On the Nightstand.

Posted on September 11, 2011 by kara

Rich Boy by Sharon Pomerantz

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Stalwart Conservative Tomes Need to be Smoked Outta Their Holes

Posted on September 10, 2011 by kara

 

The sorrowful scene at a closeout sale at an LA suburban Borders had the 22,000-square-foot space draped with those tragic yellow and red signs proclaiming, “Everything goes!” “Everything on sale!” and “Up to 90% off!” With but a few days left before the once mighty book chain is gone forever, the crowds of bargain hunters who had lined up a few weeks ago have dwindled to a few hearty stragglers, hunting for one last bargain among the tumbleweeds and debris.  Continue reading →

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Shelf Shuffling

Posted on September 5, 2011 by kara

I often hide the great works of the lunatic fringe with other books, because I am twelve.

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On the Nightstand

Posted on September 4, 2011 by kara

Room by Emma Donoghue

Publication Date: September 2010, 336 pp

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Judge us not by our Summer Trash.

Posted on September 2, 2011 by kara

Labor Day is approaching, and I am racing to the finish to complete the last installment in a summer reading list so grotesque, so trashy, I shame myself. The post–Labor Day moratorium on white shoes and clothes has long ranked among etiquette hard-liners’ most sacred rules. The same holds true with summer reading. On the beach, in the hammock or in the pool, garbage books are pretty much accepted. After Labor Day, however, they are the literary equivalent of a pair of white pumps, a blemish on your record of good taste. The Summer of 2011, I dumpster dived through:

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On the Nightstand

Posted on August 21, 2011 by kara

I bought the downoad ’cause I was a-scared to have to look at the book cover.

Inside Scientology by Janet Reitman

Hughton Mifflin Harcourt, July 2011

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Dusty Tomes

Posted on August 10, 2011 by kara

MacLeod’s Books in downtown Vancouver has floor to cathedral-ceiling shelves teetering with books, books stacked on the floor, on chairs, on the steps. There is a nary a computer in sight, yet with the help of an exceedingly knowledgable staff, the dreamy bookstore operates under a failsafe system of ordered chaos. Somehow, the salespeople know everything they have in stock and where to find it. Canada’s finest antiquarian bookstore has wafting, musty attic aromas and woody book smells, soft yellow light, faded Oriental carpets and wooden chairs with jewel toned cushions. It has that “mysterious bookshop” feel, good for old-fashioned negotiating of narrow passageways and dark corners heaped with books, searching nooks and crannies for a rare treasure.

The last great bookshop
MacLeod’s has been in its present location since 1982: its original location burned to the ground after a Ku Klux Klan member firebombed a nearby Communist bookshop in a fire that also took down nearby MacLeod’s. Vancouver recently lost Duthie Books, an icon in the city for 50 years.
455 Pender St W
Vancouver, BC V6B 1V2
(604) 681-7654
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Great Snacks in Literature

Posted on August 2, 2011 by kara

Nancy Drew’s Roadwise Meal from “The Sign of the Twisted Candle”.

In The Sign of the The Twisted Candle, Nancy, George and Bess stop at a quirky roadside Inn stop for a light snack of tea and cinnamon toast, but when news comes that they will be delayed in the spooky, candlelit lobby by a storm, they quickly revise their order:

“jellied consomme”, sliced breast of chicken, hearts of lettuce with Roquefort dressing, date nut bread with sweet butter, cheese and crackers and mocha layer cake”.

– From The Sign of the Twisted Candle by Carolyn Keene

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Full Disclosure, Confessions from the Bottom Shelf.

Posted on July 31, 2011 by kara

I cannot believe the unmitigated shit I’ve read during the month of July. I lay blame on: weakness of an addled mind that needs diversions from reality, and the ability to download salacious shit instantly onto my ipad in bed late at night (I would never bring these actual flesh and blood shit “books” into my home).

Read it and weep:

Rob Lowe’s Memoirs

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit

Mummy Knew

A Predator Priest

August will be the month of weighty tomes and haute literature.

 

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Books-A-Million Minus 30.

Posted on July 26, 2011 by kara

 

The last-ditch deal that would have had Books-A-Million buy 30 Borders‘ stores –saving nearly 1000 jobs – fell to shit today, signaling a final and certain end for all Borders stores from sea to shining sea. Those 30 stores would have been converted to Book-a-Million stores if the deal had been finalized. Books-a-Million, a regional chain in the south and midwest, had been trying to negotiate a deal with the bankrupt Michigan-based retailer to acquire the 30 stores, the inventory, fixtures, equipment and leases. But those efforts failed to yield fruit, the two sides not able to agree on terms.

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