March 15– March 21, 2010

BOOKCOURT Best Sellers

WE OFFER A 30% DISCOUNT ON OUR BEST SELLERS

Hardcover Fiction

1. ASK. Sam Lipsyte. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $25. Our Price $17.50.
2. THE HEIGHTS. Peter Hedges. Penguin. $25.95. Our Price $18.17.
3. THREE WEISSMANNS OF WESTPORT. Cathleen Schine. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $25. Our Price $17.50.
4. MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND. Helen Simonson. Random House. $25. Our Price $17.50.
5. GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE. Steig Larsson. Random House. $25.95.           Our Price $18.17.
6. WOLF HALL. Hilary Mantel. Henry Holt. $27. Our Price $18.90.
7. SUMMERTIME. J.M. Coetzee. Penguin. $25.95. Our Price $18.17.
8. MAN FROM BEIJING. Henning Mankell. Random House. $25.95. Our Price $18.17.
9. THE HELP. Kathryn Stockett. Penguin. $24.95. Our Price $17.47.
10. WHERE THE GOD OF LOVE HANGS OUT. Amy Bloom. Random House. $25. Our Price $17.50

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. JUST KIDS. Patti Smith. HarperCollins. $27. Our Price $18.90.
2. HAPPINESS PROJECT. Gretchen Rubin. HarperCollins. $25.99. Our Price $18.19.
3. I LEGO NEW YORK. Christopher Neimann. Abrams. $14.95. Our Price $10.47.
4. MY BREAD. Jim Lahey. Norton. $29.95. Our Price $20.97.
5. AD HOC AT HOME. Thomas Keller. Artisan. $50. Our Price $35.
6. RESTORING A HOUSE IN THE CITY. Ingrid Abramovitch. Artisan. $40.                  Our Price $28.
7. GAME CHANGE. Mark Halperin & John Heilemann. HarperCollins. $27.99.                       Our Price $19.59.
8. YOU ARE NOT A GADGET. Jaron Lanier. Random House. $24.95. Our Price $17.47.
9. BROOKLYN MODERN. Diana Lind. Rizzoli. $45. Our Price $31.50.
10. MOMOFUKU. David Chang. Random House. $40. Our Price $28.

Paperback Fiction

1. LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN. Colum McCann. Random House. $15. Our Price $10.50.
2. BROOKLYN. Colm Toibin. Simon & Schuster. $15. Our Price $10.50.
3. ELEGANCE OF THE HEDGEHOG. Muriel Barbery. Europa. $15.                  Our Price $10.50.
4. CATCHER IN THE RYE. J.D. Salinger. Little, Brown. $6.99. Our Price $4.89.
5. GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Mass Market Edition). Steig Larsson. Random House. $7.99. Our Price $5.59.
6. GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (Trade Edition). Steig Larsson.                  Random House. $14.95. Our Price $10.47.
7. TOURIST. Olen Steinhauer. St. Martin’s Press. $14.99. Our Price $10.49.
8. OLIVE KITTERIDGE. Elizabeth Strout. Random House. $14. Our Price $9.80.
9. UNACCUSTOMED EARTH. Jhumpa Lahiri. Random House. $15. Our Price $10.50.
10. NETHERLAND. Joseph O’Neill. Random House. $14.95. Our Price $10.47.

Paperback Nonfiction

1. FOOD RULES. Michael Pollan. Penguin. $11. Our Price $7.70.
2. AGE OF WONDER. Richard Holmes. Random House. $17.95. Our Price $12.57.
3. LITTLE HISTORY OF THE WORLD. Ernst Gombrich. Yale University Press. $15. Our Price $10.50.
4. WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING. Haruki Murakami. Random House. $14. Our Price $9.80.
5. MY LIFE IN FRANCE. Julia Child. Random House. $15. Our Price $10.50.
6. REPORTING AT WIT’S END. St. Clair McKelway. Bloomsbury. $18.Our Price $12.60.
7. ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE. Seneca. Penguin. $8.95. Our Price $6.27.
8. ZAGAT NEW YORK CITY RESTAURANTS 2010. Zagat Survey. $15.95.               Our Price $11.17.
9. IN DEFENSE OF FOOD. Michael Pollan. Penguin. $15. Our Price $10.50.
10. OMNIVORE’S DILEMMA. Michael Pollan. Penguin. $16. Our Price $11.20.

