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The 10 Most Recent Dispatches
- The Bat Segundo Show: Agnieszka Holland
- The Bat Segundo Show: Stephen Fry
- The Bat Segundo Show: Deborah Scroggins
- Komen for the Cowards: Betraying Breast Cancer
- The Bat Segundo Show: Susan Cain
- Forgotten Writers: Dorothy Uhnak
- Dwight Garner’s Revisionist Ignorance: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
- Forgotten Writers: The Novels of John P. Marquand
- The Situation in American Waffles
- The Bat Segundo Show: Elliot Perlman
Modern Library Reading Challenge
On January 10, 2011, Managing Editor Edward Champion pledged to read the top 100 fiction books from #100 to #1. Read about his progress as he makes his way through the Modern Library canon!
84. The Death of the Heart (January 6, 2012)
85. Lord Jim (November 30, 2011)
86. Ragtime (October 30, 2011)
Books To Jump Up and Down Over
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. (Bat Segundo interview with Murphy)
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. (Bat Segundo interview with McClear)
Bookstores Archive
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Inside BookTour.com: A Q&A With Kevin Smokler
Posted on June 29, 2009 | No CommentsIn 2006, Kevin Smokler, the speaker and editor behind Bookmark Now, partnered with Chris Anderson, editor of Wired, and software developer Adam Goldstein to determine just how information about bookstore... -
Goodbye Stacey’s
Posted on March 7, 2009 | 1 CommentTo read my tribute back in January, go here. And here’s a report of the final reading at the Chronicle. (via Frances) -
Thomas Gladysz Laid Off from Booksmith
Posted on January 30, 2009 | 2 CommentsI have learned that Thomas Gladysz, the events coordinator for the now less wonderful San Francisco bookstore Booksmith, has been let go by new owners Christin Evans and Praveen Madan.... -
Stacey’s Closes
Posted on January 7, 2009 | 6 CommentsStacey’s, the dependable bookstore on Market Street that kept many Financial District serfs reading good books, is going to be closing in March, and I’m more than a little devastated.... -
The Bat Segundo Show: Alex Beckstead
Posted on November 24, 2008 | 1 CommentAlex Beckstead appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #251. Mr. Beckstead is the filmmaker behind Paperback Dreams, a documentary on independent bookstores. The documentary is now touring around the nation... -
Ohmigod! City Lights!
Posted on August 21, 2008 | No CommentsLike Mr. Orthofer, I’m both delighted and appalled to see City Lights get the profile treatment. There isn’t time right now to investigate whether Times contributor Megan Walsh has a... -
Andy Ross Resigns from Cody’s
Posted on December 6, 2007 | 1 CommentI’m still catching up on the backlog, but it appears that Andy Ross has resigned from Cody’s. -
First It Was the Movie Theaters; Now the Bookstores
Posted on November 12, 2007 | No CommentsIn one fell swoop, Borders has ensured that I will never shop there again. (Not that I was anyway.) -
In Defense of Sitting in Bookstores
Posted on July 26, 2007 | 11 CommentsThis Baltimore Sun item describes how the big box bookstores are no longer placing the nooks, crannies, and chairs that were once de rigueur a few decades ago. In the... -
As Long As We’re Making Generalizations
Posted on April 13, 2007 | 1 CommentControversial though it may sound, the people who work at Waterstone’s — and, in particular, Jon Howells — have smaller penises than those working at any other bookstore in the... -
Cody’s Union Square Gone
Posted on April 6, 2007 | No CommentsSad news from Publishers Weekly this morning: The first, Cody’s is closing its doors in San Francisco. April 20 is the day the Union Square store will dissolve. Since Cody’s... -
Waldenbooks Stores Replaced by “Concept Stores”
Posted on March 22, 2007 | No CommentsIt’s been a long time since I’ve set foot into a Waldenbooks store, but Bloomberg reports that Waldenbooks is shutting half of its stores, selling the majority of its international... -
Support Your Local Indie Bookstores
Posted on February 7, 2007 | 1 CommentLos Angeles Times: “This is the paradox of modern bookselling. Even in an entertainment-saturated age, people still buy books. But the casual reader has many other places to get bestsellers... -
Dutton’s Brentwood is In Trouble
Posted on January 18, 2007 | No CommentsLos Angeles Times: “If these changes in the literary landscape are evoking intense emotion in the city’s bookish set — from declarations of devotion to accusations of betrayal — it’s... -
One Omitted Item: Don’t Forget to Show Up
Posted on October 5, 2006 | 1 CommentKevin Sampsell has a helpful list of tips on how an author should attend a reading. It’s worth the read alone for a list of the crazed gifts that fans... -
Another Indie Paean
Posted on October 2, 2006 | 2 CommentsColisseum Books has filed Chapter 11. -
Putting the Black in Black Oak Books
Posted on September 21, 2006 | 1 CommentI’ve quibbled about Black Oak Books before, but Barking Kitten offers another reason why the term “indieshock” applies: The staff is willfully ignorant about the latest offerings from Margaret Atwood... -
Score One for My Neighborhood
Posted on September 15, 2006 | No CommentsDan Rhodes says his favorite bookstore is the Booksmith. (via 3AM Magazine) -
An Open Letter to Andy Ross
Posted on September 6, 2006 | 4 CommentsDear Andy: Thank you for surrendering Cody’s to a corporation. I’m sure that Yohan, Inc., with its concentration on distributing foreign books and magazines, has the experience and the niche... -
George Jones is an Idea Man
Posted on July 21, 2006 | 1 CommentIn an interview with the Detroit Free Press, new Borders CEO George Jones said, “I have a ton of ideas of things I can do with the relationships I built... -
A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, Inc.
Posted on June 28, 2006 | 3 CommentsThis 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... -
Please Make It Stop
Posted on June 18, 2006 | 2 CommentsAmanda Cotten writes in and notes that her store Valencia Street Books closed this weekend. It’s the same reasons here as Clean, Well-Lighted. Too much competition, dwindling economy. I am... -
Another One Bites the Dust
Posted on June 16, 2006 | 2 CommentsA Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books: “We deeply regret to announce that we will be closing A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books as soon as we can liquidate our inventory.”... -
Bookstore Sales Drop
Posted on June 15, 2006 | 4 CommentsPublishers Weekly reports that US bookstore sales dropped 4.3% in April. This is the third consecutive month in which sales have plummeted. Is this the result of a faltering economy?... -
A Dark Time for Bay Area Indies
Posted on May 9, 2006 | No CommentsMr. Sarvas somehow beat us to the punch again. But, hot on the heels of the Clean, Well-Lighted Place sale, it looks like the Cody’s Telegraph store is closing, not... -
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books is in Trouble
Posted on May 5, 2006 | 5 CommentsOne of my favorite San Francisco indie bookstores is in trouble. A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books is now up for sale. Owner Neal Sofman cites declining sales and lousy... -
Shedding Light on City Lights’ “Fascism”
Posted on February 27, 2006 | 2 CommentsThe good folks at the SFist somehow caught it before me, but Catherine Seipp attacks one of my favorite bookstores, City Lights, for not carrying Oriana Fallaci’s The Force of...