This morning, Publishers Weekly reported that Books, Inc. would be taking over the space now being abandoned by A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books. This is a great move on several levels: For one thing, the space remains devoted to the taste and sensibilities of an independent bookstore. Second, with eleven stores in its chain, Books, Inc. will have fallback stores to draw from should their operations at the Van Ness Avenue location flounder. As owner Michael Tucker puts it in the PW article, “Ten years ago I found myself facing the exact same dilemma and we had to close ten of 12 stores. Now we’re back up to 11.” (Thanks to Dan Wickett for the tip!)
A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, Inc.
– June 28, 2006Posted in: Bookstores
The Call by Yannick Murphy: The always interesting author of Here They Come and Signed, Mata Hari returns with a novel that whips up a worldview from a rather quirky set of limitations: namely, the call logs that a veterinarian maintains as his son is unexpectedly put into a coma and an unforgiving economy denies him work. What emerges is a surprisingly optimistic, often funny, and very moving account on how one family uses acceptance and forgiveness as a way to atone for hard knocks. (
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber: Forget Franzen and Eugenides. If you're looking for a social novel that counts, Diana Abu-Jaber is the author you're looking for. Building from the free-form exploration of consciousness and identity in Crescent and the gripping procedural structure of Origin, Abu-Jaber's latest novel is her finest, equally fluent with gutterpunk culture and smarmy real estate men. It has been suggested by The Washington Post's Ron Charles that you will likely gain some pounds while reading this novel. This is certainly true. Abu-Jaber's description of food is so precise that it often made me want to do more cooking. But I very much admired the way in which Abu-Jaber presents all her characters as unwitting victims of rough capitalism, which permits them some dignity even as they perform terrible acts.
The Last of the Live Nude Girls by Sheila McClear: This memoir isn't so much about the decline of the Times Square peepshow, as it is about one young woman's efforts to pull herself up by by her bootstraps when presented with few economic options. Filled with self-introspective candor and a quiet dignity, McClear's story is one that might befall any of us in these volatile times. While McClear does get back on her feet, her book leads one contemplating the terrible fates of other young women now moving to New York and falling into deadlier vocations. (
the former ACWLP owners have already opened the new bookstore in west portal (in the former hausenhome location) across from the movie theater (strategically near a Peet’s). It’s a much smaller space, but looks like a welcome addition to the neighborhood. Everytime I go in, there are a number of other people browsing
Yay! It’s nice to hear some good news in Independent Bookseller-Land. It always seems so bleak these days.
Yes, I understand the value of independent booksellers. I’m from Australia and one of the big U.S. chains recently started to move in. Borders has four branches in Sydney alone now. Actually, Borders isn’t so bad. I spoke with a colleague a couple of years ago. She’s an American and she sort of scoffed when I said that I’d been at Borders in Hornsby at the weekend.
But the independents really do provide superior service (although I must admit that Borders does carry a broad selection of stock). I recently pre-ordered Murakami’s just-published collection of short stories from Gleebooks here in Sydney, because they tend to get the books in a bit faster than the chains.