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Over 100,000 (-1) Satisfied Customers
While shelving books I overheard two women talking.
They were scanning the displays and one of them
was saying "it's called Safe something...
Safe Harbour.. I know there's Safe in the title."
Hmmm, I thought. I bet I know what they're looking for.
I popped around the corner
"Are you looking for this?"
I asked, holding up Safe Haven,
the new title from Nicholas Sparks.
"That's it!" they exclaimed, taking it from my hands.
I turned around, fulfilled in having satisfied another customer. And then heard "I'm gonna get it on Amazon."
(Sigh.) |
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Between the Lines
Reading Recommendations from the Cottage Shelves | |
The Fall publishing season has definitely hit! There are all kinds of new hardbacks and paperbacks hitting the shelves!
One of the most anticipated autumn books is Sara Gruen's Ape House. Water for Elephants was a huge runaway hit (thanks to Indie bookstores) and Gruen is looking to hit it again with her story of a family of Bonobo monkeys who have been raised in a language lab where they have learned to communicate via sign language. Another heavy fall tome is Bob Woodward's Obama's Wars which, unfortunately, we probably won't carry because it's one of those big titles every big box store will be trying to sell for half-price and I can't compete with that. As mentioned above, Nicholas Sparks has been busy and his latest is Safe Haven. Thirty years down the road, Lisa Birnbach, author of the 1980 classic The Official Preppy Handbook, is back with True Prep, another tongue-in-cheek look at how the preps have fared over the years, what's changed, what hasn't, what's a do and what's a definite 'don't'. This will make for hysterical family holiday reading.
John Grisham's latest is called The Confession and sounds terrific; Lee Child's follow up to 61 Hours is called Worth Dying For and fans everywhere will find out what happened to Jack Reacher. Vincent Flynn's fall thriller is called American Assassin; Nicholas Evans has one coming called The Brave and Bernard Schlink, who gained international fame with The Reader, has a novel out called The Weekend. Looks good.
Nelson Mandela has opened his personal papers and the result is Conversations with Myself; Julia Glass, who wrote Three Junes, has The Widower's Tale on the shelves; If you've tired of vampires, try zombies! Dust by Joan Frances Turner deals with a plague besieged world- and this particular plague doesn't leave corpses behind, just zombies. Rotting, maggot infested, starving zombies. It was kinda cool. I'm loving Mini Shopaholic. Have been wondering ever since Sophie Kinsella's last book how Becky Brandon was doing with the whole motherhood thing. Love shopping with her!
Jonathan Franzen is everywhere with his new book, Freedom, which is definitely on my fall reading list and is also the latest Oprah Book Club selection. He's also seeing renewed demand for his previous book, The Corrections, making it downright hard to stock!
Lots of new paperbacks too- Homer & Langley is out (and the September selection for Jamie's Book Club- see below), Edward Rutherfurd's New York just arrived- I love his historical epic novels; Saving CeeCee Honeycutt will be out in paper at the end of the month. Okay, need to stop, take a breath...
Duck's Cottage Reading Group discussed The Story of Edgar Sawtelle last month. Most liked it, a few didn't, it was a bit long but I still want a Sawtelle dog! Now we're reading Jonathan Tropper's This Is Where I Leave You- can't wait to start it; other local groups are working on Robert Goolrich's The Reliable Wife and the Welch kids' The Kids Are Alright (just out in paper and a really good family memoir). Charlie's reading Norman Ollestad's Crazy For The Storm and is so engrossed I had to hide it so he'd study for a chem exam! Another recommendation for all you Stieg Larsson fans- try Jo Nesbo. His novels feature Oslo detective Harry Hole, a recovering alcoholic dealing with a multitude of issues along with murder and mayhem.
And for a little more from my Safe Haven soapbox, read last month's blog post at
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| Flotsam & Jetsam
Footnotes from life at a coffee shop |
At the top of the news heap this month- CONGRATULATIONS to our main man Dave! Dave Facenda and fiancee, Marty Snead, tied the knot on Friday, October 1. You'd recognize Marty from Life's a Beach (the Lily Pulitzer shop) and Dave was the face of North Beach Outfitters for many years. It was a Waterfront Shops match made in heaven! Thanks for the party and best wishes for a ducky life together!
