My life and Connie Brook’s life are deeply interwoven. I go into the bookstore two or three times a week, either to buy books or to sign books people have ordered. Connie is firmly enshrined in the Bedlam Farm lexicon, people all over the country love dealing with her and her staff, and love the bookstore as much as I do.
Connie is a book lover, but also a shrewd businesswoman. She spends a lot of time working on inventory, keeping up with new books, and maintaining a level of customer connection and service that is not imaginable for any large corporation. She reminds me and so many other people why bookstores are important, and why we need them in our communities. She is very important to the town of Cambridge, where I live.
People can order any of my books by calling Battenkill (518 677-2515) and I will sign. I should mention this more often, but I mention it a lot when one of books is out. My next book, “Talking To Animals,” will be out sometime next year. This is the first Fall in decades that I will not have a book out, although the paperback edition of “Saving Simon” will be published the first week in August. You can pre-order it now or wait until it comes out.
If you purchase it at Battenkill, you will help a very worthy bookstore and I will sign and personalize it for you. You can also order it online at Battenkill’s website, they take Paypal and ship anywhere in the world.
Connie is never as relaxed as she appears, but she is always gracious and efficient. She is the new bookstore owner, managing her store with a very close and professional eye, struggling to find time to do all of the reading she wants to do, and taking care of her son (and husband) as well.
I realized today that I hadn’t mentioned her in awhile. The store is doing very well, she is working on an expanded children’s section. If you are thinking of buying my books or anyone’s new books, think about Connie. She has performed a good-sized miracle, steering her beautiful store through some hard times into a bright and sustainable future. Books live, in part because of people like Connie, for respect them and fight for them and make them available to the rest of us.