Welcome to the first Annotated Browser of the new year. We'll
have more of the same yet it'll be odder and more wonderful, slimmer
yet fully-rounded, black and white, yet colorful. This is completely
separate from our monthly email newsletter and gets updated in
the first week of every month.
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Romance, True and Otherwise
Just inside the store on the wall beside the font stairs (yes,
we have a back stairs too) up to the fiction floor we have a nice
display of TRUE ROMANCE and other magazines from the 1920's and
30's. We don't have too many of these, you can use our (Search)
Lewis Shiner, Say Goodbye
Lewis Shiner has a new novel out SAY GOODBYE, St. Martin's
Press, ($19.25). It's the story of a Texas singer-songwriter that
is right on top of my to-be-read pile. Shiner's previous novel
GLIMPSES was a great might-have-been music themed novel where
the main character could hear and record albums that should have
been recorded but never were.
An Independent Space
No publishers paid for any listings on our pages. We stock
all the books listed and we discount all the new ones 20%. We're
not getting kickbacks for our placements. These are books someone
at the store liked, someone human recommended. A few of them are
going to coincide with bestsellers or books that are getting a
big publisher push - Jonathan Letham's MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN
springs to mind - some of them are books we've read and want to
bring to wider attention. Post-Christmas List
Christmas Presents You Most Likely Received If Someone You
Know Shopped Here:
MAPPING BOSTON. Beautiful book that shows Boston through the
ages. Seven essays and lots of pretty maps make this big book
well worth the $40 tag. the present you are most likely to receive
if A) you have adult children, or, B) you are my mum and dad.
HOLES, Louis Sacher, the Newbery and NBA award winner
from last week.
ELOISE AT CHRISTMAS, Kay Thompson's famous character
enjoys the season. Our best seller by far!
THE HOBBIT, J.R.R. Tolkein. The version illustrated
by Tolkein himself far outsells the fancified versions. maybe
it's only in our shop, but I doubt it. Hope the movie makers are
listening.
MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN, Jonathan Letham, and not just because
I gave it to my brother-in-law for Christmas either!
CRYTONOMICON, Neal Stephenson. This huge WWII, spy,
science fiction novel is still finding readers. Out and About in Boston
Every Saturday from 12.30pm to 5.30pm you can join the Literary
Trail of Greater Boston as they explore historical landmarks
in Boston, Cambridge, and Concord. (Yes, we're making it up as
we go along, but besides us there's a lot of literary history
around here). It leaves from the Omni Parker House (search our
catalog for titles on that) at 60 School Street. they can be reached
at 617-574-5950 or at www.lit-trail.org.
Boston has a new weekly arts and such paper, THE WEEKLY DIG. This is a plug for it as I'm
doing occasional book reviews there. This city has long needed
a free weekly with good listings, decent writing and coverage
of the arts. Thus far the other papers are mostly scene-diaries
or weak riffs on the Village Voice. The Weekly Dig is still finding
it's legs but it has more energy, attitude and wide-awake interest
to it than the next three papers combined. Pick it up just inside
our door or in their bright yellow box just outside on Newbury
Street. Book Business News
Order books from us and we won't be taking your name and using
it for any nefarious purposes. Unlike a certain huge online bookseller
who just got busted for data-mining (using customer information
without permission). Or how about another brand-builder Alibris
(no link as I don't like them) who were fined $250,000* for 'intercepting
internal emails and possessing password files from Amazon.' Business
down and dirty, the way it's always been? What happened to the
quiet book seller of the past? We're not that quiet all the time,
but we are a bit stronger on ethics than these guys. If you buy
a book from us we keep your information on file. If you buy another
book, we can use that info from last time. We don't add you to
our mailing list (unless you ask), we don't sell our lists, databases,
names, addresses, passwords or anything. In other words, you can
trust us. We're a small business, we aren't the fastest in town
- although unless our email goes down you will hear from us within
24 hours - but we don't abuse the customer trust. We aren't in
this for ROI - Return On Investment - as some sharpster told us
he was in his line of business, we're in it because we can't do
anything else! But, fortunately, we love it.
Oh, and we'll be quitting the American Booksellers Association
soon due to their stance on taxing internet sales. We'll have
more up here about this soon.
*according to the January 2000 issue of Boston Computer
Currents.
Speaking of huge useless database abusers, did you see who
Time Magazine chose as their Person of the Year (they say Person,
but is it ever a child or woman?), Jeff Bezos, the founder of
Amazon. Not that Time Magazine has any interest in pushing internet
commerce. No. Their parent company has nothing to do with connecting
your home to the internet or providing content for you once your
connected. No. Purely a choice based on a selection of the world's
most powerful and interesting people. No peace-makers, no politicians,
no one did anything better than Mr. Bezos. Time Magazine; only
about three years late to the party.
We have just over 4000 titles on the web. Not much compared
to the 100,000+ we have in the shop (and not even beginning on
the x,000 magazines we have in the basement). Email us if you
don't see what you're looking for on line. |
