You made 2009 WORD's best year ever, despite a recession and general fears that print had died and nobody was ever going to read anything ever again. You bought books, you told us which ones you loved (and hated), you came to support your favorite authors, you played nerd basketball, you took a chance on a new genre, you showed up first thing Tuesday morning to pick up the new release you just couldn't wait for---you were the reason we opened our door every morning this year. And you're the reason we'll do it every morning in 2010.

There just aren't WORDs for how much we appreciate you and how lucky we feel to be a part of the Greenpoint community. It is a pleasure to serve such a fascinating and delightful group of people and we welcome any feedback you have to help us improve the store for you. Look for even more new things in the new year---teacher discounts, school book fairs, more awesome events---as we strive to make this the best bookstore it can be! Even if that sounds cheesy, we're still going to do it anyway. And because sometimes words aren't enough, scroll down to The Last WORD to see how we're going to say thank you with our wallets as well.

                                           

And because you can't play basketball in the winter (more because of the early sunset than the snow), WORD is going to try out another athletic event for nerds. This one won't be competitive, though. Spurred by the popularity of Haruki Murakami's memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Christopher McDougall's fantastic Born To Run, we're going to start a very informal running club. It'll work like this. You show up in front of WORD on Sunday morning at 10am, we go for a 2-3 mile run around Greenpoint at a VERY reasonable pace. If there's enough interest, we'll start splitting into separate groups, but we'll start here. Keep your New Year's resolution or keep yourself from going treadmill crazy over the winter. Just show up Sunday at 10am! We'll start 1/17.

So, you thought because it was January, we'd slow down a little with the events? You thought wrong, bub. Our matchmaking board has spawned a singles' night, and in keeping with the zeitgeist, we've made it 80s-themed. Julie Powell, Jedediah Berry and Jami Attenberg are all coming to celebrate new books. But we're not just hosting writers whose names start with J this month, amusing as that might have been. Scroll down to see more.

Oh, and there are still great books coming out. Jasper Fforde launches a new series with his Shades of Grey.  If you loved his Thursday Next series, you'll love this one as well. Fforde's sheer joy in creating a new world vibrates through every page, and though there is more social commentary and this book goes to much darker places than Thursday Next ever did, it is still just a pleasure to read. It's sitting on our front table right now---come by while it's still around!

On the kids' end of the store, we (and, more importantly, baby bookseller Adrian) are super into a new line of books for babies called Indestructibles. That's because they really are: you can't rip them, you can't bite through them, they don't go soggy. You can put them in the washing machine! The three released so far feature bright pictures of animals but no words, so your child can look on his or her own or you can make up a story to read along with them. Check out this link to see how strong they are, and check out the kids' section to give them a try.

We're starting off the new year with a solid schedule of events! There is a mix of book launches, readings and some special non-author programs too. All the details are on our calendar and here's a summary of what's coming up:

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