Month: January 2023

January 2023 Newsletter

Top 10 Books of 2022

1. A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
2. The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
3. Five Little Indians by Michelle Good
4. Lessons by Ian McEwan
5. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
6. State of Terror by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny
7. Thomas Mackay by Alastair Sweeny
8. Ottawa Road Trips: Your 100km Getaway Guide by Laura Paquet
9. Almost Visible by (our) Michelle Sinclair
10. The Cold Edge of Heaven by His Excellency Whit Fraser

December Bestsellers

1. A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
2. The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
3. Prisoners of the Castle by Ben MacIntyre
4. The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
5. Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson
6. Lessons by Ian McEwan
7. Lifesavers and Body Snatchers by Tim Cook
8. Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald
9. The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
10. A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin

Greetings Book Lovers!

Happy New Year! Well, we’ve officially closed the book on 2022 and are now making our first marks on the blank page that is 2023. We can’t quite believe we’re here! After a year filled with more bumps in the road than we’d like, we’re really looking forward to bigger and brighter things in the new year. So, here’s to a new year filled with light, love, laughter, and more books than we can shake a stick at! We can definitely help with that last one!

Since Christmas, a lot of your have been asking about our annual January sale, and here we are finally answering! It’s Inventory Sale time again! From now until Saturday, January 21, we will having our annual Inventory Sale, which means that everything in the store will be discounted! All books will be 20% off, 2023 calendars will be 25% off, and gift items (puzzles, mugs, bags, cards, etc.) will be 30% off. As per usual, our sale is on in-stock items only and doesn’t apply to magazines, CDs, and special orders. Following our sale, we will be doing our official inventory count so we can build the rest of 2023 on a nice clean foundation. So, if Santa didn’t bring you quite what you were hoping for or if you have a gift card burning a hole in your pocket, now is the time to pop by!

Another exciting store event we have to tell you about is in regards to Puzzle Month! As some of your may know, January is the month in which we celebrate all things jigsaw puzzles – the joy of putting in that last piece, the challenge of working on a huge section of blue sky, that thrill you get when you find the perfect puzzle to take home to the family! In our small corner of the world, we’ll be marking the occasion by having a puzzle sale! From Tuesday, January 24 to Tuesday, February 6 all our in-stock jigsaw puzzles will be 25% off! As an added bonus, we will be revealing 8 new and exclusive Ravensburger puzzles that have never before been seen in Canada! So, clean off your puzzle board, get your sorters ready, and clear your schedules because it’s time to stock up on your favourite jigsaws and do some puzzling!

While our January has quickly been taken over by inventory concerns and the planning of two major sales, there are still lots of other fun things to pay attention to – like all the great new books that are arriving, despite the year being very young. Although January is often a slow retail month, that doesn’t mean that the publishing industry slows down any. We’re still receiving boxes and boxes of new books on a daily basis and we can’t wait for you to come by to see them. From Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsley to Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo, The General of Tiananmen Square by Ian Hamilton to Peekaboo Rex by Sandra Boynton, Which Way to Anywhere by Cressida Cowell to Exes and O’s by Amy Lea, there’s a little something for everyone! And that’s just the beginning! There are lots of great new publications to look forward to in the coming weeks too! Here are just some of the titles we’re most excited about: How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (January 17), A Guest at the Feast by Colm Toibin (January 17), Wreck Bay by Barbara Fradkin (January 24), Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune (January 31), Chain of Thorns by Cassandra Clare (January 31), The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel (January 31), VenCo by Cherie Dimaline (February 14), Dark Rye and Honey Cake by Regula Ysewijn (February 14).

Well the new year is spread out before us like an unmarred blanket of freshly fallen snow, and it’s impossible to know what the coming months will bring. All we can hope for is peace, joy, health, and happiness for all…and maybe a nice big stack of books too! Wishing you all the very best for a wonderful new year! We look forward to seeing you all in the store over the coming months, chatting about your new favourite read, and helping you find the perfect book to read (or gift) next!

Take good care!
Happy Reading!

— The Staff at Books on Beechwood

Inventory Sale

20% off all books
25% off 2023 calendars
30% off gift items

The sale applies to in-stock items only and runs from now until Saturday, January 21.
Magazines, CDs, and special orders are not included in the sale.

Puzzle Month!

To celebrate our love of jigsaw puzzles, all our in-stock puzzles will be 25% off from Tuesday, January 24 to Tuesday, February 6.

