The Bestsellers of 2012

It's always fun, at the end of the year, to run our bestsellers report. It rarely mirrors the national bestseller lists (you'll find 50 Shades of Grey falling square in the middle of the list, rather than up at the top), but instead reflects the books and authors we have admired and welcomed to Hardwick through the year. All but two of the authors of our top 10 books gave readings at the store this year!

The topic of food continues to dominate our local reading lists, and there was an exciting race for our number 1 book of the year--Bethany Dunbar nosed ahead by one single copy to take the title from Ben Hewitt during the last week of the year!

Without further ado, here are The Galaxy Bookshop's Top 20 Bestsellers of 2012:

1. Kingdom's Bounty, by Bethany Dunbar
2. The Town That Food Saved, by Ben Hewitt
3. The Great Northern Express, by Howard Frank Mosher
4. The Lepine Girls of Mud City, by Evelyn Grace Geer
5. The New Feminist Agenda, by Madeleine Kunin
6. Are You My Mother?, by Alison Bechdel
7. True Colors, by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
8. Paradise City, by Archer Mayor
9. The Greenhorns, edited by Severine Von Tscharner Fleming, et. al.
10. Vermont Wild: Volume 3, by Megan Price
11. Stand Against the Wind, by Chris Braithwaite
12. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E.L. James
13. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
14. Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch, by Constance Hale
15. Park Songs, by David Budbill
16. Falling Upward, by Richard Rohr
17. The Bear That Heard Crying, by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
18. Privacy, by Garret Keizer
19. Life Everlasting, by Bernd Heinrich
20. A Wedding in Haiti, by Julia Alvarez

Celebrating Vermont Children's Authors!

We are very excited about our upcoming Vermont Children's Author Celebration, which will take place on Saturday, December 15th, from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. We are hosting this event as a fundraiser for the Jeudevine Library, which provides our community with access to books, technology, and programming for all ages free of charge.

We are honored to welcome 6 men and women to represent the large and illustrious group of children's authors who hail from our state, writing books for readers of all ages.

Katherine and John Paterson have recently collaborated on a spirited retelling of the 1910 fantasy, The Flint Heart. Katherine Paterson is the two time winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award and author of numerous novels, including the classic Bridge to Terabithia. She and John live in Barre, Vermont.

Linda Urban’s most recent novel, Hound Dog True, was named a Kirkus Best Book of 2011. She is also the author of A Crooked Kind of Perfect and the picture book Mouse Was Mad. She lives with her family in Montpelier, Vermont.

David Martin began writing after having children of his own and making up stories for them. He is the author of fourteen picture books, including Let’s Have a Tree Party and All for Pie, Pie for All. He lives in Lyndonville, Vermont.

 

Jenny Land teaches English and creative writing at St. Johnsbury Academy and works on farms during the summer. Her debut novel, The Spare Room, is set in Vermont during the Abolitionist movement, prior to the Civil War. She lives in Peacham, Vermont with her husband and twin daughters.

Jo Knowles, winner of the 2005 PEN Literary Award, has written three novels for teens. Background for her most recent novel, See You at Harry’s, came from the time her parents ran a restaurant and ice cream factory called Kellers’ Restaurant. She lives in Vermont with her husband and son.

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This event will take place during Hardwick's Holiday Happenings, so be sure to take a stroll around town, before or after visiting with our authors, to enjoy sales and events hosted by other local merchants!

Get to know your booksellers: An interview with Diane Grenkow

Diane Grenkow has been a customer of The Galaxy Bookshop since the beginning, or close to it. Now, as a member of our crack team of booksellers, she can be found behind the counter on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Here's a little more about Diane, in her own words:

On your nightstand now: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, Smouldering by Mark Cox, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, Searching for the Sound by Phil Lesh, Wild Delicate Seconds by Charles Finn, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison, The Nazi Doctors by Robert Jay Lifton… this is a small selection of the books teetering on the nightstand right now.

