Elizabeth Merritt and I flew off to the conference in Kansas City last week with our good friends from Eight Cousins Bookstore, Carol Chittenden and Sara Hines.  Kansas City had just been hit with one of their worst snowstorms in recent history, but the airport had reopened and off we went, laughing and talking all the way, and arriving just in time for an opening reception featuring delicious hot Kansas beef sandwiches  in the beautiful and historic Union Station.

Winter Institute is not really a glitzy conference.  It’s all about the books.  There are opportunities for tremendous discussions with really passionate booksellers, publishers and authors.  We talk  about how we can all work together to recognize and promote really good new authors, run our businesses better and utilize new technologies.    One of our best discussions was about the exciting changes in the national core curriculum standards in our schools.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of David and Goliath

There were excellent keynote speeches by Daniel Pink, author of To Sell is Human, on the new art and science of selling in the internet age when we are overwhelmed with information, and  Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, who spoke about his upcoming book, David and Goliath.

Jeannette Walls with Elizabeth and me

Oh, but then there’s the author reception!!  70 authors of books being published this spring and summer all in one room!   We had a chance to talk with Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle and Half-Broke Horses, who has visited us in the past. We can’t wait to read her new novel, The Silver Star, which will be published this June.   What a pleasure to meet Italian chef Lidia Bastianich, who has just written a beautiful children’s book, Nonna’s Birthday Surprise.

Lidia Bastianich with her new children’s book!

Speaking of Lidia, there are great restaurants in Kansas City!  On the first night,  I met my niece, Sophie and her boyfriend, who took me to the unpretentious and utterly delicious Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque restaurant.  In 1974, author Calvin Trillin called it  “…possibly the single best restaurant in the world.”  We feasted on their specialty, “burnt ends”.    The next night, we were invited to dinner by the publishers of Sourcebooks at Pierpont’s Restaurant at Union Station, where we enjoyed delicious Kansas beef and met Cathie Pelletier, author of a wonderful new novel set in Maine, The One-Way Bridge, and  Dr. Laura Bates, who tells the story of her program teaching Shakespeare to men in solitary confinement  in her new book Shakespeare Saved My Life.

We packed 5 boxes of review copies of books for the upcoming spring and summer seasons and can’t wait to dive into them!   One of the joys of working in a bookstore is that we receive review copies of books months before they are published so we can read and review the books and make decisions on what to buy for the store.  I grabbed Kate Atkinson’s new book, Life After Life, to read while I burned off a few calories in the hotel’s excellent gym.

The conference came to an abrupt end for us as another huge snowstorm was predicted for Kansas, and, with much regret, we left a few hours early.   But our early departure made for one of our most fun moments of our trip!  Elizabeth, Carol, Sara and I sat rather sadly in the airport, each on our laptops or with book in hand.  I looked up and saw a familiar face, and smiled at her, thinking she was another bookseller leaving early.  Next time I looked up from my laptop, I noticed Carol talking with her and – suddenly – it clicked.  It was Laurie Halse Anderson!!  One of my favorite children’s and young adult authors!  Her books, Speak and Wintergirls are incredibly moving and powerful novels for teens about the effects of abuse and eating disorders respectively.  Chains and Forge tell the story of slavery during the American Revolution through the eyes of 13 year old Isabel, a slave in New York.    What a way to end our journey!

Author Laurie Halse Anderson surrounded by some of her Cape Cod fans: (from left to right) Vicky Titcomb, Carol Chittenden, Sara Hines and Elizabeth Merritt

We are back now and the boxes of review copies of books have just arrived, sorely tempting us to open them instead of finishing our annual store inventory, which began the day after we got home.  We’ll be talking about many of these new books with you in the coming months.  We  came away from this inspiring conference with so many great ideas, many of which we’ll be implementing in the coming months as we plan for a great 2013!

Kids and parents love our bright new toy area downstairs!

Check out the video by clicking on link below:

Check out our fabulous collection of sale books, these are not used books, some coffee table books with beautiful photographs, some fiction, cookbooks, history, art and children’s titles! Something for everyone, get your holiday shopping started now! All drastically reduced from original cover prices!

Back to school display

It’s Back to School Time! We have plenty of books about going back to school or going for the first time, also fun and funny stories about school and fun activity books!

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This is a poignant tale of an older retired Englishman who embarks on a 600 mile walk across England after receiving a letter from Queenie Hennessy, a long ago co-worker, telling him she is dying. His marriage has become lifeless, his wife carps on him regarding how he butters his toast every morning. So after writing Queenie a letter, he goes out to post it and simply keeps walking, in the belief that as long as he does, Queenie will hang on till he gets there. Beautifully written, this novel prompts the reader to examine their own life and the choices we make. Staff Pick, 20% off!