Two locally owned, independent stores dedicated to providing our customers with an interesting, eclectic selection of books and the finest coffee available. |
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the Groundhog's Shadow
We don't have groundhogs here on the Outer Banks, but we do have a thriving population of Neutria, a nasty invasive varmint. A few have taken up residence near the pond. Allen checked on Feb. 2nd and said there were no shadows to report which means Spring is on the way! We've had a little bitta snow, seems like a whole lotta wind, and now winter is more than halfway over! We've barely finished inventory, have yet to get started on our Winter to-do lists and Easter is just 7 weeks away! Shadow or no shadow, you can't slow time! Hoping your winter has been mild, full of good books, fresh coffee and plenty of down time! |
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Between the Lines
 We're hearing nothing but raves for The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin. Centered on Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Benjamin paints a portrait of a high profile marriage weaving fiction and history to create a book many readers have found hard to put down. Naturally, a great companion piece is Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea, a timeless book about women and life. Had a hard time myself putting down Ghostman by Roger Hobbs, a captivating thriller set in the mob/drug world of Atlantic City. Could be the next Lee Child. Also read The Dinner by Herman Koch, a very dark sometimes creepy story about two grown brothers meeting for dinner to discuss trouble involving their children. It slowly becomes evident that this is trouble with a capital T. Has been called the European equivalent of Gone, Girl. Just finished The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis and have to say Oprah's Book Club 2.0 is now two for two. Hattie Shepherd is the formidable woman at the center of the novel. She came north to Philadelphia from Georgia in 1923 with her mother and sister, part of the Great Migration. Her marriage to August, a marginally committed man, produces twelve children. The book is written in the different voices of those children- a large, diverse tribe. I highly recommend it.
New hardbacks for the new year include the latest by Daniel Pink, To Sell is Human: the Surprising Truth About Moving Others. Pink scored with previous titles Drive and A Whole New Mind. In this outing he explores the power of selling in our lives. (insert subliminal message: read. more. books.. reeeaad. moooore. booooks. lol) Also technically on our non-fiction shelves but in the memoir section is Becky Aikman's Saturday Night Widows in which she writes about six marriages- six heartbreaks- and one shared beginning. I think this is going to be a big hit with book clubs. Another NF tome is Going Clear- Scientology, Hollywood & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright. Backed by 200 interviews and years of research, Wright uncovers the inner workings of the Church of Scientology, delving into its past and its secrets all the while exploring what makes a religion a religion. Heady stuff. The first Hispanic appointee, and only the third woman, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's autobiography, My Beloved World has been getting a lot of look-throughs.
We're organizing our first book club in Manteo! A Young Readers Book Club, hosted by Hailey Rock, is now forming for all interested parties grade 8 to 12. The first selection is one of my favorite YA  titles of the past several years- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, which should precipitate an interesting discussion, one that will bring everyone back for seconds! Our YA Book Club meets on Friday, February 15, 3:30 pm at the Downtown store. A recent YA title I fell for was Gayle Forman's Just One Day. I got sucked right into the life of Allyson, a recent high school graduate on a teen tour of Europe who spends 24 hours with a young Dutch actor that ultimately turns her whole world and concept of herself upside down.
Duck's Cottage Reading Group just read The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe. Schwalbe's mother, Mary Ann, is a fascinating, larger than life woman who's done more with her one life than many could do with three or four. She and Will have always connected over books- reading, discussing, recommending. Then Mary Ann is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and they use the endless hours of chemo and convalescing to read, and sometimes reread, books that will help them escape, connect and create forever memories. Everyone in the group gave it a big thumbs up and said they would recommend to a friend (plus we all got some great reading list ideas from the dozens of books they read together). We are currently reading Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin. Other local groups are reading San Miguel (Boyle), Breaking Night (Murray), The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn (Maxwell), The Last Nude (Avery) and, still, Gone, Girl (Flynn).
New in paperback is The Age of Miracles- see below, IQ84 (Murakami), The Expats (Pavone)- I reallly liked that one, Canada (Ford) and Charlotte Rogan's The Lifeboat. Two hardbacks by North Carolina authors that sold well in Manteo are now out in paper- A Land More Kind Than Home (Wiley Cash) and The Cove (Ron Rash). Paige is enjoying The Dressmaker, a novel set partially on the Titanic, by Kate Alcott which has been picked up by more than one local book club. Charlie's Aunt Lynn owns Misty Valley Books up in Vermont and sent him City of Thieves by David Benioff for Christmas. He read it and now can't stop talking about it. He won't rest until I pick it up!