Children’s Hardcover & Paperback

1. BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH. Rick Riordan. Hyperion. $7.99. Our Price $5.59.
2. TITAN’S CURSE. Rick Riordan. Hyperion. $7.99. Our Price $5.59.
3. MERMAIDS ON PARADE. Melanie Hope Greenberg. Penguin. $16.99.                   Our Price $11.89.
4. CITY IS. Norman Rosten. Illustrations by Melanie Hope Greenberg. Holt. $16.95.                 Our Price $11.87.
5. I’M YOUR PEANUT BUTTER BIG BROTHER. Selina Alko. Random House. . $16.99. Our Price $11.89.
6. CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM HARVEY MOON. Pat Cummings. Simon & Schuster. $6.99. Our Price $4.89.
7. WHEN YOU REACH ME. Rebecca Stead. Random House. $15.99. Our Price $11.19.
8. LAYLA’S HEAD SCARF. Miriam Cohen. Star Bright Books. $5.95. Our Price $4.17.
9. HUGGING HOUR. Aileen Leijten. Penguin. $15.99. Our Price $11.19.
10. CITY HAWK. Meghan McCarthy. Simon & Schuster. $15.99. Our Price $11.19.

Book Stores Going Under

Book sellers are in trouble, and not just from the poor economy. We’ll talk to Jonathan Friedman, media columnist for MarketWatch, Henry Zook, a co-owner of Bookcourt, in Brooklyn, and Chris Doeblin of Book Culture to discuss the state of bookstores toda

The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet

by Reif Larsen / Hardcover – New Fiction $27.95-10%

From Publishers Weekly:
Fans of Wes Anderson will find much to love in the offbeat characters and small (and sometimes not so small) touches of magic thrown into the mix during the cross-country, train-hopping adventure of a 12-year-old mapmaking prodigy, T.S. Spivet. After the death of T.S.’s brother, Layton, T.S. receives a call from the Smithsonian informing him that he has won the prestigious Baird award, prompting him to hop a freight train to Washington, D.C., to accept the prize. Along the way, he meets a possibly sentient Winnebago, a homicidal preacher, a racist trucker and members of the secretive Megatherium Club, among many others. All this is interwoven with the journals of his mother and her effort to come to grips with the matriarchal line of scientists in the family. Dense notes, many dozens of illustrations and narrative elaborations connected to the main text via dotted lines are on nearly every page. For the most part, they work well, though sometimes the extra material confuses more than clarifies. Larsen is undeniably talented, though his unique vision and style make for a love-it or hate-it proposition.

…

When twelve-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian announcing he has won the prestigious Baird Award, life as normal—if you consider mapping family dinner table conversation normal—is interrupted and a wild cross-country adventure begins, taking T.S. from his family ranch just north of Divide, Montana, to the museum’s hallowed halls.

T.S. sets out alone, leaving before dawn with a plan to hop a freight train and hobo east. Once aboard, his adventures step into high gear and he meticulously maps, charts, and illustrates his exploits, documenting mythical wormholes in the Midwest, the urban phenomenon of “rims,” and the pleasures of McDonald’s, among other things. We come to see the world through T.S.’s eyes and in his thorough investigation of the outside world he also reveals himself.

As he travels away from the ranch and his family we learn how the journey also brings him closer to home. A secret family history found within his luggage tells the story of T.S.’s ancestors and their long-ago passage west, offering profound insight into the family he left behind and his role within it. As T.S. reads he discovers the sometimes shadowy boundary between fact and fiction and realizes that, for all his analytical rigor, the world around him is a mystery.

All that he has learned is tested when he arrives at the capital to claim his prize and is welcomed into science’s inner circle. For all its shine, fame seems more highly valued than ideas in this new world and friends are hard to find.

