky and full of character. Presumably, we’d like to keep it this way? You know where I’m going with this. It’s simple:  The places where you spend your money will survive and prosper, and their character will thrive and spread. I have every confidence that you are making those choices (heck, you’re reading this!). But gently remind people, if you hear them sighing or despairing . . . it’s easy enough to begin to take control of your environment. You just have to start. With choices.

A COMMUNITY BOOKSTORE CHRISTMAS: GLAD TIDINGS OF JOY

I found this on the Community Bookstore website. It was written by Catherine and I found it moving. It was in the messing about/anecdote section of the web site.

Yesterday, it began . . . the holiday craziness. We should, of course, be nothing but grateful, but . . . there is this peculiar insanity, too . . . all-in-all, it can be a little frightening. But in the midst of it, the white-haired lady pushes hesitantly through the door. I don't know her, don't know her name. Don't remember, when she first appeared. It seems as though she's been here for ages, but time is strange, here.

A year or two ago, I realized that the chaos which was organizationally the bookstore at the time had invaded the store itself. In an effort to look after the dots and dashes of the finances of the place, to cut expenses, slash this and that, make the place profitable, the place itself had gone to seed. It was looking sorry. There followed a massive clean up campaign. We sorted out clutter, repainted things, basically tried to trim the store as well as we could, as well as you would trim a ship you were setting out to sea, to see, in. And at some point, after we'd begun to approach being a little less embarrassed, the white-haired lady turned up. She crept in the door, quiet and shy. I thought, even then, that she looked familiar, but perhaps she wasn't. A gentle lady, perhaps Irish, not a shred of color in her hair, pretty . . . and she would always head to the mystery section. And eventually, she came in one day, when the place was particularly serene, quiet music, good smells, calm and orderly, and she sort of cornered me, so that I was afraid (oh dear, what does she want?) and she said "It's BEAUTIFUL.  It's so beautiful, here."  Perhaps she's a bit batty?  Perhaps she's who I'll turn into?  Because all of her heart was poured into it:  It's Beautiful, she said, and looked as if she'd like to cry.

So I'm fond of her. She seems to have no need to impose her personality, to be known. Just every once in a while, she comes in, and always stops to say "God Bless you. It's so wonderful here." And you know, when our income continues to drop, month by month, year by year, these notes of appreciation are pearls, are gems. Are treasure, to be hoarded.

Yes.  It is beautiful here. 

So yesterday, in the midst of all the insanity, of the beginnings of peoples' frantic buying of things, I see the white-haired lady push in the door. She's carrying a branch or two of pine, and in spite of the three dozen things I'm trying to organize, keep track of, at once, I am happy to see her.  I think How wonderful, to see someone with palm branches, how gorgeous, old ways are. I think, even, someday, I will be that woman, who still remembers, and I remind myself, too, to be her. Deck the Halls. Deck the bloody halls, and remember beauty.

I am so grateful, to her, for existing.  For being this tiny, gentle, shy woman, with her white hair, and her branches of fir.

I turn back to the Melee.  And then I hear her, speaking to young Abigail, who's only just started here.  "Can you ask her," she says (meaning me), "If she can use these?  They were given to me, for free, and I thought . . . if she could use them . . . "  And . . . . she's brought the branches to me . . . to this place. Gorgeous branches of fir, smelling sharp and clean, and like every holiday I've ever dreamed of.

Glad tidings.  I don't even know her name. Glad tidings of joy. -- Catherine Bohne, from the Community Bookstore website

 

CALLING ALL COWGIRLS AND COWBOYS

PARENTS OF WOULD-BE COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS, OR ANY CHILD WHO HAS EVER CELEBRATED A BIRTHDAY....

 

This Saturday (the 28th) at 3pm, local children's author David Ezra Stein will give a reading of his book, Cowboy Ned and Andy. Not only is the book a gem, but Mr. Stein promises that a delightful time will be had by all--he's got lots of fun stuff to do with the kids.  Here is a brief description of the story: Cowboy Ned and his horse, Andy, spend a hot, tiring day driving cattle.  That night, Andy listens as Ned reveals that tomorrow is his birthday and bemoans the fact that his family is not there to celebrate. Unable to sleep, the horse decides that the man must have a cake and heads into the desert to find one. After asking assistance from a singing cricket, a wide-eyed owl, and a grouchy scorpion, Andy comes upon the lonely house of an old cowboy. He cannot provide a cake, but he helps Andy to realize that the best thing to have on your birthday is a friend to share it with. As the sun rises, the horse gallops back to camp to give Ned a birthday hug.

 

So we hope you can take a moment out of your busy weekend and come and sit and relax and listen to a wonderful story by a talented young writer. Again, that's this Saturday, October 28th, at 3pm....

 

Here is an excerpt from a review from the School Library Journal:

 

"Stein's language is simple yet expressive. The old cowboy's voice is described as soft, like hooves on sand, and owl wings, and the movements of dust. These images stir the imagination and also evoke the story's action and setting. Done in ink and watercolor, the cartoon illustrations make the most of the Western landscape, depicting a pale gold daytime sky, a soothingly blue moonlit night, and a multihued sunrise. Thick lines highlight the characters and background objects, providing contrast to the fluid colors. Andy is the star here, and his equine features comically convey concern, dejection, and, ultimately, happiness. A satisfying tale of friendship."

 

--The Community Bookstore