telegraph avenue

 I can't wait to read Michael Chabon's newest book, Telegraph Avenue. I've been a fan of Chabon since high school when I read The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and he used to come into Diesel, A Bookstore when I worked there years ago and buy books (some that I recommended!). His newest is set in Oakland/Berkeley and has a rockstar marketing campaign backing it, including a record store pop-up shop at Diesel.

The novel, planned for a Sept. 11 release, is set in Oakland, Calif., in 2004, and in it, main characters Nat and Archy run a used-records store called Brokeland Records that is threatened by plans for a new megastore nearby on Telegraph Avenue.

To launch the book, the Harper imprint's marketing team plans to convert Oakland bookstore Diesel into a pop-up store called Brokeland Records. From Sept. 7 to Sept. 14, the pop-up store will sell used jazz records provided by an independent record dealer named Berigan Taylor. - Barbara Chai, The Wall Street Journal

To read and excerpt of Telegraph Avenue, head over to NPR.