T.S.’s trip begins at the Copper Top Ranch and the last known place he stands is Washington, D.C., but his journey’s movement is far harder to track: How do you map the delicate lessons learned about family and self? How do you depict how it feels to first venture out on your own? Is there a definitive way to communicate the ebbs and tides of heartbreak, loss, loneliness, love? These are the questions that strike at the core of this very special debut.

• Weekend Walks in Brooklyn: 22 Self-Guided Walking Tours from Greenpoint to Coney Island
  

  by Robert J. Regalbuto / Local Interest PB – $16.95

Weekend Walks in Brooklyn is an invitation to explore many Brooklyn neighborhoods, from trendy DUMBO to Coney Island, from the Hasidic enclaves of Williamsburg to the scenic Narrows of Bay Ridge, and from Brooklyn Heights promenade to the tree-lined streets of Park Slope. Each of this book’s twenty-two self-guided walking tours begins near a subway station and features step-by-step directions, a detailed map, as well as factual and fascinating vignettes about points of interest along the way. Whether your interest is Brooklyn history and lore, sports, architecture, ethnic foods, or famous Brooklynites, this guide will lead you not only to familiar favorites such, but also to refreshing discoveries.

• Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life
  

  by Winifred Gallagher / Psychology HC – $25.95 – 10%

“As the 19th-century philosopher William James wisely understood, what you selectively notice and attend to is what makes up your experience. It is your life! Winifred Gallagher gets it. She has written a provocative, illuminating, and captivating book on the power and importance of attention in multiple domains of life – relationships, work, leisure, health. What makes some people happier, healthier, more fulfilled, more creative, or more engaged than others? Because of what they pay attention to.”
—Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness

“Many will benefit from this thoughtful book. Among other 21st century challenges, the increasing velocity of communication threatens to drive us into a permanent sea- storm of distraction. Thank you, Winifred Gallagher, for bringing our attention back to the essential matter of attention.”
—David Shenk, author, Data Smog and The Forgetting

“This wonderful and inspiring book asks readers to remember something so simple and yet so little appreciated—what you focus upon profoundly affects your quality of life. I can’t think anyone who wouldn’t benefit from the message contained herein. It’s a powerful and much needed prescription for these tumultuous times.”
—Sarah Susanka, author of The Not So Big Life and The Not So Big House series

• This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life
  

  by David Foster Wallace / Essays HC – $14.99 – 10%

Only once did David Foster Wallace give a public talk on his views on life, during a commencement address given in 2005 at Kenyon College. The speech is reprinted for the first time in book form in THIS IS WATER. How does one keep from going through their comfortable, prosperous adult life unconsciously? How do we get ourselves out of the foreground of our thoughts and achieve compassion? The speech captures Wallace’s electric intellect as well as his grace in attention to others. After his death, it became a treasured piece of writing reprinted in The Wall Street Journal and the London Times, commented on endlessly in blogs, and emailed from friend to friend.

Writing with his one-of-a-kind blend of causal humor, exacting intellect, and practical philosophy, David Foster Wallace probes the challenges of daily living and offers advice that renews us with every reading.

• Can Poetry Save the Earth?: A Field Guide to Nature Poems
  

  by Mr. John Felstiner / Poetry HC – $35.00 – 10%

• What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going
  

  by Damion Searls / Fiction PB – $12.95

In his debut collection, Damion Searls gives us five extraordinary tales of the life of the mind in America today. “56 Water Street” and “Goldenchain” follow writers whose projects only lead them deeper into the labyrinth of modern relationships and friendships. The nasty office satire “The Cubicles” and the atmospheric “A Guide to San Francisco” take place in the sun and fog of West Coast dreams. In the final story, “Dialogue Between the Two Chief World Systems,” a Hungarian beauty creates a scholarly conundrum with surprising parallels to the book as a whole.

Set amidst Ethiopian healing scrolls and sponges of the Adriatic and the guy who invented flashing the temperature on bank clocks, What We Were Doing and Where We Were Going plays in the intersection of knowledge and life in contemporary America. Searls’s flights of fancy and painterly eye for detail introduce a range of intelligent characters feeling their way toward complex moral and personal truths.