Deep Thoughts

Welcome back from Thanksgiving, everyone!

I hope you all had an uncomfortably delicious holiday. While you're recovering with your leftovers lunch we have a few items to share with you:

- Teen Librarians, please join us next Tuesday (12/4) for the Association of American Publishers' first ever Children's and YA Tri-State Book Buzz! There will be goodie bags, galleys, breakfast, and good times. RSVP now!

- Nancy Pearl named SHINE SHINE SHINE by Lydia Netzer one of her top ten favorite reads of the year! SHINE SHINE SHINE was also one of my favorites. See Nancy's full favorites list here.

- The paperback of Talia's tell-all memoir is coming out in January, so be sure to check that out...

"Big Stone Gap is truly, madly, amazingly beautiful."
—Wendy Welch, in THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE OF BIG STONE GAP

"Hold up... IS THIS PLACE FOR REAL?!"
—Me, in the doorway of the little bookstore of Big Stone Gap

Dearest librarians,

I have returned alive and unscathed from my weekend field excursion to the Tales of the Lonesome Pine Bookstore, a magical little mansion-turned-bookstore in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. Well, to be totally honest I'm a little scratched up thanks to an overly-playful kitten (I'm looking at you, Owen!), but below the love-scratches I'm all gushy and glowing inside.

I happen to know the dapper fellow who has been bookshop-sitting while bookstore co-owners Wendy and Jack are traveling the country on book tour. I've been bugging him since day one for pics, updates, and the stories behnd the stories, but eventually I had to haul myself down there and experiece it for myself.

There are few things more satisfying than heading downstairs for coffee in the morning, passing by tens of thousands of books ready for reading, and settling into a big, comfy chair with a lapful of unearned affection from a horde of well-loved pets. The coziness factor is completely out of control! Everyone is so freaking welcoming! There are a suspicious number of cats napping in all the right places!

In fact, the more I remember from my trip, the more I think I never went to Virginia at all. I probably just visited my local REKAL branch and had my perfect weekend getaway implanted in my memory.

Wendy and Jack have admittedly had their ups and downs moving into a small town and opening an independent bookstore. You can and should read all about their journey in Wendy's memoir, but the home/business/animal sanctuary that they live/work/play in today is straight out of a book lover's dream.

If you're ever in the area, do yourself a favor and stop by.

Giveaway!

UPDATE: This contest is now closed. Congratulations to winner Melissa Gray from St. Paul Public Library!

We're also giving away a signed copy of THE LITTLE BOOKSTORE OF BIG STONE GAP to one lucky librarian and I just extended to the entrance deadline until this Friday. Details here!

Ladies and gentlemen, the Flatiron is powered up and Macmillan is officially back in action post-Sandy!

Our hearts go out to everyone who was and still is affected by the hurricane. We wish you all the best recovering safely and returning to normal.

We're having some e-mail recovery delays today. Please feel free to resend urgent e-mails from the past week. We appreciate your patience while we get back on our feet!

UPDATE:

We're still not receiving external e-mails. Even if you do NOT get a bounce back notification, it's likely we will not receive your e-mail today. Please feel free to call Ali at (646) 307-5486, comment below, or tweet at @MacmillanLib.

Despite the troubles, it was great to walk in this morning and see that the lights are on, the water's running, and the Publishers Weekly's Best Books 2012 issue is out! They compiled a great list and we'll start by applauding four titles that we're delighted to see in the Top 10:

BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel

THE PEOPLE WHO EAT DARKNESS by Richard Lloyd Parry

ALL WE KNOW by Lisa Cohen

DETROIT CITY IS THE PLACE TO BE by Mark Binelli

See the full 2012 Top 10 list here. We'll be making noise about the rest of the best later this week!

Please stay safe and we hope to hear from you all again soon!

Happy Friday, librarians! We have two videos for you to cue up and enjoy over your lunch break today.

The first video is an episode of "Book Lust with Nancy Pearl" featuring Nancy in conversation with memoirist Paul Auster in which they talk about his latest, WINTER JOURNAL!

The second video is Shelf Awareness' Book Trailer of the Day for WE KILLED: The Rise of Women in American Comedy: A Very Oral History by Yael Kohen.

Be warned: The video itself is less that 2 minutes long, but time might get away from you as you spend the next few hours looking up clips from all your favorite comediennes...