We're getting ready to do a Downton Abbey table featuring the  following Abbey friendly titles: The House at Tyneford (Solomon), Below Stairs (Powell), The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook, Edwardian Cooking and two hot-right-now titles- Fay Weldon's Habits of the House- the first in a London set trilogy by a former writer of Upstairs, Downstairs; and Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey by the Countess of Carnarvon. Laura Long tuned us onto this last title and it started selling the minute it hit the shelves. It tells the story of Highclere Castle, the real life inspiration for Downton Abbey. (you have no idea how hard it was not to write Downtown for every Downton in this paragraph. lol)
Just after Christmas a new edition of Elizabeth Wiegand's popular recipe collection, The Outer Banks Cookbook was released. I love the new cover and the beautiful end pages. Still just $ 19.95, we find it to be the most authentic (and helpful) cookbook for our area. (autographed copies available)
Real Simple magazine published a list of good Valentine's Day reads. We've been sharing them on Facebook but will pass them along here as well. Crossing to Safety (Wallace Stegner), the Griffin & Sabine trilogy (a trio of 'extraordinary correspondence' by Nick Bantock), The Master & The Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov), Heartburn (Nora Ephron) and Desire: Women Write About Wanting (Lisa Solod Warren). May February 14th be everything you hope for.
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Jamie's Book Club
A new year has begun for our subscription book service! For the first selection of 2013, I just sent out The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker, a book I just devoured. What happens if, after every dire prediction of how the world will come to an end at the hands of man, it simply one day slows down? Just a few seconds one day, then a few minutes the next, the minutes add up to hours and eventually you have 24 hour periods of darkness followed by 24 hours of light? This is the basis of Age of Miracles and the whole story is told from the perspective of Julia, an ordinary young teenager whose life, along with every other person on the planet, is about to become anything but ordinary. Described by some as a wonderful coming of age tale, by others as soft sci-fi, I can best describe it thusly- it has been near the top of my YOU MUST READ THIS list since it came out in hardback. And now I'm delighted to continue sharing it with fellow readers in a new paperback format. (This title crossed over into the young adult market as well- so keep it in mind for any teenagers in your house.) |
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Flotsam & Jetsam
Our deepest condolences go out to Southern Bean Coffee Shop; Colby, Emerson & Wynn Gardner; and all friends and family of Eric Gardner who died suddenly last week. Eric opened the Southern Bean back in the mid-nineties at the Marketplace in Southern Shores. He eventually moved his operation south a few miles to the Dune Shops. An avid surfer, heck- an avid rider of anything that had the word 'board' in it- Eric lived life to the fullest and truly loved the Outer Banks. Someone mentioned they never saw him without a big smile on his face and he may be one of the few men who had laughlines. Eric was the first to bring the concept of good coffee and espresso to the northern Outer Banks. Long before Starbucks, Dunkin', fancy bagged grocery store beans.. he paved the way for a lot of us. I remember when somebody mentioned a coffeeshop was opening at the Marketplace. All I could picture was a Mel's Diner kind of place. Then I had my first Mocha at the Bean... followed by a latte of Mochas.. and the rest, as they say, was not only history but a paving of the way for a lot of the rest of us.
Had a lot of fun teaching a class during All Saint's Episcopal Church's After Dark Lenten Series. My topic was How to Pick Better Book Club Books and I had about six 'students'. I shared some tips with them that I use with the Cottage reading group (research, research, research), suggested ways to better organize a club's selection process and shared some of my more recent favorite book club picks. Basically we spent almost two hours doing one of my favorite things- talking about books!! Thanks to Tom O'Brien for asking me to teach again this year. (Also was fortunate enough to get a ticket to the Secrets of the Blue Point cooking class. Sam and John were wonderful hosts, as usual, and Sam was a great teacher as he taught us the secret to a delicious Brunswick stew.)
The 2013 Outer Banks Taste of the Beach is right around the corner! Taking place from March 14 - 17, tickets are now available online for a wide range of events from tapas crawls to cooking classes, wine tastings- if you can eat or drink it, they've got it covered! Every year draws more and more people so get your tickets now or be sorry later! www.obxtasteofthebeach.com
The Winks/Brindley Beach Vacations/ABC Store project is flying along! So many other buildings are getting fresh coats of paint and/or facelifts it is hard to mention them all but Duck is gonna look prittee durn good. We've also heard tell there is an independent pharmacy coming to Loblolly Pines (and we can personally recommend the pharmacist), a possible new yoga studio, and who knows what else may await us this Spring.
 Lisa Shipley Thurston and husband Neil welcomed their daughter, Adelaide Brooklyn, on January 30. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 10 oz, Addie was apparently vying for the title of biggest Shipley baby! (you may remember Lisa's sister, Mandy, had a little boy- Finn- in November). Lisa and Mandy worked with Duck's Cottage since the beginning and we wish them the best with their new little families. (and will hopefully see Mandy again behind the espresso machine later this Spring?) (Addie's photo by Neil GT Photography.)
 Our Fifty Shades of Sexy Girls Night Out was a hot success! We teamed up with Luxury Lingerie and Aqua Restaurant to give women an opportunity to get out, get pampered and get ready for Valentine's Day. Attendees enjoyed mini spa treatments, bar and tapas specials (tantric martini anyone?), sexy glitter tattoos, dance demos by Innerfit Barre & Dance Fitness, and more. A fun mid-winter doldrums break and one that we'll definitely repeat!
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