With 50,000 books to sort through, prioritize and pack, we are going to need a little time to be ready to move. Packing officially started on Friday, but there are still many, many books on the shelves! Remember books on the shelves are still 30% off, which is quite a savings on either the regularly low priced books or those splurge worthy collectibles you’ve been keeping an eye on. Once they are packed though, you’ll have to wait for the emergence at the new store!
The good news – Renovations have started at the new Main Street location for Range and River Books. The bad news is that we may experience various levels of chaos in the meanwhile before we are settled in. Please, please be patient for a few weeks as we scurry around to be ready. I will keep the existing store open as much as possible, and we are already posting 30% off sales throughout the store. We will NOT do any more special orders until we are settled in the new store. I really apologize but I think the potential for poor follow through or lost paperwork is just too high. We also will not accept books for credit in August, but we generally do not anyway.
We will probably have to close both store for a week to transfer the shelves and books, which will be the biggest disruption. I will switch over to the new website as of August 1, which may or may not cause confusion. If anyone has questions or problems, please be sure to speak to me (Diane) or leave me a message and I will get back to you.
I am apprehensive looking at the logistics, but fully believe the end result will be worth it! New local products, treats, comfortable seating, foot traffic, and plenty of books will be all for the good. With your patience and support, I know it will be worth the effort!
Education on Sale! For whatever reason, our education books sit, sit, sit – and I am ready to make some room on the shelves! So, all education titles will be on sale 25% (!!) through the end of January. There WILL be room in February, so come pick up something useful all you teachers, administrators, homeschoolers, parents….
One reason vintage children’s books are a pefect gift – you can give them to a recipient of any age! Older folks can share them with grandchildren or just appreciate the fine illustrations or maybe a little nostalgic moment. You can match a person’s hobby, or build on some other interest. And there are plenty of choices in the low price range that you won’t feel bad about giving to a youngster to read and appreciate. Personally, I am regretting not reading my kids the Childcraft or Book House series earlier on. These are such great collections of classic literature and our shared culture, with absolutely wonderful illustrations. They are nice sturdy books, and look great on a shelf. What more could you ask? We have plenty on our shelf to finish up your Christmas list!
If you still have all of your shopping to do (like me), or are just needing some stocking stuffers and maybe a little entertainment, today’s ideas will fit the bill!
First, we are carrying the 2013 Cultivating Community Calendar published by the Master Gardeners of Inyo & Mono Counties and the UC Cooperative Extension. The Master Gardener’s Program has taken off locally with astounding results, and this fundraiser will certainly help fuel that progress. It features Community Gardens up and down the Eastern Sierra – who knew there were 12 different community gardens! Plus, there are tons of helpful gardening tips, freeze date statistics, and phases of the moon. If you need a nudge to grow more of your own food or want to support growing more food community wide, this is the ticket. Local food is the way to go, thank you Master Gardeners for helping that effort.
The second idea is not actually in our store, but I’ll suggest it anyway. Our friends at Manzanar National Historic site are holding a booksigning and talk by Hank Umemoto for his book From Manzanar to Mount Whitney during the next two weekends. Mr. Umemoto is reported to be a very vivacious and interesting storyteller, so I know it will be well worth the visit. (I am so glad that more stories from Manzanar are coming out before they are lost too). Nothing better than a personally inscribed, interesting book to thrill a reader or history buff. The Manzanar Book Store is also well stocked with potential gifts, so by all means add it to your shopping destination list!
Dog stories take up so much room lately that you may think there is not much left to say, and maybe there isn’t. But anyone who loves dogs cannot possibly have read ALL of these books, so there is bound to be at least one he or she would enjoy, and who doesn’t love a good dog story? I’ve counted two categories, the memoirs written from the dog’s point of view and those about humans and the significant dogs in their lives.
If you are unsure where to start, I’d recommend a dog story by an already recognized talented author – good writing is always a good start! Pulitzer Prize-Winner Anna Quindlan wrote Good Dog. Stay. as an example that I would love to read since I admire her writing. We also have Dog is My Co-Pilot, an anthology of great writers on the “world’s oldest friendship”, A Dog’s Life by Peter Mayle, and Uncle Boris in the Yukon and other Shaggy Dog Stories by Daniel Pinkwater which has got to be amusing. Maya’s First Rose is not by an author I recognize, Martin Scot Kosins, but has a foreword by Burl Ives! I want to read that! Of course we also have Dog Stories by James Herriot, the king of animal story writers as far as I’m concerned. Any title by Herriot would be an excellent gift choice.
From a local author Deborah Mason, we have The Adventures of Kai and Liebe for a fun dog memoir. Marley & Me by John Grogan has been an enduring favorite, but you might also want to check out Dreaming in Libro, How a Good Dog Tamed a Bad Woman by Louise Bernikow, or Merle’s Door, Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote for books that win just for intriguing titles. And for books that give a “scientific” edge to our love affair with dogs, try The Last Chance Dog, And other True Stories of Holistic Animal Healing by Donna Kelleher DVM, or Inside of a Dog, What Dogs See, Smell and Know by Alexandra Horowitz.
There are some great stocking stuffers here, and even more on the shelf! Of course if you are shopping for a cat person….we can help you out there too!
One of my aunts (thank you Aunt Gayle), gave me wonderful stacks of children’s series books each year at Christmas for about five years, and I absolutely loved those stacks. The Bookmobile never carried Happy Hollisters or Trixie Belden on its small shelves, so I would have missed those great series without that special gift. And the stack of Walter Farley Black Stallion books? It was handed around to about every girl in Benton – you got your money’s worth on that gift Aunt Gayle!
So in honor of my Aunt’s generosity, consider giving a stack of series books. There are so many to choose from, from vintage and classic to new and cool….and they can appeal to adults as well as kids! With some exceptions, like Harry Potter, few need to be read in order, so you can pick up an affordable handful from our shelves that may just spark a lifetime love of reading!
Movies on DVD are a great gift – less commitment even than a book, easy to wrap, entertaining, affordable, and attractive. You may not realize that East Side Books sells new, hard to find DVDs. We have an interesting selection of Family and Children titles, as well as even harder to find BBC and PBS specials, movies, series and documentaries. The selection changes every six weeks or so, so keep looking! Plus we have dozens of used DVDs that can be gift quality as well. Please bring your shopping list and see what is here! This is the only month they will be on sale, so take advantage! 
For serious book collectors, the closer a publication is to the author’s hand, the more valuable it is. So a first edition, first printing is more valuable than the 90th edition. Obviously an author’s signature is proof it was actually in his or her hand! Even those of us who are not serious collectors though get a thrill when an author we admire and read enthusiastically took the time to sign the book we are also holding. It is a personal connection, and it is just special.
We have signed copies and first editions through out the store, and one special shelf of the more collectable volumes. Wouldn’t a signed copy by a beloved author make a great gift? Come in and see what we have!
