*A Collection of
Antiquarian Curios & Relics*
"Luckily, I always travel with a book, just in case I have to wait in line for Santa, or some such inconvenience . . ."
--David Levithan
THE
FIRST ANNUAL BOOKSTORE OLYMPICS
Howdy folks, I'm
Doctor Delay and I'm joined by my colleague Stoner Bill here in beautiful
downtown Palm Springs for the debut of the Bookstore OlympicsTM. You may recall Stoner Bill and I
from the cable access show Book Talkers or the short-lived TV reality
series The Real Booksellers of Ingham County, but probably not.
However, Bill and I will be launching The New Book Talkers next week, so
watch your local cable listings for our first episode. Before we go to our
first event, the Book Cradle 100 yard dash, I want to remind you that this has
all been made possible by our sponsor Litter-RobotTM. Remember: Litter-Robot is the
automatic litter box that saves time and really works! Now over to Stoner
Bill . . .
Stoner Bill: Thanks
Double D, we're ready for the first round of the Book Cradle 100 yard
dash. Representing Team Michigan, we have Steve Butts from Schulers
Books holding 30 mass market copies of George R.R. Martin's Dance with
Dragons (9780553582017) 9.99 in a single stack. This event consists of
three rounds, each becoming progressively more difficult with a mass market,
tradepaper and then finally, a hardcover heat. The tradepaper round will
feature 20 copies of Jodi Picoult's The Storyteller (9781439102770)
16.00. The athletes will then be tested in the final round when they haul
15 copies of Janet Evanovich's Takedown Twenty (9780345542885)
28.00. And now, back to you . . .
Double D: (whispering)
Thanks Bill. I was watching Steve in his warm-ups and I can see why Team
Michigan captain Matt Norcross from McLean & Eakin Booksellers has
tapped him for this event. Steve is an interesting blend of power and
dexterity. For those of you at home, the course is lined by precariously
balanced bookshelves, they will fall if touched, and the competitor will be
disqualified.
Double D: (louder) I hear
the starting gun and there goes Steve. Man, he's got a great jump.
Wow! Look at him go. I can tell you right now that he'll be the one
to beat in this round. He's under ten seconds and that is really unheard
of . . .
Stoner Bill: Uh-oh, it
appears that Jay Vernau of Team Ohio and owner of Jay & Mary's Books
has thrown his challenge flag. Puzzling . . . I'm not sure why.
Double D: Well, Mr. Vernau
has been called the Urban Meyer of bookstore competition. He can
recruit. His team is stacked with athletes from The Learned Owl, Mac's
Paperbacks, and of course, PW's Player of the Year Randy
Millot. I'm sure he has his reasons. Jay and the ref are heading
over to the scorer's table.
(More to come)
Steve training
for the Bookstore Olympics
Odds
& Sods
It appears that
the death of Mike Barton's Harbor Springs, Petoskey, and Bay View
(9780980102451) 24.95 has been greatly exaggerated. It has been reprinted
and we have plenty of copies in stock . . .
As my friend
Kevin used to say, "I can't tell a book by its cover, but I can tell if a
book is going to sell by its cover." And no truer words were spoken
about Diane Muldrow's Everything I Needed to Know I Learned from a Little
Golden Book (9780307977618) 9.99. I could see that this was the
perfect cashwrap buy, so how the publisher can be out of stock on this title
until December 11 is inexplicable to me. You may want to backorder . . .
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