Duluth Reads

Last night was something special, helping out with "Duluth Reads," a program sponsored by the city of Duluth in their Festival Center in the heart of a beautiful town center. This year's featured author was old friend Jack Riggs and the featured book was his highly praised debut from a few years back, When the Finch Rises.

Even caught Terry Kay, last year's featured author, stopping by to say hi to Jack and the nice folks who have begun this lovely tradition.

Afterwards, we got a glimpse of another old friend, Eddie Owen's, new operation at the Red Clay Theater, also right on the Duluth Green. He had a packed house, and the music sounded great, with his Eddie's Attic sound man Shalom Aberle masterfully running the boards.

We love intown Atlanta & Decatur so much it's easy to forget how much great stuff is going on OTP. Looking forward to our next trip up there.

Another Moving Sale Deal--FREE Al Franken Autographed Books

As we prepare to move a half a mile (and half the rent) away from our home for the past eight years, it's obviously a time to reflect on that time. And, of course, there's the packing up process, and coming across things we haven't thought about in a while. Like the boxes of signed copies of first editions of the last book Al Franken wrote before becoming a US Senator: The Truth (with Jokes)

Hosting Franken for a book signing at the Carter Center and then a performance of his Air America radio show from the Variety Playhouse was certainly one of the highlights of our Moreland Avenue years, if not our entire bookselling life. Both appearances were mob scenes--this was during the exciting lead-up to the Kerry-Bush election of 2004 when it seemed that we might avoid a second term for W. (How'd that term work out, by the way?)

With many fans turned away at the door at the Carter Center event, and the Variety broadcast taking place during the middle of a work day, we expected a continued demand for signed copies of Franken's latest bestseller, but with his hectic schedule--he was heading off to Iraq within days to entertain troops as he did annually on USO tours--Al frantically signed books during commercial breaks of the live radio performance but ultimately ran out of time to sign all of our books.

As a consolation, he signed a number of bookplates and mailed them back to us to affix to our remaining copies. As sometimes happens, the demand did not continue as we expected, and all these years later, we've got a lot of first edition copies of The Truth (with Jokes) with signed Al Franken bookplates in them. And we really don't want to move them all down the street. We want to GIVE THEM AWAY.

So here's the deal:

More recently, just this past November to be exact, another one-time great liberal Senator from the Midwest, George McGovern, had to cancel a scheduled Atlanta appearance, but we managed to get some copies of his latest book, What It Means to be a Democrat, signed anyway. Like everything else in the store right now, they're priced at 25% off the regular price ($22.95). So, while they last, if you purchase a copy of McGovern's book, we'll give you a copy of Franken's book FREE.

Email us (info@acappellabooks.com), call (404-681-5128), or come by (11-8 Mon-Sat, Noon-7, Sunday) to take advantage of this--and all the other great deals we've got going on right now.

Stay tuned to this blog, we'll be coming up with more deals to ease our move, and wax a little nostalgic, as the month continues.

Kathryn Stockett to "Help" Celebrate Susan R. White's New Novel

A little over a year ago, two young women who both lived in Atlanta but who didn't know each other both had debut novels published on the same day and both told the stories of strong young women grappling with the implications of their own privilege and their growing awareness of injustice around them, especially surrounding the issue of race, and both were written in highly original voices that reflected a forgiving and passionate spirit. Susan Rebecca White's book was Bound South, and not only was it one of my favorite books of the year, it's been one of the best-selling titles at A Cappella since it came out, and it's received great acclaim and strong sales regionally and even nationally. The only way it could have been a more successful debut would be if it were that other book published that same day by a young woman who lived in Atlanta: The Help by Kathryn Stockett, The New York Times Number One Bestseller, and the publishing sensation of 2009 (which we happened to launch at the Decatur Library).

So it is a great thrill that presenting Susan at the launch of her second novel, A Soft Place to Land, this Wednesday evening at the Carter Center, at 7 p.m. is none other than her now good friend, Kathryn Stockett, who called Susan's new book "A beautiful story of the complicated love between two sisters. Book clubs: this is your next pick. I loved this book."

White will be also joined on stage by another popular young Southern writer, Todd Johnson, author of The Sweet By and By.

This promises to be one of the most memorable literary events of the season.

If you can't join us, you can still reserve a signed copy of A Soft Place to Land here.

AJC Interview with "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s Jeff Garlin

We're excited about tomorrow's visit from "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s Jeff Garlin, in town to promote his new book, My Footprint and to perform at the 14th Street Playhouse on Friday night and at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center on Saturday. My Footprint is about Garlin's simultaneous attempt to lose weight and "go green." Like everything he does, though, it's also about making people laugh. Between his size, his popularity and the tight quarters of A Cappella Books, I'm thinking there might be some humor in simply seeing what transpires when Garlin makes a rare (for us) in-store appearance.

That particular subject did not come up in the otherwise fine interview with Garlin by Rodney Ho, which appeared in today's AJC. Enjoy.

Back Room Book Sale! 40% Off Everything New & Used

Have you visited A Cappella Books lately? If you have, you may have noticed some of the shelves looking a little thinner than usual, and that there's a lot of stuff piling up in the back room.

