The End of the Year and the Line

This is going to be another very personal post, so hang with me.  While Booknotes hasn't had the exactly best of years, it has come to the point where we cannot stay in business in its current form.  Therefore, sometime in 2019, Booknotes will change or possibly close for good.  Among the reasons for this is my desire to go back to school.  I have been taking some online graduate school classes, and I am hoping to transfer to a program with actual physical classes.  When this happens, I will be leaving the area, so I would do longer have a direct association with the store.  I am looking into various means of keeping the store open as long as possible, though.  One possibility is merging with another local business, or even outright selling it to someone else to keep it going.  There is the chance that the store will go online only, but that might not be a viable option without help.  Until then, Booknotes will try to continue as it has.  Weekly updates to the new releases will be posted, as will the blog on every other week.  New material will appear on our Facebook page.  (We are all but ending posting anything new on Google + as the platform will be ending soon itself.)  I, and Booknotes, would like to thank all of our friends and longtime customers for your help over the years, and we would like to continue this as long as possible.  Here's to a new year, and see you in two weeks.

The Most Confusing Time of the Year

In case you missed it, we had to change some of the upcoming book notices.  Apparently, a title got pushed back a few weeks, but we didn't know about it until after we published.  Part of the reason is that we don't update our own lists as frequently as we should.  The dates we used to create our own list was from early October.  We hadn't updated it since.  Therefore, we didn't know that the on sale date had changed until we had already put it up.  this sort of thing actually happens a lot, but we don't always realize it.  Unfortunately, we couldn't change anything any sooner.  You may also notice that we only put up one new book for the next week.  While there are dozens of new hardcovers coming out, this was the only one that we felt had any merit to post.  We might be wrong, but we usually are.  Things have been hectic this week.  We had to close early one day and open late on another due to deliveries and appointments.  One delivery was a special treat from Adrianna Trigianni for those who ordered her latest book from us.  Also, Monday, December 17 will  be the last day to place an order with us to guarantee delivery for Christmas.  We might be able to do something after that, but we can't be sure it will be available and/or be delivered on time.  So, place those orders now!  See you again in two weeks.

Shopping and Name-Dropping

It is that time of year again, the time for holiday gift shopping.  Unlike many locations, Booknotes chose not to do anything special for 'Black Friday' this year.  We prefer to keep regular store hours that day.  Also, we weren't finished with decorating the store yet.  We always seem to take longer than necessary to finish up.  Someone, not the author, always seems to take their time in doing their part of the work.  Anyway, we aren't running an actual sale either.  However, we might be able to offer some special discounts on some of our products.  Furthermore, many of our books are already discounted: books of the month (currently cooking), older titles, special subjects.  We were hoping to have a big event by the end of the year, but this is looking unlikely at this time.  Adrianna Trigianni just published her latest title, Tony's Wife, but we won't be able to have her return by the end of the year, at least at this time.  We should have some signed book plates to apply to your copy. though.  Oh, the person who always messes up the decorating might be mentioned in the book's acknowledgements.  We have yet to independently confirm this though.  More on it when we can.  See you again in two weeks.

How to Read Greatly in America

It was recently announced on the PBS program, The Great American Read, the results of a months long poll. The winning book of that poll was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Time to get personal.  I have never read the book.  Oh, I have tried a few time, but I could never get into it.  There was just something a little too poignant about it.  Maybe I tried to read it at a time that I really wasn't into such deep thoughts.  I don't know.  All I know is that no one has been in asking about it, or any the other top choices.  We handed out dozens of free bookmarks to customers and browsers.  When we got a second batch of bookmarks, we even left some at a local library, mostly just to get rid of some of the excess.  For some reason, no one around here was that interested.  In all honesty, neither was I.  While I had many of the books and series that made the final selection list, I just wasn't able to keep up with the hype.  In a previous post, I even mentioned my trepidations about this entire project.  It didn't really help out here.  Just too many people don't do book stores anymore.  At least this one.  I don't know.  Maybe it is just my own feelings clouding the issue.  Things have been going not as good lately.  Sorry about the depressing turn.  Hopefully, the next post will be more upbeat.  See you in two weeks.

Christmas in October. or Early November

Although Halloween is still just a few days away, it is time to start thinking about Christmas.  Most of the new Christmas books for both children and adults are already out, although many places might not have them prominently displayed.  In fact, we already have a few ourselves that we won't put out until after Halloween.  We still have a few children's books for Halloween we want ti try and sell, first.  We have always had a great selection of children's Christmas books.  Every year, we would have a selection of older ones we still like mixed in with some new ones.  We have had a few problems over the years.  Last year, we had many special orders for a new tree shaped book that had a musical chip in it that played a song.  While we probably shouldn't have, we tested out the books to make sure they worked.  Not all of them did, even after we changed the batteries out (this was mostly done to books that were already being picked up).  We wound up having to return many of them, and hope to get replacement books that worked in time for Christmas.  Things worked out, but we aren't thinking about getting more musical books this time around.  There aren't any new ones anyway, that we can confirm.  Check our social media pages for pictures very soon.  Until next time, have a good Halloween.

Eighteen Years and . . .

