Bookstores, reading, data
from the Department of Data at The Washington Post, bad news and some good news about bookstores and reading.
Barnes & Noble redesigning
Different designs for different stores, and an emphasis on books. I haven’t seen anything like this at our nearby Barnes & Noble, which still teems with tchotchkes and whatnot, especially at the registers.
Book chain
I like this story from Southampton, England: “Human chain move thousands of books into new October Books store.”
Gotham Book Mart
51 West 47th Street, c. 1939—1941.
“Bookstores”
Fran Lebowitz, in the documentary film The Booksellers (dir. D.W. Young, 2019): “You know what they used to call independent bookstores? Bookstores.”
Old and new bookmarks
The old one, a DO-NOT-USE-AS-BOOKMARK bookmark, made it through five years of the Four Seasons Reading Club. The new one is a legit bookmark, from Three Lives & Company.
The Booksellers
A new documentary about antiquarian booksellers.
Books as armor
I was accumulating books as armor, as protection, as certification that I belonged in the academic world I aspired to enter. I didn’t wear my armor: it just sat on shelves at home, where it could come in handy as needed.
Saving Barnes & Noble
The New York Times profiles James Daunt, founder of Daunt Books and managing director of the Waterstones bookstore chain. He is soon to leave London for New York to serve as the new chief executive at Barnes & Noble.
Michael Seidenberg (1954–2019)
Michael Seidenberg was the proprietor of Brazenhead Books, a bookstore with several incarnations, the most famous of which was a Manhattan apartment.
Barnes & Noble & the future
“It’s in the interest of the book business for Barnes & Noble not just to survive but to thrive.”
Bookstore-less Bronx
The Bronx is about to lose a Barnes & Noble, the borough’s lone general-interest bookstore.
Gotham tumblr
A tumblr devoted to the inventory of Manhattan’s defunct Gotham Book Mart.
Leaving empty-handed
It’s sad when leaving a bookstore empty-handed becomes routine.
Bob Conant on bookselling
”People realize if they want books to continue, they have to support bookstores, and they have to support publishers.”
Brookline Booksmith blog
“I am happy to discover that one of my favorite bookstores, Brookline Booksmith, has a blog: brookline blogsmith.”
Eighth Street Bookshop
The Eighth Street Bookshop, run by brothers Eli and Ted Wilentz, is one of the now-defunct businesses that make an appearance in Maeve Brennan’s The Long-Winded Lady.
“People are getting rid of bookshelves”
J.L. Sathre on unning a bookstore.
Barnes & Noble v. Amazon (2)
The New York Times reports that Barnes & Noble bookstores will not stock Amazon-published books.
Barnes & Noble v. Amazon
“Using the bookstore to sell e-books makes it unnecessary to go to the bookstore, except to use it as a library or life-sized catalogue, or to have coffee.”
Overheard
“I hate books that you have to read from cover to cover.”
Borders to close
“For months now, the online welcome message from my nearby Borders has seemed tinged with pathos.”
A secret location on the Upper East Side
A three-minute film by Andrew David Watson about a used-book store in a Manhattan apartment.
A Borders executive on Borders
Six reasons for Borders’ bankruptcy
Borders files for bankruptcy
The Wall Street Journal reports that Borders Group Inc. has filed for bankruptcy.
Borders and bankruptcy
“It’s sad: everything the company has done to bring in more money seems to give the dedicated reader less reason to feel good about going to Borders.”
The Old Trading Post, Lisbon, New Hampshire
Tracking down a bookstore from a postcard in a library book
Brookline Booksmith
Independent bookstore, just outside Boston, fate up in the air
Stealing books
Margo Rabb essay on bookstealing
It's Buy Indie Day
Supporting independent bookstores