First Edition of the On the Road, 1957 Today is the birthday of Jack Kerouac. Best known as the father of The Beat Generation his spontaneous prose style changed the game, bringing a fresh approach to the novel. Kerouac's iconic status shows no signs of letting up. All is books are still in print and his masterpiece On the Road remains a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations. On his spontaneous writing style: Many of his books exemplified the spontaneous approach, including On the Road, Visions of Cody, Visions of Gerard, Big Sur, and The Subterraneans. The central features of this...
VHS Tapes = Cultural Artifacts: Yale acquires collection of 2700 VHS tapes
From the late 1970s through much of the 1980s VHS, which stands for Video Home System, tapes were all the rage. They were the dominant form of home video entertainment and in many ways revolutionized the movie industry. It created the ability to watch movies in the home while also creating the opportunity to produce low budget films for the format. The technology is now beyond obsolete but that doesn't mean there still isn't value to be had. Yale University, the first institution to actively collect in this area, recently announced the acquisition of a collection of 2,700 VHS tapes. Mind you, this is not a collection...
Health update: Printed Books in Satisfactory Condition
artist rendering of Jeff Kinney's forthcoming bookshop Lots of good news floating around recently on the health of the printed book. Jeff Kinney, author of the wildly popular "Diary of a Wimpy Kid' series is opening a bookstore. "I feel angry that so many bookstores have gone away" Kinney told the Boston Globe. "People love books and they don’t want to see them go away. We’d like to be a part of that movement." At Digital Book World, Dana Beth Weinberg tells us Why Authors and Readers Still Want Print. Citing the important 2014 PEW study, E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps, one thing...
Next up for coolest bookshop on the planet: Bucharest, Romania
The latest jaw-dropping bookshop to grace the planet is Cărtureşti Carusel (The Carousel of Light). Opened by the Romanian bookshop chain Carturesti this concept store occupies a newly renovated 19th century architectural gem located in the heart of Bucharest. The 6 majestic floors will house books, music and DVD's, a cafe, a multimedia event space and an art gallery. Cărtureşti Carusel facebook page New Magical Bookstore Opens Its Doors In Romania bored panda Previously on Book Patrol: Model Bookshop: The new Shonan T-Site bookstore sets the stage for the 21st century Reinventing the Bookshop: Four architecture and design firms "create the bookshop of their dreams" A beautiful...
Bookshop Theater: A little “Misery” at Barnes and Noble
In 2011 Norfolk, Virginia's The Generic Theater presented "a thrilling stage adaptation" of the Stephen King novel Misery. As part of the promotional festivities one of their actresses went to the local Barnes and Noble for a little publicity stunt. 'Crazy Chick Flips Out in Barnes & Noble' is how they titled it and what we get is a "Misery" infused encounter with an unsuspecting (?) employee. The actress is channeling the character Annie Wilkes (think Kathy Bates in the film version) from the novel and is asking after a novel by Paul Sheldon, who is the protagonist in Misery. Warning to booksellers:...