This past weekend was the eighteenth anniversary of opening Booknotes.  Unlike many of the past years, we did nothing to celebrate the event.  Normally, we would have at least had a sale, but this year we didn't.  In fact, because the date fell on a Sunday, when we are usually closed, we did not even feel like doing anything special.  The past year has not been that good of one for us.  We weren't able to have any huge events these last few months, although there is an extremely small chance we could get Adrianna Trigianni back for her new book next month.  We haven't been able order new books as frequently as we would like to, either.  We are just not getting enough special orders anymore to do so on the same schedule we once did.  Just recently, Google announced that it was ending its social media platform Google +.  It was our first presence online, but we never were to really exploit the possibilities as we should have.  Our presence will continue there, even though we have removed some on the links to it on our site.  Truth be told, we are not sure how much longer we will be able to keep the store open.  We will be here through the end of the year, but we don't now how much longer after that.  We will continue as long as we can, as we are this area's only independent book store.  We greatly appreciate all of our customers support, and we hope to do so as long as we can.  See you in two weeks.

They Say It's Your Anniversary

Although this isn't our usual week to place a post, it would be remiss of us not to mention that it is our anniversary coming up.  On October 7, 2000, Booknotes opened for business.  It has been an unusual eighteen years, but it has been a pleasure.  In next week's full post, we will talk about what has been and what to expect from us in the future.  See you then.

It's Beginning to Look Like Autumn, Sort of

Well, we have started changing the look of the website again.  We are adapting the color scheme to a more autumnal palette.  We haven't gotten everything quite the way we want it yet, but that always happens when we do this.  We used to change the color scheme on a more regular basis, but for continuity sake, we kept the blue and grey scheme for a few months now.  Sure, we added a few images here and there, but for the most part, we have't been keeping up with the seasons.  One reason is that it is just so hard to find the original scheme after so many changes.  Also, we have been busy with other things, so site design went by the wayside, a little.  Hopefully, we will be going full Halloween by the time of the next post.  Speaking of the next post, it will be on the weekend of our anniversary.  Eighteen years.  Be prepared for some choice memories next time around.  Until then, see you soon.

Falling Behind, Falling Ahead

Hopefully, we will have everything done soon after this scheduled post is online.  Things have just gotten behind lately.  Part of that is the fluctuating wi-fi at the store.  Downloading has slowed down a lot recently, especially for pages with high interaction, such as graphics.  Wait times have increased by minutes.  Anyway, that is the reason why we haven't set up our YouTube page yet.  Uploading a five minute video can take over half-an-hour.  We don't know if that is typical or not, but we will be setting up the site using a different  connection, just to see if things speed up any.  We are also finished decorating the store for fall, not Halloween, that will be done later on.  The pictures of the store will be up soon too.  The digital camera just needs some more batteries before we can take all of them.  We don't know when we will be able to post them, but be on the lookout for them.  While the overall themes stay about the same on a year-to-year basis, there are some little tweaks here and there.  We will have quite a few more pics than we normally do, if all things go as planned.  Well, that's all for this time.  See you again in two weeks.

An Apple, or Three, a Day (or Every Other Week)

The latest edition of our 'Making the Logo' videos will be online about the same time this will be published.  We would love to have you see these clips here, but they are just a little too long to be part of the post.  We aren't really sure why.  So, you are going to have to check our Facebook page if you want to any of them.  But maybe not for much longer.  See, we are planning on starting a YouTube channel featuring not just those clips, but possibly other scenes of dry-erase marker art created by this author.  It would by under his (and by that I mean my) name.  It is just taking a bit longer than imagined to find the time to figure out how to upload everything and get things started.  We are just hoping that the upload times are better than there are for Facebook.  Each of the first two clips were around five minutes long, but they took over a half-and-hour to upload.  We aren't sure if it is our internet connection or if it is just the natural length of time.  Having a computer doing nothing but uploading for that long is not that helpful.  Still, it would get are messaging to a wider audience. We should have something up by our next regular update.  Check back then.

Where the Books Are, Seriously Where Are They

Last week, we received a very large special order.  The books weren't available from our primary distributor, so we had to go through our secondary one instead.  We have been using then since we opened, so we thought that there wouldn't be any problems with ordering through them.  The books were due this past Wednesday, but they never arrived.  We called the distributor to find to what the problem was.  It turned out there were quite a few.  Since it had been almost a year since our last order, they were slightly suspicious with our new order.  Admittedly, this had happened once before, but the problem was easily taken care of.  However, we had the further problem of going over our maximum order size.  Somewhere along the line, we were given a maximum daily order of about two hundred dollars.  This current order exceeded that, but a bit.  We had place an order that was above the limit before, but that may have been before the changeover.  Anyway, we didn't have that information in our records and the sales representative that took our order over the phone either didn't mention it or didn't know we had the limit.  The distributor had tried to call us.  Unfortunately, they were using the contact number we had set up before we had an actual storefront.  For some reason, they hadn't updated to the number we have been using for the last eighteen years.  This is the  number we used not only to call them for information, but the one we used to confirm our identity when using their recently discontinued  phone ordering system.  Why they weren't able to use this number is beyond us.  They finally emailed us, just before closing time the day before the books were scheduled to arrive.  The person in charge of our business email didn't get to read it until after we called to see what the problem was. (She had overlooked it because she didn't closely read the message header). They originally were going to have to look over our financial records, before they were going to release the shipment.  We didn't want that.  We also were unable to use a business credit/debit card to pay for the books upfront.  Finally, they released the books on our own account, but with the thinly veiled warning that a third party collection agency might have to be called in if we weren't able to pay. The customer had already paid us in full, so the money was available.  As of this writing, the books are in shipment and should be were soon.  We still use many services from this distributor, even though we may have problems in placing another order form them.  We will still use them for as long as we are in business.