 

Favorite book when you were a child: Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards.  I wanted to find a garden like the one in the story more than anything.

 

Book that changed your life: On the Road.  I was already living on a school bus and traveling around and then I read On the Road.  Maybe it didn't change my life so much as reinforce it.

 

Person who had the biggest influence on your literary life: Place that had the biggest influence:  Goddard College 1989-1993.

 

Five books you would want with you on a desert island: The River Why by David James Duncan, Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, Secrets of the Universe by Scott Russell Sanders, Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter.

 

Biggest literary crush:  I can't give this away.  It would be too embarrassing.

 

Book you can't live without: How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.  I must look in there at least once a day for something or other.

 

Best thing about being a bookseller: When the books come!  Opening the boxes of new books for the store or the ones that people have special ordered or the advanced reader copies -- it's like Christmas every single time!

 

Is there anything else you would like us to know about you? I really don't mind when you come in and you say, "I'm looking for this book?  I don't remember the name of it.  Or the author.  It sounded really interesting though…" and then I say, "Can you give me anything else to go on?"  and you say, "Um, I think there was an H in either the title or the author's name or maybe the name of the person that interviewed them on NPR?  Do you think you could find it for me?"  I LOVE THIS.

Get to know your booksellers: An interview with Edgar Davis

How well do you know the people who welcome you to The Galaxy Bookshop and help you find that "just right" book you came in for? Edgar Davis is the third in our literature-inspired interview series that we hope will give you some insight into our booksellers' minds--or at least our personal bookshelves. You'll usually find Edgar at the bookstore on Friday mornings and alternating Saturdays.

On your nightstand now:  The Best American Mystery Stories of 2012, Paradise City by Archer Mayor, Alberic the Wise by Norton Juster, and Looking at Philosophy by Donald Palmer

 

Favorite book when you were a child: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess

 

Book that changed your life: As a Child: Green Eggs and Ham, as a teenager: Salem's Lot by Stephen King, as an adult: The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley, and in middle age: Three Uses of the Knife: On the Nature and Purpose of Drama by David Mamet.

 

Person who had the biggest influence on your literary life: playwright/essayist David Mamet

 

Five books you would want with you on a desert island: 

1. Three Uses of the Knife (David Mamet)

2. The Martian Chronicles(Ray Bradbury)

3. Any art book featuring the work of Cubist artists

4. Any art book featuring the work of Surrealist artists

5. Green Eggs and Ham (Dr. Suess)

 

Biggest literary crush: Stephen King

 

Book (s) you can't live without: Three Uses of the Knife by David Mamet, Black Betty by Walter Mosley, and The Best American Noir of the Century edited by Otto Penzler

 

Best thing about being a bookseller: Exposure to a wide variety of books and helping to get those books into the hands of book lovers

Is there anything else you would like us to know about you? I love to get things "right".

Get to know your booksellers: An interview with Marisa Neyenhuis

Our second bookseller to be interviewed is Marisa Neyenhuis, who came to us with a glowing recommendation from her former employer at Chapter One Bookstore in Hamilton, Montana. Marisa is a woman of many hats who takes time from her other jobs to spend Thursday afternoons at The Galaxy bookshop.



On your nightstand now: A whole slew of galleys that I have the best of intentions to start, Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, Messenger by Lois Lowry and The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman.  I also have a stack of The New Yorker that I have been fully neglecting for the last month.

 Favorite book when you were a child: This is a tough one. I loved the Chronicles of Narnia series, the Anne of Green Gables series, The Phantom Tollbooth, and the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series too. Not to mention the hundreds of picture books my parents read to me before I struck out on my own. There are too many good books to choose just one!

Book that changed your life: Wally Lamb's first book, She's Come Undone, inspired me to be a vegetarian from ages 16-26. There was a passage in the book equating meat to rotting flesh and it struck a chord. I didn't eat meat in earnest again until my 2nd time living in Texas. Turns out, Texas is way more fun if you're a carnivore!

