Grilled Cheese in Greenpoint; Free Bird in Red Hook

What’s better than a warm grilled cheese sandwich and milk on a cold autumn afternoon? How about grilled cheese and milk from vendors of the Greenpoint Food Market. Or how about grilled cheese and milk with a story? Yup – we thought you’d like all of this, so we planned it! For this Sunday at 2 pm!

We’re hosting a reading for kids, but are encouraging grilled cheese lovers of all ages to join us for the story time – since it comes with a snack too! (We all love grilled cheese, right?) Brooklyn author/illustrator duo of Randall and Peter de Sève will read from and sign copies of The Duchess of Whimsy, a wonderful tale about a fancy lady who loves her grilled cheese! We’ve partnered with vendors of the Greenpoint Food Market and other local businesses to have grilled cheese sandwiches and milk available for everyone. See our events page for links to all the folks helping to make this possible – and please join us on Sunday afternoon for a filling reading! (RSVP not required but appreciated from Facebook users so we know you are planning to join us.)

This event is also part of a larger collaboration for Independent Bookstore Week NYC – we have teamed up with our friends at Freebird Books in Red Hook to host simultaneous events that promote buying books and food from local businesses. Freebird will literally be giving away free bird (that has been “moxied”) at the same time we are snacking on grilled cheese. They will also host a reading with John Bemelmans Marciano, Freebird customer and author of the recently released work, Anonyponymous. You can read all about the great event they have planned here. In the indie spirit, we hope some of you are inspired to visit both our stores on Sunday — choose which event appeals to you (and your tummy) the most, and then plan to take the B61 or your bike to visit the other store before/or after the event you attend.

We know, we know…it’s a lot of information to digest for a Sunday afternoon…but that’s all part of our foodie theme for the day right? Eat something local in Greenpoint or Red Hook, hear a literary reading, and maybe even buy a book too? We hope to see some of you for grilled cheese a la Greenpoint Food Market on Sunday. We can’t wait!

WORD on Wednesdays: 11 November 2009

WORD on Wednesday, 11 November 2009.

Happy Wednesday! You’ll see that Jonathan Safran Foer, Jonathan Lethem, Jane Gardam, Street Gang, and The City Out My Window are still hanging out on the front table. Not a ton of new releases for us this week, so there’s a lot in common with previous weeks. But you didn’t click on this post to hear about what’s still the same.

First, let’s have a big round of applause for the return of Asterios Polyp, which is basically half the world’s favorite graphic novel (if not favorite novel, period) of the year! (The other half the world seems to have chosen Stitches, if you were wondering.) We could not be happier about its return. Hopefully it stays in stock through Christmas, because we plan on selling as many as possible. It, and that gorgeous shade of purple, get to sit on top.

Also new this week, though it’s hard to see it in the picture, is Zadie Smith’s new collection of essays, Changing My Mind. Do click on that link (or you know, visit the store) to check out the cover, which is lovely. The paperback of In Other Rooms, Other Wonders is also out, and highly recommended by WORD staff. It’s not a National Book Award nominee for nothing.

The last few weeks have been packed with BEST OF collections, and this week, we’re happy to be featuring the latest, from Dalkey Archive, Best European Fiction 2010. This is the first such collection from Dalkey, and it’s star-studded, assuming your idea of a star is Jean-Phillippe Toussaint, Victor Pelevin, or Christine Montalbetti. Keeping in the European vein, we also have The English American, by Alison Larkin. And a book about Russia by a Brit: Sashenka, by Simon Montefiore.

We hope we’ll see you for First Independent Bookstore Week NYC over the next seven days!

 

Words Wanted.

We know you have things to say. So we’re giving you TWO chances to do so:

Speak out about what you believe OR write about where you love. Or do both! We’ve got two events coming up in the next ten days that require YOUR words. Your voice. Your 2 cents. And you will be rewarded with prizes at both! Here’s the scoop:

It’s Obsolete! Or is it…?

Cursive writing, privacy, blind dates, body hair, getting lost, blackboards, wristwatches, writing letters, video stores and full words — these places, items and ideas are gone or slipping away from us, according to the new book Obsolete: An Encyclopedia of Once-Common Things Passing Us By.

What do you think? Come join our debate about the obsolescence of formerly everyday ideas and objects. Take a  stand for or against the obsolescence of a particular item or idea that you are passionate about. Stop by the shop and take a look at the book or check out author Anna Jane Grossman’s OBSOLETE website, and then let us know what you want to speak about (1-2 minutes) at the event, which is this Thursday, November 12 at 7:30 pm.

Faye Penn of Brokelyn will moderate the debate and award the best debater with gift certificates from WORD and Permanent Records. Because books and vinyl aren’t obsolete…right?