Write Now and Then

For who knows how many weeks in a row, we really have nothing to talk about.  Nothing is happening at the store, and nothing looks like it will be happening in the upcoming future.  This is the primary reason why we are going to cut back on our posts.  Why write a post if there isn't anything to write about.  There is another reason why we will be cutting back, and it is personal.  Starting next month, I will be taking online graduate school courses to get my Master's in English.  I am not sure how much time it will take for me to finish the work for each class, but it will probable cut into the time I allow for writing this blog.  Since I also write two other, more personal, blogs, I felt that something had to give, and this blog was the one that had to go.  We will still update the rest of the site on a somewhat regular basis, depending on what needs to be done.  (I totally forgot to change things for Independence Day.). The Upcoming Books page will be updated weekly, while I hope to continue posting pics of the monthly Upcoming Releases board.  We will still post on our social media pages, although we have been ignoring Google + a little too much.  Hopefully, we will even have a short post here.  As of right now, I am planning to post on the second and fourth week of every month.  If I can convince someone, we might even be able to have a fill-in for the other weeks.  Anyway, I am sorry I have to cut back, but it is for a good cause.  See you in two weeks,  or so.

Delays Were to Be Expected

Let's go right down to business.  We sort of messed up last week.  We wanted to post a video in last week's post, but it was too big for the site.  We had to post it on our Facebook page instead.  We wanted to post it on other social media outlets, but we haven't yet.  Why?  It took over thirty minutes just to upload the video the first time.  We really weren't expecting it to take so long for such a short clip.  Seriously, it is just over a minute-and-a-half long.  We just couldn't find the time to post it elsewhere.  Anyway, check for it there.  We also have finally post some extra pics from last year's Adrianna Trigainni signing that we weren't able to until we updated some of our technology.  It was really quite simple, with the right computer.  While preparing for this week's post, we noticed that last week was our one hundredth post on the Blogger platform.  When taking into account the original blog, that is a lot of posts.  It would have been special if we had been able to include the clip, but since one week we did a re-post, this week would be the "official" one hundredth post.  Unfortunately, we don't have anything to add to that.  We are planning an announcement for next week, so be on the lookout.  Until then, keep reading.

Summertime Gladness

As you may remember, we change the logo on our welcome board every so often.  Usually, it is based on a seasonal theme.  For instance, for the last few weeks, the logo was in blue and red for Independence Day.  The "o's" were changed into stars, and red stripes came out of the right end.  This time around, we had a hard time coming up with an idea.  Ultimately, we decided that watermelons would suit the season nicely.  But how should we do it?  We first thought about making every letter some form of the fruit, but decided against it.  While most of the letters could be represented as whole melons or slice, the "t" would be all but impossible.  In the end, we decided to just go with the "o's" again.  The first two "o's" would be whole melons, but the last "o" would be a round slice, as if just cut open.  We used two shades of green to represent the striped outside rind.  For the inside, we used a green outline with a lighter green ring just inside.  A red flesh interior with black seeds completed the effect.  We were going to put a video of the process up here, but there was a problem with the upload, so just check the website or social media for the full story. See you next week.

And One to Go

Last summer, we held a big event-- a book signing involving Adrianna Trigianni.  It was her second appearance at the store.  While this time wasn't quite as big as the previous one, it was still a very special thing.  One thing that we did was a raffle for posters based on the cover of her book.  We randomly drew five names to receive the posters.  Three were picked up within a few weeks.  The fourth one got picked up a few months later, mostly due to some miscommunications with the winner.  The fifth one still hasn't been picked up yet.  We tried many times to call and email the winner, but as of yet she still hasn't come in.  Since it has almost been a year, we are not sure what else we can do.  The post has been signed and personalized by Adrianna, so we really shouldn't even try to give it to someone else.  The poster has been rolled up now for a year, and it might be difficult for it to ever be laid flat again.  Here's hoping that someone out there will help us find this winner.  We won't be revealing her identity at this time, but if anyone out there remembers who came to the signing, let them know that there is one last winner.  We might post this person's name at a later date.  See you next week.

Are We Missing Something

We we're recently informed that our Goggle+ page would be going down unless there was more action on it.  Well, we thought this blog was automatically posted onto that page whenever it was done.  Apparently, that hasn't always been the case.  Therefore, we have made sure that this week's post should also appear there, as well as the other locations it is usually associated with.  Namely, its own website and the store's website as well.  In fact, we need more traffic there.  We must admit that we have been focusing most of our social media attention on only one site or another.  We are sorry that we don't do enough elsewhere.  Now that we have an improved online connection, we should be able to provide even more content online.  At least, we hope so.  Anyway, this week's post was only written to help get views to one place or another.  We hope you find all of our content as great as we do.  See you next week.

