My name is Emma and I am a teenage girl who loves to read. I have been volunteering at RiverRun bookstore for the past three years. Next year, I will be able to officially work there. This summer, my goal is to read a book a week. I plan to critique about it, and share how I liked it on Emma’s Picks. I hope Emma’s Picks will make people want to read more and have fun along the way.   

Lately, I have been into Nicholas Sparks books. I read Dear John and it was amazing, with a very sad ending. I just finished The Last Song, and saw the movie as well which was also sad but great.  My Next Sparks book is The Choice. 

Book Sale This Weekend At SecondRun

By tom on May 21, 2010 | Add a Comment

We've got too many books over at SecondRun, our used bookstore.  This weekend, May 22nd and 23rd, all used books are buy two get one free (the cheapest one is free).  That means our already reasonable prices ($7 for hardcovers, $5 for paperbacks) just got unreasonably cheap.

We also have boxes and boxes of dollar books, which means you could line up an entire summer of reading for about ten or fifteen bucks.  Go to it!

 SecondRun Bookstore is located at 7 Commercial Alley in downtown Portsmouth.  Phone number is 603-431-2480. 

Rant, Choke, Snuff

By tom on May 08, 2010 | 2 comments

Funny how people are.  Known for books that can make people pass out from nausea, Chuck Palahniuk in person is a gracious, sweet guy who really connected with the crowd at our event last Tuesday.  He spent two to three minutes with each person who was getting a book signed, asking them questions and posing for pictures.

Interesting, too, was the number of emails we got the next day thanking us for a great event.  More than we've ever received.  Keep in mind that this crowd was considerable younger, more tattooed, and more pierced than our usual book reading crowd.  It just goes to show that courtesy isn't dead, and that you can't judge a boo... well, you know.  I can't say it.

Love Your Mother

By tom on April 30, 2010 | Add a Comment

Just made a display table today for Mother's Day.  No, you haven't missed it yet-- it's Sunday, May 9th.  I'm always torn when making displays like this.  It seems that customers want to see lots of books about Mom, but I really want to cover the table with interesting and bizarre choices.  We like to promote titles that the mainstream may have missed, and personally I hate to think of books being specifically "for women" or "for men", but we also want people to get the book they are happy with.

As a result, we've got a pretty eclectic display including books about women and novels about women, as well as books about beer, punk rock, and Buddhism.  So whatever your mom's taste, we've got the book for her.

Do not forget your Mother!!

Tinkers wins the Pulitzer Prize!

By michele on April 18, 2010 | Add a Comment

For the first time in almost 30 years, a small press book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.  The last small press book to win was A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

This recent Pulitzer winner isn't just any book. It happens to be one of our bestselling books of all time; a book that we have supported from the very beginning: Tinkers by Paul Harding, published by the wonderful Bellevue Literary Press.
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