Category: The Newsletter

The Man Booker Prize Long-list was just released. Joshua Ferris “To Rise Again at a Decent Hour” In Store;R. Flanagan “The Narrow Road to the Deep North” Release Aug 12; K.J. Fowler “We are all Completely Beside Ourselves” In Store; Siri Hustvedt “The Blazing World” In Store ;Howard Jacobson “J” Releases Sept 30; Paul Kingsnorth “The Wake” ?Crowd Published; David Mitchell “The Bone Clocks” Releases Sept 2; Neel Mukherjee “The Lives of Others” To Order ;David Nicholls “Us” Releases Oct 28; Joseph O’Neill “The Dog” Releases Sept 9; Richard Powers “Orfeo” To Order; Ali Smith “How to be Both” Releases Sept 9; Niall Williams “History of the Rain” In Store.

 

Thank you to those customers who re-affirmed their interest in receiving our monthly newsletters by e-mail. For those that would like to add their name to our e-mail list, the website has an opt-in link on the right-hand side. August is a quiet time for booksellers except for the inflow of new books for the fall and holiday seasons. You can see some of the new books to be published soon by going to our webstore and using the search feature. Forthcoming titles can be seen by scrolling down the boxes at each side of the page. There is also a list feature where you can create your own list of books for later reference. Of course you can advance order the new books -or existing stock -on line. We also accept telephone orders -just phone the bookstore. You might also want to look up details of the Man Booker long list nominees given above. This year American novels were eligible for the first time. There are four on the long list. My favorite entry so far is “History of the Rain”. It is witty and profound and uses the English language in a way that it seems only the Irish can master. Our two book clubs resume in September on the second and last Wednesdays of the month. Click on Book Club for full details. The theme for the fall sessions is the commemoration of authors recently lost to us featuring “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Gracia Marquez, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and “The Snow Walker” by Farley Mowat. We sell the books at a discount each month. One future event to take note of is our celebration of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the bookstore on Beechwood which will occur on September 13th. Yes. 20 years ago, two intrepid women started the bookstore; Jean Barton and Mary Mahoney. Quite an adventure! Their legacy lives on in the spirit of the neighbourhood bookstore that continues today. We’ll have some details of the celebration to announce later but please plan to drop by and help us celebrate. Another September event is the renewal of the “Titles at Table Forty” series- the opportunity to meet an author over dinner and hear about the creation of their latest book. We’ll announce the full details shortly.

 

1. No Relation                                 Terry Fallis                                       Fiction
2. The Rosie Project                        Graeme Simsion                           Fiction
3. Capital in the 21^st Century        Thomas Piketty                            Economy
4. 100 year old man who…             Jonas Jonasson                            Fiction
5. The Awakening of Miss Prim         N. Sanmartin Fenollera              Fiction
6. Reclaiming the Commons..        Heather Menzies                         Biography
7. Based on a True Story ..              Elizabeth Renzetti                       Fiction
8. Wicked Autumn                            G.M. Malliet                                  Mystery
9. Art of Racing in the Rain           Garth Stein                                   Fiction
10. The Lost Sisterhood                     Anne Fortier                                 Fiction
11. Girl who saved the King..        Jonas Jonasson                             Fiction
12. The Gravity of the Birds            Tracy Guzeman                             Fiction
13. Silver Totem of Shame                R.J. Harling                                     Mystery
14. Palawan Story                                 Caroline Vu                                    Fiction

 

There was the traditional fillip to sales in June as some customers began to stock up for the summer. We had two outstanding events in the month. One event was the Beechwood Summer Solstice Stroll. The store opened late and Antoinette did story-time readings for the kids. Beechwood was thronged with families enjoying the many sights and activities. Congratulations to the community organisers for such a successful event. The other event was the second in our “Titles at Table 40” dinner meetings with authors. The proceedings had been streamlined and everything went off smoothly. (Watch for the new series coming in September). We had two interesting speakers- Diana Beresford Kroeger and Heather Menzies. Heather topped our best-seller list for June (see the listing below). Most other books on the list were fiction except for the resurgence of Joe Clark’s book “How we lead…”

We completed the Customer Survey thanks to Jinning Yu, our marketing intern from Carleton University. She had an excellent response-over 10% of those approached, so we can have some confidence in the statistical validity of the results. Thanks to all participants for your help. It has given us a lot to think about. The random draw for a $25 gift certificate went to Elizabeth Sanford.