Time for Something Different

To be honest, we don't have anything to write about again this week.  Basically, we are just waiting for something else to happen.  At least we can tell you about a few things we are getting ready to do with social media.  We are getting ready to post the latest round of holiday theme pictures, this time for Independence Day.  We will try to post a new capsule review. and this one is really special.  It is going to be about something we have never done before.  Also, we might be posting more online material.  Put an emphasis on 'might'.  Some things will be harder to work out than others.  Anyhow, that is just how things are going here.  See you next week.  We really need to come up with better material.

I Wonder What Today May Bring

It is sometimes hard to come up with a topic for this blog post every week.  Therefore, in honor of today's date, we are reprinting an updated version of a post we wrote last year. It seems very appropriate to feature it today.  By the way, today is also Free RPG Day.  Unfortunately, we are not participating, but we strongly suggest going to your local gaming store and pick something up.  Anyway, see you next week.

Saturday, June 16, is the minor literary holiday of Bloomsday.  It is in honor of the day when most of the action in James Joyce's literary classic Ulysses takes place.  It is named in honor of one of the main characters, Leopold Bloom, who we follow along on both him and, returning character from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Daedalus.  While I have never celebrated this day at my store. Booknotes, before, I still love the idea.  However, I am not sure how one would celebrate beyond talking about the book and its complex themes and imagery, or perhaps, having a party in the style of early twentieth-century Dublin.   One thing is for sure, I would not be doing anything the characters do from the book.  While most actions are rather harmless, (e.g. taking a walk on the beach looking at pebbles, placing a newspaper advertisement), many are somewhat strange (teaching a class at a Jesuit school, suffering intestinal discomfort after eating at a pub).  Some are just unusual (attending an friend's funeral, becoming a father figure to a young man).  Others are just downright weird (going out drinking with college buddies and talking about midwifery, having a formal question-and-answer session with a friend about third-party events as if you weren't a part of them).  Many actions are immoral (making crude puns to your housekeeper, contemplating the love of your husband while having an affair with an actor).  Some are illegal, both then and now (performing a lewd act while ogling a young nanny with her charges on a beach, going to a brothel and hallucinating about your dead mother).  We strongly suggest not doing any of these things.  Maybe we can come up with some better ideas for next year. In fact, I actually had to read Ulysses in college and enjoyed it.  We were originally only going to read excerpts, but the professor changed his mind.  Fortunately, the library had enough copies for the seven of us.  I still had to skip a few pages near the end to finish it in time.  Unfortunately, I have yet to re-read it.

Superlatives All Around

Last week, we teased that we had big news coming.  Well, here it is.  The Appalachian News-Express has just announced that we won the 'Best Bookstore' award in their 'Best in the Valleys' promotion.  The official announcement is still a few weeks off, but we have already been given our award.

 

 It has been a few years since we have won this award, and we would like to thank all of our loyal customers and friends who voted for us.  The picture frame has gotten broken since the last time we won, so we really can't hang it up anymore.  Also, the fish candle was something we got for free.  It was part of a package of things we got when a gift store closed and gave away much of its stock.  We display it around Father's Day as a decoration, but if anyone wants a fish candle, we would be happy to give it away.  The stars are more decorations we are getting ready to put up for Independence Day. See you next week.

Check Back Next Week

Okay, we will have an announcement coming soon.  We wish we could tell you what it is, or even give you some sort of hint, but we can't.  At least not yet.  Don't worry though.  We will have it as part of our blog next week.  In all honesty, we are starting to run out of ideas for the blog.  We know that sounds kind of ridiculous, but it is true.  This time of year, when we have nothing scheduled and not much news to offer, we really don't have anything to say.  It is hard coming up with something to write about every week [As I have mentioned previously, I write two other blogs.  Coming up with original material for each every week isn't always easy.  I had to borrow a topic just last month.]  Well, there isn't much left to say this week.  We are sorry that this week's post is so short.  If you can come up with any ideas for a future post, feel free to tell us on our social media pages or contact us directly.  We could sur euse the help.  See you next week.

Rest for the Weary

This upcoming Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day.  Booknotes will not be open for the holiday, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  To be fair, we only take a few holidays off every year.  This includes the following:  New Year's Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  We are also off Easter, but since we are usually not open on Sundays, it is kind of a moot point.  We also take a few other days off throughout the year, usually only four or five, not counting days off because of bad weather and such.  We also occasionally open or close late.  We always try to announce these changes to our schedule beforehand, both on our social media accounts and at the store itself.  In fact, we will be doing that a lot in the next two weeks.  So, let us just apologize now and get everything out of the way.  We really do try and stay open as much as possible, but we are a small family run store and we do not have any outside help to run the place when we are not there.  It does play havoc with deliveries, sometimes, but we manage.  If you need us to open early or stay a little late, we would be glad to try and help you out.  We are frequently open by 9:30 am many weekdays, and could open up on Saturdays by 10:00 am.  We can stay open until 5:30 pm or so, if you call ahead of time.  We can't do it often, but it is easier in summer to do so.  We are always glad to help.  See you next week.

