The Giving Thanks Post

Okay maybe it's obvious, but just because something is obvious doesn't mean it goes without saying. We at Greenlight are so thankful.

Thankful for our community.
Thankful for the warm reception we've received since (and even before) we opened.
Thankful for the strength of our staff.
Thankful for our business partnership, and the friendship that has developed out of it.
Thankful for how beautiful the space turned out.
Thankful for the books!
Thankful for the way Greenlight Bookstore has enriched our lives.
Thankful that a bookstore dream has turned into a bookstore reality.

We're also thankful to so many individuals for how they've helped us along the way and today seems like the right day to say a public thank you to everyone listed below; from the bottom of our bookstore hearts:

A Public Space
Alexis Akre
Philip Alcabes
Kelly Amabile
Stephanie Anderson
Susan Avery
Michael Bagnulo
Scott Ballum
Judith Baumel
Jeff Beardsley
Sarah Bendit
Jon Bennett
Betty Bennett
Carolyn Bennett
Amy Bennett
Lauren Bierbaum
BOMB Magazine
Bookforum
Kat Bounds
Samy Brahimy
Hesky Brahimy
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation
Brooklyn Public Library
Adam Bunderson
Eric Busta
Cake Man Raven
Greg Calender
Douglas Calhoun
Mike Campbell
Tobias Carroll
Ed Champion
Dale Charles
Ruth Chow
Zinzi Clemmons
Steve Colca
Sean Concannon
Cynthia Conigliaro
Tom Conoscenti
Toby Cox
Dear Dave
deFT Projects
Der Schwarze Kölner
David Doerrer
Avin Domnitz
Angie Duker
Nick During
Erik DuRon
Jennifer Egan
Electric Literature
Daryl Ellerbe
Lissi Erwin
David Ewalt
FAB Alliance
Dikko Faust
Melvin Fitting
Hillary Frileck
Gina Gagliano
Jasmine Gilden
Lindsey Gorton
Michael Greenberg
Greene Grape Provisions
Michael Gross
Dale Hall
Lisa Heller
Elke Hofmann
Ashley Housholder
Brigid Hughes
Hugo Construction Corp.
Betsy Hulsebosch
Rachel Hyman
David Jacobs
Scott Jacobson
Letitia James
Joseph Jordan
Phillip Kellogg
Tiana Kennedy
Russell Kivler
Susanna Ko
Paul Kozlowski
Eleanor Krisemen
Pat Kutz
Archie Kutz
Sunny Lai
Iris Lasn
Andy Laties
Gillian Lay
John Leary
Susan Lerner
Ruth Liebmann
Simon Lipskar
Eleanor Lovinsky
Patrick Lunn
Amanda Lydon
Marty Markowitz
Marquet Patisserie
Ben Mattison
Elizabeth May
Carolyn Mayers-Williams
Shelby McCoy
Jesse McManus
Sarah McNally
Adam Meagher
Dan Mechanic
Daniel Meeter
Jawad Muaddi
NFT Guides
Sharon Ng
Donald O'Connor
Tim Olson
Orien O'Neal
Adrienne Onofri
Christine Onorati
Bianca Maria Orlando
Pace University Small Business Development Center
Roz Parr
Natalie Peart
Jarrett Pelletier
Maura Phelan
Laura Piquado
Manoj Plakal
Mutter John
Pratt Area Community Council
Purgatory Pie Press
Jane Queller
Daniel Rabuzzi
Joshua Rutner
Steve Sachs
Olyver Salazar
Shelf Awareness
Deborah Shiff
Marggie Skinner
Esther Smith
Derek Steele
Ronni Stolzenberg
Frederick Tang
Jamie Taratoot
Ellen Tarlow
Tio
Toure
Peiheng Tsai
Elaine Tunnicliffe
Sherry Wasserman
Brette Weinkle
Kim Westfall
Colson Whitehead
Mark Wingerson
Lois Wingerson
Lisa Winn
Lynsay Wolfe
Lia Yaranon Hall
Jon Zeitlin

Mentors, Muses & Monsters Event Tonight!

