Posts in Recommend
Reading Around Town: Meaghan Foran

My name is Meaghan Foran and I own and operate the local jewelry atelier Alexandria & Company with my husband, Tim Shaheen. I'll be totally honest; I was thrilled when I was asked to provide my thoughts on reading for Old Town Books because I am a complete fangirl of this shop and am so thrilled to have them in our town.

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Scary-Good Reads for 2020

Greetings, goblins, ghouls, and other ghastly creatures. The spookiest night of the year draws ever nearer. While Halloween this year won’t look precisely the same as one would usually expect, there’s still plenty you can do to celebrate this silly and/or spooky holiday. Not sure which mystery to add to your TBR pile? Fear not, mere mortals. Our staff has some scary-good recommendations, so read on…if you dare!

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Give Yourself the Gift of Motivation

One might think that having a completed (or at least written) novel at the conclusion of a month would be motivation enough for the author. Alas, I, similar to a small child or lovable shop dog Scout, greatly enjoy external incentives to complete my tasks. In the case of NaNoWriMo, this involves self-awarded prizes for reaching certain word count goals. If I want the prize, I’d better write faster, see?

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"Fall" in Love with These Kid Picks

With Halloween just around the corner, you may be searching for other ways to celebrate the change of the seasons with your family. Please enjoy our list of recommendations for several age groups below. We hope these books help get you in the spooky spirit, celebrate thankfulness, or even give you some fun at-home costume ideas.

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Affirming Reads for National Coming Out Day

Happy National Coming Out Day from Team OTB! We are so happy to call you a part of our amazing community of booklovers, wherever you may find yourself on your journey. We believe that love is love, that trans lives are valid and matter, and that every person is deserving of kindness, empathy, joy, and so much more.

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Honor Native Voices with Indigenous Lit Picks

This Monday, October 12, is Indigenous Peoples’ Day! Rather than feeding into the false narrative of Columbus Day, we're celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day to honor the past, present, and futures of Native peoples in the United States. Pick up one of our Indigenous Lit staff picks and read along with us!

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Reading Around Town: Mayor Justin Wilson

Assigned Old Town Books blog’s first community recommendation, I wanted to find someone deeply enmeshed in the goings-on of the city. Who better to ask than Alexandria’s own mayor, Justin Wilson? Even before his tenure as mayor, he was heavily involved with the city council, and as mayor, he works tirelessly (he sent me his post at 2 AM) to stay atop of all the issues that affect our community.

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I Never Gave Much Thought to How I’d Become a Twihard, But Becoming a Twihard in my 20s Seems Like a Good Way To Go (Or: Teenagers Can Read Bad Books and the World Will Continue to Spin)

Like all great works of literature, Twilight snuck up on me. When I purchased my first copy (the same I own to this day, tattered and worn and annotated as it is), I cannot recall how old I actually was.

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