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.

But one that  needs to be clicked.

http://www.booksinc.net/bestseller_price_wars

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.

We’ve had How to Walk to School for a little over a week, and it’s been great to see the responses from people who come and purchase the book. The rehabilitation of the school is a great symbol of pride for our neighborhood and we can definitely see it in all those who look at the book.

Don’t know about Nettelhorst, here’s a bit from the press release:

“When two gutsy moms ventured inside Nettelhorst, the neighborhood’s underutilized and struggling public elementary school, the new principal asked what it would take for them to enroll their children. Stunned by her candor, they returned the next day armed with an extensive wish list. The principal read their list and said “Well, let’s get started, girls! It’s going to be a busy year…”

How to Walk to School is the story—from the highs to the lows—of motivated neighborhood parents galvanizing and then organizing an entire community to take a leap of faith, transforming a challenged urban school into one of Chicago’s best, virtually overnight. Susan Kurland, Nettelhorst’s entrepreneurial new principal, and Jacqueline Edelberg, the neighborhood mom, prove that the fate of public education is not beyond our control. How to Walk to School provides an accessible and honest blueprint for reclaiming the great public schools our children deserve.“

Also for every book purchased through Unabridged we are donating 20% of the procedes (that’s 50% of the profits) to Nettelhorst school to make sure they continue their example of excelence.

Stop by and pick up a copy today!

New book of the month! It’s so big it two needed extra days!

By now I am sure you’ve heard a friend, or a friend of a friend who’s read The Elegance of the Hedgehog and loved it, but now you have Ed who highly recommends this wonderful book.

This is what he had to say:

“I loved the Elegance of the Hedgehog – maybe my favorite novel of the year. In this double narrative, there is more to Renee – elderly, frumpy widowed concierge at an exclusive Paris apartment building – than meets the eye! And Palo Ma – 12 years old, philosophical, precocious – decides (in pretty typical french, existential fashion) that she’s going to kill herself on her 13th birthday.

The novel is tender and satirical, its characters inspiring the affection and enthusiasm readers similarly have for those of Alexander McCall Smith. Plot developments range from heartbreaking to the comic (at one point, Renee ponders whether her cat exists, or just her perception that exists!) The novel challenges stereotypes and class divisions all the while exploring the nature of beauty and the meaning of life.

Hooray for Elegance of the Hedgehog!“

Like all of our Europa Editions (an amazing Publisher who is doing great things for English Literature) at Unabridged Bookstore, it is 10% off the cover price.

ALSO! Here is some further reading about the author, Muriel Barbery.

prarie ave. bookshop

A rather depressing bit of news, but Prairie Avenue Bookshop here in Chicago is closing its doors on September first.

The United States (and Chicago) is hemorrhaging bookstores. We are not just losing a place to purchase books, we are losing places that define communities.

It’s a meeting place, of sorts, for Chicago’s notoriously competitive architectural community.

“You would run into other architects there — or hide from other architects,” Eifler said.

What’s really sad about the whole bit is that their problems are not unique.

“People would come to the bookshop with their notepad, make notes of what they wanted and then go buy it somewhere else,” Wilbert Hasbrouck said last week. He blamed the 10.25 percent sales tax for driving buyers to online booksellers like Amazon.com.

Unfortunately for them, gatherings of people don’t pay the bills and keep the new books coming in the store.

Of course what’s needed is a tax policy that realizes the Internet isn’t going anywhere and a county, looking at you Todd Stroger, that doesn’t have contempt for the businesses that operate within its borders (among many other things).

So, remember kids, support your indies.

Newest addition to our ever evolving sale-book supply: ASSOULINE BOOKS. We received gobs yesterday.

Their small format gems cover everything from The Moulin Rouge to Dolce and Gabbana to Christoffe to Eames. How can you go wrong for $5.98?

Not famaliar with Assouline? Here’s a link to their website and a blurb!

Since 1994, Assouline Publishing has created fine illustrated books covering art, design, fashion, architecture, gastronomy, travel and lifestyle with one simple idea in mind – all that is beautiful in the world ought to be in an Assouline book.

Renowned for their highly original graphic concept, Assouline books are works of art that capture culture and bring it to life. The spirit and “savoir faire” of these works have contributed to the creation of a unique and eclectic, chic and elegant brand that is immediately identifiable.

Yeah, okay, it’s a little over the top, BUT, they’re great little books and, AND, you really can’t beat the price.

They’re displayed prominently in our art/photography/design section (wing), so come on in and take a look.

This is a great post from Justine Larbalestier, the author of the book LIAR. She demonstrates two very real realities in the publishing world: a lack of cover control from the authors (unless your name is Chip Kidd) and the exclusion of people of color from covers even when the book is about an African-American! Yes, I did mean to shout that last line.

Read on.

This is … um. An interesting way to promote literacy. I mean, burning books isn’t, really, the FIRST thing I think of when I’m contemplating what book to read next. But hey, maybe they’re thinking of the omelet analogy. Or. Uh. Burning books.

Pic is small. Click for much larger.

How that ad brain-storming session probably went down:

Ad Exec 1: I’m hungry.

Ad Exec 2: You know what would be great?

Ad Exec 3: I’m kind of hungry too.

Ad Exec 4: Are we talking about lunch?

Ad Exec 1: I was thinking about it. You know what I did last night?

Ad Exec 2: We should promote reading by showing pictures of burning books.

Ad Exec 1: I drank a whole gallon of pork gravy last night.

Ad Exec 3: That is so cool. I am jealous.

Ad Exec 4: A WHOLE GALLON?! God, you’re awesome.

Ad Exec 1: I know! I’m thinking of doing it again tonight.

Ad Exec 2: All right, I  just called down to the art department. Should be done by Friday.

Ad Exec 3: Do you think we can get a box of bacon delivered right now?

(pic via PFTompkins on Twitter)

The Guardian UK has a great little slide show of the Designer Bookbinders International Competition. You only get to see 13 of the short list, but they are fantastic looking. I also happen to agree with the winner they picked. Kudos all around, though. I am highly impressed and wish I could jaunt off to Oxford for the week.