Keep your eyes on our social media accounts (and our store shelves) for the reveal of 8 exclusive new puzzle designs!

Hilary’s Bookshelf

What I’m Reading: The Key To My Heart by Lia Louis

“When a grieving widow finds hope in a musical mystery and friendship in very unexpected places, her heart once again opens to the possibility of life and love.
Sweet, charming, and funny, this lovely novel is the perfect way to start a new year. Lia Louis is a master at writing flawed yet lovable characters and creating beautiful, complex worlds for them to live in.”

 

December 2022 Newsletter

November Bestsellers

1. The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
2. A Heart Full of Headstones by Ian Rankin
3. A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
4. Front Page Ottawa by Bruce Deachman
5. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama
6. John Turner by Steve Paikin
7. Lifesavers and Body Snatchers by Tim Cook
8. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
9. The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz
10. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris

Greetings Book Lovers!

Happy December! Well, there’s snow on the ground, a nip in the air, and so many great books to read, it’s impossible to keep up! With just under two weeks to go until Christmas, it’s safe to say that we’re in the festive home stretch here at the store and we’ve got the finish line in our sights! In an effort to help with your holiday shopping (and general winter reading needs), the shelves here in the store are loaded down with great books and fun gifts, the most we’ll have all year! So, whether you’re just getting started on your holiday shopping or trying to cross those last few to-dos off your list, our store elves are all set to go, ready, willing, and happy to help in any way they can!

As we’re less than two weeks out from the 24th now, we’ve already passed the majority of our guaranteed Christmas delivery dates for book orders, but that doesn’t mean that books will stop arriving. We still expect to receive lots of deliveries between now and Christmas Eve, but if there’s a certain book you were hoping to order, there’s a chance we may not be able to get it in time. It never hurts to ask though! Orders to our last couple of “in time for Christmas” suppliers will be going out on Thursday of this week (December 15th), so be sure to contact us before then if there’s something specific that you’re looking for and we’ll do our best to get it for you. If we can’t get it, we can also see if any of our fellow independent booksellers has access to whatever title you’re looking for – just one of the perks of sharing a database with all our sister stores! With a huge selection of incredible books currently in the store, rest assured that our staff are still more than happy to help you find that perfect something for that special someone from what we have on our shelves!

In other holiday news, our annual 12 Days of Penguin Random House Christmas promotion is back again this year! From Tuesday, December 13 to Saturday, December 24, we will be featuring one Penguin Random House book each day at 25% off! This year we’ll be counting down the days to Christmas with the likes of Lessons by Ian McEwan, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, Prisoners of the Castle by Ben MacIntyre, Ghostlight by Kenneth Oppel, and so many more! This promo will be available in store and online, and each book will only be discounted on its specific day. Keep your eyes on this space and our social media pages for daily announcements on when each book is stepping into the spotlight! (Please note that since we’re closed on Sundays, our December 18th promo will be available online only.)

Speaking of store hours, we will be maintaining our regular hours of operation (Monday to Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm) in these last two weeks leading up to December 24. On Christmas Eve we will be open from 10:00am to 3:00pm. As in the past two years, we’ll once again be closed for a week between Christmas and New Year’s to give our staff a well-deserved rest. The store will be shut from Sunday, December 25 through to Monday, January 2. Regular store hours will resume on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

As booksellers, we love every time of year, but nothing quite compares to the holiday season. Once September comes, ushering in the season of prize nominations, “Top 100” and “Best of” lists, and high profile book reviews, it’s hard to focus on anything but all the great new books you want to add to your reading pile! Seeing our overflowing shelves and tables groaning under large piles of wonderful reads is just the cherry on top! It’s something that never fails to make us smile! Add to that the arrival of all sorts of fun gifts, games, and puzzles, and it’s hard to imagine a more exciting time of year!

Although in many ways 2022 has felt a bit more like the pre-pandemic days, it’s still given us some tough moments to navigate. From staff illnesses to shipping issues, unforeseen power outages to printing delays, there have certainly been a few hurdles to clear this year. Despite all the challenging bits though, we’ve made it to the home stretch and that’s really down to all of you. Thank you so much for sticking with us this year through the ups and the downs. We really love what we do and there’s no way we could do it without your unflinching support. Thank you for always being there for us and allowing our little store to be a part of your lives. Bookstores are wonderful on their own, but it’s their readers that make them a community and we can’t thank you enough for making Books on Beechwood what it is today!

So, no matter what you celebrate, here’s to a festive season filled with health, happiness, and lots of great new books!