Monday, November 23, 7:30 PM
Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives (The Free Press)
Featuring editor Elizabeth Benedict
With contributors Alexander Chee, Mary Gordon, Martha Southgate, and Lily Tuck
Hosted by Beatrice.com's Ron Hogan

A cavalcade of local authors kicks off our new series of Blogger/Author Pairings, in which a literary blogger hosts a real-world reading.

Pioneering blogger Ron Hogan, creator of Beatrice and book industry journalist for GalleyCat, hosts this event for a new anthology exploring the varied relationships of writers with those who have influenced them, for better or worse.

The book's editor Elizabeth Benedict (author of The Practice of Deceit and others) will discuss the project of Mentors, Muses & Monsters, and her own relationship with Elizabeth Hardwick.

Alexander Chee (author of Edinburgh) will read from his essay on taking a class with Annie Dillard.

Mary Gordon (author most recently of Reading Jesus) will talk about her two Barnard mentors, Elizabeth Hardwick and Janice Thaddeus.

Martha Southgate (author of Third Girl from the Left) reads from her piece on an influential book, Harriet the Spy.

And Lily Tuck (National Book Award winning author of The News from Paraguay) talks about the influence of Gordon Lish on her own work.

Join us for a lively conversation about influence, identity, and the writing life.

You can RSVP on Facebook for this event; RSVPs are appreciated (to help us get an idea of attendance), but NOT required, and seating is first come, first served.

Introducing, Our Staff

If you've been in the store you may have met them already, but we wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our team of smart, savvy, well read booksellers. We caught them with the bookstore's resident stuffed bear, or in the midst of the festivities at our launch party -- though they're all consummate professionals, you can tell there's a lot of laughter with this lot!


More often than not, you'll find DEBORAH making our children's section shine -- as a neighborhood mom and a former employee of the lovely (late) Chinook Bookshop in Colorado, she's gained lots of experience! She's a master at recommending just the right book for just the right child (and she's a cookbook expert too!)


ELEANOR grew up spending lots of time in a wonderful independent bookstore that her mother co-owns, named Inkwood Books. She brings natural exuberance with her to the store every day, in between classes at NYU (where Jessica was studying when she got her first bookstore job!).

BRETTE is also a bookseller's daughter (her father owned a small independent bookstore), and a former teacher, and also worked at Goering's Bookstore in Gainsville, Florida. As the Mistress of Receiving, she makes sure books get unpacked, checked in and sorted correctly, and she's also a great hand with recommendations.


JASMINE is an art student at Pratt Institute, Fort Greene's own prestigious art and design school. Her bookselling experience comes by way of Manhattan's fantastic radical bookstore and cafe Bluestockings, and she brings a native New Yorker's sensibility to Greenlight.

Before moving to NY for an internship at The Feminist Press, NATALIE was working at a great bookstore that opened last year in Texas called Legacy Books. Natalie has a wonderfully gracious style with anything she takes on, whether it's buying stationary, talking books with customers, or working on compiling a list of our many local authors.


ALEXIS is a former buyer and manager of Olsson's, a bookstore in Washington DC that sadly closed their doors in 2008. Lucky for us though, she's just relocated to NY and brings her prodigious knowledge and skills to Greenlight. Alexis helps make sure the trains run on time, coordinating everything from staff schedules to inventory records with dry wit and aplomb.


JESSE is an artist who hails from Minneapolis, where his mother owns a well known children's bookstore named Wild Rumpus. He's the one who has been doing the drawings on our sandwich board! You can talk to him about any author from Nabokov to R. Crumb in the bookstore, and find his work on his website and in the comics anthology Kramer's Ergot.


DARYL is our newest hire; the only person we have hired since we opened our doors, and she's fitting right in! A former Waldenbooks employee and a recent Sarah Lawrence grad, she's got endless energy and might be the only person on staff who talks even faster than Rebecca!


That's the staff! Along with Jessica and Rebecca, they're the folks who are hard at work making Greenlight into the best bookstore it can be. Stop in and say hello, check out their staff picks, chat with them about your own favorites, and share the bookstore experience with our crew!

