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That’s one of the reasons there’s no signage at Village Books. We want to encourage you to chat with the on-duty bookseller. Many a famous author began as the quiet favorite of a committed bookseller. Independent booksellers take great pride in hand-selling, an art form that has faded with the onslaught of supermarket-style book stores. So, we’ll keep this list hot and fresh. Please visit often.
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A collection of correspondence between a mid- twentieth century New York writer and the staff of a London bookstore, may not seem like ideal beach reading at first glance. But bookish sunbathers may want to take note: If you love to read seaside and you love literature this may be the book for you. Beside the pleasure of reading well-written letters, there's a lightness and brevity here that fit right in to the relaxation of the shore. There are fun literary references and a story arc that emerges as the writers get to know each other. This is a lovely complement to a day at the beach.
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By the second page of How to Be Popular, her latest work of YA chick lit, Meg Cabot will have you impressed. With references throughout the book to everything from Advanced Placement classes to the TV show America's Next Top Model, she proves that she knows a thing or two about teenage pop culture. These references make the story seem more real, and help balance some less believable elements, like the street all the high school kids supposedly drive down ("Main Street") and the popularity manual ("The Book") the main character, Steph, finds in her soon-to-be-grandmother's attic.
As a plot element, "The Book" seems somehow familiar, as do the group of mean popular girls (think Mean Girls), and the nice popular guy (think Mean Girls and the 80s flick Sixteen Candles), although here he actually turns out to be mean too. Also less than original is Steph's relationship with her friend Jason, whom she at first thinks is interested in someone else, but ends up getting friendly with in their mutual grandfather's observatory.
Steph herself, however, is original. Though at first her use of colloquial phrases seems a bit forced, Cabot has given her a strong voice, and the candid narration style makes Steph easy to relate to and hard not to root for. She drives the story, and while her obligatory revelation is juvenile and rather obviously put, it is more than made up for by her charm and sincerity, and teen readers are sure to enjoy getting to know her.
How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot will be published on August 1st.
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