February 2011
35 posts
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“Customers often ask if there is a discount on book prices. I ask you, do you get a discount on a sandwich?”
—Pejman Soltani, in a fascinating article from Reuters on booksellers in Iran
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Baz Luhrmann to Shoot Great Gatsby in Sydney →
blackbondbooks:
Sydney — Baz Luhrmann’s 3D take on The Great Gatsby will shoot in Sydney in August — beating out the iconic story’s home town of New York — after a deal was signed with the New South Wales (NSW) state government Friday, it was announced here Sunday.
—Pip Bulbeck, The Hollywood Reporter
IOHO:
A.) No B.) Wrong
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Scenes from a Borders Liquidation Sale (hint:...
One bookseller comments:
This, more than ebooks, more than customer loyalties and more than downward trends in reading defines the current sales culture. We are trained to flip out over a series of trigger words to the point where without those words, without that perception of a deal (but not an actual deal) people don’t spend. I can’t believe that all the people there buying...
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housingworksbookstore:
“Unless it’s a 1st edition Hemingway or it’s wrapped up in a lock of Sylvia Plath’s burnt hair, no book that has suffered water damage is worth jack.”
Why Your Book Buyer Hates You
Ha! Quick, someone alert the ostrich.
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Get ready to be excited… it’s the new Kindle commercial!
And yes, that’s their selling point: No Glare! (in hipster-y lower case.)
You know what also doesn’t have any glare? A BOOK.
Just sayin’.
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What Are You Reading?
fridayreads:
Yep, it’s that time again. Reblog this post and add a line about what you’re reading this week. You’ll be joining more than 5,000 readers who share their selections every week, AND you’ll be entered to win great prizes.
This:
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“Watson has lots in common with a top-ranked human Jeopardy! player: It’s very...”
– Ken Jennings, “My Puny Human Brain” from Slate. Oh Ken, you slay me. (via michellelegro)
We love Ken Jennings. He was in the office yesterday, dropping knowledge.
That’s why we’re proud to be publishing his next book. Out in September.
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A Woman Scorned
A fascinating early look at the memoir of Eva Gabrielsson, the ‘widow’ of Stieg Larsson, who fell in love with him at age 18, and who has been famously shut out from a legal claim to his work and royalties.
Sasha Watson writes, “Not only is she Stieg, but—wronged by an unjust, patriarchal society—she is Salander.”
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RIP, Margaret K. McElderry
Margaret K. McElderry, famed editor of many beloved children’s books (see above) has died at 98.
Publishers Weekly notes that after leaving the NYPL to become an editor, her boss told her, after 25 years of work, to take early retirement, “The wave of the future has passed you by.” Fortunately, she ignored him and founded her own imprint at Simon & Schuster. Thanks for...
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“‘Scarface,’ ‘Mad Dog,’ ‘Pretty Boy,’...”
– from Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland
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“Like a lot of people, I’m uncomfortable in my own skin. Unlike a lot of...”
– from Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland
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“Word to yo moms—I came to drop bombs. I got more rhymes than the...”
– from Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland
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“Forty years ago I was going to marry Elvis—at 56 my expectations are...”
– from Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland
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“If I wear a mask, will you call me Batman? Just asking. Box no. 0558”
– from Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland
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“My last husband was a loser. If you’re not a loser please reply. Woman,...”
– from Sexually I’m More of a Switzerland
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“‘Shame’ and ‘terror.’ The two words that most adequately...”
– from Sexually, I’m More of a Switzerland, edited by David Rose
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If you don’t know the wild personal ads from the back pages of the London Review of Books, you should. (We’ve helpfully compiled them into book form.) We’ll be posting from it all day.
For example:
Rippling hunk of a guy; washboard stomach, blonde, blue-eyed, not quite 50, WLTM woman with open mind and some experience with hallucinogens. Box no. 4532.
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“Q: What are you working on now?
A: I just finished a draft of what sadly...”
– Alison Espach, showing an enviable amount of self-awareness for a writer in her mid-20s (for a writer, period?). (via booksinthekitchen)
While Alison struggles with her second novel, you can help her by reading The Adults:
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“Science, my lad, is made up of mistakes, but they are mistakes which it is useful to make, because they lead little by little to the truth.”
—Jules Verne
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“I’ve heard of tragically sensitive types who get a bad review and spend the next...”
– from “On Bad Reviews,” by one of WORD’s favorites, Emily St. John Mandel, on The Millions today. Very thoughtful and funny.
We’re sending this quote to all of our authors. Now if only they could stop obsessing about their Amazon rankings…
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“This is a speech worth pondering for its defense not just of the value of...”
– Mr. Pullman’s Compass - NYTimes.com (via housingworksbookstore)
Amen.
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