Happy Reading!

Take good care,
The Staff at Books on Beechwood

Holiday Hours

Christmas Eve: OPEN from 10:00am to 3:00pm

We will be CLOSED from Sunday, December 25 through to Monday, January 2 (inclusive).
Regular store hours will resume on Tuesday, January 3, 2023.

 

November 2022 Newsletter

October Bestsellers

1. The Cold Edge of Heaven by His Excellency Whit Fraser
2. Lessons by Ian McEwan
3. Confidence Man by Maggie Haberman
4. The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate
5. Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris
6. Lifesavers and Body Snatchers by Tim Cook
7. The Winners by Fredrik Backman
8. Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
9. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
10. Almost Visible by (our) Michelle Sinclair

Greetings Book Lovers!

Welcome to winter! It’s so hard to believe that it’s already the middle of November. Where is the time going? It seems like only yesterday that summer melted into fall and October gave us canopies of gold and bronze. Now the frosty mornings and whispering winds of late fall have given way to soft, cottony layers of snow and the sparkle of winter. Of course, as avid book lovers, one of our very favourite things about colder weather is that we get to spend more and more time snuggled up reading! So, haul out your coziest blankets, brew a pot of your favourite tea (or other warm beverage of choice), and settle in to find out what great new reads are gracing our shelves these days!

Although we enjoy a good dose of magic in our reads no matter the time of year, there’s just something extra special about reading fantasy books when it’s dark and chilly outside. Whether you’re a fan of witches and sorcerers, mythical lands and epic adventures, or ghostly legends and strange superstitions, we guarantee that you’ll find all of those things and more in the store these days. One new arrival that we’ve been particularly excited about is Emma Seckel‘s debut novel, The Wild Hunt. Set on a small Scottish island in the month of October, this dark tale is littered with misty moors, lost souls, and dangerous legendary birds known as sluagh. When Leigh Welles is called home by the tragic death of her father, she finds herself not only stepping foot in her childhood home for the first time in years, but also facing an island irrevocably changed by WWII. After an ancient island ritual results in a young man’s disappearance, Leigh is thrown together with a young widower to try to solve the mystery…if only the sluagh will let them! Full of heartache, loss, mystery, and a hard-won spark of hope, this is a thrilling, riveting read that will completely transport you! If you’re in the market for even more darkness, mystery, and isolation, be sure to pick up a copy of The White Hare by Jane Johnson. Set on the Cornish coast, this scintillating novel follows a young woman’s struggles to leave her tumultuous past behind while raising her young daughter and appeasing her often overbearing mother. Throw in a rundown manor house with a mysterious past, a strangely alluring man with more than one secret to his name, and enough local folklore to fill the sea, and you have a magical, mystical, memorable novel that will stay with you well beyond the final page!

If reading fantasy novels isn’t your cup of tea, never fear! There’s plenty of magic to be found in real life too, usually hidden in plain sight! The Foghorn’s Lament by Jennifer Lucy Allan is a quirky, fascinating nautical history that skirts along rocky coastlines and skips over sparkling whitecaps as it delves into the past to explore the uses and evolution of a sound. Recognized the world over, the sound of the foghorn is irreplaceable, unmistakable, and impressive. It’s a call to arms, a warning away from danger, and a window into a world of shipwrecks, high sea adventures, and urban myths. As much a history book as the story of one woman’s experiences in some of nature’s wildest places, this book is a real treat! As book lovers, who among us could legitimately say they wouldn’t be happy living on an island solely dedicated to the written word? Well, we can now experience what it would be like with Michael Hingston‘s new book, Try Not to Be Strange. In 1880, future science fiction writer M.P. Shiel was taken to the uninhabited Caribbean island of Redonda and named its king. So begins the transformation of a previously dismissed island into a fantastical writers’ retreat; a haven for a wide range of quirky characters, literary award hopefuls, eccentric publishers, novelists of all types, and bartenders enough to keep everyone well lubricated! Fascinating and incredibly unique, this book will completely capture your imagination…and possibly make you want to search out your very own isolated island!