Person who had the biggest influence on your literary life: I think my parents began reading to me before I had even left the womb and they were always happy to buy me a new book any time we went to the bookstore. When I started working at Chapter One Bookstore in high school all my co-workers were great about recommending new books that I wouldn't have thought to pick up on my own. They loved pushing my literary boundaries.

Five books you would want with you on a desert island: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Blankets by Craig Thompson, The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Indian Creek Chronicles by Pete Fromm and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst (This is my go to book on a bad day and I bet there are bad days on desert islands, too.)

Biggest literary crush: Johnny from S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders. When he died, I could not stop crying.  I first read this book right when I was starting to notice boys and Johnny was a very safe crush, unlike all the boys roaming the halls of Daly Elementary School.

Book you can't live without: The book I always go back to, at least every other year, is The Giver by Lois Lowry. I suppose I could live without it, but I don't know if the world would be as nice of a place.

Best thing about being a bookseller:  Spending time in bookstores is such a joy that it's a dream come true to get paid for it!  There's also the thrill you get when someone comes back to let you know they loved the book you recommended and that they're recommending it to friends.

Get to know your booksellers: An interview with Sandy Scott

Welcome to part one of an interview series with our booksellers! The first under the spotlight is Sandy Scott, which is only fair since, with the exception of Linda, she has been a Galaxy bookseller the longest (11 years) and is also the one who is making everyone complete this interview.

On your nightstand now: John Saturnall's Feast, by Lawrence Norfolk; Mrs. Queen takes the Train, by William Kuhn; The Center of Everything, by Linda Urban; and The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, by Catherynne M. Valente. What would be more difficult to list are the books around my nightstand, which are numerous and encompass everything from stacks of parenting books, to stacks of ARCs I've brought home with good intentions of reading, to stacks of picture books for my daughter's bedtime storytime.

 

Favorite book when you were a child: This is really tough, but probably Miss Jellytot's Visit may have been the one that I read the most times over the greatest amount of years. It was an ex-library book from the '50s that we must have picked up at some sale, and it was about a little girl who decided to pretend to be a glamorous grown-up visitor in her parents' house for a whole week.

 

Book that changed your life: Another tough one--different books influenced me in different ways--but the book that changed my life as a bookseller was The Shadow of the Wind,which was one of the first books I read as an adult that completely captured my imagination, just as the books I read as a child did. It was also the first book that I rabidly hand-sold to customers, and there was a real thrill in handing people my favorite new book, then having them come back as excited about it as I was.

 

Person who had the biggest influence on your literary life: My grandmother gave me books by some of her favorite authors throughout my childhood, which gave me an appreciation for the witticisms of Oscar Wilde, the Gothic romance of the Bronte's, the intricacies of the casebooks of Sherlock Holmes. She encouraged and fed my love of reading, and I will always treasure the books she gave me.

 

Five books you would want with you on a desert island: The Forager's Harvest, The Lord of the Rings, Jane Eyre, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (I've only read a bit of Shakespeare, and this seems like it would be a good time to catch up), The Norton Anthology of Poetry.

 

Biggest literary crush: Mr. Rochester. I can't help it--I know he's a bit of a jerk, but all his glowering and stalking about and audacious declarations of love still make me swoon.

 

Book you can't live without: Probably The Joy of Cooking. I can't remember a recipe more complicated than scrambled eggs, so I always have to check a reliable source for measures, temperatures, and times.

 

Best thing about being a bookseller: I love meeting people, talking with customers and other booksellers about the excitement and pleasure of books. Plus, opening boxes full of new books continues to be a highlight of my job.

Is there anything else you would like us to know about you?

I love a good pun  (or even a mediocre one). I believe that few situations cannot be made better by a good book and a cup of tea.

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 4

It was brought to my attention that I missed posting Marisa's summer reading list, so on this Indian Summer day, here's a bit of summertime (or, really, anytime) reading for you:


1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
An otherworldly circus, open only at night, is the setting for a duel between two young magicians. The imagery is amazing and the story compelling. It's a hard book to put down!

2. Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks

Budo is the imaginary friend of a boy named Max. He gives us the inside scoop on what it's like to be an imaginary friend and a close look at the trials and tribulations he goes through to save Max's life, at the risk of his own.

3. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I got so attached to the characters in this novel that when I was through, I seriously considered starting over again. A novel about baseball, family, friends and love.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
In this futuristic dystopian novel, 24 children ages 12-18 are pitted against each other in a televised fight to the death. It's now a movie but as is often the case, the book is better.  It's worth a read, even if you've already seen it.

A few other books I liked: The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai, Cutting for
Stone by Abraham Verghese and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving
by Jonathan Evison.

I also read Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Half the time I loved it and the other half I felt like "accidentally" losing it so I wouldn't have to read it anymore. Some classics make me feel that way. I know I'm supposed to like them, but sometimes it's hard.

Attica Locke's novel, "The Cutting Season"

Locke's novel is a superb, multilayered, historical/mystrey/thriller. If you like female heroes, courageous but troubled single mothers, African-American history, Louisiana and the trouble caused by the discovery of a dead body, you will love this book. The story protagonist, Caren Gray is a law school drop-out who returns to the sugar plantation-turned tourist attraction where her mother worked and where she spent her childhood. Branded as a failure by the father of her nine year old daughter, Caren is not so much a quitter as she is a person that wants to impose her will on her own life story instead being subject to the wills of others. Her troubles are compounded when the body of a latina migrant worker is found in a ditch alongside the road that divides the ancient  plantation grounds from the cane fields. It is also rumored that the slave quarters that still stand are haunted by the ghosts of her ancestors. I highly recommend this book.

--Edgar

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 3

The next bookseller to weigh in on the question, "What did you read this summer?" is Sandy Scott.

My summer reading list is shorter than I'd like, but I've managed to get
a few good books under my belt. My favorites have been:
1. The Borrower, by Rebecca Makkai, which is a novel about a 26 year old librarian whose involvement in a young patron's life leads to an unplanned kidnapping.
2. Seraphina, by Rachel Hartman, a young adult fantasy with a main character who pulled me right into her story. Seraphina is a talented musician whose world is built on an uneasy truce between humans and
dragons, who are able to shift into human form. With the 40th anniversary of the original peace treaty approaching, tensions are high and a dangerous secret that Seraphina guards is threatened with discovery. Excellent writing, fascinating dragons, and a strong female lead character should appeal to fans of the Eragon series and Kristin
Cashore's Graceling trilogy.
I've also enjoyed Tina Fey's Bossypants; Archer Mayor's forthcoming novel, Paradise City; Privacy, by Garret Keizer; Penelope, by Rebecca Harrington; The Diviners, by Libba Bray; and Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead.

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 2

Diane Grenkow is the second bookseller to ring in with an answer to our "back to school" question: What did you read this summer? 

Here are some of the books I've read this summer.  I really did read The Pickled Pantry even though it is about pickling and doesn't really tell a story exactly.  Except maybe the story of summer.  I read it cover to cover anyway and stuck slips of paper in where there are recipes I want to try.  It turns out, it would have been easier to mark the ones that I DON'T want to try.  I have been reading Anne of Green Gables books to my daughter and wishing we could run off to Prince Edward Island.  My son suggested I read the Ranger's Apprentice series and I'll admit I picked up the first one just to be nice because he asked me to.  Then I couldn't put them down and neglected the things that should have been pickled because I was too busy reading the whole series.  Whoops!  The Man Who Quit Money provided food for thought about how to live one's life and how to relate to money and what we do to get it and keep it that might not be in our best interest.  I love Archer Mayor and Toni Morrison, whatever they write.  Birds of a Lesser Paradise, a collection of stories, and Wild took me places the way you want a good summer read to take you.  Right now I am reading Louise Erdrich's forthcoming novel, The Round House.  It tells a brutal story but I'm completely taken with it so far.

