The following column, about the recent death of Reva Previant Schwartz of Harry W. Schwartz bookstore, appeared in the August 1, 2004, edition of The Milwaukee Journal.
She was the best of readers.
As late as last weekend, on her deathbed, almost blind at age 91, she settled back to listen to the nearly impenetrable introduction of Dostoyevski's The Idiot.
She had read the novel before. But this was a new translation recently available on Books On Tape.
On Saturday, July 31, Dr. Shahnaz Christine "Chris" Saad, owner of Chris' Corner: Books for Kids & Teens, in Philadelphia, passed away from complications related to scleroderma, a chronic autoimmune disease that leads to hardening of the skin. She was 40 years old.
This week the gavel came down on the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Boston, beginning the final leg of the race to the White House. And all things political are clearly on the minds of many independent bookstores' customers as six of 15 titles on this week's Book Sense Bestseller List are about today's politics.
Raelynn Hillhouse will soon break into print with Rift Zone (Forge), an end-of-the-Cold War thriller bearing enthusiastic blurbs from half a dozen masters of her chosen genre. And this debut author's first novel has been chosen as an August Book Sense Pick.
Liberty Bay Books' Suzanne Droppert said she didn't have "a lick" of experience when she bought her bookstore in 1996. But she quickly learned the skills needed to develop a bookstore to suit the interests of the diverse city of Poulsbo, Washington, a suburb of Seattle with large Scandinavian and Native American communities.
"It's a mistake," cautions one of the characters in Ward Just's 14th novel, An Unfinished Season (Houghton Mifflin), "to infer the author's life from the author's fiction."
Chappaqua, New York, is the home of former President Bill Clinton and Joan Ripley's Second Story Bookshop. It's also approximately 12 miles from ABA's headquarters in Tarrytown. So on a beautiful Saturday in July, when Second Story was putting on the biggest event it had ever hosted, several ABA staffers -- including Len Vlahos, director of BookSense.com; Kristen Gilligan, ABA's manager of communications and events; and Patti Neske, BookSense.com associate project manager -- were among those who volunteered to help out.
The power of books to change lives is the subject of this column by Andy Weinberger, co-owner with his wife, Lilla, of Readers' Books in Sonoma, California. This piece originally appeared in "One for the Book," an occasional newsletter from Readers' Books.
At first, Kate Whouley didn't want to write her memoir, Cottage for Sale, Must Be Moved: A Woman Moves a House to Make a Home. Rather, she said, she was busy working on a novel, handling bookstore-consulting projects, and mulling over a children's book based on the cottage-moving adventure.
The American Booksellers Association, a national not-for-profit trade organization, works with booksellers and industry partners to ensure the success and profitability of independently owned book retailers, and to assist in expanding the community of the book.
Independent bookstores act as community anchors; they serve a unique role in promoting the open exchange of ideas, enriching the cultural life of communities, and creating economically vibrant neighborhoods.
Liberty Bay Books' Suzanne Droppert said she didn't have "a lick" of experience when she bought her bookstore in 1996. But she quickly learned the skills needed to develop a bookstore to suit the interests of the diverse city of Poulsbo, Washington, a suburb of Seattle with large Scandinavian and Native American communities.
The power of books to change lives is the subject of this column by Andy Weinberger, co-owner with his wife, Lilla, of Readers' Books in Sonoma, California. This piece originally appeared in "One for the Book," an occasional newsletter from Readers' Books.
