Happy Thursday to you, Malveroos, and a very happy birthday to renowned existentialists Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Krantz (the google doodle goes to Ms. de Beauvoir). Because a random post should begin with a random introduction!

On our assorted-bits-and-bobs list this week:

• If you’re curious to learn more about the trials and tribulations of opening an indie bookstore, head over to The Bookseller and check out this blog post by our very own curmudgeon-in-chief, Dr. Joe!

• We have the new issue of everyone’s most beloved journal of poetry, cooking, and light industrial safety in stock. Yup, Forklift, Ohio #27 has landed, and it features Malvern Books’ favorite Pates, Blake Lee and Taylor Jacob. And the carnivores amongst you will be delighted to hear that this particular issue is packaged like a slab of butcher’s meat.

• If you’re looking for winter amusements, there’s no shortage of events at Malvern. Next Wednesday at 7pm we have the inaugural reading in our Everything is Bigger poetry series (featuring the aforementioned Blake Lee Pate, along with Dean Young and Vincent Scarpa), and the following Tuesday (the 21st) we’re introducing another new series, W. Joe’s Poetry Corner. W. Joe’s first guest will be poet and visual artist David Thornberry (check out his awesome chapbook covers below), who will give a reading and also sit down for a chat with our host. As always, our Events Calendar has all the details (and we like to keep y’all informed on our Facebook page, too).

• Finally, computer boffins at Stony Brook University in New York have developed an algorithm that can analyse and compare the language of “successful” and “unsuccessful” novels—and they’ve discovered several trends:

Less successful work tended to include more verbs and adverbs and relied on words that explicitly describe actions and emotions such as “wanted”, “took” or “promised”, while more successful books favoured verbs that describe thought processes such as “recognised” or “remembered.”