The New Yorker Says 76 Selections Are Bound to Please

The May 6 issue of The New Yorker (on newsstands on April 29) will feature the fifth special Book Sense insert, "Bound to Please: Great Gift Ideas From Your Independent Booksellers." This 14-page special feature will showcase a number of independent booksellers, in both text and pictures, and will share their enthusiastic picks for gift-giving from recent Book Sense 76 selections.

Underscoring the unique role that independents often play in their communities, The New Yorker piece notes that "an independent bookseller often serves as the cultural hub and literary soul of a community. In addition to recommending good literature and sponsoring readings and book signings, a locally based bookseller also offers intangibles such as providing a welcoming environment that draws people to browse, peruse, and chat with others about the latest must-reads."

Clearly focusing on the importance of knowledgeable handselling, "Bound to Please" states, "Of course, selecting the best gifts from the staggering number of books released each season can be daunting. Thankfully, independent booksellers across the country have already done a lot of the leg work, arriving at some informed ideas for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation, and lazy summer reading."

The book suggestions of 19 booksellers are included in the piece. The booksellers are: Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington; Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida; Pegasus Books in Berkeley, California; Books Inc. in San Francisco; Olsson’s Books and Records in Washington, D.C.; Scott’s Bookstore in Mount Vernon, Washington; Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts; The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts; Just Books in Greenwich, Connecticut; Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco; R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut; Drummer Boy Books in Ligonier, Pennsylvania; Annie Bloom’s Books in Portland, Oregon; Village Books in Bellingham, Washington; The Toadstool Bookshop in Milford, New Hampshire; Books in the Bluff in Eulonia/Townsend, Georgia; Odyssey Books in Grass Valley, California; Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.; and Copperfield’s Books in Sebastopol, California.

Featured in text and photos in the piece are Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi; McIntyre’s Fine Books and Bookends in Fearrington Village in Pittsboro, North Carolina; Octavia Books in New Orleans; Old Market Book Cellar in Omaha, Nebraska; Front Street Books in Alpine, Texas; Concord Bookshop in Concord, Massachusetts; Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts; Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C.; Diesel, A Bookstore in Oakland, California; Powell’s Books for Cooks and Gardeners in Portland, Oregon; and I Love a Mystery in Mission, Kansas.

In the text of the special insert are recommendations for gifts for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduates, as well as fiction readers, fans of mysteries, and food lovers.