Two thirds of the respondents were female. 39% of the total were over 65 and 38% were between 45 and 65. 15.7% of the households had children and 12.4% had teenagers. Geographically, the major concentration was in the immediate neighbourhoods but about one-third of responders were scattered over the rest of the city.

I’ll just give a few facts from the mass of data. One third of the customers were not familiar with our website. We need to improve on that. Only 25% ever use the on-line store, most using it for book searches but many of those then use the on-line order system.

Gifts were an important element of book-buying motivations. (Maybe we could enhance that aspect of our services?). 75% of respondents buy other things than books -greeting cards being the most important, so we will certainly maintain our selection of distinctive greeting cards. Not surprisingly given our sales results, Fiction topped the list of book categories of interest, followed by Biography, History and Politics. Children’s books were vitally important for some but of no interest to others. Cooking and Travel received high ratings in importance but our sales statistics show relatively low sales in these categories relative to our inventory (except maybe at Christmas). Maybe some people look more than they buy? Book events (meet the authors, book signings) were very popular. There were quite a few suggestions about the store to consider but the majority input was that the responders very much like the store the way it is.

Staff are busy at the moment with the Ottawa “Book Fair” where they meet all the publishers and order the many new books that will be released in time for the Christmas season. It is always an exciting time for us –a preview of the holiday season in July!

 

1. Reclaiming the Commons        Heather Menzies                         Biography
2. Palawan Story                            Caroline Vu                              Fiction
3. How we lead                                 Joe Clark                                          Politics
4. No Relation                                   Terry Fallis                                    Fiction
5. Christianity for the Rest of Us   Diana Bass                                     Spiritual
6. Sweetness of a simple Life       Diana Beresfor-Kroeger           Sci & Nature
7. Girl who saved the King of ..       Jonas Jonasson                          Fiction
8. A delicate truth                             John LeCarre                                Fiction
9. The soldier’s wife                          Margaret Leroy                           Fiction
10. Opening Heaven’s door             Patricia Pearson                           Psychology
11. The lost Sisterhood                     Anne Fortier                                 Fiction
12. Minor Adjustment Beauty …     A. Mccall Smith                           Mystery
13. The Silkworm                                Robert Galbriath                         Mystery
14. Written in my own Heart’s        Diana Gabaldon                           Fiction
15. Midnight in Europe                       Alan Furst                                      Fiction
16. 100 year old man who…             Jonas Jonasson                            Fiction
17. The Fault in our Stars                   John Green                                  Youth

May was a good month for the store as customers begin stocking up for the summer. The May best-seller list (see below) was an eclectic mix with many of the selections resulting from events at the store. One highlight event was the first of the Titles@Table 40 functions –the successor to Books n’Brew. The gathering at Table 40 was a sellout and feedback has been very positive. The “family style” dinner around the harvest tables encouraged interaction and I met some interesting people. The two speakers were very engaging. The next event is on Sunday June 15 with non-fiction authors Diana Beresford-Kroeger and Heather Menzies (see the separate announcement for details). There will be a couple of adjustments in order to finish the event a little earlier-the start time is at 5.30p.m. and the food service will be a little faster. We realise that sometimes someone can’t attend the event even after paying the deposit but if you let the Bookstore know, we may have a waiting list to fall back on so as to fill the vacant spot.

Another June event of note  is the Annual Beechwood Summer Solstice Celebration on June 21st. Books on Beechwood will be open later that evening with storytime for kids and a sidewalk sale with great bargains (weather permitting)

Our customer survey is almost completed and I’ll share some results with you next month. We’ve had a good rate of response and we thank you for that. The information and the suggestions that we received will be very useful in guiding us forward. There was no demand for major changes but there were some helpful suggestions.