 The best sunseat seat in Duck this Fall has been in the side yard of the Blue Point.. always a relaxing spot to grab a drink from the outside bar, settle into a chair and enjoy the view.. Fall sunsets are simply spectacular! I think I'll head over there as soon as I finish this.. a big welcome home to Denver Lindley- we missed you, man! To a swift recovery!
10/10/10- the Fourth Annual Duck Jazz Festival featuring headliner Joyce Cooling and special guest Gerald Veasley.. always a great day that pretty much sums up the whole story of 'the Little Town that Could'.. the Kitty Hawk Elementary School Fall Carnival is on Saturday, 10/16.. this is their primary fund-raiser for the entire year and the silent auction is incredible.. the 150 year old NC State Fair is almost here! the largest event of its kind runs 10/14 - 10/24 in Raleigh at the State Fairgrounds.. my family can't wait and is already dreaming about the grilled corn, elephant ears, ribbon fries, deep fried (insert anything here)...in fact, their official blog is called 'Deep Fried @ the NC State Fair'... I'm serious... and don't forget about Halloween!! Nags Head Elementary School is holding their annual pumpkin sale (gourds, straw bales and other accessories)- not sure how long they're selling but call 252-305-0238 for more information!
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| History was made here! | |
 If we had a dollar for every person who's walked in the store this past month and said 'has that sign always been there?' we'd be rollin' in it. We have a new 'historical' marker courtesy of the Braithwaite family! Our sign features a beautiful etching of the cottage as it once stood on the edge of the Currituck Sound just about 300 yards west of our current location. Inscribed on the plaque is 'This club stands as one of the last traces of Duck's rich waterfowl heritage. Built by Wall Street brokers during the 1920's and operated through the 1940's. Distinctive to this club was a unique set of whalebones adorning the front garnering it the nickname 'the whalebone club'. Betty & Duck Braithwaite purchased the club and it became known as Duck's Cottage. Their children preserved it as a testament to the great era of waterfowl hunting along the shores of the Currituck Sound.'
 Duck's Cottage history of another sort was also made recently when Linda Scott walked in with her friend's, Christophora Robeers, new book The Quiet Voice of the Outer Banks: A Visual Journal. Robeers is a Richmond artist who has been painting the OBX for years. This book is a collection of those paintings and she covers a gamut of subjects- Sea, Sand & Sky; Dwellings & Vessels; Local Inhabitants; Outer Bankers- in watercolors, drawings and oil. We were flipping through this beautiful book and then- right there on pages 51 through 54- was the Cottage! A painting of the outside, another of the inside, a detail of coffee pots, and then a picture titled The Coffee Maker featuring Allen at work behind the espresso machine! It has been a big hit with Fall customers and is now available for purchase on our website- a terrific gift or memento of the beach!
Purchase The Quiet Voice of the Outer Banks today! |
| The September Selection
from Jamie's Book Club |  Last month subscribers to our book of the (every other) month club received E.L. Doctorow's latest paperback- Homer & Langley.
Doctorow plucked the story for Homer & Langley, from the headlines- albeit the headlines of 1947. His two main characters, Homer & Langley Collyer, were an actual set of brothers who lived in the family's Fifth Avenue home which they inherited, along with its contents, at their parent's deaths. Both brothers were eccentric to say the least. Langley fancied himself an inventor; Homer went blind in 1932. They were considered neighborhood curiosities and were oft found fighting with the establishment over taxes, mortgages and more. In March of 1947, firefighters broke into the Harlem brownstone through a third story window to find Homer dead of malnutrition and Langley crushed by his own booby traps. The Collyers were hoarders to the nth degree and to this day a 'Collyer call' in NYC indicates to police and fire that they're headed to the home of a hoarder.
Doctorow reinvents the Collyers and extends their life well past 1947. In his version, Langley is also the victim of mustard gas from the Great War which explains his slow descent into madness. They still live in the family mansion, remain quite eccentric and yes, Langley still hoards everything- from newspapers to an entire car reassembled in the dining room. But Doctorow's brothers are not the social recluses that the real Collyers appeared to be. His Homer and Langley have much contact with outside society- from their fund-raising afternoon tea dances, to the random strays that Langley brings home to a houseful of hippies that moves in during the sixties- they are entertained by those who in turn find these quirky brothers so entertaining.
I found both the brothers and the novel entertaining and was happily reminded of my Doctorow is among the ranks of my favorite authors. I hope our subscribers will agree! |
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A beautiful Fall day in Duck
(waves courtesy of Igor)
Jamie Layton
Duck's Cottage |
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