Why a dinner event for 'Go Set a Watchman'? Bob Dotson's idea at signing in April becoming reality

      So much has been written about "Go Set a Watchman" and its launch today.
      There have been personal essays in state publications such as one by an Oklahoma City University professor in The Oklahoman. Rumors of a third book in The New York Times.  Longer pieces about Harper Lee and her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama from national magazines like Smithsonian.
       Best of Books president Joe Hight even appeared on NewsOK.com to talk about the launch.
       It's created a frenzy -- a good one about books and classics -- not seen since the launch of "Harry Potter."

     Best of Books had more than 100 preorders ready and waiting for customers this morning.
     Its partnership with next-door neighbor Bayou Grill to present a " 'To Kill a Mockingbird'/'Go Set a Watchman' Southern Dinner & Entertainment" also sold out two seatings this evening. Nearly 110 people will be fed and entertained.
      But how did BOB decide to do a dinner when other stores were doing midnight openings, early openings and all-day readings instead? It began in March during a rainy day when Bob Dotson of NBC's "American Story" came to the store to sign his book with the same name.

Bob Dotson

      At the time, Bob was talking to Joe about signings and suggested that Best of Books consider what a store in his home state of Connecticut did: Have a dinner with a event revolving around a book or author. Great idea, Joe thought, but the timing had to be right for the first one. Then came the furor surrounding "Watchman."
        After the event this evening, Best of Books may partner with Bayou Grill for more events in the future. Let us know what kind of dinner event you like or might want to attend; give us suggestions. It just needs to revolve around books, authors or history.
         Before then, BOB sends a special thanks to Bob for his idea that is now a reality.
            
     

Fourth of four-part BOB blog: Author/illustrator of a well-known character bringing her new Bob to BOB

        Fourth of four-part blog: Yes, we waited until the end of the week to announce who will be coming to Best of Books in September. Now it's time to reveal the author's name and her new book in the final blog about BookExpo America in New York.

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         The lines wrapped around several rows as people waited in line for her signature on her new book. The author/illustrator is switching to a new character after publishing books for nearly a decade about the same frisky Siamese cat who thinks he's a Chihuahua: SkippyJon Jones.
       

      The long lines were for Judy Schachner, who is introducing her new character Dewey Bob the raccoon in September. And she's coming to Oklahoma on Sept. 15 to introduce Dewey Bob to BOB and you.

            Judy told Publishers Weekly that she will be forever devoted to SkippyJon Jones, but she hopes fans of what she calls "the Skippy cult," especially teachers, will embrace her new loveable raccoon and his story about his quest for new friends. 
            "This is a much gentler story, with a very different story line and style," she said. "I've always loved raccoons."
         

          The nationally known writer/illustrator is scheduled to come to BOB a week after Dewey Bob is released to the public.
           During BEA, she joked with Joe Hight that she hoped there wouldn't be any tornadoes during her first visit to the state. Joe assured her tornadoes are rare in September. 
       

   More details of Judy's visit here will be released later. We hope there will be long lines of Judy's fans in Oklahoma for Dewey Bob as there were during the recent BEA in New York City.          

After sellout, BOB, Bayou Grill now planning second seating of 'To Kill a Mockingbird/Go Set a Watchman' Southern Dinner & Entertainment!

 Late Sunday evening, the emails started to notify us that guests were quickly making online reservations to the "To Kill a Mockingbird/Go Set a Watchman Southern Dinner and Entertainment" on Tuesday, July 14. Then the phone calls started coming first thing Monday morning.
        Within an hour, we were sold out on the 6 to 8 p.m. time slot, so Joe Hight called Bayou Grill owners Terry and Thais Goodwin to discuss the situation and ask a question: What about a second seating from 8 to 10 p.m.?
         They answered immediately: Yes.
         That means that if you missed making a reservation for the 6 to 8 p.m. time slot, you can get the same menu, entertainment and trivia contest from 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 14, at Bayou Grill, next door to Best of Books in Edmond's Kickingbird Square Shopping Center. Hight said the dinner and entertainment should be completed by around 9:30 p.m. if you're worried about getting home by 10 p.m.
         You can make reservations for the 8 to 10 p.m. dinner with the book or without a book by calling 340-9202 or by going to www.bestofbooksok.com.
         NOTE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE MADE RESERVATIONS: WE ARE ASKING TO PREORDER YOUR DINNER MENU ITEMS BY SENDING AN EMAIL WITH YOUR SELECTION -- appetizer, entrée and side -- to bestofbooks@sbcglobal.net. This will help expedite your order.
         Here is the complete menu and listing for the evening:

BEST OF BOOKS AND THE BAYOU GRILL PRESENT:

 'TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD/GO SET A WATCHMAN' SOUTHERN DINNER & ENTERTAINMENT

8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, July 14

(First seating from 6 to 8 p.m. sold out with waiting list) 

Bayou Grill & Bakery, 1315 E. Danforth in Edmond's Kickingbird Square Shopping Center

 

MENU

 

Appetizer

Sardine Dip w/crackers

Or

Green Fried Tomatoes

 

Entrees 

(Choice of one; served with side salad)

Fried Chicken (White or dark -- 3 pieces)

Grill or Blackened Chicken Breast

Pork Chops -- Grilled, Blackened or Fried (2 center cut)

U.S. Caught Catfished -- Grilled, Blackened or Fried

 

Sides

(Choice of one)

Southern Collard Greens

Mac & Cheese

Baked Sweet Potato

Mashed Potatoes

Creamy Coleslaw

Sweet Corn

French Fries

Fried Okra

Red Beans & Rice.

 

Breads

Cornbread, rolls or hushpuppies

 

Dessert

Praline Pecan Pound Cake

    

Beverages

Sweet/unsweetened team, lemonade or Coca-Cola soft drinks

 

            

Evening includes entertainment headlined by Philip West, trivia contest with prizes, and readings from "Go Set a Watchman."

 

Cost: $60, includes complete dinner and first-edition of "Go Set a Watchman." (Each additional dinner without a book will be $30 each. Other food, beverages, drinks not on the menu are extra. Tips also not included in cost.)

 

  
    

Third of four-part BOB blog: Ruta Sepetys' 2016 novel 'Salt to the Sea' takes us on important journey





Ruta Sepetys, center, is shown with Nan and Joe Hight
 



      BOB NOTE: Author Ruta Sepetys talks passionately about the research that it took to write her next book “Salt to the Sea.” The months of research. The travel to six different countries. The interviews with more than 40 people. All to produce a historical novel that may be one of the best Young Adult novels in 2016: “Salt to the Sea.” Sepetys spoke to a small room of booksellers and Penquin editors during the recent BookExpo America about her historical fiction book. Afterward, the group, which included Joe and Nan Hight, received an advance copy of the book as an exclusive to BEA. Here is their review on the book that is not scheduled to come out until February 2016.

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        Joana. Florian. Emilia. Through these characters, author Ruta Sepetys tells the story of the dramatic evacuation of Germany and parts of Eastern Europe as the Russians advance into Germany in the final days of World War II.  The three describe their journey through detail that makes you shiver as they and others struggle during the winter of 1945 in their quest to reach the Wilhelm Gustloff, a cruise ship that they think will carry them to safety but ultimately could lead to their destruction.

        Alfred. You also read the book through a smug young German preparing the Gustloff for the thousands of people who will crowd onto the ship. Alfred is constantly fantasizing about greater glory in letters that he creates in his mind to a young woman back home. At times, you hate him. At times, you feel sorry for him.

        “Salt to the Sea” is a tragic story, one that may not be known to many who are alive today. It’s one of death, starvation, fear and heroism. It’s one of those who were fleeing from Nazi Germany, not knowing whether their enemies are their own neighbors or soldiers from invading countries.

         It’s a story that everyone should read whether they are young or old.

         As Septys points out, 25,000 people died on ships fleeing Germany, including an estimated 9,000 on the Gustloff, 5,000 of them being children. The ships, including ones carrying Jewish prisoners from concentration camps, were sunk by torpedoes from Russian submarines. The Gustloff alone easily ranks as the deadliest disaster in maritime history, with thousands more dying than the better-known disasters of the Titanic and the Lusitania.

        Why didn’t we know about them? Perhaps it was because we see them all as the dreaded Nazis who were intent on destroying the world as we knew it then. However, Septys gives you a different picture of the people who were actually victims of their own leadership. Even though the four main characters are seriously flawed themselves as well as those they interact with in different scenes, each of them relates to the reader in different and unique ways. In many ways, they become like us but stuck and powerless in a war that was not their choosing.

        “Salt to the Sea” is an important book because it reminds us that the human condition exists in every culture, even those that are much different than our own. It allows us see them as actual people with emotions and feelings rather than numbers who were blindly falling a ruthless dictator.