If you’re looking for summer reading suggestions, you might want to check out the latest New Edinburgh News where all the staff has contributed ideas from books they have read.

From our survey of customers, we’ve realised that we need to revise our e-mailing lists (and also we need to comply with the latest legislation on e-mail-outs). Some customers have asked for monthly e-mail updates. If that interests you, be sure to let us know, confirm that we have your e-mail address on file and give us permission to send you occasional updates.

1. Home before Dark                          Rosemary Sexton                            Biography
2. On becoming a Mother                Brigid McConville                             Parenting
3. Silver Totem of Shame                  R.J. Horlick                                          Mystery
4. The Shadow Queen                        Sandra Gulland                                Fiction
5. Opening Heaven’s Door                   Patricia Pearson                             Psychology
6. How to add value to your home        Scott Mcgillivray                            Decor
7. The Lost Sisterhood                        Anne Fortier                                      Fiction
8. Capital in the Twenty First Century    Thomas Piketty                       Economy
9. The Girl who saved the King of..       J. Jonasson                                 Fiction
10. The Worn Archive                            Serah-Marie McMahon                Art etc
11. Under Cold Stone                            Vicki Delaney                                     Mystery
12. The One                                               Kierra Cass                                         Youth
13. Stella Bain                                           Anita Shrive                                       Fiction
14. Howard’s End is on the Landing       Susan Hill                                         Biography
15. The Son of a certain woman        Wayne Johnston                                  Fiction
16. Ottawa, Canada                                   William McElligot                          Travel
17. The Soldiers Wife                             Margaret Leroy                                 Fiction
18. The Goldfinch                                    Donna Tartt                                        Fiction
19. Letters from Skye                            Jessica Brockmole                            Fiction
20. Medicine Walk                                 Richard Wagamese                                Fiction

(Use the search function on our webstore at www.store.booksonbeechwood.ca for details on each title or to order these books)

Business at the store has picked up as the weather has improved- April’s weather was not conducive to casual bookstore visits and browsing.  We announced our plans for Titles @Table 40 a couple of weeks ago and the event is already sold out. It involves a family style dinner provided by the Fraser Café , followed by readings and discussions by authors; in this case by Sandra Gulland on her book “The Shadow Queen” and Anne Fortier on “The Lost Sisterhood”. We have another dinner lined up for June which will be announced shortly. Given the popularity of the first event, we are already planning for a fall season.

Another new item on our calendar is the return of Story Time for Children in the store on Saturday mornings once a month.  The first is on May 10 at 10.00 a.m. featuring Tammie Winsor author of “Jack and the Fairy Dogmother”.  The next will be on June 14^th. This is a great opportunity for parents to do a bit of book browsing in relative peace!

We have an intern from the Carleton University Sprott School of Business who is going to work this summer on customer and marketing aspects of the Bookstore. Yinning Lu is an MBA student from China who is anxious to get some practical experience. She will be carrying out an on-line customer survey (to our mailing list) to find out about our customers and their interests and how their experience in the store could be improved.  I hope that you will help her if she approaches you. Yinning will also be carrying out some in store interviews as part of the project. We look forward to seeing her results and adjusting our marketing efforts to better serve you.

