tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-212153432008-07-22T13:01:21.758-05:00Webmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07176000412260440921noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-79040737888522124022007-12-20T10:14:00.000-05:002007-12-20T11:13:16.456-05:00

Well, it's my last post before Christmas and I'll be keeping it short again. I'm downtown at our Lansburgh store this morning anticipating the lunchtime crowds. We have some books back in stock that I wanted to let everyone know about: The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano - This is one of my favorite books of the year and I was certainly not alone. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett -

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-9475614754501988832007-12-13T11:00:00.000-05:002007-12-13T11:45:00.472-05:00

I'll keep it short and sweet this week. It's a busy time for everyone and of course we're happy to be busy and chasing down titles that are flying off the shelves. I'm not sure when I'm going to do my Christmas shopping, though... Every year I think I might try and diversify, but every year it comes down to that week before and I realize I haven't done any shopping and I'm pretty much not leaving

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-37127263917488212402007-12-06T11:00:00.000-05:002007-12-06T09:54:22.937-05:00

I hope you’ve had a chance to take a look at our Holiday Gift Guide online. The non-virtual version will be available momentarily. This week I figured I’d go through some more titles in the guide… specifically the cookbooks we chose this year. It seems like the right thing to do since the weather has finally turned cold (there’s even snow on the ground, or at least there is as I write this, the

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-68232845778324106962007-11-28T17:14:00.000-05:002007-11-29T11:05:19.011-05:00

Hello! It's been a busy week, but not quite the usual busy... I spent some time at the WETA studios yesterday taping a segment for a new videoblog program called Author Author! hosted by self-titled Book Maven Bethanne Patrick. As soon as it's up we'll have a link to it from our website. We talked about some of the best books of the year and also some great holiday gift selections. I kept

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-35876473958568591732007-11-15T11:00:00.000-05:002007-11-15T13:44:27.115-05:00

Late into last evening at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York City burning questions were answered, awards were handed out, speeches were made. Almost all bets were on Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke for the fiction award. I read some contrarian articles in the last week, but overall the odds were in Johnson’s favor. And they were justified. It certainly was my favorite for the award and one of

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-53673367957966284092007-11-08T11:00:00.000-05:002007-11-08T12:28:31.458-05:00

This week it's all about the movies. Maybe it's the cooler weather, maybe it's the no more Daylight Savings time, either way I've watched more movies in the last week than I've seen in the last couple months combined. I went to the Uptown theater with my younger brother on Tuesday night to see Blade Runner: The Final Cut. Apparently last night it was quite a different scene from me, my brother

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-21904165284940832162007-10-31T22:42:00.000-05:002007-11-01T09:08:39.505-05:00

Well, it's officially November now and our stores are starting to get stocked up with lots and lots of books. There's an awful lot of good stuff out there right now. I've been putting together our Holiday Gift Guide so I've been revisiting all the best books of the year and looking at the ones that are just coming out now. It's a pretty great list this year! Maybe next week I'll give a sneak

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-23598162129100999552007-10-25T11:00:00.000-05:002007-10-25T11:03:24.844-05:00

I just finished Shalom Auslander's memoir Foreskin's Lament, which I mentioned earlier this year. I'd started it some time ago, but like so many, it got pushed aside for some shiny, new book that likely suffered the same fate just days later. This one resurfaced and I am glad that it did. Foreskin’s Lament is not a Hitchens-ian screed against God, but a very personal story about growing up in a

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-53449122857701665232007-10-18T08:56:00.000-05:002007-10-18T10:17:40.282-05:00

Well, the buzz this week is another Man Booker Prize upset. Anne Enright won for her novel The Gathering. Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach was the heavy, but late in the game odds were moving towards Lloyd Jones’ Mr. Pip. So Enright’s win came as a bit of a surprise. Booker judge Howard Davies took the opportunity to chastise book reviewers for being too reverential when writing about the works of

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-7719241941052772252007-10-11T11:00:00.000-05:002007-10-11T10:06:20.150-05:00

The literary news of the day is that Doris Lessing won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Her name has been bandied about for years in reference to the prize. Lessing’s own story is one of defiance and will in the face of the very limited role women were allowed. In response to the charge that her portrayal of Anna Wulf in The Golden Notebook was “unfeminine,” she noted "Apparently what many women

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-48592106888931049062007-10-04T11:00:00.000-05:002007-10-04T10:08:50.096-05:00

Although recent temperatures are not a good indicator, fall is here. The last day of summer was almost two weeks ago and we've had a turn or two of cool weather. Apple season is starting again (The Washington Post had a nice little article on apple varietals just yesterday) and I can’t wait for the brief but delicious Stayman Winesap window. And most importantly the fall books are starting to

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-33318584875845043732007-09-27T11:00:00.000-05:002007-09-27T09:26:38.293-05:00

Orange Prize-winning author Valerie Martin has a compelling new novel called Trespass. It is a provocative meditation on freedom and safety, foreignness and boundaries, an obvious comment on our current cultural climate, and a story that rejects time. I read Martin's excellent collection of short stories The Unfinished Novel and Other Stories last year. As the title might suggest, the stories

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-34347146035489076202007-09-20T08:48:00.001-05:002007-09-20T10:23:39.151-05:00

I’m just back from a lovely vacation. I spent last week in Los Angeles catching up with some old friends and wandering around the town with a side trip to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park. The weather could not have been any nicer and I am well rested and ready for the fall. Of course I checked in on my much missed predecessor Joe Murphy. I am happy to report that Hollywood Joe is

