Indies First

It’s hard to identify a trend mid-stream, but I think it’s fair to say that while this holiday weekend used to be about giving thanks to the Earth for its bounty, it’s now adapted—at least in many metropolitan centers—to a festival wherein we give back our bounty to the economy.  Turn on the TV, look on the internet and you’ll hear and read a lot of backlash—much of it rightly placed—but surely some economic stimulus beats a squash-induced coma, especially when the places you’re shopping are the local institutions that sustain our communities socially, culturally, and maybe even financially.  So if you’re if doing some holiday shopping and you’re a reader—and look you’re reading this blog, so you must be—go hit up your local independent bookstore.  Chances are, it will be staffed by smart and helpful and passionate folks.

In this vein, today for “Small Business Saturday” and “Indies First” day, more than three hundred writers nationally will be at independent bookstores having fun and showing our thanks to the fantastic bookstores we love.  I’ll be at the always awesome and eclectic Brookline Booksmith with Jessica Keener, Kris Jansma, and Maryanne O’Hara.  Come on by! We’ll be popping on pins and trying our hands at bookselling—talking about books we love, answering questions, and admitting that we don’t know where the bathrooms are.