How to Read Books Like a Book Store Owner

Well, we finally should have more reviews of regular books on the website.  We have been saying that for a few weeks now, but this time we mean it.  In case you didn't know, although we have mentioned it here a few times, we already do some short capsule reviews on our Facebook page.  The books we review there are chosen by the same person who writes this blog.  Therefore, the overwhelming majority of the books have been in the fantasy, science-fiction, and horror genres, with a small smattering of offbeat mysteries thrown in for good measure.  There have even been a few books aimed at children, although most of these books were not chosen by the same person.  These reviews have been short, only a paragraph or so, and all  of them have been thoroughly enjoyed by the reviewer.  In fact, we wouldn't post any review of a book that we didn't like, even if it was just barely likable.  We always recommend the books we reviewed.  When the website's reviews start back, they will be much longer, and of a more thorough explanation of the book.  We just aren't sure the person doing the reviews will start back.  It will be by the same person who did the reviews for the recently ended Pikeville Medical Leader, if you can remember them from years ago.  These reviews will be of a more general fiction nature, although that could change.  In the meantime, check out the older reviews on our Facebook page, which can be contacted with @thwsbooknotes.  It isn't the best handle. but it is what we chose at the time.  See you next week.

Favorite Things and Not-So Favorite Things

This week, I have to get personal.  I don't do it often, but something came up that deserves my complete dedication.  In case you didn't know, I write two other blogs besides this one.  A personal blog about my interests and a literary blog (The T. H. Weingarten Miscellany) that showcases my literary works in progress.  Recently, I found out about something that touches all my worlds as an English major, a book store owner, and an aspiring writer.  PBS recently announced a series about America's favorite books/series.  In conjunction with this, the Kentucky network of PBS affiliates, Kentucky Educational Television (or KET) sent out information to independent book stores to tie into the series.  This included bookmarks as well as a list of the 100 books that people will vote on, with the winner announced this fall on the show.  As an English major, a book store owner, and an aspiring writer, I take some issue with the selection process by nameless experts with unknown criteria.  Just because a book is a 'favorite', does not equate with success or critical acclaim.  Take the Fifty Shades of Grey series.  While popular, other works have dealt with such erotic taboo topics better, especially when you consider that the series is based on fan-fiction of the vampire young-adult Twilight Saga, which is just a tad better and also on the list.  In fact, many such series are included.  The most extreme case being The Wheel of Time series.  If you are not up on this fourteen (yes, 14) book fantasy series, with a prequel and background information, think of it a PG-13 rated A Game of Thrones, but with more magic and a little less violence and way less gratuitous sex.  While I loved the series (it should be adapted for television), it isn't of the same literary quality as Thrones (also listed).  In fact, many of the books have been adapted for other media.  I feel that is why so many got onto this list, with a movie's or television show's popularity helping bolster a position.  Many of the books just don't seem to be popular enough to have actually be considered favorite by lots of people.  Take Crime and Punishment.  I cannot believe too many people actually liked this lengthy Russian novel, especially in translation.  Other long works, such as Atlas Shrugged, Don Quixote, and Moby Dick are also here.  I feel some people chose them just to seem more "in-the-know" as opposed to have actually read them.  Some of the books, like The Martian and Gone Girl, are just too recent to be considered cannon enough to know if they could become true favorites.  On the other hand, I feel that there are too many omissions.  While The Adventures of Tom Sawyer made the cut, the superior The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn did not.  Neither did The Sound and the Fury, one of the best books of the twentieth century.   Worst of all, two of the most important novels of the past century, Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, both by James Joyce, were skipped over.  Both are among my favorite books.   Sure, I read them as part of assignment back in college, but I still liked them.  Ulysses in particular has yet achieved all that it is due.  I could see it as a mini-series on HBO, with each chapter being the basis for a one-hour episode.  Sure, there would be a lack of female characters, but the final episode would be a tour de force for an actress.  Anyway, until I know more, I will not pass any judgements.   I just hope that something worthy takes the top spot.

Free Books, Just Not From Us

This Saturday, May 5, is Free Comic Book Day, as the first day of May has been for many years now.  It is an opportunity to head to your local comic book shop (as well as a few possible other locations) and get a free comic book (and possibly more than one).  Booknotes is unfortunately not one of these locations.  Still, we strongly urge you to head to your nearest one (in the Pikeville area, this would be Page 3 Game Zone) and find something you like.  For those who haven't read comic books in some time, be aware that not all of the free titles are for all ages.  If planning on picking something up for a younger reader, look at what's available before choosing.  Some of the offered titles, as well as some the individual stores might offer on their own, are diffidently not for kids.  Also, the last Saturday in April, the 28th this year, was Independent Book Store Appreciation Day.  Unfortunately, we forgot all about it until after the fact, and we didn't participate.  As it is, Booknotes had to be a member of an independent retail/book store association to be able to get the freebies that were handed out, and we are not a part of one.  To be honest, we are not sure there even is one for this part of Kentucky.  Anyway, we support the efforts of others even if we did not do so ourselves.  See you next time, and don't forget to get a free comic, or two.

