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July 21, 2009 - Perhaps it’s a good thing that the commercial for the “Buy Glendale” campaign is being reworked (“Agency criticizes commercial,” July 9). Even though, as a business owner, I would love extra advertising for my business, I hesitate to say that this campaign is actually going to do that. No one seems to “get” what buying local is all about.

Certainly, the Glendale News-Press does not, or apparently only feels that using a picture of the Glendale Galleria is typical of what the “Buy Glendale” means.

Moreover, if you checked back a few months ago, the same type of picture (big corporate chain, Galleria) was attached to the first News-Press article about the “Buy Glendale” campaign. (Read more)

Alyson Noël's Followup to 'Evermore' in Bookstores Now

July 7, 2009 - Evermore spent 10 weeks straight in the #1 spot on the New York Times bestseller list (and it's still in the top 5). Book 2 of the Immortals Series, Blue Moon, hits stores this month. The Book Chick says: “It is the mark of a daring writer to defy expectations and Alyson Noel does that to the power of ten in Blue Moon." (About Alyson Noël)

So Cal, So Cool, So Readable! God of War by Marisa Silver

June 30, 2009 - NEW! Every few weeks, SoCalBookScene will feature a cool book with a regional connection. The first entry, as selected by the SCIBA Board of Directors: God of War, by Marisa Silver.

The year is 1978. Ares Ramirez, age 12, lives with his mother, Laurel, and his younger brother Malcolm in a trailer at the edge of the Salton Sea, an unintentionally man-made body of water in the middle of the Southern California desert. It is a desolate, forgotten place, whose inhabitants thrive amidst seemingly impossible circumstances. (Read more)

Skylight Books at Dwell on Design 2009

June 25, 2009 - Skylight Books will be participating at Dwell Magazine's Dwell on Design Conference, the West Coast's largest modern design event, at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday, June 26, through Sunday, June 28. The three-day event will feature everything from lectures by design industry big wigs--like Yves Behar (founder of fuseproject), bestselling author of A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future Daniel Pink and Eames (AKA God, in the design world) collaborating designer Peter Jon Pierce--to exhibitions; home tours of fabulous dwellings on the Eastside and the Westside to design-related film screenings. Skylight Books will be located in the Dwell Store in the lobby of the Dwell on Design Convention, and will be serving up tons of fantastic books on architecture and design.

Book Works Hosts Fundraiser for KPBC with Luis Alberto Urrea

June 22, 2009 - Earlier this month, the Book Works, Del Mar, Calif., hosted an event at which the store and Luis Alberto Urrea, whose new book is Into the Beautiful North (Little, Brown), raised more than $4,000 for local public radio station KPBS. The money goes to a KPBS fund to offer wider coverage at the border of California and Mexico, which dovetails with Urrea's themes of identity and transition for people with ties to both countries. The event included a silent auction, donation solicitations, a wine-and-cheese reception with live music and a talk and book signing by Urrea that was introduced by KPBS border correspondent Amy Isackson. Click pic to enlarge: the Book Works staff with Luis and Cindy Urrea (far right) and Amy Isackson (fourth from right in the back).

HOT This Month: Lisa See Talks 'Shanghai Girls'

June 1, 2009 - For fans of the sensational bestsellers Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Peony in Love comes a stunning new novel from Lisa See about two sisters who leave Shanghai to find new lives in 1930s Los Angeles. Inpired by her Chinese heritage and her youth spent in Los Angeles' Chinatown, Shanghai Girls is a fascinating adventure about the struggle to find a new life in America.

Meet Lisa See this month at Malibu Performing Arts Center, sponsored by Diesel, A Bookstore/Malibu (6/1/09, noon); The Huntington Library, (6/2/09, 9:30 a.m.); Vroman's (6/2/09, 7 p.m.); The Woman's Club of Laguna Beach, sponsored by Laguna Beach Books (6/13/09, noon); and Chaucer's Books (6/29/09, 6:30 p.m.).

HOT This Week: Glen David Gold is 'Sunnyside' Up

May 24, 2009 - If you missed Glen David Gold talking up Carter Beats the Devil way back when, here's your chance make up for lost time. He turns what one might think as nothing into something, creating a fascinating cast in a stupendous novel that you can't put down. While Sunnyside is critically acclaimed, there's no better judge than us folks that simply love to read great books.

Meet Glen David Gold this week at Vroman's (5/25/09, 7 p.m.) and Skylight Books (5/26/09, 7:30 p.m.) Spoiler Alert

Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Named Children's Specialty Store of the Year by WNBA. (No, not that WNBA.)

May 5, 2009 - Women's pro basketball notwithstanding, the Women’s National Book Association has awarded the prestigious 2009 WNBA Pannell Award to Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book. In the judging, Mrs. Nelson’s Young Authors contest and use of outside venues (libraries, churches, etc.) to reach more children were noted as being exceptional at a time when many such programs are being eliminated. Selection of the award is based on creativity, responsiveness to community needs and an understanding of young readers. The Pannell Award is underwritten by a generous gift from Penguin Young Readers Group. The winner in the General Bookstore category was Joseph-Beth Booksellers of Cincinnati.

2009 Indies Choice Book Award Winners

April 21, 2009 - The American Booksellers Association has announced the winners of the inaugural Indies Choice Book Awards. Congratulations go to:

• Best Indie Buzz Book (Fiction): The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (The Dial Press)
• Best Conversation Starter (Nonfiction): The Wordy Shipmates, by Sarah Vowell (Riverhead)
• Best Author Discovery: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski (Ecco)
• Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book (Fiction): The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
• Best New Picture Book: Bats at the Library, by Brian Lies (Houghton Mifflin)
• Most Engaging Author: Sherman Alexie 

Other honorees here.

Impact of Shopping Local

A recent national survey revealed independent retail businesses are outperforming many chains, and the Shop Local movement is a big factor.

Holiday sales for the indies surveyed declined an average of 5% from the previous year. The number compares favorably to most competing chains, whose declines ranged from...(Read More)