Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amazon does not care about you, amazon is destroying the book, amazon is not a good business model, amazon sucks, john grisham, the chicago tribune
Finally The Trib starts to do something worthwhile. Sorry if I missed this a few days ago. This is a great article about the larger issue facing some small independent businesses. Ahem.
And (soft segue) if you didn’t see john Grisham’s appearance on THE TODAY SHOW this morning here are the quotables about the DISCOUNTING price wars: “A disaster” “short-term” “short-sighted” “a book is WORTH $24 – this devalues the book.”
Further reading: CHEAP: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell
and
BIG-BOX SWINDLE: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses by Stacy Mitchell
We, of course, have both in stock.
Finally! Doing a newsletter! “We’re not done and we won’t be till our heads fall off though that may be a long way off … ” ahem. Quoth the Johns of the Giants.
It will be in your inbox presently with all the information that you require about various things, but mostly about books. Well. All about books.
Read it. Or Book It.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: amazon sucks, bea 2009, book expo america, e-books, jeff bezos just wants your money, sherman alexie, the kindle is the wrong way to go
That is to say: how much did we already know?
For those that are unaware of BEA it is Book Expo America. The biggest book-based trade show in the country for the year. There are several regional shows that happen, but BEA is where everyone gets together. Except this year. The first hint of the coming change in the publishing industry (and changes are coming) was the absence of Macmillan Publisher Services (who own Farrar Straus and Giroux among other very prestigious publishing houses) AND Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt.
And then there’s the Internet. Oh Internet, you have changed so much of our lives. Some for bad, and most for good, but you are most definitely shifting attitudes. Book bloggers were in full force the whole weekend. They love books. They love computers. They love the Internet. We do have common ground. In our coming book-apolypse
Then there’s Macmillan’s CEO half-hearted answer to the threat of Google’s book project and the integration of digital library distribution. (Link here if you’re a paying member of Publisher’s Marketplace) I know why they’re worried: They see what happened to the record companies when they tried to fight user driven desire to stream-line the process of music delivery. But that shows they aren’t with the change. They just want to stop it. Amazon has done one thing: they’ve broken open the discussion of how the book should change.
What I’ve really learned:
The Kindle is the wrong way to go. (not saying all e-book readers) Many have spoken of the ills of Amazon model of book buying (Sherman Alexie being the most recent. Go to this link. His answers are amazing). One thing everyone does know is wrong with Amazon is it’s lack of community (This NY Times link to a Slate article is quite telling). Bezos just wants your money.
That’s the final thing that was reinforced at BEA: we are a community. A massive one that is learning to live with many different pieces. It’s slowly becoming decentered around the old media companies, and dispersed to many different channels that are preparing to the coming modal change in consumption.
We love books. We love talking about books. Since BEA, twitter has been a non-stop discussion about the ebook, the place of bloggers in the process, and how things are not going to stop changing. Oh, and Sherman Alexie’s comments about elitism.
How would you like to see Unabridged Bookstore change? Podcasts? Twitter feed? Free Wi-Fi? Send us your ideas. We are deeply connected to the LakeView/Chicago community. We breathe with the life of the city and the neighborhood around us.
I am working on a larger post about Book Expo America and what I took away from it this year. That should be up tonight.
But I do want to point out that two days after the official close of the convention people are generally still talking about the experience. We’ll see a week down the road and even a month, but so far, so good.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: books about traveling, dear american airlines, funny travel books, j. maarten troost, jonathan miles, lost on planet china, sale at unabridged
Two NEW paperbacks released today speak of the ills and payoffs of traveling in our flat-planet (referencing Friedman not nutter flat-Earthers) world.
Ever been to CHINA?! No, not the art exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center, the country! Our good travel-ogue pal J. Maarten Troost tells of his journey to the communist regime. Here’s what Ed had to say:
“China – too daunting, too intimidating to tackle as a travel subject? Not for J. Maarten Troost, our favorite gonzo traveler and author of The Sex Lives of Cannibals. In yet another comic masterwork of travel writing, Troost brilliantly blends humor with insight, history with person experience, all with a healthy dose of irreverence and a dash of caustic cynicism! Move over Bill Bryson and Paul Theroux — make way for the edgy wit andirreverently funny style of J. Maarten Troost. Ed loved, loved, loved it! Think David Sedaris writing a travelogue.”
If actually getting somewhere is too much work for you Jonathan Miles has the antidote: stuck at O’Hare. Robert says this about Dear American Airlines:
“This is the longest, most prone to digression letter of complaint you’ll ever read. And also the funniest, and most surprisingly poignant. Bennie Ford, a boozy failed poet is in a spot familiar to many of us: stuck at O’Hare, fuming, and his missive to the airline becomes a confession, a diversion, a story of a life. Read it! Robert recommends!”
We are selling Dear American Airlines at 10% off so come get your copy today.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bourbon, kentucky derby, sports illustrated, washington post, william faulkner
Ron Charles of the Washington Post directed me to the existence of the article, but SI (much to my surprise) does not charge for archives.
Here is the link to the beauty of William Faulkner (yes, that nobel prize winning William Faulkner) writing about the Kentucky Derby.
And a great line of how to control Faulkner:
“Meanwhile, the only instructions Tower received from his editors concerning Faulkner “were to try to see that our guest did not become so preoccupied with the available whiskey that he neglected his assignment.””
Because there is nothing but Bourbon in Kentucky. They give it away for waking up in the morning. So, sit back, sip a mint julep, bet on the ponies, and read a Faulkner essay.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: may day, moby lives, studs terkel, the guardian
Studs Terkel was a bastard and I miss him every day.
MobyLives beat everyone to the punch on this overcast May-Day with this little gem Studs shared with him The Guardian back in 2008.
I’ll just link you because Moby Lives is a great book-world blog that should be on everyone’s short list. And I took the picture he links to.,
Happy May Day everyone.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: featured book of the month, may book of the month, peter cameron, someday this pain will be useful to you, unabridged book of the month
New book of the month! Get out your bingo cards. Your scoring is … Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron.
Here is what Ed wrote about the book that has just been released in paperback:
“A beautifully written coming of age novel that is funny, sad, tender and sophisticated. I love the voice – narrator James Sveck, high school senior, feels alienated and alone, but in his smart-beyond-his-years way challenges and confronts everyone around him, in scenes which are truly laugh out loud funny! Totally charming and endearing. I love this character and this book!”
Ed highly recommends. We have the book marked at 10% off the cover price.
ALSO!!!! We have Cameron’s backlist marked down as well. So have yourself a little Peter Cameron shopping spree.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ianni thinking about zombies, pride and prejudice and zombies
We have it back in stock, again, but as these things go, it won’t last for long. Won’t you think of the zombies and spend as little as 1 dollar a day for 12 days to purchase your very own copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Think of the children! And Zombies. Mostly just think of Zombies.
This is Ianni hanging a sign that he made because he cares very much about this product.
This is what our display looks like. Soon to be devoid of life, but also, not dead.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: chicago author, forgotten authors, la times, nelson algren, steppenwolf
Have you read anything by Nelson Algren?
This is a great article in the LA Times about Nelson Algren, would have been 100 this year had the grip of alcoholism not taken him, and the efforts of Steppenwolf to explore why he has been forgotten.
Of course, loneliness might have done just as much damage to his brain as did the booze.
Barry Gifford, author of Wild at Heart adds : “”Some fighters can only go eight,” Gifford says, “and he got tired, like Kerouac got tired.” And yet, he continues, “He wrote enough.”"