Spending Game Day on the Sidelines

Saturday, April 28 is International Tabletop Game Day, a celebration of all traditional games that you don't have to play on an electronic device.  Although we don't publicize the fact very much, you can order some games through Booknotes.  We can't get everything, but we can get quite a bit.  Obviously, we can order books of games, as well as many role-playing game supplements. [In fact, one of the reasons I opened Booknotes was so I could order my supplements, as the local game store sometimes didn't get what I needed all the time.  Unfortunately, our original primary distributor didn't carry the game line.  Oops.  At least our secondary distributor and our second primary one did, until the publisher went to online sales of print-on-demand product only.  Still,I was able to get many titles this way, as well as from my local game store.]  We can also order a surprising number of both card and board games.  Mind you, well aren't able to get many of the most common ones, but we can get a somewhat wide variety.  We are also able to order a selection of jigsaw puzzles.  We have even been in discussion with a puzzle manufacturer to order directly from them.  So, if you want some games, try your local game store first.  Many are connected with comic book stores or video game outlets.  However, if you want some books as well, don't forget about Booknotes.  See you next week, which is also a special event.

Days of Hills and Billies

Well, it is that time of year again.  The time of year where we close for one day while the entire town is taken over by people who are going to rides, vendors, concerts, and a contest where people can win a prize based on where a pig does its business.  At least this year, they are also featuring a Ghost Walk, a nighttime tour of some of the spookiest places in Pikeville.  As it is, we are not going to rehash every reason why we won't be open.  Click the link to our post from last year to read the reasons why.  Anyway, that is why we are posting this a day early.  See you next week.  Sorry this was so short.

The Reviews Keep Pouring In

This past Wednesday, Booknotes posted its latest capsule review on our Facebook page.  We are trying to post more frequently, but there just not enough books that this writer likes enough to review.  However, we are going to have someone else post reviews on our website Review Blog soon.  Quick recap:  When we first started our website, we had a blog app as part of it.  We also had a Blogger connection, but it took us a few months to realize how to get it functional.  Anyway, once we did get it to work, we started using it for the weekly blog.  The original blog was supposed to have been given over to someone else to use for reviews and other topics.  However, she has yet to fully to do.  She used to have weekly reviews in the recently ceased Medical Leader, but her lack of computer skills as well as limited time supposedly has prevented her from doing so.  She has only posted three reviews on it in the past two years.  However, she tells me she will have something ready in the next few weeks.  Check back soon.  We have included a link to the blog for those checking us out on our blog's page instead of our website.  Because we will be closed next Saturday, our next post will be available a day or so early, so see you sooner than usual.

Links to the Future

One of the services we offer at Booknotes is to check up on upcoming titles for people, to help them see when their favorite authors have new books.  Unfortunately,  many favorite authors haven't had new books in their series for some time, and don't seem to have anything up on the horizon either.  Take George R. R. Martin and A Song of Ice and Fire, the basis for A Game of Thrones.  The most recent book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, came out years ago.  While there have been some sample chapters floating around, the next book has yet to be scheduled.  (Note:  Publishing data was accessed a few minutes before this post was written, but nothing else more direct was checked out.)  The television series will have concluded before the next book comes out, unless something happens.  Another favorite author of Booknotes is Jim Butcher.  His series, The Dredsden Files, hasn't had a new full length novel in years.  All that has been seen are various short stories.  He has even started a new steampunk series, and it too hasn't had a new title after the first one.  The only new book coming out is a collection of short stories, Brief Cases, that have been previously published elsewhere.  At least it will include a new novella, but it is still not a new book.  Finally, there is Jasper Fforde and his Thursday Next series (A very beloved one for this writer.)  The second set of novels, after the original four part trilogy (just go along with it), has yet to be finished.  The most recent book teased about the next one, but it has been years since it came out.  He even has a young adult fantasy series, but its last book ended on a sort of cliffhanger, and it hasn't had a new book come out either.  Things really need to happen. Well, see you next week.

Dropping onto New Platforms

As we have mentioned before, we at Booknotes are not that technologically inclined.  We have had many problems over the years getting our online presence just right.  Case in point, our Google listing.  When we first posted our listing on Google, and it related sites, we didn't really know what we were doing.  It took us multiple tries before we got them online, and it never really worked out perfectly.  Google kept telling us that there were multiple listings for us, and we couldn't tell what was going on.  For a few weeks or more, we couldn't even access our account.  We eventually got it back, but by that time we were focusing more on Facebook.  Recently, we were able to re-launch our Google listings, but we still cannot seem to get it working right.  We have been asked to create a website, even though we already have one.  Yes, it is somewhat padded, but it is there.  We are now posting on Goggle+ as well, but we still haven't got all of that connected yet either.  There is just some much content we have, and not enough of it to go around.  This is one reason why we are linking our Blogger account to our other social media sites, to get our audience connected again.  Stay tuned for more, somewhere and/or everywhere, next week.

Something New for Easter

As we mentioned last week, we are experimenting with some new things online.  One of them is this blog.  For the next few weeks, we will be composing our post on Blogger instead of the website and providing links on social media.  We feel that we will be able to post some things here using the full version of the software will be better than the limited version on the website.  We didn't even realize this version truly existed until recently.  Shows you how little we know about computing.  Anyway, this week we are spotlighting some of our children's Easter books.  Here is a picture or two of them.

First is The Story of Easter.  It is a Little Golden Book version of the Biblical story,  perfect for young readers.  Next is My Easter Egg.  It has a clear plastic cutout on the cover, allowing readers to see the shaped pages before getting to read about some animals having an Easter party.  Then there is The Bunny Who Found Easter.  It is not that much about Easter, but the hardcover does have an allegorical message that goes well with the holiday without being too religious.  Then there is The Story of the Easter Bunny.  It is about the origin of the rabbit.  This paperback is very light-hearted and fairly appropriate for young readers.  Last there is Bunny and Friends.  This board book isn't about Easter at all, but it does feature many bunnies in the touch-and-feel format.  We at Booknotes are very pro-rabbit, if you didn't realize that already from our Easter decorations.  Don't forget about our Easter basket made from free pens.  We have lots of them, so we frequently use them for decorations.  See you again next week with some more surprises.