Contact us via Facebook (write your debate topic on our wall), via twitter at @wordbrooklyn or via email: kelly@wordbrooklyn.com — we guess you could call us or write to us too…if you still actually use a phone or paper. (That’s 718-383-0096 and 126 Franklin St. Brooklyn NY 11222)

Neighborhood by Neighborhood Essay Contest
Write some love for your favorite part of NYC and win a gift certificate to WORD plus an autographed copy of State by State!

On November 18th at 7:30 pm (during the First Independent Bookstore Week NYC), we’re hosting an event to celebrate the paperback release of State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, a wonderful collection of essays from acclaimed writers, about the states they love.

We’re sponsoring a contest in the same spirit – called Neighborhood by Neighborhood — write an essay (500-1000 words) about your favorite neighborhood in New York City: from Washington Heights to Vinegar Hill to, of course – Greenpoint! Open to high school students and up. (We will pick student and adult winners in various categories, based on the entries we receive.)

Send submissions to kelly@wordbrooklyn.com by November 12th to be entered. Winners get an autographed copy of the book, a gift certificate to WORD and a chance to read their piece at the event. You don’t need to be present to enter or win – so send your entry even if you can’t make it on Nov. 18th. We’d love to read your essay about your favorite NYC place.

The event will include a discussion about the book and the process of collaborating on the anthology with editor Sean Wilsey and writer Jed Lipinski. Facebook RSVP for this event here.

YA NOT? takes on sex, drugs, vampires, and other fun stuff

L to R: Libba Bray, Robin Wasserman, and Carolyn MacCullough

Last night we had our fourth installment of YA NOT?: a literary salon for not-so-young adults, and hosted not one, not two, but THREE fantastic YA authors. It was the sort of evening that started with the reveal that originally the authors had intended to name the evening “Hookers and Blow,” and ended with Robin recommending that everyone in the audience eat fruit.

Some highlights:

Robin, on being asked what, if anything, she takes into consideration about her readers when writing, and whether YA authors have an obligation to think about their stories having a moral: “What is writing a book, anyway, if it’s not trying to convince people that this is the way the world is and this is how you should feel about it? Authors who write for adults do the same thing. They just don’t call it a moral.”

Libba, after being asked if being a parent has changed her mind about whether there is any content truly unacceptable in YA fiction and if there’s anything she wouldn’t let her son read: “I mean, are you asking if I’m worried my kid is going to go off and read books that are too grown-up for him? Because no, no I’m not at all concerned about my kid sneaking away and secretly READING.”

On the responsibilities of YA authors, Carolyn said: “The only responsibility authors have is to their story.”

And Robin said: “I think the only obligation we have is to acknowledge that books change people’s lives. We can’t control reader reaction to our books, good or bad. But we need to remember that our words matter.”

In case you were wondering which superpowers each authors would go for: Libba wants to be fluent in all languages. Robin wants teleportation. And Carolyn wants to be able to rewind time.

Perhaps the highlight of the evening, however, was Carolyn’s introduction of the word “spoony” to the proceedings (and to most of the attendees). Though none of us had heard of it beforehand—and Robin adamantly protested against its very existence—it nonetheless came to dominate the evening and appear in the answer to almost every question.

Unfortunately for Robin, though, it is a very well-documented word. Here, for example, is the Merriam-Webster entry: “silly, foolish; especially : unduly sentimental.” It’s also in the Routledge Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, along with this delightful example of usage: “I felt rather spoony upon that vixen.” The final nail in the coffin, however, is its use in David Copperfield, and yet another fantastic sentence: “There is no doubt whatsoever that I was a lackadaisical young spoony.“

Spoony! Please try to use it as many times as possible today, and keep last night’s YA NOT? alive.

I’ll end the post with this thought from Robin, who told us that she has not read many classic books:

“I do think it’s valuable to read them, though. I just don’t do it. Like fruit! I don’t eat it. But I advise that you do.”

YA NOT will be on hiatus next month, but stay tuned for more fantastic YA authors next year! To learn more about last night’s authors—all WORD favorites, all highly recommended—check out their websites: Libba, Robin, and Carolyn. Signed copies of their newest books available at WORD as long as supplies last!

WORD on Wednesdays: 4 November 2009

WORD on Wednesday, 4 November 2009.

New this week on WORD’s front table!

Eating Animals, Jonathan Safran Foer. I loved this book, as a fellow vegetarian who sometimes caves and eats me. It’s basically The Omnivore’s Dilemma, except with a more distinct point-of-view (spoiler alert: factory farms are BAD NEWS). Safran Foer’s love of language and for craft is evident in this book, and strengthens his argument. Already selling very well here! Even to meat-eaters. Another book that’s selling delightfully well is The Book of Basketball, by Bill Simmons (mostly thanks to members of our basketball league). Highly recommended for what we now know is a substantial portion of Greenpoint: the book-loving basketball nerds.