Bookseller Summer Reading: Part 1

Hey! We're back! And we're turning a (virtual) fresh page on the blog with a new series of bookseller Q&A.

For the first question, we're tweaking the quintessential "What I did on my summer vacation" a bit and asking, "What did you read this summer?"

Our first answer comes from Edgar Davis, who has two books to recommend:

Blonde Faith, by Walter Mosley, is part of the Easy Rawlings Detective Series which includes Devil in a Blue Dress and Little Yellow Dog. This installment deliver the same detailed, imaginative and introspective narration from the story's hero, Ezekial Rawlings, a private-eye and Korean War veteran who makes his home in the L.A. of the 1950's, 60's and 70's. While using his detective's skill  to aid a member of of his close-knit African-American community, Easy's own life becomes complicated when he's abandoned by Bonnie, the love of his life.

The Devil's Storybooks, by Natalie Babbitt, is a delightfully collection of fables written with a rare combination of light-heartedness and sharp wit. The tales are both funny and profound. A good book for anyone from 13 to 30.

Busy weekend ahead!

This coming weekend, May 26th and 27th, is a busy one for the Hardwick area. Saturday is the 62nd Annual Hardwick Spring Festival, beginning with a 5K run at 9 a.m.; parade at 11:00; and an outdoor exhibitor and vendors fair, rides, food, and games at Atkins Field until 4 p.m.

Before or after (or during--we have a great view from our window!) the Main Street parade, visit The Galaxy Bookshop, take a look at some of the wonderful new books filling our shelves and browse through our sale bin for some great finds.

While you're in town, or perhaps the following day, you can also take advantage of Open Studio Weekend, visiting a number of local artisans and galleries that will feature beautiful handmade items for sale, and in some cases demonstrations and sales.

In addition to the Vermont Crafts Council website linked above, more information about both events can be found on the Hardwick Area Chamber of Commerce online calendar.

Time for another party!

We strongly believe in having parties--period. We had a party to celebrate the announcement of our move, a party to move the store, and a party to celebrate our re-opening. This month, we have another reason to celebrate: the gorgeous mural that Tara Goreau designed and painted for us has been installed! Over the past few months, we've heard numerous creative suggestions for decorating our walls, and each time we were mentally rubbing our hands together with glee, thinking, "Oh, just you wait and see!" Well, the waiting is over, and the artwork is even more amazing than we could have imagined. A whimsical view of Hardwick overhung with a sky of sparkling constellations, full of so many imaginative details that it can take multiple viewings to notice them all; this painting is, itself, a celebration of books and reading and community.

Join us this Saturday, May 5th, from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. to to toast Tara and her work!

Review: Oh, No, George!

Every dog--and every kid--knows that the best intentions can be blown to the wind in the face of temptation, and this is what the hapless hero of Oh, No, George! discovers, time and again.

" 'Yes,' says George 'I'll be very good.' I hope I'll be good, George thinks," when Harry steps out for a little while. But, "Oh, no, George!," the lure of a cake, a playful cat, and a garden bed prove too strong to resist. How will the poor, disgraced pup redeem himself?

Using a vibrant palette of reds and purples, author/illustrator Chris Haughton paints George and his antics in an abstract style that allows the characters expressions to shine through, eliciting both laughter and sympathy for this well-meaning pooch.

Haughton wrote a fantastic, well-illustrated, blog post about the process of writing and illustrating this book, from conception to layout. Click here to read all about it!

The League of Vermont Writers 2012 Literary Competition

Calling all writers: The League of Vermont Writers (LVW) has announced its 2012 Literary Competition!

This year's theme is "My New England."

Categories are Fiction, Personal Essay, and Poetry.

Entry fee is $15 per submission.

Deadline for submission is May 15, 2012.

The Final Judges are David Budbill, Ron Powers, and Howard Frank Mosher.