1.       Forbidden Love in the…                  Qais Ghanem                     Fiction

2.       Church Rebel with a cause           Harry Mackay                    Spiritual

3.       Citizens of London                           Lynne Olsen                       History

4.       Stella Bain                                           Anita Shreve                      Fiction

5.       Flash Boys                                           Michael Lewis                    Economy

6.       Howard’s End is on                          Susan Hill                             Biography           

7.       The Orenda                                        Joseph Boyden                 Fiction

8.       Opening Heaven’s Door                   Patricia Pearson                Psychology

9.       Take this Bread:                                 Sara Miles                           Biography

10.   Paris:The Novel                                   Edward Rutherford         Fiction

11.   The Burgess Boys                             Elizabeth Strout                    Fiction

12.   Empress of the night                         Eva Stachniak                     Fiction

13.   The Rosie Project                                Graeme Simsion               Fiction

14.   The Longer I’m Prime Minister        Paul Wells                           Politics

15.   The Devil in the White City               Erik Larson                          History

16.   The Hungry Ghosts                            Shyam Selvadurai            Fiction

17.   The Testament of Mary                     Colm Toibin                    Fiction

18.   Movie Stars                                        Watt/Arrowsmith                Kids

19.   Requiem                                              Lauren Oliver                     Fiction

20.   The Girl who saved….                      Jonas Jonasson                        Fiction

 

As the weather finally improves, the bookstore traffic increases. Our business is quite weather dependent. We added a new feature recently-a bookcase full of Bargain books ($8 each; 3 for $20) from Penguin that we bought as a skid-load sight unseen. There is a fascinating mix of subjects that goes beyond our usual specialities. It’s well worth a browse. Maybe you need the latest translation of Beowulf or to re-read Victor Hugo or, in my case, the classic travel tale of Wilfred Thesinger- “The Marsh Arabs” or an Elizabeth George mystery in hardback. Take a look!

 

On my vacation, I indulged in a feast of murder mysteries. It included police procedurals set in Brazil, South Africa and Sweden as well as Canadian novels set in Newfoundland, PEI and the Kootenays. It made me speculate about how popular mystery writing has evolved in parallel with the economic and political trends towards both globalisation and regionalisation. A couple of generations ago, the settings of mysteries were pretty much limited to those of the Agatha Christie style often set in an English country house or the gritty police dramas of New York City and with translations of Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret for something more exotic. Now we have dramas from around the world-from Singapore to Iceland-all giving us lots of local colour and culture and very often with detailed descriptions of local cuisine enjoyed by the main characters. However, parallel with this global expansion, there has been a strong regionalisation. Settings in England will feature Derbyshire or Yorkshire or Cornwall. These come with descriptions of local character and scenery. Very often, a description will be given of who is drinking which local beer. A pint of Theakstone’s best bitter can tell you a lot about a man’s character. Regional novels abound in Scotland and Ireland too. In Sweden, the setting is likely to be regional and the local feelings about Stockholm get an airing. (Nevertheless, the Swedish central characters almost all share a gloomy and depressed outlook no matter the region). Canada has seen an explosion of mystery writing from coast to coast with lots of local flavour. It would be fun to map them all(my next project?). Are there similarly mysteries in the French Language set in Canada? For Quebec, in English, we do have the brilliant Louise Penney series set in the Eastern Townships. Ottawa is very strong. Notably there are the Barbara Fradkin books featuring Inspector Green and Detective Brian Sullivan. Just recently we were involved with the very successful launch of Brenda Chapman’s “Cold Mourning” which dominated our March best-seller list.

 

The March best seller list (see below) had some surprises. Joseph Boyden’s “Orenda” is still near the top and Charlotte Gray’s “The Massey Murder” is still there at #19. Very welcome on the list is a set of kids classics lead by “Alexander and the Terrible Horrible no good, very bad day” originally published in 1972. These were the result of some corporate purchases. A new addition is the novel “The Little Old Lady who broke all the Rules” by Catherina  Ingelman-Sundberg. The original Swedish version sold about 1.2 million copies-about one copy for every three households. Expect to hear more about this.

 

We have begun our Teen Reads book reviews. The first is of “Falling Kingdoms” by Morgan Rhodes, reviewed enthusiastically by Sarah Graves of Henry Larsen Public School. Good input for parents & grandparents as well as for teens.

 

We are working on a follow-up to the Books n. Brew series but in a different location. An event is being planned for Sunday May 25^th with advance ticket purchase necessary. Full details will be out shortly.

 

Note that we are closed on Good Friday April 18^th.