Blub… glub… cough…

Hello all, and let me just announce that I am now officially a soggy bottom girl- that is to say, I mean- jeeeeeeeez it’s wet outside. After running around for what seemed like hours but may have been more like really long minutes (after all, I don’t have fins,) I think we’ve finally located all of the leaks, spouts, drips and floods. You’ll be happy to hear- we didn’t lose much! So, now that you know the books are safe we’ll move on to what is clearly the most pressing question:

The cats!!!! Where do the cats go when it rains?!?!

Well most of them stay in doors ya silly geese. They curl up together on the couch in the Military room. Those of you who have been in the last few months may have noticed the trio of cats that can usually be found together in the cold and wet weather: a calico, a tiger, and a black cat. They are as follows: Mrs. Howell, Tiger (of course) and Frankie. Howlie and Tiger being two of our oldest cats. They curl up in the wet weather I imagine for warmth and companionship, and yes, they get along quite well. You may even consider bringing your camera the next time you visit.

Other areas of refuge include the bell tower, which most of you may not have noticed. As you come in once you pass the buying tables and are about to travel up the stairs to the main barn, pause at the bottom of the steps and look straight up- you should see a tower with a bell attached to the top. There is a small enclosure located at the topmost point right under the bell, and it is very warm, very safe and very dry. Many of our cats will crawl in there to hide even on nicer days. You may also notice it’s surrounded with ivy, which truly helps to add to the solitude of such a wondrously out-of-the-way place.

Other than that our cats can be found all over the store, whether they’re sleeping out in the open on the chairs you wish you could sit in, or walking right above you on the ceiling rafters, just waiting for you to stay still long enough to hop on your shoulder. That being said, most of them prefer to stay dry…

EXCEPT for our Evinrude. Who, contrary to popular belief- is not called Evinrude because of his purr (which isn’t really very loud at all,) but because he cannot stay away from water. Whether it be pond water full of fish and frogs or just plain pouring rain like today, Evinrude will immerse himself fully, come back inside to gorge himself on anything edible, only to bound back outside and meow pitifully at anyone who passes by. Do not be fooled! There is in fact a cat door, and he is, in fact- a goon. But our goon, nonetheless.

So- I guess it’s going to be raining for the next couple of days, but if you feel like visiting ourselves and our books and our cats, we’ll be here. Not rain nor snow nor… nor… um.

We’ll be here!

So just grab a raft and sail on over, to the bookstore at the bottom of the sea.

As mentioned in a previous blog, we’re trying to wind down on some of our video stock: with that in mind, from now until Sunday November 29th, ALL VIDEO TAPES WILL BE TWENTY-FIVE CENTS APIECE. Here’s a great chance to fill in some gaps in your collection or take a shot on that movie that your friends insisted you’d love but which fills you with doubt….
Also, from Monday, November 23rd, through Sunday, November 29th, we’ll have hundreds of current travel books on sale for a dollar or two. We’ve picked up a big load from Lyons Press and would like to move them quickly–here’s a chance to discover that place you didn’t know you really wanted to go…..
Move quickly!

Times change, and the Book Barn lumbers along, trying to keep up. We’ve noticed that both movies and books on tape have not been selling very quickly for us, and we are pretty much going to leave off buying them. The exception would be for the old Hollywood classics of the Bogart-Wayne-black and white period and rare or interesting foreign classics. Books on CD and movies on DVD are still welcome, but the tapes are going to be phased out.
Just in, after the big collection of needlework and crafts books of a couple of weeks ago, is a nice shelf of books on history of the American West. Come take a look. Pardner.

Please to note. As many of you know, the availability of cash for buying books varies from season to season. From November 1 through March 31st, you will be able to sell books to the Barn for cash on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays only. On Thursdays and Fridays you’ll be able to sell for store credit but NOT for cash. Do be aware.
And now, for those of you who think of us as a quaint, folksy, not-quite-in-touch-with-today’s-technology, old fashioned bookstore, we announce that we have a splendid new commercial on our website, visible under the “Neat Stuff” heading, and devised by Daniel White, our inspired website designer and man in charge of reminding us it’s the twenty-first century. Take a look.
And for those of you who PREFER us as an old-fashioned harbor of book-lovers and Luddites, we just got in a nice shelf of the old Gray Walls Press Crown Classics and Falcon Prose Classics, those charming old five shilling standbys of British readers–poetry and prose selections by British authors from Dryden to Surtees. They’re on a shelf in the main lobby and I’m betting they go quickly. Please come buy them before I do.

