Baker Street Books in Black Diamond is closing this Sunday, April 22, forever. I am heartbroken about this, but even worse is the fact that the owner, bookseller Bob Charles, fell off a ladder early last month and broke several vertebrae in his back, and has had to have surgery. While he's been ill, Deanna, a friend of his, has run the store and has been selling the books at 50 percent off. She has decided to have a potluck fundraiser for Mr Charles from 1-5 pm on Sunday, and I plan to attend, though I don't think I will be able to donate any money to the fundraiser to offset the cost of his health care. But I can bake and bring something and wish him well. Recently I cam across this blurb about the Bodhi Tree bookstore in California that closed recently, and it expresses just how I feel about Baker Street Books closing its doors.
"Bodhi Tree was a place of serendipity. For many of us it was our first choice for gift buying. Not only was the selection marvelous, but the store had a strange way of fitting you with the right gift at the right time. If you were sensitive you didn’t have to ask for help. As you explored you would be drawn to that perfect gift. The book someone most needed to read." Ronnie Pontiac
Wow, a musical based on a Stephen King novel? I'd love to see that!
Stephen King's first theatrical venture, a musical titled Ghost Brothers
of Darkland County
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz13174522,
held its world premiere last week at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta,
the Telegraph reported. The production, which features music and lyrics
from John Mellencamp and musical direction by T Bone Burnett, runs
through May 13.
"I wanted to try something that was a little bit risky and something
that was outside my comfort zone," said King. "We are way out there. We
are risking our necks on this. For this show, we wanted a place that was
cosmopolitan but not out of touch with country roots, and Atlanta looked
to me like the middle of the bullseye."
A Ghost Brothers of Darkland County album, produced by Burnett, will be
released later this year, with tracks by Elvis Costello, Kris
Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal and Rosanne Cash.
I found this bit to be hilarious, from Shelf Awareness:
"You claim to be friends with a friend of mine, but that friend of mine
hates you. (+$100)." In a New Yorker "Shouts and Murmurs" piece, Adam
Mansbach tackled the thorny issue of book blurb requests with a "Dear
Novelist" letter and "new, comprehensive pricing system
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz13196903."
Even though his tongue is planted firmly in cheek (more or less), the
list could still send a few shivers up the spines of many a
blurb-hunting author.
I didn't really need another reason to love Portland, Oregon, but this is a great idea for a bookstore:
Among the Huffington Post's "six quirky reasons to fall in love with
Portland http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz13174498"
is Reading Frenzy http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz13174499:
"As much as you gotta love Powell's City of Books, the largest independent bookstore in the world, Portland has an even quirkier bookstore just a block away from
the 1.6-acre original. Started in 1994 in the office of an auto body
shop, Reading Frenzy specializes in self-published and independent
books, comics and graphic novels. It also offers workshops for aspiring
artists and publishers, particularly in the anarchist and social
commentary vein, as well as art openings, the first being Dishwasher
Pete's collection of macaroni and cheese boxes, and its own Show & Tell
Press."
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