Obama and the Bookstore
EmailABC's Jon Garcia reports:
President Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia went shopping for books this morning at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore in the picturesque town of Vineyard Haven. Obama and his girls made a beeline upstairs to the children’s book section where they picked out some titles from the ‘The Land of Elyon’ series and “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. Store employees also say they picked out “The Red Pony” and “To Kill A Mockingbird.” “Books that were transitional from, you know, young teenage to adult, in that middle period. That’s what they were looking for,” said Leroy Hazelton, one of the booksellers who met Obama.
Obama was given an advance readers copy of the book "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen, the White House told reporters. Franzen is on the cover of this week's Time Magazine and his previous book, "The Corrections" was a national best- seller. Brendan Murphy, a 14 year old on vacation with his family from Simsbury, CT, said he was thrilled to meet Obama. “I was shaking the whole time. It was really cool,” he said. “There were secret service everywhere. It was really awesome.” Obama laid down the ground rules right after he walked in: he wouldn’t pose for photos when he is with the girls. But he did sign several copies of his book “Dreams From My Father” for some of the store patrons during the visit. Some of the patrons at the Bunch of Grapes bookstore said they were tipped off when casually dressed US Secret Service agents showed up. And there was no doubt when the motorcade rolled into town, blocking traffic on the busy Main Street for about 20 minutes.
- Jon Garcia
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Any books on Leadership? What is Really needed……
A teachable moment for Obama.
Leadership means pointing to clear defined goals and energizing Main Street. It means stating confidence in the bearing – clear heading and clear direction.
What’s Obama doing exactly? America is yearning for Leadership. . . .
It is not the nature of the average American to want coddling by big government.
Posted by: James Raider | August 20, 2010, 2:06 pm 2:06 pm
Obama needs to lay low. Headlines always have him in the news.
Posted by: Steve | August 20, 2010, 2:17 pm 2:17 pm
“America is yearning for Leadership. . . .
It is not the nature of the average American to want coddling by big government.”
===Further proof that irony is lost on the right—
Posted by: Flash Override | August 20, 2010, 2:20 pm 2:20 pm
How did he buy a book that’s not due out until August 31?
Posted by: Wanda24 | August 20, 2010, 2:24 pm 2:24 pm
As already pointed out, “Freedom” is not due out until 8/31/10. You cannot even order it online at Amazon yet. This story does not compute.
Posted by: berserk | August 20, 2010, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
How did he buy a book that’s not due out until August 31?
Posted by: Wanda24 | Aug 20, 2010 2:24:06 PM
You can pre-order books and have them shipped, and if that’s what he did, I think its great he did so at an independent bookseller (check out the indiebound website for an independent bookseller near you)
And, if he didn’t buy it, its a good recommendation.
The girls made some excellent choices. Suzanne Collins has totally rocked it with Hunger Games. And who in their right mind doesn’t love madly Atticus Finch?
Posted by: Kris | August 20, 2010, 3:27 pm 3:27 pm
This is news? Really?
Posted by: whatsgoingonhere? | August 20, 2010, 4:22 pm 4:22 pm
The article says that President Obama was given an advance readers copy of the new book from Jonathan Franzen. Advance readers copies are editions of books that are yet to be published, sent to booksellers and librarians in order to read and review with an eye towards purchasing the book. So that’s what President Obama received. There’s nothing duplicitous about it at all.
Posted by: Melissa | August 20, 2010, 5:17 pm 5:17 pm
Oprah is screaming. Check out Jonathan Franzen on Wikipedia. He’s the author who dissed her book club rec, thinking it wasn’t high brow enough. Google, Jake, Google! This info should be in your piece!!!
Posted by: kravitz | August 20, 2010, 5:30 pm 5:30 pm
Really? Those asking how he got a book that isn’t released… did you READ the article?
He didn’t BUY it, an advanced copy was given to him. It’s not uncommon.
Posted by: Madori | August 20, 2010, 8:40 pm 8:40 pm
For the books that are due out Tuesday…Every bookstore already has them in their back rooms weeks ahead of time they just can’t put them out on shelves til their due dates, in this case, Tuesday. Not to mention, he’s the President! C’mon people, I’m sure if he wants a book somebody will voluntarily give it to him.
Posted by: Reese | August 21, 2010, 2:45 am 2:45 am
How nice, vacation 1 day on the Gulf and then off to Martha’s Vineyard for 10 days, I guess the little people on the Gulf don’t count much, now he can mingle with the elite again where he feels so at home with.
Posted by: Lizzie | August 21, 2010, 12:56 pm 12:56 pm
Oh Bother. Obama should be reading books about LEADERSHIP! Meanwhile he is on vacation again. Yesterday the unemployment rate rose for the third straight week and Iran is shooting off test missiles and he is at Martha’s Vinyard. Obama does not even qualify to run a hotdog stand let alone the USA.
Posted by: fl2007rn | August 21, 2010, 1:17 pm 1:17 pm
He didn’t BUY it, an advanced copy was given to him. It’s not uncommon.
Posted by: Madori | Aug 20, 2010 8:40:28 PM
Actually, they changed the article, probably because people pointed out the lay down date of the book, though typically when they make a correction, they use update.
Posted by: Kris | August 21, 2010, 1:58 pm 1:58 pm
Oh yes, because we CARE where Obama is getting his books from. -.-
Posted by: Jess | August 23, 2010, 5:27 pm 5:27 pm