The window of Bookman's Corner in Chicago.via
Have You Read That Song?
The end-cap of the week award goes to 24 year old Martha Pettite of San Francisco's The Booksmith. Her display, titled "My Awesome Literary Mix CD," pairs 18 literary works with a musical counterpart.Pettite says she was "inspired by the song Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush; Todd (also a Booksmith staffer) and I were discussing what a great song it is and I relayed the story of a friend who also loved the song but had no clue that it was a reference to Emile Bronte's novel"1.”Killing an Arab” –The Cure (The Stranger by Albert Camus)2. “Tear in Your Hand”-Tori...
"You’ll never find us and we’re rarely open."
Lloyd and Lenore Dickman are booksellers with perhaps one million books. But they don't advertise, don't keep regular hours, and are located on a farm in rural Wisconsin. Oh, and one of their twelve (!?) buildings-full-of-books is in a former manure tank remodeled to look like a castle. Bill Geist recently profiled this charming and wildly-endearing couple for CBS.Now, I have to go check plane fares to Wisconsin...UPDATE (5/23/08): Recently came across the store's exact contact info/location: County Road K in Markesan, WI. 920-398-3375.
Tainted Independent : Trouble at the Strand
Kimberly Thorpe exposes some significant structural flaws at New York's legendary independent book store in her cover story in the current issue of the New York Press.Allegations of racism and unfair labor practices abound with much of the heat being focused on Nancy Bass Wyden, the daughter of longtime Strand owner Fred Bass and wife of Oregon senator Ron Wyden, who interestingly enough is "widely known for his impassioned support of equal opportunity in the workplace."Most people interviewed for the piece refused to give their name for fear of retaliation though all believe "that the problems at the Strand stemmed...
Barbara Hodgson: Trading in Memories and Other Ways of Seeing Books
In her new book Trading in Memories: Travels Through a Scavenger's Favorite Places Barbara Hodgson takes us on an unforgettable trip around the world. From the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul to an ephemera show in Portland, Oregon we get a front row seat as Hodgson works her magic unearthing relics of material cultural. As the collector knows, the pursuit, in many cases, is as fulfilling as the acquisition.The fruit of travel is in "collecting fragments of people's material lives" says Hodgson in the introduction; in Naples it was tearing posters off the walls, in Portland it was a mugshot, in...