Jhumpa Lahiri, Matt Weiland, and L.J. Davis tomorrow night!

This one is going to be amazing -- don't miss it!


Friday, November 13, 7:30 PM NYRB Classics 10th Anniversary Celebration Featuring publisher Edwin Frank With authors Matt Weiland, Jhumpa Lahiri, and L.J. Davis

NYRB Classics began publishing in 1999, with beautiful trade paperback reissues of classic but previously out-of-print texts, each introduced by a noted writer or scholar. Greenlight joins in celebrating the publisher's 10th anniversary with a distinctly local reading and reception.

NYRB Classics publisher Edwin Frank will introduce three readers. Jhumpa Lahiri (The Namesake, Unaccustomed Earth) will discuss and read from Mavis Galant's story collection The Cost of Living, to which she wrote the introduction. Matt Weiland (State By State) will expound on the joys of George Stewart's quirky history Names On the Land, which he introduces. L. J. Davis, one of the few living writers republished by NYRB, will read from his 1971 novel A Meaningful Life, a comic and cathartic urban masterpiece set in a crumbling Brooklyn brownstone.

The reading will be followed by a wine and cheese reception catered by Greene Grape Provisions -- your chance to meet some of the authors and publishers that define Fort Greene and Brooklyn. Join us for a celebratory anniversary event!

This event is free and open to the public. You can RSVP on Facebook - RSVPs are appreciated (to give us an attendance estimate) but not required. Seating is first come, first served. Please note: there is NO PHOTOGRAPHY at this event.

Jonathan Lethem at Greenlight tomorrow night!

It's our first-ever author event, and boy are we excited!

At 7:30 PM on Thursday, November 5, Brooklyn's unofficial laureate Jonathan Lethem (author of Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude) reads from his new novel Chronic City, a surreal and witty epic set in a Manhattan almost like our own. The oddball cultural savant Perkus Tooth is an unforgettable character, and the journey our hapless narrator takes through Perkus' world of stranded astronauts, dog hotels, giant tigers, and alternate realities that bleed into city politics is a trip well worth taking

Jonathan is reading the ENTIRE 467 page novel aloud over the course of eight reading events in New York City -- Greenlight Bookstore is proud to host Reading Number 5! Join us for a reading, followed by a signing and reception with the author. Then the true fans can stick around for a second round of reading, as long as it takes to get through 1/8 of the book!

Rebecca and Jessica both LOVE this novel to the point of obsession -- we're thrilled to have Jonathan for our first sit-down author event. Don't miss the chance to meet one of Brooklyn's greatest literary authors at Brooklyn's newest independent bookstore!


This event is free and open to the public. You can RSVP on Facebook -- RSVPs are appreciated (to give us an attendance estimate) but not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Can't make it to the event, but craving a signed copy of Chronic City? You can email us or call (718) 246-0200 to request a signed copy be held or shipped to you. Even request personalization! Contact us as early as possible -- we may run out!

The Launch Party Recap Part II

We finally got the other set of photos off the camera! Battery chargers go missing so easily in new stores, where gadgets and wires and cords don't have permanent homes yet. So indulge us in one last quick party recap -- then we'll move on to new topics.

People began arriving around 7 and the place filled up fast



Champagne from Greene Grape and beer from the beer garden up the street started flowing and good eats from Provisions, Marquet and The (legendary) Cake Man made their way around



Meanwhile, the Candlewick bear was a little antisocial and kept working, so someone put a tag on his back, which wasn't very nice. He cheered up later and joined the party though.



Then around 7:45 the speeches began. We kicked it off with our Councilwoman (and a great friend to the bookstore) Letitia James



Then Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said a few words, charming everyone as usual (notice Jessica's husband 'covertly' downing a drink while taking a break from serving champagne at out makeshift bar)



Poor Elissa Olin, who recently opened her own store on Myrtle Avenue was stuck out in the rain because by this point we were too crowded



Then local author Touré came on to say a few words about Brooklyn literary culture



It was so great to be surrounded by dear friends



Then Jessica and I said our words, our Thank Yous, and we toasted, hugged, cried, and commenced to enjoying a fine fine party