A Different Stripe

Commonplace: From the bathroom wall

 "The Professor was silly enough to think that if doctors had to pass examinations before they could cut out his appendix, then members of parliament ought to pass examinations before they could rule his life."

—T.H. White, Mistress Masham's Repose, p. 155

Photographed in the bathroom of Community Bookstore in Park Slope, Brooklyn, where L.J. Davis read to a standing-room-only crowd last night. If you missed it, swing by Book Court on April 14th. Davis will read from A Meaningful Life and then discuss the book with Jonathan Lethem.

L.J. Davis and Jonathan Lethem at Bookcourt in Brooklyn 4/14

Monday multimedia: Freebird's post-apocalyptic book group

Peter Miller of Freebird books on the Brooklyn waterfront wrote in to let us know about the Chrysalids' cameo in a segment the store's post-apocalyptic book group filmed for AMC's Science Fiction blog. When asked why the store hosted such a group, Peter remarks that, given the store's industrial setting (which despite such dire description, looks stunning in the clip), "to be honest, if there were an apocalypse, it'd look more or less the way it does now."

Freebird's post-apoc group discussed John Wyndham's Chrysalids the other week. Next up is Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and a Valentine's day apocalyptic-themed shorts festival.

The book group might also want to look into The Slynx by Tatyana Tolstaya or The Inverted World by Christopher Priest (and of course, The Apocalypse Reader, edited by Justin Taylor).

A death in the Book Soup family

We were saddened to hear today about the death of Glenn Goldman, the founder and owner of Book Soup, one of the gems of American independent book selling. The store is one of the few places where movie stars of all stripes mingle with bookworms. But the best gauge for us of its centrality in the literary world of southern California were Elaine Dundy's pleased calls  when she found The Dud Avocado featured on its shelves.

The Book Soup site reports that a memorial scholarship fund to benefit young booksellers has been set up in Mr. Goldman's name and that anyone who wants to contribute can write in the store's memorial book.

Glenn Goldman's obituary at the LA Times.

Catch-all for 11.26.08

Have we mentioned that we think you should Buy Books for the Holidays? The proprietors of said site are taking bookstore nominations, so we nominate Three Lives and Company, where we intend to spend some time and money this month.

We're pleased to be in such esteemed company here and here.

From Ready Steady Blog (via the Literary Saloon) comes word that Juan Goytisolo (who wrote the introduction to The Life of Lazarillo de Tormes) has won Spain's National Prize for Literature.

Endorsement most gratefully accepted.

The Hound Blog has a roundup of Cosa Nostra books, including a short discussion of The Moro Affair and a recommendation of other books by Leonardo Sciascia. Says the Hound, "Sciascia has also written many excellent novels concerning Sicilian crime . . . I'd say The Day Of The Owl, The Wine Dark Sea and Equal Danger are mandatory reading for fans of genre fiction. Or just plain old great books."

Unexpected book recommendations: As a child, Michael Crichton adored James Thurber's 13 Clocks;  Barack Obama recently told the Argentine president that he was fond of Borges—take that, Karl Rove!—and Julio Cortazar.

The current issue of the International Literary Quarterly includes an essay by Amit Chaudhuri on money, by which he means "not markets, capital, financial gain or material success, but, specifically, the individual bank note and small change."

Gary Indiana (who wrote the introduction to our soon-to-be-published edition of Henry de Montherlant's Chaos and Night) is profiled in "The Elements of Bile."

Let's petition the USPS to issue a Snowy Day postage stamp in honor of the 50th anniversary of Ezra Jack Keats's classic. 

You totally called it: Judge this Book by Its Cover.

Something about Thanksgiving makes us appreciate homegrown humor that we might not otherwise have the stomach for, so here are Thanksgiving treats from Charles Schultz and Garrison Keillor.

America Unchained

Thanks to the Independent Booksellers of New York City for letting us know that tomorrow, Saturday November 22nd, is "America Unchained" day:

"America Unchained Day is a nationwide initiative to promote awareness of and support for independent businesses. The choice of where you buy your coffee, your prescription, your books, your lightbulbs, or your dinner might seem like just a matter of convenience. But when you choose to shop at a locally owned independent business rather than a chain store, you’re making a choice for what kind of city, and what kind of world, you want to live in."

All you have to do to participate is shop (if you must shop at all tomorrow) in an independently owned store.

Early holiday gift catch-all

Some suggestions for a big-box free December:

Yes, we're independent, so you can buy books from us without breaking any of those pledges you've made. We have a whole bunch of Classics for kids and adults at very nice discounts. And we've just introduced a nifty, colorful new NYRB Classics tote bag. If you spend more than $75, you get one for free. The bags are also available for under $10.