          Look forward to “Salt to the Sea” when it comes out next year not because it makes you laugh or cry, but because it will change the way you see how war so dramatically affects the people enveloped within it.

         NEXT WEEK: In the fourth and final installment of this blog on BookExpo America, find out what author who had long lines in New York will be coming to Oklahoma and Best of Books for the first time in September!

Second of four-part BOB blog: 'Illuminae': Illuminating a new form of storytelling

     

BOB Note: Illuminae was touted during the recent BookExpo America as being one of the hot Young Adult novels of the fall. Editors at Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House in New York City, said they were excited about the creative way that the two Australian writers tell the story. The editors promote it as being in the same style as Marie Lu and James Dashner. Lu has endorsed it by writing "Brace yourself. You're about to be immersed in a mindscape that you'll never want to leave." We at Best of Books decided to put it to the ultimate test and let one of the BOB's best readers read and review an advance copy of the book. Mikaleh Offerman is an incoming freshman at Oklahoma Baptist University and an avid reader. We greatly appreciate that she wrote the following review and are impressed in how she wrote, too! (She even wrote the headline!)

 

Mikaleh Offerman

By MIKALEH OFFERMAN

 

     Kady and Ezra are not exactly on speaking terms when their ice planet is invaded. In fact, they’ve just finished breaking up when the time comes to escape through the exploding mass that used to be their home. When they reach safety on separate evacuating space ships, their fight still isn't over. However, a plague has infested one of the escaping ships, an advanced intelligence computer has gone haywire, and the only people Ezra and Kady have left are each other. 

 

            Calling Illuminae a book would be like calling the Atlantic Ocean a glass of water.

  

               Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff have created a new breed of storytelling, and it’s amazing. Illuminae is an intricate tale that reveals itself through a compilation of hacked emails, classified documents, IMs, and other strangely poetic methods.

               Normally, I would have struggled to conjure any form of interest in a book like this. I would have taken a look at it, admired the cover a little, opened it up to see if I liked the inside, and then slammed it right back onto the shelf. Classified documents? A couple of emails? Pfft. Give me a real novel. Something that I can sit down and absorb instead of sort through like a wannabe police investigator.

                However, these emails, reports, documents, and IMs reveal a cast of characters that turn the wannabe investigator into an addicted reader.

                No dialogue tags or single-voice narrator?

                Nope. Illuminae has no need for those storytelling devices.

                Yet, while Illuminae is vastly different from typical novels, it carries many of the same elements because it uses the written word to tell a story. It has extremely relatable characters that kept me turning the pages and even flipping back a couple to re-read those emails exchanged by So-and-So and What’s-His-Name because Oh my gosh, everything makes so much sense now! One minute I was laughing and the next I was fighting tears. In the end, I was shaking my head in awe because I couldn’t believe that I’d just finished reading almost six hundred pages in one sitting.

                You can’t judge a book by its cover, and you certainly can’t judge a story by the method that it’s told. Illuminae proves this point to infinity and beyond.

 

 

 

First of four-part BOB blog: BookExpo America full of celebrities, heavyweight authors and intrigue

       BOB NOTE: This is the first of a four-part blog on the recent BookExpo America. Today's post is on the expo itself. The next two blog posts will be reviews of two YA books that were introduced during it. Then the final one will reveal the nationally known children's author who had one of the longest lines at BEA and who will be coming to Best of Books and Oklahoma for the first time! Joe and Nan Hight both attended as BOB representatives.
    
      

    

 NEW YORK -- The recent BookExpo America featured celebrities such as Al Roker, Dr. Ruth, Lee Greenwood, Christie Brinkley, Nathan Lane, Mindy Kaling, Emeril Lagasse and many others.

        It featured intriguing controversy, including China being introduced as the guest of honor at the BEA's Global Market Forum; the move prompted a protest in the city. It also featured author James Patterson lambasting Amazon.
        And it featured nationally known authors who were there for BEA and then BookCon the following weekend. Large banners hanging and wrapped throughout the Javits Center proclaimed their latest books.
         Thousands of people crowded into the Javits Center for the events that included numerous signings, previews of the latest books, breakfasts. lunches, giveaways, workshops and every major publisher. Some people arrived early to stand in long lines for tickets to stand in more long lines to receive signed books and pose for photos with their favorite authors.
          The word "overwhelming" was used many times by those attending BEA.
          An example of the flurry of activity came when three heavyweight authors showed up at the same time on the last day of BEA: John Grisham, Marie Lu and Patterson.
     

