Booklegger

It’s Banned Books Week! Celebrating your freedom to read! Book bans and challenges are greatly increasing in number in the US. More titles targeted
In 2023, the number of book titles targeted for censorship increased by 65% over 2022.

More bans in schools
PEN America estimates that over 10,000 books were banned in public schools during the 2023–2024 school year, which is almost triple the number from the previous year.

More bans in libraries
The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over 2022.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/pictures/the-50-most-banned-books-in-america/

New puzzle alert! These and many other beautiful designs from Pomegranate Publications have just hit our shelves. 🧩🧩🧩

Baby’s first bookstore outing! Our customer/friend Jen visits Booklegger frequently. She and I like to share recommendations for mystery novels, but now that she’s a new mom she’ll be spending more time in the children’s section with her beautiful baby boy, Parker. It’s always a treat to meet a new little reader-to-be. ♥️

I am so enamored with these two gems from the 1930’s that came our way today. “Balanced Recipes by Pillsbury” (published in 1933) is in a metal binding, and has handy tabs for flipping to your favorites. “How to be Strong and Happy” (1938) has amazing black and white and color photos. If this book doesn’t motivate you to become strong, healthy, and happy I don’t know what will!

It’s always a treat to see our long-distance regulars. This bag of books traveled all the way from Florida to our store with a customer we see every year when he visits family here — and brings in books to trade!

This is a throwback from 2019, but every time in pops up in Facebook ‘memories’ it makes me laugh.
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I have a feeling this book didn’t pay off for the person who tried to sell it to us at the bookstore today.

There is so much going on tonight for the final Friday Night Market of the year! Come be a part of this lively community event, have yummy food, check out the fire dancers and Central Del Pueblo block party, visit the wonderful vendors and your favorite local shops! We look forward to seeing you!

Thank you to bandit_savoryandsweet for making the most gorgeous and delicious brunch for our staff appreciation party today! The food and company were the best.

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Congratulations on winning “Best Bookstore” ! And thank you for thinking of me to make your fabulous staff and friends brunch. It was such a sweet gathering.
On the menu:
Corn, zucchini, & tomato frittatas with chèvre & fresh oregano
Salad with rainbow radishes, cucumber, carrot, sun seeds, & mustard citrus vinaigrette
2 Cheese Boards with various cheeses, blueberry thyme compote, honey lavender chevre, candied nuts, fruits, Brio baguette
Dark chocolate zucchini bread
Lemon Rosemary cookies

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Sorry to miss you all tonight, but hope to see you next week!

This week’s New Yorker magazine has an interesting article about why and how bookstores still exist. If you don’t have time to read the whole piece you can find screenshots of my favorite two paragraphs in the comments.

Are Bookstores Just a Waste of Space? In the online era, brick-and-mortar book retailers have been forced to redefine themselves.

“As you read a book word by word and page by page, you participate in its creation, just as a cellist playing a Bach suite participates, note by note, in the creation, the coming-to-be, the existence, of the music. And, as you read and re-read, the book of course participates in the creation of you, your thoughts and feelings, the size and temper of your soul.”
– Ursula K. Le Guin

Just out from the fine folks at Backcountry Press, Mushrooms of Cascadia! With fully illustrated treatments of over 750 species and references hundreds more, tips on mushroom collecting, descriptions of habitats, and via regions and up-to-date taxonomy, this book represents the state of the art.

I’m pretty taken with this reversible book from 1920 which is comprised of short stories in which men and women poke fun at each other. Mystery writer Mary Roberts Rinehart and humorist Irving S. Cobb have at it, as you can tell by the flying hammers and daggers on the cover. Worth noting, the S. in Irving S Cobb’s name is for Shrewsbury.

You might remember that we recently got a visit from the marvelous Bob Manson, who travels the country visiting independent bookstores. It was a delight to meet him, and we really appreciate his mission of sharing his enthusiasm for indie bookstores with the world! He did a very nice write up of his stop at Booklegger. Thank you, Bob. 📚📚📚

Bootlegger - Eureka, CA Booklegger, Eureka, CA (Like The Indie Bob Spot on Facebook and follow The Indie Bob Spot on X) I won’t be able to adequately articulate th...

A few days ago a young woman came in with books to trade, and was browsing our shelves while we worked on checking the titles she’d brought to see which we needed.

She came up to our buying table where we were working to ask if we have a section of Asian American authors. I explained that we didn’t have a section specifically, but that we had many titles by Asian authors in the various genres, and asked if she was looking for anyone in particular.

“Not really,” she answered. “I’m just getting into reading again and I haven’t read many Asian writers.”

“Can I recommend some that I have enjoyed?” I asked.

“Yes, please!” She smiled.

She said that she was mostly interested in fiction and so she and I made our way through the literature section, historical fiction, mystery, etc. I had probably suggested twenty different authors and told her what I liked about their writing. It turned out that she had already read quite a few of those that I pointed out, or had bought some but had not yet read them. But there was so much more to explore.

She was Asian herself and after we had talked about authors from many different Asian cultures, I asked, “Is it OK to ask about your ethnicity?”

She nodded. “I was born in China, but I was adopted. I grew up here.”

“My daughted was also born in China.” I responded, my heart beating a little harder. “What part of China are you from?”

“Chongqing.”

The same as my daughter.

I showed her pictures of my girl, who is about four years younger than this lovely customer.

“I had that same haircut!” She laughed, pointing out a picture of Sophie as a baby with spiky hedgehog hair.

She told me she was getting ready to start grad school in the fall. I asked what she studied.

“Counseling,” she said. “I want to specialize in adoptees.” 

I can imagine that she could be very helpful to many people who share her experience. I got called away to meet with a local author who had come to see me, so my coworker, Martha took over, providing a few more suggestions of authors that our customer might like.

When she came to the counter, these are books she had decided to go with for this shopping trip. I asked her if it would be OK to take the photo and tell about her reading exploration of Asian authors and identities. She kindly agreed.

One of the best things about working in the bookstore is seeing the various ways that books influence and enlarge peoples lives, their understanding of themselves and the world. I was impressed by this interaction and of course it intersected with my own family’s experience, which made it resonate personally.

Books can be a source of connection, and I never get over being astonished by the remarkable people we get to meet because they are readers.

Hey Booklovers! It’s our moment to shine!

“Milk n’ Honey,” published in 1973 by Harmony Books contains the “words n’ pictures” of legendary album cover artist Abdul Mati Klarwein. The German born Klarwein created album covers for artists from Leonard Bernstein to Carlos Santana and Miles Davis. The book, which is collectible and hard to find, is a treasure for fans of the art and music of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Overheard at the bookstore today, a four-year-old listening to his mom reading him a story interjects, “These are *nice* books. They’re not about ghosts destroying people anything like that.”

He stretched out the words ‘ghosts destroying people’ in a way that didn’t sound like this was a scary idea, but more like he was really tired of that story line. Like, how tedious. Ghosts destroying people has been done to death.

Excellent new puzzle alert! Look at the wonderful details on this map of San Francisco.

Legendary author James Baldwin was born 100 years ago today. The wonderful image is from Baldwin & Co. In New Orleans.

We very much appreciate all the support we get from our wonderful community of readers! It is a pleasure to get to know so many of you and to get to feed your reading habit. Shout out to all of our bookselling colleagues We value the cooperation and camaraderie of our fellow bookstore folks.

I love this! A comparison for bibliophiles.

At only 4' 8" tall, Simone Biles' jump clears more than 7 ft of air. Or, in library terms, she could jump over roughly 65 James Patterson books. 🤸‍♀️ 📚 😆