When I was 13, I was only vaguely familiar with the work of Tool. When I was 14, my aunt took me to see them at UNLV. I was exhilarated, I was captivated, I was in love. To date, that concert was the single greatest experience of my life. I left that stadium a lifelong fan of Tool and Maynard James Keenan.

There are few things in life more satisfying than a good book. All my life I have been mocked for my open enjoyment of the written word. Sometimes I feel guilty about the time I have dedicated to the selfish act of losing myself in the stories of others. At other times, like now, I want to shout about it. I want others to share this feeling of overwhelming contentment with life. I want them to experience the joy I find between the covers of a good book.

We'll admit it, we don't just go to the toy fair to check out the latest and greatest in toys, games and stuffed animals for our wonderful Bookmans' customers. We do it because, inside, we're really just a bunch of kids. And guess what? It's GREAT. This year's 2010 Toy Industry Association's Toy Fair in New York City was awesome...and not just because we photobombed it (more to come on that in a minute), but because it's great to see all of these innovators and enthusiasts presenting great products for us to bring back to our customers at Bookmans. And, we'll also admit, we did see our fair share of stuff that we want to bring back for ourselves, too.

BOOKMAN (the word-loving superhero of all things Bookmans) was out in the Tucson community recently to share with students the source of his superpowers - BOOKS!! The kids gathered around BOOKMAN to enjoy a special story time and then received a fabulous Bookmans t-shirt. Students each took a turn hugging and high-fiving the superhero before settling into a morning of reading. BOOKMAN will continue to make special appearances at schools throughout February in celebration of Love of Reading month. So keep an eye to the sky - he might be visiting your school next! Check out our Flickr page for more photos!

This past week has been a blur of activities for the Bookmans Flagstaff crew. Since we don't have our usual location (our store!) for community events, we've been taking the same activities that we would normally sponsor out into the community! One of our weekly events is storytime, so the Knoles Elementary School librarian, Mary Lara, needed some people to help with their Book Fair, which we thought would be a great opportunity to continue our weekly story time. We also normally host an animal adoption event each week, and so Second Chance Center for Animals welcomed us into their orientation and behavior classes so we could start helping out there. Our first week sans our store was full of kids and puppies!

At Bookmans Ina, we kicked-off Love of Reading month with our favorite professional art teachers - Kidz Art!! Kids came in and made super cool pop-up books that expressed their personal love of reading. With Valentine's day so close, lots of the kids used heart shapes to make lovely pop-up book Valentines. A few kids opted for the cool dragonfly, and others did designs straight from their imaginations. A big thanks to everyone who came out and participated in this awesome arts and crafts event!!

If you missed the first pop-up book event, don't despair - you can join us on February 20th at Bookmans Speedway. We're celebrating Love of Reading all month long, so be sure to check out our website for more cool events and contests throughout the month!!

The Annual Winter Visitors Expo greeted the city of Mesa and visitors from across the country (and some from Canada!) on Wednesday morning. Exhibitors of all types and services were set up at the Arizona Wing of the Commemorative Air Force Museum to show off what our beautiful city has to offer. Bookmans was on hand providing attendees with free Bookmans Cafe House Blend coffee samples and delectable pastries, just a small sample of what we offer at our new Cafe at our Mesa store! Not only did attendees have a quick pick me up and breakfast, but everyone was able to take home a free book and brand new Bookmans tote bag. Who could resist free coffee, pastries, and a book? I know I couldn't!

There are signals everywhere. Our planet is covered with TV broadcasts, radio waves, cellphone connections, and broadband transmissions... at least, those are the ones we know about. Carter Fox stumbles upon a mysterious signal that he thinks is foreign to our planet. Though he's always had his suspicions about paranormal activity, his friend, Chrissy, dismisses it as his overactive imagination. But with this signal growing stronger, and the looming fear that someone is watching him, Carter can't help but think that it's all connected to a significant, paranormal event from his past. As he searches for proof of a connection, he'll soon realize... there are signals everywhere.