No matter what age you are, there’s nothing quite like a good story to take you out of the everyday. And what better way to escape than to visit a magical bookshop that exists outside of space and time? Mindy Thompson‘s The Bookshop of Dust and Dreams introduces readers to Poppy, a young bookseller whose family owns and runs Rhyme and Reason, a shop that caters to customers from all places and times. While the world outside continues to deal with the ravages of WWII, Poppy and her brother Al quietly learn the trade of bookselling from their father, always keeping in mind the most important rule about running a magical bookshop: you can never use the magic for yourself. So when Al’s best friend is killed in the war and their father is struck down by a mysterious illness, it falls to Poppy to keep the store on an even keel as her brother grieves and an even more insidious darkness looms beyond their doors. Perfect for fans of Pages & Co. and Sara Pennypacker, this magical, historical novel is a real gem! It’s always a happy day when a new Kenneth Oppel book hits shelves and the day Ghostlight arrived was no different! Set on Toronto Island, this book is at once spooky and thrilling – a true Canadian classic in the making! Gabe is a storyteller and tour guide, happily spending his summer scaring tourists with his creepy lighthouse stories on Toronto Island. The kicker is, Gabe doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when one of his tours takes a very surprising turn and he accidentally summons the ghost of Rebecca Strand, the old lighthouse keeper’s daughter, his life is turned completely upside down. Plunged into the tumultuous world of evil spirits, vengeful ghosts, and a centuries old scavenger hunt, Gabe and his friends (living and dead) have to race against the clock to save Rebecca and her father from the clutches of a dangerous and powerful spirit out to destroy the world as they know it!

As usual, there are so many new books we want to highlight but only so much space here in which to do it. Here’s just a taste of some other recent and forthcoming releases that we think are worth a look: Prisoners of the Castle by Ben MacIntyre, The Cloisters by Katy Hays, Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young, Ithaca by Claire North, A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair, As Long As Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh, Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn, Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris, Fayne by Ann-Marie MacDonald, One by Jamie Oliver, The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee, Landlines by Raynor Winn, John Turner by Steve Paikin, Surrender by Bono, The World We Make by N.K. Jemisin, The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz, The Reindeer Hunters by Lars Mytting (November 22), A Return to Ireland by Judith McLoughlin (November 22), A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (November 29), The Sorcerer of Pyongyang by Marcel Theroux (November 29), The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories by Mahvesh Murad & Jared Shurin (November 29), A Fatal Crossing by Tom Hindle (November 29), Kings & Queens by Peter Snow & Ann MacMillan (November 29), Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy (December 6), A Private Spy: The Letters of John Le Carre by Tim Cornwell (December 6), Cold Snap by Maureen Jennings (December 6), The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis (December 6), Remainders of the Day by Shaun Bythell (December 6), Blood, Fire, & Gold: The Life of Elizabeth I and Catherine De Medici by Estelle Paranque (December 6), Wilderness Knits for the Home by Linka Neumann (December 13), Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes by Giuseppe Dell’Anno (December 13).

Before we sign off, we do have some exciting in-store events news to share. On Saturday, November 26, Alie and Hejsa Christensen will be here in the store from 1:00pm to 2:30pm to sign copies of their debut thriller, Stealing John Hancock. Hailing from here in Ontario, this mother-daughter writing duo has produced a truly gripping tale of fraud, identity theft, revenge, and con artists. Be sure to come by to meet them, have a chat, and cross another item off your Christmas shopping list! Local author, Canadian war historian, and beloved bookstore customer, Tim Cook will be paying us a visit on Saturday, December 3 from 12:30pm to 2:30pm to sign copies of his brand new book, Lifesavers and Body Snatchers. Exploring the medical history of WWI, this newest offering from Cook shines a light on both the incredible life-saving work done by medical personnel on the front lines and some of the previously hidden truths about the harvesting of body parts from fallen soldiers. At once disturbing, enlightening, and shocking, this book is a look at the Great War through a truly unique lens.

While we love snuggling up with a new book no matter the season, there’s just something about the turning back of the clocks and the arrival of our first snow that makes us want to spend even more time with our “to be read” pile. So, if you’re like us and can’t stop feathering your nest with new things to read, be sure to pay us a visit to see what our staff are recommending this month! You may even find some nifty Christmas goodies while you’re here!

Happy Reading!

Take care,
The Staff at Books on Beechwood

Hilary’s Bookshelf

What I’m Reading: The Maker of Swans by Paraic O’Donnell

“It all begins with gunshots ringing out over a derelict English estate in the dead of night. Not only is the silence of night shattered, but the delicate peace holding the estate’s household together falls to pieces too.
With that one event, Mr. Crowe and his butler Eustace are suddenly faced with very serious repercussions which threaten to unearth secrets from their pasts that they’d rather keep hidden.
With a heavy dose of mystery and just a touch of magic, this novel is a really unique read!”