Books on the Nightstand has just begun a gift ideas round up. They link to Librarything, not to a store, but searching for a book at Indiebound will point to a local bookseller who stocks it. Indiebound has also introduced a wishlist function, anyone try it yet?

The handmade pledge was set up by a consortium of crafty groups and publishers like Etsy, Craft  magazine, Interweave, and Design Sponge to encourage people to make holiday gifts, or to buy them from micro-producers. Etsy also has a local seller index. Enter the name of a town, and up pop producers in that area. Similar human-made gifts can be found at The Renegade Craft Fair, which holds several events around the country, as do Bazaar Bizarre and Maker Faire.

Our favorite holiday fair is the Small and Independent press fair in Manhattan. Every year the participating presses seem ever more diverse and interesting (if not for last year's fair, we wouldn't have known about Mark Batty publishers, for instance), and the speakers and events more impressive. This year the fair is being held on December 6th and 7th. Come say hello to staff members who should probably keep their days jobs and pick up some bargains.

Menand on Trilling, Sorokin on the queue, Charles Taylor on us

The September 29th issue of The New Yorker includes a profile of Lionel Trilling by Louis Menand that is a much-expanded version of the introduction he wrote for our edition of The Liberal Imagination.

Words Without Borders reprints Vladimir Sorokin's witty and nostalgic afterword to his novel The Queue. Is there a word for poignant remembrances of the Soviet Union as nice as the one coined for East German nostalgia, ostalgie?

Charles Taylor wrote a love letter to NYRB Classics in the LA Times last week. Ok, he also mentions some other publishers too, like Europa Editions, Hard Case Crime, and Persephone who've recognized the failure of the marketplace to give real readers what they're looking for. If you don't have time to read the full piece, we suggest scanning its section headers: "Part of this Little Club," "Faulting Modern Fiction," "Threat to Establishment"—they don't exactly capture the article, but they're amusing.

The LA Times piece quotes Peter Miller of Freebird Books in Brooklyn, NY, remarking that "he displays the NYRB series near his register because 'you feel as if you're part of this little club that NYRB has curated for you.'"—which reminds us that we never linked to a roundup of Miller's NYRB favorites, complete with a photograph of Freebird's Classics shelf. And—would you look at that!—it turns out that John Wyndham's Chrysalids is the store's November book club pick. Thanks Freebirds!

Philip Pullman loves NYRB, he just doesn't know how much

The Times Online tips us off to the Philip Pullman–curated table at Waterstone's booksellers in the UK. NYRB Classics and Children's Collection publishes four out of the forty books selected—however only two of the editions selected by the bookseller are NYRB editions. The four picked are The Magic Pudding (Philip Pullman wrote the introduction to the NYRB edition of this staple of Australian kidlit—which is also a favorite of Peter Carey), The Anatomy of Melancholy (don't be fooled by the slimness appearance of the book on Waterstone's site!),  The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, and The Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard (published by Canongate as The Complete Brigadier Gerard Stories. Michael Chabon recommended the book as part of NPR's You Must Read This series)

Beginning the 4th of September, the Waterstone's page will include handwritten reviews of each of the selected books.

Stumbling Upon Tove Jansson at Barnes and Noble

Arajane is reading a book a week. Last week she happened upon The Summer Book.

Occasionally I wander through the fiction section at Barnes & Noble looking for new editions from New York Review of Books Classics . . . I know I could just look at their website or search amazon or something, but I like the challenge of spotting the covers or the distinctive spines on the shelves. The other day, as Chris and I were searching the stacks, we spotted this book, and my first thought was, "Ooh, an NYRB I haven't seen!" and my second thought was, "What a pretty cover!" and my third thought was, "Holy Jesus F*$@, a book by Tove Jansson???!!!" And then my brain nearly exploded with excitement.

And did the book live up to her expectations? Find out here.

A grand re-naming, a birthday, and days of destruction

Congratulations to McNally Jackson Bookstore, née McNally Robinson, on its name change. Our very own Matt Weiland (take that Paris Review!) will be there discussing his new book and Names on the Land.

Today is also Vladimir Sorokin's birthday. If he were here in NY, no doubt he'd be happy to know that The Queue is printing this very moment—and that it's formatted with all the idiosyncrasies of the 2007 Russian edition of the book.

The 7th of August marks the day between the bombing of Hiroshima and the bombing of Nagasaki. If you miss those mourning days, you can always fast to remember the destruction of the temples in Jerusalem on Tisha b'Av (on August 9th).