Books and beer

The Spotty Dog Books and Ale is an independent bookstore and lounge/cafe, where we share our passion for books and writers with our customers in the Hudson Valley, the Catskills, and the Berkshires.

Situated in a beautiful old firehouse, We carry over 10,000 new books in all categories, including a large section of unique books and toys for kids, preteens, an expanded local section, history, gardening, food & wine, G/L/B/T, and sections featuring local writers and interests.Whether you’re looking for a classic or cutting edge, we’re constantly adding new titles, so stop in to see what we have!

The above is the opening statement on the website of The Spotty Dog Books and Ale website.

This amazing bookshop, which I have visited on each of my four visits to this part of NY state, is a rare and wonderful thing - an independent bookstore with a bar. And no ordinary bookstore either - a wonderful eclectic range of books awaits the serious browser. Mainly single copies, the most I have ever seen of one title is three, I always go away with a bag of books. Yesterdays purchases were:

FOOD RULES - an eater's manual
Michael Pollan with illustrations by  Maira Kalman
The Penguin Press - Hardcover - $23.95
Gorgeously illustrated new expanded hardback edition of the paperback edition published in 2009. Couldn't resist it!

REREADINGS - Seventeen Writers Revisit Books The Love
Edited by Annw Fadiman
Farrar, Straus and Giroux - Hardcover - $22
The second author featured is Patriacia Hampl and her choice to reread is Katherine Mansfield's Journals and Letters - how could I not buy this?
Is a book the same book---or a reader the same reader--the second time around? The 17 authors in this witty and poignant collection of essays all agree on the answer: Never. Published in 2005 and still in print. Enough said.



WHY READ MOBY-DICK?
Nathaniel Philbrick
Viking - Hardback - $25

CATCH-22
Joseph Keller
50th Anniversary Edition
Simon & Schuster - Large Format Paperback - $16
It must be 40+ years ago I read this contemporary classic and I feel bad that I can recall so little detail that I decided I need to reread it. It has a new thoughtful introduction by Christopher Buckley which is all I have read so far.

IT'S A LITTLE BOOK
Lane Smith
Board Book - Roaring Brook Press - $7.99


Is it for chewing?
Is it for wearing?
Is it for calling?
NO .... it's for reading.

A new book for Sonny's library.


The Spotty Dog Books & Ale,
440 Warren St., Hudson, NY 12 534
SpottyDogBooks@aol.com
www.The SpottyDog.com