Over the weekend we pulled in a huge load of books, so once again, we need you to come buy them. An enormous load of hardcover detective novels and thrillers is still coming out of the boxes even as I write. A great batch of colonial and post-colonial American history, as well as a good batch of titles on the history of slavery. Bulletins at any second…as usual.

Dear Customers. We need your help. We are buried in art books! Just got in an entire bookcase of terrific art books, much on Russian art, many topics, and lots and lots and lots of them. You must please come and buy art books. We are drowning. We need the shelf space. It would be a kindness. And you’d know so much about art! Likewise, a large and serious library of Christian studies–serious theology, reference, history, much of a Russian base–has landed with a large thud and is still being unboxed. Much unusual stuff, many unusual titles–excellent for serious study. Now’s the chance! Come quickly. Buy books.

The Barn is honeycombed with sections reflective of our determined individuality and left-handed sense of humor. Some sections are scholarly and useful: Medieval and Renaissance Literature, for instance, Downstairs with the Medieval History, running from Mandeville to Margery Kemp, the Decameron to Tirant Lo Blanc; or Arthurian Literature, from the ancient grail romances to current retellings, reference books and studies. And some begin to shade into the left-handed humor realm, like a section of Vamp Lit, the current craze for Vampire romance novels, labelled “Books That Bite”. Downstairs again we have Wealth and Glamour, or Lifestyles of the Painfully Rich. Our nice selection of books on Napoleon Bonaparte is labelled “That Pestiferous Little Corsican”. Part of our Sixties History bookcase is marked “Radicals, Anarchists and Other Troublemakers,” for those in hunt of Hunter S. Thompson, Noam Chomsky, and those other folk who insist on telling us that all is Not As It Should Be. In the Downtown store, we have Rationalists, Skeptics and Other Killjoys; you know, the people who look unimpressed when you tell them that the Beast of Goom is in your cellar, drinking your Diet Coke. We have shelves of Cryptozoology–Bigfoot and his oft-photographed brethren–marked as “Odd Beasts and Beings” and “Funny Weird, Not Funny Ha-Ha.” One of the fun parts of working at the Barn is getting to run wild while labelling the shelves. So come run wild yourself–within the bounds of law and decorum, of course.

Did you know that periodically (and by periodically I mean several times a week,) we travel all over the state to pick up interesting lots of used books to bring back to the store? For instance, a few weeks ago we picked up a huge lot of Religion and Art books, some of which were in Russian. Two weeks ago we picked up an enormous bunch of books on Environmental Science, Botany and Entomology. And just last week we grabbed a lot full of Egyptology. Our store’s inventory is always changing and expanding, so be sure to visit as often as possible, because these lots we pick up in our down time are in addition to the thousands of books we buy on a daily basis- and we buy a wide and varied amount. Anything from James Patterson and Luanne Rice, to Neil Gaiman (the entire set of Sandman came in TWICE in the last month) to specialized Science, Art and Cooking. 

Next Monday night we will be heading out to grab a lot of about 3,000 like new Mystery, Science Fiction and Horror. When we pick up books like this we usually go and scan the lot first… (can you say field trip?!) and then schedule a date to go back for it. Then we round up a group of eager Barnfellows to go and box box box. Usually we’ll have new stock out and priced within several days of receiving, so you can start scanning the store for this material as soon as Tuesday afternoon. 

Hope to see you soon!

Just a heads up- the teen section is fit to burst full of books, and it’s more than doubled in size for those of you who haven’t been since last summer. Come and check it out, we’ll send you away with stacks and stacks!!

First things first: Mo and her helpers have done epic work getting all the gardens redesigned and planted, and they’re looking wonderful. Buds and blooms everywhere. Come take a look.
And while you’re here, please buy books. Lots of books. They’re coming in at full-summer tide and we need your help. Civil war buffs–loads of stuff in stock! Just got in a phenomenal (or phenomenological) bunch o’ philosophy, Heidegger, Husserl, many standard authors. Followers of the Dharma, the Buddha Book Boat has landed–some three hundred titles just in, more still being unpacked! So hop on down, a lot of this stuff will fly. And take time to smell the flowers.

