Marias Bookshop's blog

We're awfully proud of two locals who will receive Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association 2009 Regional Book Awards later this week in Denver at the MPIBA Fall Trade Show.  Winning books are selected by booksellers from the Mountains & Plains region; a significant aspect of the book must relate to the region, which includes Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

Will Hobbs is the winner for the Children's Chapter Book category with Go Big or Go Home, a super high adventure story for the young adult crowd.  Durango-based Photographer Claude Steelman will take home the prize for best book in The Arts for his beautiful collection, Colorado's Wild Horses.  We were lucky enough to host signings with both Will and Claude when their books were first released, and we know both gentlemen have many, many fans both locally and far afield.

Four of us from the shop will be at the Trade Show, meeting authors, swapping tips with other folks in the business and offering our heatfelt congratulations to both Will and Claude. 

Perhaps it will come as no surprise that our leap into the cyberworld of blogging and tweeting didn't come easily for this bookish crew.  We are fiercely loyal to the printed word...when it's on real-live books, that is. 

When it comes to the current debate over how the old-fashioned book stacks up in comparison to the Kindle, we loved David Byrne's thoughtful piece and the hysterical series of videos from our friends at San Francisco's Green Apple Books.

But we also know that, as an indie bookstore in a world filled with big-boxes and online megaretailers, we can't just passively sit back and hope folks will keep coming through our doors.  The world is changing, and we can, too.

So, this old dog (25 years old, in fact) has learned a couple of new tricks.  We're tweeting.  We're blogging.  We're creating video reviews.  We've updated our website.  And you know what?  It's pretty fun!

But it's all still pretty new, and we'd love to get some feedback from you all.  What do you think?  How can we best use twitter, our blog and our website to keep you entertained, informed and happy?

Check us out! Our book buyer, Joe Foster, was on Denver's KCFR this morning alongside Cathy Langer from Tattered Cover Book Store, talking up three of his picks for summer reading with a regional flair. You can listen to his interview with Ryan Warner, host of the "Colorado Matters" program here (scroll down to the bottom of the page to find "Summer Reading with a Colorado Flavor").

Joe's first choice was Blake Crouch's Abandon, a dual-narrative thriller about a fictional San Juan mining town that mysteriously disappears in the 1893 and the current-day group who wander into the mountains to find out what happened. We had a great release party for Blake earlier this month--he lives here in Durango and is a surprisingly kind and gentle young man who just happens to dig delving into the darker, creepier side of human nature in his writing.

The second pick from Joe was Elisabeth Hyde's In the Heart of the Canyon, a totally engrossing story about a commercial river trip through the Grand Canyon that challenges and changes everyone on board, including the lead guide, on the river for his 125th time. Leisl Schillinger wrote a great review in this past Sunday's New York Times Book Review. We've been selling tons of this one, and we're expecting a packed house for our upcoming author event with Elisabeth Hyde here in the shop on Monday, August 10th at 6:30.

Finally, Joe recommended our long-time friend Craig Childs' The Animal Dialogues, which has recently been released in paperback. Craig wanders into the shop with some regularity, generally with backpack, having just emerged from the mountains. He's one of our all-time favorite authors, as you'll see in our "25 Years of Favorites" bookmarks, which we'll be rolling out in the shop any day now in celebration of our upcoming 25th anniversary. 

Maria's will be hosting Elisabeth Hyde this Monday. She'll be telling us about her latest book, In the Heart of the Canyon, a great story about a guided Grand Canyon rafting trip gone awry. Not necessarily this kind of awry, but... well, you'll just have to read it to see.

Anyone who has been through the Grand Canyon will be constantly reminded of each unforgettable rapid, each breathtaking vista, and the trials and tribulations that arise any time a group of people get together. A truly enjoyable book, perfect for Summer reading. Come meet the author Monday night. She has some great stories to tell.