Now in paperback, And The Hippos Were Boiled In Their Tanks by Kerouac and Burroughs, two gold-star names here at WORD. Also newly in paperback is John Hodgman’s More Information Than You Require. We all liked him already, but recently he said we seem like decent sorts on Twitter, and now we love him, so he gets a big stack in the middle of the table! There’s the new second edition of The Physics of Superheroes, which is obviously super cool. And there’s a new volume of Granta’s Book of the American Short Story that is about three inches thick and perfect for upcoming snow days.

The most fondled book of the week, though, is definitely The City Outside My Window: 63 Views on New York. This is just gorgeous, gorgeous. 63 sketches of, well, the view out the windows of famous and average New Yorkers. It is pretty much irresistible. I invite you to come in and fondle it as well!

WORD on Wednesdays: 28 October 2009

 

WORD on Wednesday 28 October 2009

Maintaining a berth on the table this week: Lethem (Chronic City), Kalman (The Principles of Uncertainty), Gardam (The Man in the Wooden Hat), Eggers (The Wild Things), Vonnegut (Look at the Birdie), and the Paris Review Interviews, volume 4. And Street Gang, which I finished last week and just loved, aside from a few minor quibbles. If you were raised on Sesame Street, you really should check it out. (We have a number of other great Sesame Street books in too, since it’s the fortieth anniversary of the show this year.)

New: Paul Auster’s Invisible. A couple of us have read it already and loved it. Already selling well. Remake It Home: The Essential Guide to Resourceful Living; I admit I don’t quite understand what this book is all about, but I have a feeling that folks more acquainted with DIY and design principles (aka half our customers) will. Life After Genius by M. Ann Jacoby, because I love the cover and because it sounds delightful. Now The Drum Of War: Walt Whitman and His Brothers in the Civil War, because jeez, how can any book-lovin’ history nerd resist that? Especially because it’s primarily based on their letters. Panic, Michael Lewis’ collection of articles dealing with recent financial history, because I know how much people love to buy depressing books on the weekend. And Eat, Memory: Great Writers at the Table, because food lit is so popular at WORD that it has its own section (unlike sports, philosophy and religion).

Two of the new books are particularly close to my heart. First, All Cakes Considered. Look, I don’t even like cake very much, and I don’t really like baking it, either, because there’s no room for error and I hate following recipes closely. That said, I love this book. We all love this book. It is hilarious, the recipes are easy to follow (and laid out in order of difficulty), and the pictures are so good you will lick them. Melissa Grey, NPR’s Cake Lady, made a new cake every week for a year for her co-workers at NPR, and this cookbook has all the things you like about NPR (interesting factoids, ability to make complex matters understandable) and none of the things you don’t (pledge drives).

Second, Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives. I love hearing these sorts of stories. And just reading one essay from this book will probably sell you on it, so let me present Alexander Chee’s essay on studying under Annie Dillard. So good. Enjoy!

November is Participatory Events Month at WORD!

Philosophizing, interviewing, debating, eating, writing and crafting – Each event we have planned at WORD for November has some special interactive component to it that puts YOU dear friend, in the driver’s seat so to speak. Was this intentional? Not exactly. But we do strive to serve as more than just your local independent bookstore – we are a gathering place for all sorts of community events, and we love hosting programs that offer you a chance to get involved with goings-on in the neighborhood. We’re a hub for great books, plus so much more – thanks often to you – readers, writers, shoppers, creators – and the great event ideas you propose and participate in with us.

These photos are from some fun “hands-on” events we held recently at the store – painting with Hit Factorie, creating with Crafternoon and potlucking with Forking Fantastic! We hope that some of what we have planned for this upcoming month may also spark you to action – Stand up for what you believe in! Write about what you love! Support local businesses and non-profits! Talk to us about what you’re reading!

All the November event details after the jump – please be in touch and let us know what and how you’d like to participate. We look forward to seeing you in the store soon!

WORD on Wednesdays: 21 October 2009

WORD on Wednesday, 21 October 2009.

The Lethem still towers. Thanks for that, Michiko. But it’s getting a rave from the NYTBR on Sunday, so here’s hoping it starts to move after that. Niffenegger shines on from the middle of the table, and In The First Circle is apparently very intimidating, but I know it will find its readers soon!