We used to think of the winter and spring as, you know, the quiet times. Remember those days? Nowadays the winter particularly is for projects: rearranging, rebuilding, rethinking, rewiring, the works. Anyone visiting right now will find a lot of work has been done in the last month. Bookcases are being rebuilt left, right and central in order to squeeze more books in. Browsers in the Barn basement will notice Denny and Chuck’s work as master carpenters: the whole left side of the floor has been rearranged, rebuilt, relit. It means, among other things, that Randi doesn’t have to get Glenn anything for Christmas, ever ever again. So if you come in and things look a little different in places, it’s not illusion.
Certainly books have been coming in by the truckload, carload, cartload, bagload, boxload. A big collection we just finished unloading had a great selection of American history, and almost the entire series of the Library of America in slipcase, which we’ve put out for $8 apiece. (Ha! Beat THAT.) Art books, music biographies (best lot we’ve ever seen–composers only Aaron and Jimmy have heard of), art books, etc. etc. Loads of books in all categories coming in every week. Come make space on the shelves.
Last note is a sad note. Many people had fallen in love with Mosby, the bull mastiff puppy we adopted back in the fall. He suffered from a spinal problem common to large dogs, which reached his breathing centers, and he passed away a few weeks ago. We’ve had many kind and sympathetic remarks and we appreciate them all. Mosby was one of those great eager goofball dogs who charmed everyone who met him, except for a few people he knocked down by accident. We’re going to miss him terribly.
The summer is now upon us like a mack truck. The crew of students we had last summer is back in force, for which the full timers are on their knees crying hallelujah. Come in, browse, say hello, buy a book, eat a cookie. The gardens are sprouting.

As promised: a little info on how to subscribe to our blog.

When you link to our page at www.bookbarnniantic.com and select the option available mid-page to view our blog, it brings you to the main blog page.

Once you are there, you should look up to your toolbar. Located within the toolbar is a small orange icon with white lines running through it. Click on this, and it should bring you to a text only page with the option of linking to us for an RSS Feed. If you have a Mac., the option to link to an RSS Feed should be in the scroll bar, right after our url.

If you are not familiar with RSS Feed, it’s basically the option to receive an email every time we update with info. about the store.

If you comment on our blog (and we hope you do,) then the comments you leave must first be approved- but should be available for viewing within a day or two of your submitting them. If you ask a question via the blog rather than the email, a response will also be available within a day or two.

Thank you! And please ask if you have any further questions!

Hello all! I just wanted a chance to write about how sunny and warm this weekend is going to be! The perfect weather to visit a used bookstore, don’t you think?  

If you’re coming, here are some things you should know:

Our layout has changed a little! The basement was recently remodeled, and the foreign language books are now downstairs- I’ll let Glen write more on that later. 

The goats will be out! Many who have visited in the recent snowy/rainy/cold months have noticed that the goats haven’t been around as often to eat the corn they’re offered. Today they will definitely be out, and most likely eating corn by the handful. 

We support letterboxing! So if you’re on the hunt, there are actually quite a few in the Niantic area!

We’re just two miles away from Rocky neck, it may not be time to swim yet, but Rocky Neck is great for hiking too. 

We’ve got tons of little nooks and crannies near ponds with plants and fish- so feel free to lose yourself somewhere for a while while you’re getting lost in a good book. Enjoy the warm weather!

Have a great weekend, and we hope to see you soon!!!

C is for cookie! And cookies we have! Cookie Monster, eat your heart out.

Yesterday at the barn we had a chocolate chip cookie bake-off between several staff members- and without going into too many ooey-gooey details, there were seven cookies overall to judge from.

We here at the barn have monthly bake-offs featuring different key ingredients or themes each time. Because of our desire for delicious food stuffs- we bake a lot. And because here at the Book Barn you never know what you may walk in on, the next time you visit you may just open our front door to the mouthwatering aroma of a bake-off.