Christopher Moore Inspires Every Bookseller's Urge to Create...a Blue Display.

Ever since I have been in bookselling, there has always been the tug of every display person I've worked with to creat displays based on the colors of books. I don't exempt myself, as we've had more than one post that noted a particular color palette lurking through recent releases.

But I've always spoken against the color display. Sure, it generally looks pretty, but what is it saying? And the merchant in me says, "What is it selling?" So for three years, I've been forcing all my booksellers to bottle up their creativity.

But then Christopher Moore came along with Sacré Bleu (on sale April 3), nothing if not an ode to the color blue. Set in 19th century France, it's the story of Lucien Lessard, a baker who gets a tube of ultramarine blue paint from the mysterious Juliette, as Library Journal puts it, "His painting becomes masterly and his life becomes a mess." To solve the mystery of the paint, Lessard's journey takes him across a canvas that include the masters--Renoir, Gaughin, Seurat, Monet, and Pisarro.

Here's what Boswellian Conrad had to say about Sacré Bleu: "Christopher Moore is our Wodehouse, albeit a twisted one. His novels inhabit a parallel universe oddly like our own but distinctly and humorously other. Sacré Bleu will satisfy your Moore itch and allow you once again to enter that tantalizing and bizarre world. As good as he gets."

And then the rumors started that there are color plates in the first edition. We don't know where it came from, but we certainly became obsessed with making sure we had a big order coming in. Big!  Because Christopher Moore's coming to Boswell, on Wednesday, April 11. And yes, the event is free!

I threatened last time to hit capacity, but we didn't quite make it. This time we want to fill the store. I'm already planning a line for folks outside for people to get their books signed after we get to our store's maximum.

But for now, I just want to have the bluest display ever. We found some totes, some candle votives, journals, and lots and lots of our favorite Polish wood boxes. And then we scoured the store for our very favorite blues novels--The Invisible Bridge, Day for Night, and our current fave (or it will be mine as soon as I read it, but for now I'm trusting Stacie), Glaciers.