Apple Seeds - April 2005
Sandy Pauly, Owner
Spring Fever: We’ve propped our door open several times already - and high-fived a customer wearing shorts on April 2nd.
Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson’s paper-back, Frankenstein: Prodigal Son, made #3 in February – its first week out! This is Book One in Koontz’ first-ever series. He also has a paperback, “Odd Thomas”, and his hardcover “Life Expectancy” now on bookstore shelves.
In keeping with his writing shift from political settings to murder-suspense, we moved most of Greg Iles books from the Adventure Section to the Mysteries last summer. Iles now has a hardcover out: Blood Memory.
James Patterson & Howard Roughan just published Honeymoon, and Richard North Patterson is in print again, with his new novel, Conviction.
Tsk…all these hardcovers.
Now, onto the paperback news:
Bestseller, The Time Traveler’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, is receiving mixed reviews in our area. Some say, “Great!” and some say, “Eh.” (I haven’t read it yet.)
Trade-Size “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd, is still on the bestseller list as of March 28th. Newest: “The Mermaid Chair”.
Hey, Romance Readers: “Paramour” is not in the Microsoft Thesaurus. Double tsk. I was doing research. Really.
Nevada Barr: High Country.
Shannon Drake: Dead By Dusk. (Vampires.)
Jodi Picoult: Latest is My Sister’s Keeper, with Vanishing Acts due this spring. Nice interview in Publishers Weekly (PW): Tho she writes about some pretty dark subjects, she seems to be a very dynamic lady, who had “a ridiculously happy childhood”.
Brad Meltzer. His latest paperback, “The Zero Game” made the PW Bestseller List in February. He’s an author I’ve yet to read, but we do have 2 flats of his books in the backroom, which means you have been reading him. Let us know what you thought about his novels. (Publishing companies naturally praise their writers, but it’s your opinion we listen to.)
Please tell me why I fell for it again. A magazine subscription. Sooo Stupid. I get one magazine in the mail, and six “wouldn’t you be happier with a 2-year deal at this tremendous savings & take a look at our special life-insurance plan”, THEN a letter telling me it won’t be long before my subscription is up. Of course they sell my name, so I get a gazillion other magazine offers, plus a ton of mail-order catalogues (some pretty gnarly) with shipping & handling rates set by the mob and enforced by Knuckles Nelson. Never again. Never, never.
Springtime seems to be the biggest promotional season for children’s books. They are spendy though, and (despite knowing costs have gone up) I was disappointed to see such high prices.
This is for older people: Remember TOPPER? For a buck, I purchased a CD with 3 of the old TV shows. Think: Leo G. Carroll. Oh, my.
Do you have Dee Henderson’s Christian Mysteries gathering dust at home? I have some of our readers waiting for copies, so...
Our Inspirational Section holds mostly Christian and Jewish fiction & non-fiction, along with a few books and novels regarding other religions. (By the way, we have too many #1 books of the Left Behind series – and also lots of extra Chicken Soup books. So, we will not be accepting any more for trade credits.)
Torey Hayden: I read her “Beautiful Child” and cannot shake the story of that little girl, or of the other children, in Hayden’s Special Ed. Class. “Twilight Children: Three Voices No One Heard Until a Therapist Listened” promises to be another memorable non-fiction book, delving into the appalling causes behind a suffering mind. I hope the new book also includes the humor that unexpectedly pops up amid the tragedies, as it did in Beautiful Child.
Whoa. Just read a pretty lousy review of James Patterson’s “Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment”. Geared toward young adults, this is a follow-up to When The Wind Blows and The Lake House. Sequel is expected in 2006.
Bought some really big rolls of toilet paper on sale. It dissolves before you use it.
Fans of romance author, JoAnn Ross, said her Stewart Sisters trilogy is a keeper. AND, Constance O’Day-Flannery’s newest 4? paranormal “Shifting Love” (about a female shape-shifter) is said to bring this author back into the limelight. A N D – did you know that Janet Oke’s Love’s Enduring Promise, along with the sequel, Love Comes Softly, have been among Hallmark Channel’s favorites?
Romance author, Cheryl Anne Porter, (53) passed away from cancer in August. Her last Harlequin Temptation, released in February, has special notes and author tributes attached.
A tremendous amount of Craft Books are now out in “new” bookstores. As you crafters are aware, we are talking expensive here. Even the magazines and single item pamphlets are being kept in families, due to the cost. Now to the surprising users of these books: TEENAGERS! Sweet.
If you have read an excerpt of a “coming soon” book at the back of a novel and never could find that particular book – please check the author’s listings. Writer’s contracts for other books may have come first, a change of publisher (etc) by the author, a take- off of new series – lots of reasons for not printing the proposed book. Sometimes, we wait in vain.
By the way, if you romance readers are looking for additional stories about your favorite characters, always check out the Anthology Shelves near the front of the store. Many authors write shorter stories based on specific series, families or individuals which then become part of an anthology by 3 or 4 authors.
No sad books allowed: megcabotbookclub.com is the place to go. Cabot (Princess Diaries) has a happy online book club for the younger set.
A reader loaned me her copy of “TheWedding”. THEN I had to reread “The Notebook”! Nicholas Sparks has a new 4½? hardcover in print: “True Believer”.
Prof. Bill gave me the rundown of the English “caste” system. You know...that stuff about where a Baroness fits in, and the Lords, as well as the Counts and Countesses and all those other titled whoevers. Here in Minnesota, you’re a snob if you want someone to call you “Mr.”
We had a robin take a lonnngg scrub down in the birdbath. He must have waited until his trip north was finished, because the water was pretty grungy when he flew away. (Or else he had a heavy date!)
The ice is going out, it poured rained instead of that white stuff, our summer people have been cleaning and stocking their lake homes, so…we made it through another Minnesota winter. We can hardly wait to complain about the heat.
Gotta go - ‘Bye! |
