New Displays at Boswell Plus More on World Book Night.

1. Among the many things I haven't done in a while is update our film table. It turns out that winter is finally over, the awards have been handed out for 2013 films, and it's time to seriously talk 2014. Among the upcoming films I am most interested in hearing more about is the adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You, or should I say it's the film coming out where I actually read the book! I have actually seen two moves this year in the theater, which is more than 2012 and 2013 put together. You should all know that The Grand Budapest Hotel is inspired by the work of Stefan Zweig (Is it on our film table? It is not!). I also saw The Lunchbox, which seems, more than anything, to be inspired by a Harvard Business School study on the dubwallahs.

2. What comes first, graduation or Mother's Day? Well, this year I mixed it up in my head and put up the graduation day display first, mostly because we had piles of those books in overstock, whereas I think Jason buys less mom-specific titles. If a woman writes a book and it comes out in April, it often finds its way onto the table. Hey, I don't come up with that practice--I see it everywhere. It's better than a table about cooking and cleaning, right? And regarding those weird mom-specific but completely inappropriately themed titles, it turns out we don't have stock on Sudoku for Mothers this year. Most of our signs are not date specific, but it gives me pleasure to come up with something new. This year's sign features animal babies and their parents.

3. Jason reminded me that he needed a Game of Thrones display for the season, as our sales do pop when during the broadcast period. Everyone asked where the plush dragons were this year, but alas, I hadn't brought them in again. Fortunately, I was preparing an order from another vendor and the had in stock the dragon from Room on the Broom, the picture book from Julia Donaldson. Who knows? Maybe we'll bring in the witch for our event with Deborah Harkness in August (yes, she's coming) Among the new releases inspired by the book/cable series, one with a particular amount of enthusiasm among our staff is the Game of Thrones: A Pop  Up Guide to Westeros.

4. Finally, Sharon noted that it might make more sense to do a display of World Book Night titles rather than running back into storage every time a giver came in to pick up their books. Our sign for this is a little cryptic, but you should be able to figure it out. Here are the 2014 selections for the United States.

The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
After the Funeral by Agatha Christie
The Ruins of Gorlan: The Ranger's Apprentice, Book 1 by John Flanagan

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (regular and large-print editions) by Jamie Ford
The Lighthouse Road by Peter Geye
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Pontoon by Garrison Keillor
Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim
Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
Miss Darcy Falls in Love by Sharon Lathan
Bobcat and Other Stories by Rebecca Lee
Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
Waiting to Exhale by Terry McMillan
Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan
The Raven’s Warrior by Vincent Pratchett
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago (English or Spanish editions)
Where’d You Go, Bernadette (regular and large-print editions) by Maria Semple
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
100 Best-Loved Poems edited by Philip Smith

If you missed out on this program, try again next year. Mark your calendar to start looking for the program to take proposals in November. You should also know that we have several boxes of extra books to give out. If you have a good proposal, email Sharon at Boswell