A Word from the Co-Publishers

Everything is a process.... We are so close to putting the finishing touches on our updated website. Keep checking, it will be up soon. In the meantime, take a look at Hudson Valley Bookshelf—the new book blog on our website, www.abouttown.us. Here you will find book reviews and information on all things relating to books. Currently you can read about the sad loss of Merritt Books in Red Hook and about the expansion of Oblong Books in Rhinebeck. You’ll find information on local Elwood Smith’s exhibit at the Norman Rockwell Museum as well as other events and signings. You can sign up to receive regular email updates. Feedback helps us know what interests you and what you’d like to read about. Please comment, tell us what you like, what you don’t, and what you would like to have included.

Openings and closings: What happened to Mazza? One day it was there and now it’s gone. E.B.’s Hudson Valley Finds, scheduled to open this spring, promises to be a quirky and fun shop in Rhinebeck, and is owned by Evelyn Bartin, a woman who wears many hats, including being a regular writer for AboutTown. While you’re in the center of Rhinebeck, visit the recently opened Breezy Hill Orchard Farm Market where you can get fresh produce and more all year round.

Hopefully when you are reading this the relentless snow will have melted and the first crocuses will be peeking out. The wildly successful winter markets will be turning into summer markets and we’ll be enjoying the beautiful Hudson Valley in spring. Enjoy spring!

—Gail

As many of you have noticed, I hope, Hudson Valley Bookshelf is now up and running as a regular blog with contributions from a community of readers, reviewers, authors, and bloggers. As you may also know, the book business as a whole is in the midst the most dramatic transformation since the introduction of the mass market paperback 60 years ago. Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest bookselling chain, barely staved off a hostile takeover effort this fall, while Borders, the nation’s second largest, declared bankruptcy in mid-February. On the more local level, Scott Meyer of Merritt Books in Millbrook has felt obligated to pull the plug on both his Cold Spring and Red Hook stores—though at the same time Oblong’s Rhinebeck store is actually expanding! The fallout from these developments in the retail trade, along with the suddenly dramatic expansion of eBooks (the successor to mass market paperbacks?) make this one of the most interesting, if unsettling, periods to be looking at books from every possible angle—including the local one, which is the special purview of our new book blog. Come join us for the ongoing discussion!

—Paul