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-89944955430582857692007-09-06T11:00:00.000-05:002007-09-06T11:00:29.163-05:00

School’s back in session and so is my weekly missive. And there is no better way to start up again for the fall then to write about a book that arrived in stores this week. Denis Johnson’s Tree of Smoke is a sprawling, intimidating, and thrilling novel that tackles the long and complicated Vietnam War. I was eager to get the book this summer and when read the first 3 pages just for a taste I

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-83560352814581149392007-08-16T11:00:00.000-05:002007-09-06T09:56:58.587-05:00

Hi folks, It's been a busy August for me. As DC has emptied out for vacation, I've taken the opportunity to clean out my proverbial closet and my literal desk. As such, I have taken my Buyer's Corner duties for granted. For this, I apologize. I'll be taking the rest of the month off to clean up the mess I've made. And to read more books. But I'll return in September clear-headed and witty. In

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-46324608718265205332007-08-02T11:00:00.000-05:002007-08-02T09:13:26.916-05:00

As the weekly email suggests, it’s been a busy week down at the Arlington-Courthouse Olsson’s. The staff at the store took on the project with energy and enthusiasm and so we were able to create our new space with very little disruption to our customers. It looks great right now, and we’re looking forward to having new neighbors and the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. Right now I’m reading

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-12540998304446993362007-07-19T11:00:00.000-05:002007-07-19T10:55:48.357-05:00

After months of anticipation and more than a lot of conjecture and speculation the time for the final installment in the literary phenomenon known as Harry Potter is here. J. K. Rowling’s final installment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will hit stores with this Saturday! We’ll be having Midnight Parties at the Courthouse – Arlington store and the Old Town – Alexandria store complete with

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-85813581737043880852007-06-28T11:00:00.000-05:002007-06-28T10:43:32.807-05:00

Well, it looks and feels like we’re back to the usual Washington, DC summer weather. It was a nice break, those few breezy, cool, no humidity days, but we’ll soldier on a little sweaty but certainly not surprised. I do have something surprising to tell everyone, though. We’ve lucked into some signed copies of Khaled Hosseini’s breath-taking new novel A Thousand Splendid Suns. The stock is

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-74727723849933698682007-06-21T11:00:00.000-05:002007-06-21T12:21:11.274-05:00

I apologize in advance... I am phoning it in a little bit today. It's been a busy week full of appointments and I have hardly had time to sit down and read anything. My reading energy has been spent cleaning ...piles of books, that is, but still cleaning and not reading. A few days ago in a fit of manic energy I cleaned my apartment, which to anyone who's been there can tell you means that

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-40035887420982429702007-06-14T11:00:00.000-05:002007-06-14T09:35:59.181-05:00

I went to the Warehouse Theater last night to attend the screening, nay, the DC premiere of the first in the Out of the Book Film Series hosted by Olsson's. This event included a 30 minute film about Ian McEwan and his latest book On Chesil Beach produced by the fine folks of Powell's Books in Portland, OR. The film series is an endeavor that Powell's has undertaken to bring a little bit more to

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-71507942086865275522007-06-07T11:00:00.000-05:002007-06-07T09:53:09.746-05:00

I’m back from the BEA and it looks like I spent all my witty repartee and clever observations over the weekend. I’m not sure when I’m due for a refill, so pardon my humorless approach. I arrived at the Brooklyn Marriott on Wednesday night with Tony Ritchie in tow. And Thursday he and I hit the Education Day seminars. Friday and Saturday brought the exciting and exhausting trade show. The

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-4827484312095895592007-05-24T11:00:00.000-05:002007-05-24T16:49:43.665-05:00

I had a lovely metro ride into work this morning. The usual delays allowed me an extra couple of pages of reading and I got caught up in a rhythm and ended up walking and reading all the way to the office, which is, incidentally, a few blocks away. At one point I was coming up to a major intersection and occasionally glancing up so as not to walk into an oncoming commuter bus, I looked up and a

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-52271002746864631592007-05-17T07:03:00.000-05:002007-05-17T10:58:04.745-05:00

So we all know that Tony is the Events Guy and so it's really his place to tell you about fantastic author readings and not mine. I'm supposed to ramble about the exciting new books coming down the pike and what I'm reading. But I can't help it! We had two fantastic events on one night last week (this happens with alarming frequency, actually). And conveniently I wanted to talk about both of the

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-74511185917500422302007-05-10T11:00:00.000-05:002007-05-10T09:08:27.215-05:00

Wow, its been a few weeks since I've graced The Buyer's Corner with my presence. I didn't mean to be gone that long. I hope everyone enjoyed Bill's musings on Shakespeare in the mean time. It's been a busy and interesting couple of weeks in the book world. It's no surprise that everyone in the DC area is buzzing about George Tenet's, um, tell-all? Er, tell-some. There's a lot of reviews and

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21215343.post-88188860102341497972007-04-25T14:06:00.000-05:002007-04-25T15:39:34.518-05:00

The second installment in resident Shakespeare expert Bill Lloyd's guest appearance in the Buyer's Corner. The beginning of the 21st century looks fair to becoming the New Age of Shakespearian Biography. The last few years have seen major biographies of Shakespeare from, among others, the English man of letters Peter Ackroyd (Shakespeare: The Biography) and the American literary critic Stephen

Alexis Akrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03297043189036654199noreply@blogger.com