Spring Cleaning and Refreshening

As spring is starting soon, we at Booknotes need to freshen some things up a bit.  One of these things will be the look of our website.  As Easter comes around, we will be adding some minor changes, mostly in spot graphics and color scheme.  We will also be adding to our web content.  Look for some new links in our social media popping up on new dates and times.  Another big change might be in this blog.  We have grumbled occasionally that some Blogger functions don't always seem available in the version used in our website.  However, these functions might become available within the blogger framework itself, when outside the site host.  We are looking into ways of making a better use of this space than the regular updates and what not.  We like our online presence, but will are not using it in the best way.  Hopefully, we will find a way to do so.  Anyway, our first forays will have started by the time this week's post is published.  We will be including links to the online book releases on most Fridays.  We hope to have more capsule book reviews at least every three weeks, usually on Wednesdays.  The blog posts will still be updated on Saturday, even if they might be written beforehand.  For now, check out the store's Easter and spring decorations, which should be up by the time this is published.  That is all for this week; stay tuned for more.

The Pictures-and-Words Equation

When we first started on social media, we didn't have much of a presence.  Basically, we just posted a few messages and an updated picture of our decorated space in the front.  Then, we started adding pictures.  At first, it was just photographs from our events.  Just a cross section of what had happened.  We didn't even get to take pictures at the first event we had after going online; we had issues with the camera.  Then, we started adding a link to our weekly blog posts.  That was all well in good, but still not enough.  We (and in this case I do mean myself) then decided to post capsule reviews of books, on a semi-regular basis.  We were supposed to have more regular reviews on the website, but the person in charge of that didn't really want to do it.  Just last year, we began to post the monthly Upcoming Releases board.  We are somewhat proud of some of our work with it, although there is the occasional mistake as well as some blurry images.  We also began to post pictures of our decorations for each holiday as it comes around.  We are even captioning many of these pics for an added element of fun.   Although it will be slightly late, we will be posting our spring/Easter photos next week.  We have had most of them up since late February, before our latest book signing.  We just wanted it to be actually spring before posting anything else.  be on the lookout for them next week, along with our newest blog post.  See you then.

Our Latest Event

Last Saturday, Booknotes hosted our latest book signing with David Deskins, John David Preston, and Randall Osborne.  Although it was somewhat rainy for most of the afternoon, it was never really heavy or too cold.  We had been worried that the weather might be bad enough to postpone the event,but we didn't have to.  Turnout was a little better than expected, especially considering we didn't do too much advertising.  We served our traditional spiced apple cider, but we were unable to provide other refreshments.  We had a few mishaps, including one major one involving replacing the receipt paper in the credit card machine, but there was nothing too severe.  John David Preston came with a wide assortment of his publishing company's books, but didn't have enough copies of one for everybody.  We are trying to help out anyone who wasn't able to get a copy of that book, or any of the others, on the day of the signing.  We aren't yet sure when this will happen, but we will notify everyone when we get more information.  Again, we would like to thank everyone who helped make this event happen and supported Booknotes.  See you next week.

Feeling the Blues (and Greens)

As we have mentioned many times, we started this website on a whim.  Because of that, many elements were not fixed in place and had to be updated every now and again.  One of these is the color scheme for the site.  Originally, we had a basic blue predominant, as it matched the decor of our store.  Over time, we decided to have some fun with color and changed the website's look from time to time, usually matching it to a holiday or event that was coming up.  For example, we had the background colors for the site in reds and pinks for Valentine's Day.  Now, it is mostly in blues coordinating it with our book signing on Saturday, February 24, with David Deskins, whose book cover is a dark blue.  A few days later, we will be going over to greens in honor of St. Patrick's Day and spring.  Unfortunately, we probably won't be featuring any artwork for that holiday, as our website developer/host doesn't seem to have anything appropriate.  We will continue to search, though.  Anyway, if we cannot find anything, expect to see a lot of Easter pictures up early.  We are talking rabbits galore.  They will multiply to the point of taking over the site.  Also, you might see a frog or two, in honor of the amphibians waking up in the ditch behind our store.  They usually aren't out this early in the year, but the warm spells have got them out now.  They can sometimes be heard all the way out into the parking lot.  (Personally, I have rescued at least five frogs and have taken them back to their home.  None were in the store, however.  I am not sure how they got all the way into the parking lot.)  Next week, we will talk about the event.  See you then.