Anglophile alert! Many good things newly on the shelves. Many volumes of the Oxford History of England, at four dollars apiece. Several volumes of the annual Age of Johnson, the yearly collections of scholarly articles on the good Doctor, including such titles as “Horace Walpole’s Abuse of Samuel Johnson”–an amusing notion, consdering Johnson having been just about the all-time master of the unkind remark. And there’s been a splendid couple of shelves of biographies and studies of the Bloomsbury Group–ideal if Leon Edel is your favorite bedtime reading or you’re fond of people named Geoffrey (Grigson OR Keynes). Good stuff. Come take a peek.

Well, a LOT of embroidery and needlework books–probably the best lot we’ve had. It’s all in neat piles in the upstairs craft room, at least until SOMEONE STREWS IT ALL AROUND (grumbly Glenn mutters to himself). Also some excellent new art books, and a really exceptional lot of poetry books written by contemporary women. Come take a peek!

If you’re coming in this weekend, check out the display tables down in the courtyard. Randi just pulled in a great cadge of books on knitting, fashion, gardening and medieval history. (Bravo for our clientele’s varied interests.) It’s good stuff. Come take a look. Come buy! Our shelves are sagging, bursting, burdened, buried. We have a lot of books. Come buy, come buy!

Just a quick update to let everyone know that with the opening of a third store we were able to expand some sections. First and foremost of all of these is the Sci-fi section, which got a grand make-over at our downtown store. It’s now in a recently remodeled backroom, which consists of new bookcases, a lovely new carpet, and what feels like about a billion more books. With the recent addition also of air-conditioning, and the chance that you may catch Lagaan in the cd player when you stop by, you really don’t want to miss it.
The cookbooks also received a make-over, as have Westerns, which are now also at DT and Business, which is back where the Kid’s room used to be.
BUT WAIT!
OMG!
You say,
WHERE DID THE CHILDREN’S BOOKS GET TO?!?!?
Woah. Don’t panic. Let’s all have a Douglas Adams moment and breathe in… and out. Alright- ready for some good, no, great news?
Children’s has moved right down the street to Midtown. And it is worth seeing. Also air conditioned, this beautiful new store still smells like pine and fresh coffee since it is less than three months old.
Coming soon to the new store once Fall hits us: Horror, fiction (extension) and Large Print.
Yeah baby. Come check it out.

‘Cause if you haven’t, you really should. Remember when the Teen section was a free standing bookcase upstairs next to psychology? Or when it was in the outhouse on the porch of the Last Page? No more! The Teen section has been upgraded- under the blue awning on the porch of the Main Barn- and we don’t even have to share with Military anymore!

The NEW Teen Section now includes:

Teen fiction

nonfiction

memoir

reference

manga/anime

graphic novels 

and

 gaming guides and walkthroughs.

And boy, is it worth seeing. Not only does it have its own room positively packed, wall to wall with loads of really neat books, but we’ve been getting SO many more Teen genre books this summer. Charlie Bone? We got it. Alex Rider? Got that too. Meg Cabot, Joseph Delaney, Laurie Halse Anderson, Eoin Colfer, Rick Riordin, Kenneth Oppel… yeah. So we have books, so many books! Come and take a peek, you won’t be disappointed

Just remember- the Teen Section is for teens of all ages, which means we do have some books that are definitely meant specifically for older readers. When you come visit, feel free to come to me, or any staff member, with any questions about age appropriate books and/or recommendations.

If you know you’ll be visiting:

Feel free to contact me through the website e-mail @ book.barn@snet.net, just put my name (Darcy) in the header and let me know if you’re looking for any books. We can put them aside if you’ll be coming in within a couple of days of the message.  Also, feel free to send me an e-mail with thoughts on your recently read books, recommendations for other readers, and if you just read something you thought was brilliant- let me know and maybe I can give you something else along the same lines.

Coming soon: a bulletin board for thoughts and shared messages.

Now go finish your summer reading reports you crazy kids. And good luck on the ‘ol, goin’ back to school- I’ll be right there with you, just a few years further down the line. And in between your boss fights and episodes of Metalocalypse, I hope you’ll remember: Reading is totallys metal.

You’ve seen the to-ing and fro-ing, you’ve seen the boxes and bags and crates and carfuls of books being moved, you’ve heard the noises of carpentry coming from the alley….and now, lo, it is open: Book Barn Midtown! Where is it? If you turn right out of our Downtown store, go one block and then turn into the right-hand alley just as the train tracks cross Main Street, you’ll find us, busily shelving books, putting up new shelves, and just generally creating a new space for you to hunt books in. At the moment it’s a work in progress, but then the Book Barn is ALWAYS a work in progress. We’re going to be stocking some of the mysteries (paperback and hardcover), romances (paperback and hardcover) and children’s books (chapter books and picture books). Never fear, there will still be lots of mysteries, romances and children’s books at the main Barn. From there, who knows? We’re open to suggestions and always looking for helpful input. Come on down and take a look around…it’s all great fun.