I can't wait to get the whole story on this one. It already sounds like one of the worst bookstore endings on record.Here are the gorey details of the court-ordered Gotham Book Mart auction:-It cost $1000 just for the right to attend-The auction started an hour late-There was no catalog of the items-There were no lot numbers-Prospective buyers had less than an hour to look through a bookstore that has been around since 1920!“You buy them blind,” is how one of auctioneer employees put it-Right before the auction began most of the prime material was pulled from the sale-Finally, the...
Reader in the Tub
You hear it all the time from us traditional book defenders and many times it is the first arrow we throw. Margret Atwood threw it at the recent London Book Fair.- You can't read an e-book in the bathtub!Well maybe you can.Chris Steib has recently undertaken "the Ultimate eBook Experiment"His contestants: A paperback copy of Thomas Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49 and A Sony Reader.Steib puts each through a rigorous 6 step program that runs from "functionality" testing to submersion in water dressed in GLAD Cling wrap. The clear winner:The Sony Reader. The Reader would have swept the competition if...
Biblio-Ceramics: The Work of Steven M. Allen
Allen's medium of choice is recycled newspapers and magazines that are mixed with a slurry of reclaimed clay.He then turns these newly formed newspaper pages into pages of books, globes, mechanical components and human figures. From these four recurring elements his work is born and Allen's exploration of the "impact of information, technology, knowledge and globalization on both individual and universal levels" begins. His goal is to "recontextualize contemporary issues inspired by articles in the same recycled newspapers and magazines."In his work one can see how books form the foundation of Allen's attempt to make sense of the world.New WorldFruits...
The Military Side of Barnes & Noble
This is the headline from the company's press release:Barnes & Noble Donates Books, Toys And Games Valued At $3.4 Million, To Military CharitiesBookstore Joins America Supports You Team at Andrews AFB Joint Service Open HouseY3K Grafix and Penske Logistics Truck Goods Across the Country.and from CEO Marie Toulantis:“On behalf of all the booksellers at Barnes & Noble, we thank America Supports You for this opportunity to express our support to our fellow Americans,”It sounds like as grand a patriotic gesture as one could hope for from a corporation.But could it be so noble?This is the how we got there:Barnes &...
What’s Your Candidate Reading?
In a recent post I mentioned that I thought it would be a good idea for the Presidential candidates to create a page on one of the book focused social network sites like Shelfari or Librarything.Having a look at what books are in their library would definitely help me decide who to vote for.Well we are getting closer. The AP just asked all the candidates this question:What is the last work of fiction you've read?Here is what they said. Expectedly, "several named nonfiction books instead...And a few couldn't resist taking political shots with the question."DEMOCRATSDelaware Sen. Joe Biden: "Runaway Jury"...