History in the Writing

Next week, Saturday, February 24, will be our next big event.  Three authors of histories will be at the store signing their books.  Hopefully, there won't be a need for rescheduling.  The main reason we usually don't have events this time of year is due to weather.  Eastern Kentucky in late winter can be very problematic.  We usually have at least on really big snowfall.  In 2015, we had three.  We were closed at least one day per event.  In 2016, we had one very big snowfall.  We were closed two days because of it; not to mention another day beforehand due to a freezing rain/snow event.  Last year, we weren't closed once for snow.  We were late in opening only once for weather, and less than an hour at that.  As of right now, temperatures are forecast to be in the low 60's, so we are not expecting any snow.  However, there does seem to be precipitation in the forecast, so we will be watching.  If we have to postpone the signing, we will post it at least a day in advance both on the website and on our Facebook page.  As of right now, we don't plan on any changes.  Next week's post might be written and posted in advance.  We might have many things to do the day of the signing and we might not have the time to write our next post that day.  Wish us luck for our first winter signing in years.

Difficulties, Technical and Otherwise

Last week, the Blogger app went down, so we were not able to post an update.  We did ultimately write one off the website and posted it on Monday, directly from Blogger.  Later on that week, the host for our website went down as well, on the day we have been using to update information.  We ultimately were able to fix that too.  We also had problems setting up the Facebook Event page for our latest book signing.  We didn't realize the mistake until well after it was too late to fix it.  We did put up a corrected page and the information on it is correct.  We needed a few days to get the basics covered, but it is up and running.  We are updating it every few days, so check back frequently.  We apologize for some of the problems that have been occurring lately; they just seem to keep popping up and not every one of them can easily be taken care of.  We are running a little late today, so see you next week.

Words Are Useless, Especially Blog Apps

This past Saturday, we were unable to update our blog because of some issue with the Blogger application.  Usually, when we know that we won't be open or otherwise unable to post an update at the regular time, we schedule one in advance.  However, this weekend, the problem was entirely with the connection between the Wix website generator and Blogger.  We are unsure of what happened.  In fact, we are writing this post from Blogger itself and not the regular app.  Because of this, we cannot even be sure that this will even be seen on the website.  However, we are writing this in the hopes that it will be seen there.  Since we don't know what the problem is, there might be even more issues than can be imagined.  Therefore, we will not be linking this post with our Facebook page, as we usually do.  We hope to see you here again soon.  Check back each Saturday for the usual update.

And One More Makes Three

Last week, we announced our latest book signing, with David Deskins and John David Preston on Saturday, February 24 from 2:00-4:00 pm.  Now, we are pleased to announce that Randall Osborne will be joining them.  He will be signing his book, Marauder, which is put out by the same publisher.  There are still a few details left to iron out, so we can't say too much else at the moment.  Keep looking for an Event page to be set up on Facebook as soon as we can get a good cover photo.  We hate not being able to say any more at this time, but some things have been delayed, and that is making us late in setting some things up.  We hope to have coverage somewhere as well.  Just keep on waiting.  There is really not much left to say this week, so catch us next week.  There is the possibility of some snow, so the next post might be scheduled and not be about anything in particular.  You have been warned.

There's No Business LIke Snow Business

Last week, we had to take Tuesday off because of snow. There was to be a picture of the aftermath of that event, but this version of Blogger isn't being agreeable.  Anyway, it was of a huge pile of snow that got plowed in front of the store.  Fortunately, it was a minor snow event and the snow pile is not too big.  Previous events led to piles of over six feet high and twelve yards long.  This is one reason why we usually don't have book signings in the winter.  However, this year is an exception.  On Saturday, February 24, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm we will have David Deskins in signing his updated and revised edition of his history of Pike county, Ginseng, Coal Dust, and Moving Mountains:  a History of Pike County.  We will also have Judge John David Preston in with of selection of books, including his The Civil War in the Big Sandy Valley.  Deskins' book was originally scheduled for last fall, but got delayed.  It is currently scheduled to be published in mid-February, but further delays are possible.  As such, the event may be delayed as well, possibly due to weather as well.  We will be offering more information as it becomes available, so check here or on our Facebook site frequently, as we will set up a page for the event soon.  See you next week.

Something New on the Horizon

Next week, we will be making a huge announcement about our next author signing event.  A few more details need to be worked out beforehand, so we can't say anything for a little while longer.  Usually, we don't schedule such events during the winter.  The odds of having to reschedule are just too great.  However, this will be late enough in the year that we hope this won't happen.  At least, we don't think it will happen.  Anyway, we will reveal it next week, both here and on our Facebook page.  In fact, we will probably reveal it there first and have greater details here during our regular post. Due to the possibility of bad weather, again, this week's post is being written early and should pop up at our regular Saturday morning slot.  Just a reminder, we might not be open in bad weather, so call ahead first.  We can't always post in time that we might not open at the normal time.  See you next week.

The Depths of Winter

During this time of year, we might not open up on time, or even open at all, due to the weather or other factors.  If conditions are slightly bad, Booknotes might open over an hour later than posted.  If it is very bad, we won't open at all.  Furthermore, there is a good chance that we won't be able to post this change online, especially if it was an unplanned delay.   Usually, if we know we will be opening late, we will post this change online with ample opportunity before it happens.  Sometimes, we cannot.  We do try.  Also, the weather might force us to close early as well.  There is no way we can warn anyone that this might happen.  Your best bet is to always call beforehand.  This time of year, we normally close a few minutes early anyway due to temperatures and daylight.  It is always best to call first if you are planning to come by near closing time, so we can stay a few minutes late for you.  These warnings about the weather also apply to our online content.  Some days, we will be late posting this blog or any other information, such as today when all available computers were down.  By warned, and be on the lookout for changes in our schedule.