Lost in the Ramblings

There almost was no post this week,  It wasn't due to writer's block, there just really isn't much happening at Booknotes at the moment.  Nothing.  We might have a local author coming in for a book signing in the next month or two, but that is about it.  We can't even come up with anything interesting about the store that we feel people would like to read about.  At least we are writing something today to make our customers know that the blog is still going.  Hopefully, there will be something to really talk about next week.  Sorry about the rambling, but it cannot be helped.  Until next week, goodbye.

Encapsulating

I need to go personal with this one.  When I switched the store's blog over to the Blogger format, I left the original one to the other owner to use for reviews.  She reads way more than me (mostly mystery and romance), and could use the format better.  However, she hates to write, can't seem to have any extra time, and has a hard time understanding some of the nuances of the program.  This led me to use the store's Facebook page to start my own capsule reviews as a means to get more content online.  I trend to favor fiction in the fantasy/science-fiction/horror spectrum, with the oddball mystery or weird fiction thrown in.  Before I started, I set up some guidelines to keep my act straight.  First, all titles had to be recent, no more than six months old or so, with the occasional exception.  That way, they would still be fairly recent for customers to order if they wanted to get the book.  Second, the book had to be original, at least in format.  If a book came out in hardcover, but I didn't get a chance to read until it came out in paperback, I wouldn't review it.  This include compilations and reprints of older material as well.  If it had been available for a long time, I wouldn't review it.  Third, I must have read the entire book.  The other owner has a tendency to read the start of a mystery, check out the end to see if she guessed right, and then not read any of the middle.  I don't think that is fair.  I read almost all of a book that I review, skipping only a sentence here or there if it gets a little boring, but I still scan them so I can give a fair review.  The only problem is that I frequently get many books at a time, and at others, almost none.  This causes a delay of a week or more between reading a book, and posting its review.  This has meant that I get a few details wrong.  I am sorry about that.  Still, at least it provides content, will the promise of more on the way.  Until next week, bye.

Returning to Normal

After months of build-up to the Adriana Trigiani book signing, we have mostly run out of things to talk about.  Still, here are a few tidbits to tide everyone over until we have are next big news item.  We have redesigned the website again; we hope you like it.  We returned the extra copies of Kiss Carlo last week, but we still have a few in reserve waiting to be picked up, so if they aren't, we might be able to sell them.  These books are still eligible for the personalized bookplate label as well.  The air conditioning might be repaired.  It hasn't been warn enough lately to have it on  though, so we haven't fully tested it out yet.  Let's hope it works this time.  That's all for this week.  Bye.

What Happened Last Week

Last Sunday was the big Adriana Trigiani book signing.  First, let us address a few things that happened.  We are sorry we opened up a little late.  We had to make a huge detour because of a tree down, blocking the road.  We are sorry that the promised freebies weren't there; someone forgot to bring them.  We apologize for the air conditioning for not working.  We have had people in, but they still don't know what is going wrong.  Fortunately, someone helped us by purchasing ice and water.  Overall though, it was a good day.  While it might not have been as big as Adriana's last visit, it was still big.  We would like to thank Adriana for coming in.  She stayed until after 7:30 to finish signing for all the customers in line, as well as the books for those unable to attend or stay.  Although we sold out of all the books she signed, we still have some left that we can get a book plate label for and it can be personalized and signed to your liking.  We will send the remainder back soon, so hurry in.  We would also like to thank all the businesses and organizations that allowed us to put up or hand out flyers, especially all the public libraries east of Lexington (we forgot to include Lexington, sorry).  We would like to thank the Appalachian Express family of newspapers for the great coverage they delivered for us, in ads and articles.  We would like to thank WIFX  radio for the wonderful interview they provided for us.  We had asked local television stations as well to come in, but they weren't able to.  Finally, we would like to thank all of Adriana's fans who showed up, as well as all of our loyal customers.  You proved that smaller markets can support big name authors to come in.  We hope you continue to support us, as long as we can continue to you.  Until next week.

One More Day

Tomorrow is the big day!  We hope everything will go well, unlike the new problems we are having with the web design software today.  There are only a few things left to do.  We have gone back and forth a few times on refreshments, but it looks like we won't be having any this time.  Adriana has promised a few surprises that she will be bringing.  We don't know yet what all of them will be, but we are also planning a few surprises for her as well.  One surprise we hope won't be there will be a deer.  Yesterday, we saw a  deer running down the road across from the shopping center.  It ultimately ran into the creek/drainage ditch beside the road.  While we had seen deer on the hillside across from the shopping center, this is the first time in the seventeen years we have been here that a deer was on the road.  As long as they don't get hit by a car or enter the parking lot, we are perfectly fine by deer.  We had turkeys in the lot earlier this year, but they stopped coming.  Remember, we open around 2:00 pm tomorrow, Sunday, July 30, for the signing.  Hope to see everyone there.

Everything on Display

As you can see from the picture, we are almost ready for next week's book signing with Adriana Trigiani.  It took about an hour to unpack, inventory, and arrange the books, but it was worth it.  Many of the books have already been sold, so we are glad we got to take a picture to see it in its original form.  It took someone else on-and-on four days to do the window, but it ended up looking about the same as it normally does.  We have also finally put the Kiss Carlo book review on the other blog.  It is a re-edited version of what was in the newspapers. [Author's note:  I did not write the original review.  I only did the preliminary editing, and not all of my suggestions were taken.  I corrected some of them for the condensed version seen elsewhere.]  We hope it carries the same flair as the original.  Also, Adriana will be doing some radio interviews that will air this week.  Listen in to WFIX in the morning of Tuesday, July25 to try and catch her.  We think it will be streaming online as well.  We have also been told that there will be some extra special freebies to be given out as well, but we don't know what all of them will  be. That will be all for today, but check the post next week for last minute details.

Tickled Very, Very Pink

Today's post is in pink lettering on a cream background in homage to Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigiani, who will be signing her book at Booknotes on Sunday, July 30, from 3 to 6 pm.  At least, it should look that way, as this version of blogger sometimes does not interact well with the website programming.  In fact, there have been a few problems.  Most notably, the link function doesn't seem to be working.  Well, we never seem to get it to work.  The text just disappears when we try to form the link.  If the function was working, then we would have included a link to one of the various newspapers that ran the review of Kiss Carlo last week.  That review was supposed to have been posted to the site by now, but the person who wrote it has been too busy and has yet to finish the task. [Author Note:  I was not the one who read the book or wrote the review.  I only did some of the preliminary editing.  Not all of my suggestions were taken, so if there are mistakes, they were not my fault.] The review should be online soon, at least in a condensed form.  By the way, you may have noticed that the site has turned pink.  This is also an homage to the cover of Kiss Carlo.  To be honest, the scene from the cover might not actually be representative of the story, but nothing can be quite sure.  More next week.  See you then.