I got a chance to visit the Niantic Book Barn in Niantic, Connecticut, recently. The Book Barn is unique among the bookstores I've visited as being broken up into several stores throughout the town of Niantic. The main store is composed of a house that has several categories of nonfiction, and vast outdoor barns and stalls for fiction- mystery, general fiction, romance, etc. There are several other stores around town that are Book Barn stores that have science fiction, other categories of nonfiction, and even an antique store. I spent most of my time, and all of my money, in the genera ..read more

  Welcome to the April Jewish Book Carnival, where we gather links from folks in the Jewish book world- librarians, authors, booksellers, and more, to create community and share our work and writing. The carnival was started by Heidi Rabinowitz and myself to build community among bloggers and blogs who feature Jewish books. It runs every month on the 15th (or close to the 15th when it falls on Shabbat). Author Talia Carner shared her PBS TV interview about THE BOY WITH THE STAR TATTOO, which was recently published by William Morrow & Company.   Bluma Lange shared ..read more

  I'm debating doing this here or over on my Substack but I feel like taking this up again right now. I was thinking about a written reading journal when I remembered I have an actual blog I could use. So here we are.   I have an advance copy of Joan Leegant's new collection Displaced Persons, which she sent me for review. It comes out in June and I'm starting it tonight.   I'm roughly 1/3 of the way through Sarah Waters' wonderful Fingersmith, a Victorian-era crime drama set in and around London. What are you reading ..read more

My annual book meme: It's Cards Against Humanity only with titles of books you read in the past year. It’s fun. Describe yourself: A Girl’s Story   How do you feel? Draft No. 4   Describe where you currently live: Jersey Breaks   If you could go anywhere…? The Eye of the World   Favorite form of transportation: The Dragon Reborn   Your best friend is: Born to Kvetch   You and your friends are: The Night Flowers   What's the weather like? The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida   Your favorite time of day is: Before My Actual Heart Breaks   ..read more

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  Big Red Books opened a couple of weekends ago, at 120 Main Street in Nyack, New York. Nyack is a nice town on the Hudson near the Tappen Zee Bridge, full of cute restaurants and shops, including lots of second hand and vintage stores. We go there now and then because it has a great quilt shop, The Quilt Tree, and it's close to Tarrytown, another fun town with shops and restaurants including its own indie bookstore, Transom Bookshop. Big Red is a cute store with a great indie-store selection and their opening day was filled with snacks and chatter. I don't believe they have a website ye ..read more

    It's my honor to host this month's Jewish Book Carnival, a monthly online community-building event started by Heidi Rabinowitz and myself back in 2008 or so. Thanks to all the contributors and everyone who participates in this event, and to AJL for working so hard to create lasting relationships and bonds in the Jewish book, library and writing community. You can visit the Carnival page on the AJL website by clicking here. Shana Tova! On The Book of Life Podcast, guests author Richard Ho and illustrator Lynn Scurfield talk about TWO NEW YEARS, a picture book about a Chinese Jewi ..read more

Happy Labor Day to my U.S. readers. I'll be spending mine at home with my books. I'm about halfway through Heavy, by Kiese Laymon, his memoir written to his mother. It's been very heavily lauded and I can see why- emotional and beautifully written, about growing up and finding a place in the world. I started Melissa Broder's new book, Death Valley, which comes out in October. I got a galley from the publisher. It's about her father's impending death and grief and other related things. It's very surreal, more so than usual for this very visceral writer ..read more

  My husband and I took a little weekend getaway trip to the south Jersey community of Cape May and really had a great time on the beach and eating our way around the area. It's so beautiful down there. And of course we had to check out the bookstores. Cape Atlantic Book Company is a nice store on the second floor of a mini shopping mall in downtown Cape May. This is definitely the place you want to go to pick up your new beach reads. They had a great selection of hardcovers and paperbacks and tons of Colleen Hoover for what that's worth. Hooked on Books is a big crazy used bookstore l ..read more