Grand Prize is $1,000 (one prize awarded for each category) and an opportunity to read the winning selection at the LVW's Summer Conference, as well as publication in the Leagues 2012 Journal!

For more information about the contest and guidelines, visit the LVW website.

The Further Adventures of Scout and Jem

For everyone hoping for an update on Jem and Scout, our former bookstore kitties, we are happy to share some of the poetry they have inspired their new owner to write. From the sounds of it they are having a ball!

Morning Grand Prix

By Rick Eschholz

I suspect that the spirit of the late Brazilian
Formula-One champion, Ayrton Senna,
overtakes my two cats briefly at exactly
five-thirty every morning. That is when
they kick into high gear. A spectator
in the grandstand that is my bed, I hear
them flying around the house. Their
cadence, paws alternately gripping
for braking power and then the bite
of acceleration, tells me that now they
could only be circumnavigating the
distinctive turns of Interlagos, the setting
for, perhaps, Senna’s most heroic win
in the Brazilian Grand Prix of ninety-one.
After a gearbox failure left him with
only sixth gear, Senna collapsed at the
end of the race. His muscle spasms
visible on the podium, he could
barely lift his trophy overhead.
My cats, too, slump the rest of the day,
and collapse on the couch in the sun,
their calm demeanor belying what comes
out at dawn, what rests in the heart of any
champion: something fierce, untamed, wild.

Check back for future installments of 'cat-inspired poetry!'

Moving Day

It's hard to believe that we've been in our new space for a month already! So far, things are going very well. We continue to move and add things throughout the store, so keep coming by to see what's new since your last visit!

We had such an amazing show of support from our customers and neighbors in Hardwick throughout our moving process. Sadly, some of the photos taken during our move were lost in the bowels of a computer, but here are some wonderful images from the weekend before and day of the move to Main Street. Photos are by Diane Grenkow and Elena Gustavson.

[slideshow]

Moving On

By Sandy

Moving The Galaxy Bookshop has been a challenging and exciting process, but for me, it is also tinged with some sadness. I have never been good at dealing with changes--I will always remember crying over the loss of our brown and green plaid couch when my parents decided it was time to upgrade from the hand-me-down furniture from Great-Grandma's house. Though I am very pleased with our new space, both for its location and its features (beautiful hardwood flooring, vaulted ceiling, wonderful front window with stage area...), I miss the "old" Galaxy Bookshop.

It's natural, I suppose. That bank building was my second home for the past 10 years, and though many of you will remember former incarnations of the bookstore, I only have a vague recollection of visiting the shop as a kid when it was originally on Main Street. To me, The Galaxy Bookshop was the bank building, with its vault and "story teller" drive-through window and tin ceiling and marble floor and fiction shelved in the tall shelves--'A' through 'R' along one wall, with 'S' through 'Z' on the opposite wall--and children's books in the back room, the first books to welcome me to work each morning.

It didn't really hit me until the night before our book parade that this move was really, actually happening, and the bookstore that I had come to know as well as any friend was gone. Not--as I have been reminded--truly gone, but the physical store will never again be the same. When I drive into town to get to work, I now drive by the old store and feel a pang, wishing that I could turn into the parking lot, unlock the tricky back door, unlock the second door, and walk in to be greeted by the familiar smell and the shelves of books on adolescence and parenting issues.

There are a few things that cheer me very much when I begin to feel sad and nostalgic, though. One: The Galaxy Bookshop may look very different, but it's still here! Linda and I and Stella and Claire are here, along with Howard Mosher and Lydia Bastianich and Terry Pratchett and Jim Harrison and Charlotte Bronte and Eric Carle and a thousand other old friends on the shelves. Two: Standing in front of the crowd that showed up to our book moving day and seeing all of those friendly faces looking back, then witnessing the enthusiasm and excitement with which everyone pitched in to help us get set up in our new spot. Three: Greeting people as they walk through the door with wide eyes and words of congratulations. This is where the spirit of The Galaxy Bookshop lives, and no change of address or rearranging of shelves will change that.