Paperbacks Plus

2007 National Book Awards Announced

Wuxtry! Wuxtry! Read all about the 2007 National Book Award Winners here !

Joe Pilla for Paperbacks Plus

BRONX NOIR

As a born-and-bred Bronx boy, I have always been an unapologetic fan of my home borough.  From Mott Haven to Woodlawn, Riverdale to Throgs Neck, I suspect there is no intersection where I haven't dodged traffic against the light.  Reading BRONX NOIR was like crossing 19 of those streets, and stumbling down  shadowy, menacing alleys. 

Edited by S. J. Rozan, who contributes one story set in the Haupt Conservatory in the Botanical Gardens, these dark tales so thoroughly capture the setting, it was almost unsettling.  I was so familiar with the locale of each story, I could remember moments from my life when I walked down these blocks.  That sensation actually heightened my enjoyment of the tales.  Each writer was so diligent in capturing the smells, sounds and sights, that the stories completely surrounded me.  And what stories!  Whether skulking along the nave of St. Nicholas of Tolentine, or swaggering along Arthur Avenue, I found myelf living in the tales.

Live these stories yourself.  I hope you get lost on these mean streets too.

-Ray Norberto @ Paperbacks Plus; Bronx, New York

Are These Books Turkeys or What?

With the approach of Thanksgiving, followed by the year-end, gift-giving holidays, I'm led to wondering why some occasions seem to generate so many books, while others mean bupkis.
By far and away, of course Hanukkah and Christmas yield the most books, of all kinds for all ages from pop-ups to literary anthologies to songbooks to the spiritual to books trashing the occasion. Easter and Halloween books are almost all directed at young readers, and follow predictable visual lines (Eggs, bunnies, and chicks for the former, pumpkins and spooks for the latter).

Now, Thanksgiving...it certainly is a major Holiday, right up there with the aforementioned. Ah, but it seems to merit far fewer books (What titles we have you can count on one hand.), with the expected turkeys, Pilgrims, and Native Americans (as well as pumpkins apparently left over from Halloween) festooning the covers.

Why so few? Thanksgiving has a great storyline, one fundamental to American identity (whether one accepts it as actual history or mere myth). And it gathers families around a table, a situation perfect for reading aloud, a la Passover.

Why is there no literary classic for Thanksgiving on the order of A Christmas Carol or
"The Night Before Christmas" for the Yuletide?

(And, yes, I hear you saying, "Capote's  A Thanksgiving Visitor." Please.)

 Why is there no go-to book like How the Grinch Stole Christmas to keep the kids quiet? (And, no, Thanksgiving Mad Libs don't count.)

So, what Thanksgiving book finds favor at your turkey dinner, hmm?

See ya in the stacks.
Joe Pilla for Paperbacks Plus

Bending Under Trending

We here in the bookstore can always tell when a trend has crested--or is about to--by the scads of books and other merchandise that fall off a bandwagon, one often generated by a new movie.

Thanks to the latest (last?) Pirates of the Caribbean film, we're still (many, many months later) seeing puzzles, pop-ups, histories, games, kits, calendars, and whatnot rife with buccaneers, parrots, peg legs, cutlasses, and buried booty (Not THAT kind! You know, pieces of eight and doubloons and quadbloons...).

With the imminent release of Enchanted , we're being buried beneath all things fairy and princess: how to be a princess, how to cook for fairies, fairy wings, princess mirrors--all redolent with pink or glitter or both.

Now, I have no particular problems with fairy princesses, any more than I do with pirates. If a child is set on either career path, I say: Go for it! The salary may be modest, but the perks could be tremendous.

No, it's all this instant and incessant merchandising of kids' dreams that gives ME pause. It's not enough, say, to read Treasure Island (which we, naturally--shameless plug--have in stock) and daydream about being Jim Hawkins or Long John Silver. Nor
is it sufficient, it seems, to be read to at bedtime about a fairy princess. One must also
be clad in princess pajamas, sleep in a princess bed, have a princess iPhone, and consume princess nachos while playing a princess in an online princess game.

Arrgh!

There I feel a lot better! If I don't rant once in a while, the pressure builds and my
head flies off.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I think yet another title about dragons just came in. Thanks a lot, Eragon!

See ya in the stacks!
Joe Pilla for Paperbacks Plus