Here's the deal: if you've been around us for long, you no doubt know that our store today is very, very different from what it was when we first got started over 20 years ago. It's been a process of slow evolution, punctuated by occasional tectonic shifts. We're about to go through another one of the latter, as we attempt to stave off extinction.

On May 1, we will be downsizing, back to the original footprint of the store when we first moved over to Moreland Avenue five years ago. No more back room, where we have had so many wonderful gatherings in association with our wonderful neighbor Opal Gallery.

In the shop that remains will continue to be the smart blend of new and used and rare books that you have come to expect from us. What will be gone will be our online and events business. We're excited about a more stream-lined, less chaotic space (fewer stacks of boxes, no more book packing station in the midst of our sales floor...) in which you can continue to have "the A Cappella experience."

To make all of that happen, we've got to move A LOT of books. Beginning TODAY and continuing through April, we'll be having a BACK ROOM BOOK SALE, with EVERY BOOK IN THE BACK ROOM DISCOUNTED 40%.

That's 40% off the publisher's price on new books. 40% off our marked price on used books. That includes the rare and out of print books in the glass cases and behind the counter back there. That includes science fiction, mystery, horror, and literary mass market paperbacks, and that includes books from every section in the store that we will be bringing into the back room during the course of the sale.

We haven't put up the signs yet, so you'll have to tell me or Chris or Glen or Chantal that you read about all this here.

Check out our latest newsletter for what else is happening in A Cappella Land.

A Cappella and Eyedrum and a Whole Lot More

For almost as long as we've been doing what we do at A Cappella, Eyedrum has, in the words of Art Papers' Jerry Cullum "consolidated its position as Atlanta's premiere alternative art spaces." All the while, however, we've never done anything together. That all changes in the next several days as we head over there for two exciting book events, both (and I don't know what to make of this) dealing with stories of criminality.

Sunday night, former Atlantan Elyssa East presents her already-heralded new book Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town. On Tuesday, current Atlantan Mara Shalhoup launches her new book, BMF: The Rise and Fall of Big Meech and the Black Mafia Family.

The AJC's Bob Townsend recently talked with East about her book for Access Atlanta, and Creative Loafing's Wyatt Williams reviewed his boss's work in this week's issue.

We'll also be in more familiar environs in the coming weeks. On Thursday, March 4, our friends at The Georgia Center for the Book at the Decatur Library presents an intriguing new book co-authored by CBS war correspondent Don Teague and his Iraqi translator Rafraf Barrak, Saved by Her Enemy.

On Wednesday, March 10, we return to the Carter Center for a discussion led by Oxford professor and author Paul Collier, whose most recent book is Wars, Guns and Votes.

All of these events are free; to attend the Carter Center talk, however, reservations are required.

Another new location we're very excited to be bringing our traveling book mobile to is Inman Park's Savi Urban Market, where, on Saturday, March 4, we'll introduce Kathryn Borel and her "full-bodied" memoir, Corked.

Finally, we really can't wait until Friday, March 12, when "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star and the voice of Captain B. McCrea from "Wall-E," Jeff Garlin, sees if he has lost enough weight to squeeze behind the counter at A Cappella to sign copies of his new book, My Footprint: Saving the Planet One Pound at a Time.

It's going to be a very busy, and we think fascinating, couple of weeks.

Hope you can join us for some of it.

Frank

20 Years

Our official 20th anniversary is December 1.

It was on that day in 1989 that we first opened our doors for business with about 3000 used books, no employees, no cash register, no credit card processing, no computer, and pretty much no money.

We've got a lot more of all of the above 20 years later (except for money) and, of course, many amazing memories. I hope to write about some of these in the coming months.

But one memory comes to mind because of the day I spent yesterday.

At the end of that first day of business 20 years ago, one of my longest-lasting friends in the world, Chuck Reece, and I had a celebratory dinner up at the awful Chinese restaurant that was located where the Brewhouse is now in Little 5 Points. Afterwards we retired to his house for a nice glass of brandy and hopes for a long and prosperous future.

We've accomplished at least half of that.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of visiting Chuck's office at the design firm at which he now works, Unboundary, for a day of sharing favorite pieces of writing among his fellow writers and artists. Along with us was another of my oldest and best friends, acclaimed singer/songwriter Richard Buckner, who was in town to play at the Earl.

Richard performed a couple of his songs as well as a section from Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology, which he set to music years ago for his magnificent album, "The Hill."

Chuck and company read and talked about meaningful passages and opening lines from their favorite works (and many of mine) by writers including Flannery O'Connor, Philip Roth, Tom Robbins, Billy Collins, Rick Moody, Janisse Ray, Tim O'Brien, Pat Conroy, Jack Kerouac and dozens of others.

It's good to know that a firm responsible for helping such companies as Fed Ex and Charles Schwab communicate can take time to focus on what makes writing meaningful.

And, of course, it's good to know that good friends are, themselves, doing meaningful work.

Now, meaningful or not, my work continues to be trying to keep A Cappella Books moving forward as we approach our 20th anniversary, and some days the task seems more daunting than others.

When in doubt, lately at least, my answer has been: celebrate! Starting today, our 20th anniversary celebration commences with EVERY USED BOOK IN THE STORE on sale for 20% off its regular price.

We'll come up with more ideas as the actual date approaches, but for now, we hope this will encourage many people to come visit the store and check out our wonderful selection of always reasonably-priced books, now even moreso.