There are four books on the table this week that we’re super-excited by. The first is The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman, now in paperback. We all LOVE her, and love this book.  Two of us also love Jane Gardam’s book Old Filth, so we couldn’t resist a stack of The Man in the Wooden Hat, which has the same characters as Old Filth, but is told from the perspective of his wife. There’s Look at the Birdie, a new collection of some of Kurt Vonnegut’s early stories that have never been published before, which is FANTASTIC, no surprise. And best of all, Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street is finally in paperback as well. We were sure it would appeal to adults, but interestingly, almost every kid over the age of two has walked in the store and beelined for it. It’s nice to see that Sesame Street will probably not be going the way of Reading Rainbow.

Also new: Chuck Klosterman’s Eating the Dinosaur, which is already drawing a lot of attention. The fourth volume of Paris Review interviews, which are usually great and sell very well here. And Ten Storey Love Song, as I have a soft spot for books that take chances, and this is a novel that is all one very very long paragraph.

Oh wait! Almost forgot to mention the new Not For Tourists NYC 2010! These are our best-selling guides to the city by far, probably because not many tourists make it to Greenpoint. Well, that’s actually not totally true. For some reason a lot of Brits come in the store, and ever since we were in a Japanese women’s magazine, more Japanese tourists are making the trip as well. But either way, these sell very well, and we personally are big fans of the guides as well, so it’s great to have the new edition (although we wait with baited breath for the new NFT Brooklyn).

As a professed book cover addict, I would be remiss if I did not include this picture as well, to share with the other book cover addicts out there:

This is, I think, the third round in the Penguin Great Ideas series, where they repackage a number of seminal works of philosophy, social science, etc. They have such beautiful covers that sometimes I just stand in front of them and look at them for a few minutes. Sad but true. If they didn’t have a display, they definitely would have made the front table, so I’m including them as well. Please come by and check them out, letterpress friends. You might just want to frame them and hang them up.

Ach, just too gorgeous!

This book is obsolete (or is it?)

A funny thing happened when we put this book on the counter.

“Hahaha,” a customer would say, looking at the cover. “Hahahaha, it’s true! Hitchhikers are obsolete. Oh yeah, same thing with lickable stamps. Ha! Yeah, I haven’t gotten lost since I got my iPhone. And also…”

And then, always the same fateful pause.

“Wait!” the same customer would say, voice turning from amused to saddened. “Cursive writing is not obsolete! I still write in cursive everyday! None of my friends do, but…”

This happened so many times that we lost count. Except insert writing letters, film, smoking, bald spots, books, arcades, and hyphenated last names for cursive writing in that last bit. The book is hilarious! And then, suddenly, not so funny. People feel compelled to defend their favorite obsolete things!

(In particular, we’ve noticed an astonishing number of customers who, under their breath, notify us that phone sex is most certainly NOT obsolete, thank you very much, and in fact it was alive and well in their apartment just two weeks previous. Which, wow, alrighty!)

Anyway, this has been so much fun for us that we decided to make an event out of it. A debating event! You’ll have the chance to defend your rapidly-obsolescing item in front of a crowd, and maybe even save it from extinction.

You can speak out in defense of:

–keeping plans (and making dates)

–niche publications

–photobooths

–thesauruses

–privacy

–dying of old age

–body hair

Or any of the other items in the encyclopedia! Just drop by the store to look through, RSVP on Facebook, or email info@wordbrooklyn.com to save your spot (and your item). You can also get inspiration from the tumblr page for the book. See you there…unless maybe really fun book events are already obsolete?

WORD at Unleash: Looking for Calvin & Hobbes

In honor of October being Adopt-A-Dog Month, on Saturday, October 24 at 7 pm,
Unleash: Brooklyn and WORD will host an evening featuring Nevin Martell, author of the newly released book, Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip.

Nevin Martell traces the life and career of the extraordinary, influential, and intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes. With input from a wide range of artists and writers (including Dave Barry, Harvey Pekar, Jonathan Lethem, and Brad Bird) as well as some of Watterson’s closest friends and professional colleagues, this is as close as we’re ever likely to get to one of America’s most ingenious and intriguing figures – and a fascinating detective story, at the same time.

Join us at Unleash - Brooklyn’s 7,000 square foot eco-friendly loft offering one of the most spacious daycare and boarding facilities for cats and dogs in New York City. RSVP for the event here on Facebook.

Unleash is home to District Dog, a natural and organic shop for food, treats, toys and accessories; Dog Habitat, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating abandoned and unwanted dogs; and training classes are offered by Denise Herman from Empire of the Dog. Later this year, Unleash: Brooklyn will be home to a holistic veterinary clinic.

Come celebrate the friendship between mankind and their furry friends while learning about the elusive creator of one of the most beloved comic strips of all time. Looking for Calvin and Hobbes is an affectionate and revealing book about uncovering the story behind this most uncommon trio – a man, a boy and his tiger.