    Grisham was there to sign booklets promoting his upcoming book "Rogue Lawyer," which is scheduled to come out in October.
        
      




                                    

Young Adult author Lu had the largest banner of any at the Javits Center promoting her upcoming book "The Rose Society." She also was there signing booklets promoting the book that also will be coming out in October.

 

               

 Then there was Patterson, who introduced his new children's imprint and accepted an award for championing independent bookstores. Best of Books was the recipient of one of Patterson's grants for bookstores in 2014 and is planning a program this fall in relationship to it. His new imprint with Little, Brown, and Company seeks to encourage children to interact more with the literary world.

                   Patterson didn't shy away from controversy either as he sharply criticized Amazon during his awards speech, saying that it was endangering literature.

                   "Amazon wants to control book buying, book selling and even book publishing," Patterson said in a USA TODAY story, while adding the company "sounds like the beginning of a monopoly."

                    BookExpo America was full of celebrities, heavyweight authors and controversies. It'll be fun to see what happens when it moves to Chicago in May 2016.

Best of Books, Bayou Grill combining to offer special Southern dinner for debut of 'Go Set a Watchman'!

      To celebrate the debut of "Go Set a Watchman," Best of Books is teaming up with next-door neighbor Bayou Grill to offer a special Southern dinner based on food in author Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
      The dinner, which will include entertainment, readings and a trivia contest, will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 14 at Bayou, 1315 E. Danforth in Edmond's Kickingbird Square Shopping Center.
      "Go Set a Watchman" is considered a prequel sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning "To Kill a Mockingbird," which was published 55 years ago in 1960. "Watchman" has already set records for preorders, publisher HarperCollins reports. Best of Books has nearly 50 preordered already.
       On July 14, "Watchman" will be released to the public for the first time, so BOB and Bayou are combining to offer the dinner and entertainment for the evening.
        The three-course dinner will include an appetizer, choice of entrees with a side salad and one side, cornbread, rolls or hushpuppies, beverages and a dessert of praline pecan pound cake. The menu was prepared by owner/head chef Thais Goodwin. Thais chose the menu based on foods that Harper Lee referenced to in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Best of Books employee Shelbee King found the foods in a special research paper prepared by William Christy for the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans.

         

        "The book includes more than 50 references to food – many that are symbols of the American South," Christy wrote. "... These foods help set the tone of the novel and establish a mood and place. Harper Lee created scenes in which the presence of food and meals make important points and moves the plot forward."
 

 

       Besides the dinner, there will be entertainment headlined by Philip West, playing his guitar and harmonica, a trivia contest with prizes, and readings from "Watchman."
       The cost for the dinner and a copy of the first edition of "Watchman" is $60. Those not wanting the book can pay $30 each for the dinner.
        Seating and books are very limited, so Best of Books is asking you to call ahead as soon as possible for reservations. You can call 340-9202 to reserve your spot or spots or go to Best of Books website to order a dinner with a book or a dinner without a book.
         Here is the complete menu and listing for the evening:

BEST OF BOOKS AND THE BAYOU GRILL PRESENT:

 

'TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD/GO SET A WATCHMAN' SOUTHERN DINNER & ENTERTAINMENT

6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 14

Bayou Grill & Bakery, 1315 E. Danforth in Edmond's Kickingbird Square Shopping Center

 

MENU

 

Appetizer

Sardine Dip w/crackers

Or

Green Fried Tomatoes

 

Entrees 

(Choice of one; served with side salad)

Fried Chicken (White or dark -- 3 pieces)

Grill or Blackened Chicken Breast

Pork Chops -- Grilled, Blackened or Fried (2 center cut)

U.S. Caught Catfished -- Grilled, Blackened or Fried

 

Sides

(Choice of one)

Southern Collard Greens

Mac & Cheese

Baked Sweet Potato

Mashed Potatoes

Creamy Coleslaw

Sweet Corn

French Fries

Fried Okra

Red Beans & Rice.

 

Breads

Cornbread, rolls or hushpuppies

 

Dessert

Praline Pecan Pound Cake

    

Beverages

Sweet/unsweetened team, lemonade or Coca-Cola soft drinks

 

            

Evening includes entertainment headlined by Philip West, trivia contest with prizes, and readings from "Go Set a Watchman."

 

Cost: $60, includes complete dinner and first-edition of "Go Set a Watchman." (Each additional dinner without a book will be $30 each. Other food, beverages, drinks not on the menu are extra. Tips also not included in cost.)