Destination: Books

Book Stall Review

As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, (enough of the Super Spreader events already!) the Destination: Books business plan of venturing out into the world of popup books stalls remains on hold for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, I must be content to put more books online at the Destination: Books Alibris Store and reading about other booksellers.

One story comes from the Liz Alderman of The New York Times, “Amid Rows of Classics Along the Seine, a Sad Ending in the Making”(November 8, 2020).  Alderman writes sbout the Paris open air book sellers known as “les bouquinistes” which have been selling books and magazines along the left and right banks of the Seine River since the Middle Ages. The article gives an account of the approximately 230 books shops who are struggling during the Pandemic, because tourism has nosedived in the Eternal City along with curfews and quarantines that have limited local pedestrian traffic. (The color photographs accompanying the article will take you right there.)

I have not been to Paris to see these booksellers, but when I was in Ljubljana, Slovenia last year they had a few booksellers along the promenade overlooking the scenic Ljubljanica River (See photo above). It is not Paris, I guess, but it did feed my wishful romantic idyll of book selling on the streets.

One can be easily disabused of this notion by reading the popular Diary of a Bookseller (2018) by Shaun Bythell.  The book is part memoir and part occupational handbook as Bythell, who owns a large used bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland gives daily account of the trials of being a bookseller, dealing with customers and maintaining an online inventory. To keep his stock up, Bythell must go look at estate sales and is often forced to wade through heavy boxes of discarded books in various states of decomposition in order to find a few gems to make it worth his while. He is crusty and candid about his customers and those who wish to sell him books. He reinforces the theme of one of the chapters from my own book (The Book Shopper: A Life in Review) about book shopping.  In the essay, “Book Lovers Are Not Necessarily People Lovers.” I pontificate about the anti-social tendencies of book people, which includes librarians as well as book sellers.

One of the reasons Destination: Books exists is to find homes for what I believe are fine books in my own library that deserve a better fate than the shredder or to be sold for next to nothing. Also, I do not want my books end up in a dismal estate sale (as described by Bythell).  This explains why after a year after opening Destination: Books I am sticking by the plan. Online selling only is just kind of transactional and I prefer the interaction to talking to people informally at popup book stall. Bythell (and other bookseller-friends) have disabused any notion of wanting to own a bookstore or rent a permanent site. Not only its financially precarious, but just dealing with customers day after day could be an irritating.

So, in the meantime here at Destination: Books I stay the course of hoping for a vaccine and an end to the pandemic in 2021 and then to reopen on the book popup on some localized version of the Seine here in Atlanta.

End of the Gardening Season Sale

Though your garden plot might be winding down for the season (like mine at the community garden plot), this could be the time to catch up on your sustainability reading or reliving some of the joys of gardening. Destination Books has several new books at its Alibris online store for sale at reduced prices and a few older used books. 

Here's a list of the available new books:

Grassroots Rising by Ronnie Cummins ($5 plus S & H)

The Worm Farmer's Handbook by Rhonda Sherman ($20 plus S & H) SOLD!

The Permaculture City by Toby Hemenway ($15 plus S & H) 

Slow Gardening by Felder Rushing ($13 plus S & H)

Lazy Ass Gardening by Robert Kourik ($24 plus S & H)

Here's a list of the available used books 

Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E.F. Schumacher with a new forward by Bill McKibben ($6 plus S & H)

The English Cottage Garden by Jane Taylor and Andrew Lawson ($12 plus S & H)

The Herbal Tea Garden: Planning, Planting, Harvesting & Brewing by Marietta Marshall Marein ($5 plus S & H)

Bringing a Garden to Life by Carol Williams($5 plus S & H)

Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability by David Owen ($5 plus S & H)

Note: When purchasing a books from the independent seller (like Destination: Books Alibris store) and putting them in your cart you can expect discounted shipping for each additional item your purchase when it goes to the same address.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Believers For Sale

I have been a Believer subscriber for over ten years and rarely have I thrown away or recycled an issue even though I am nonplussed about the publication. In one (and in the most important) way I've always found each issue containing some interview, feature or essay that introduced me to a new writer or filmmaker which enriched my cultural capital. Funny thing is that when I read them on the subway, I always felt that people --given the name of the periodical -- were suspicious that I was on the verge of proselyting. Adding to my anxiety, I always had the insecurity that The Believers publishers were always “too hip” for someone like me. Moreover, their subscription history is spotty at best. There was a longtime hiatus of issues when then they changed owners and they still have trouble managing renewals.

Last year at the Decatur Book Festival, I took some of the stock, displayed in handsomely on a rack and sold it at my Destination: Books booth finding homes for about 20 to 30 issues.  I would use the salesperson pitch of: “Take your change in Believers?”

But alas there is no DBF this year for Destination: Books. I would feel guilty just tossing them  so I am try to find homes for them and free up some shelf space by making them available online. 

With a few exceptions (which I have flagged) they are in good shape considering their age and this is also a tribute to the quality printing of the originals.

For purchasing details and a list of which past issues are available visit  The Believer Catalog Page.

Civilization For Sale

If you are stuck at home, yearning for travel, and running out of things to read, perhaps you are thinking to yourself, "Maybe it's time to read Will and Ariel Durant's 11 volume The Story of Civilization. " If so, you are in luck.  Destination: Books in its ongoing efforts to find good homes for fine used books has made the complete Simon & Schuster set (published from 1935 to 1975) available for $95 at its online store at destination.alibrisstore.com. 

I rescued this set from a building superintendent purge of another apartment in the late 1970s and have hauled them around with me ever sicne.  I tried to read the entire series but only got as far as the middle of Volume 1, Our Oriental Heritage.  They are excellent reference books and I have pulled them out on occasion before to familiarize myself with the history of Spain, Turkey and Italy before visiting those countries.

Moreover, these are the kind of books that will  give some classic heft to your Zoom background, which if you've read my piece "Books in the Background" in my companion blog, you would know people are constantly judging you.  Take political historian Heather Cox Richardson shown here. Everyone agrees she's smart and insightful.

For all details on the pricing and individual, visit the Story of the Civilization product description page.

 

Destination Books Stays at Home

With no foreseeable end to the COVID-19 lock down the Destination: Books popup book stall remains at home with no opportunity to wear our T-shirt "uniforms" out in public. Last year we were at the Georgia Antiquarian Booksellers Association (GABA) Paper and Art Fair at the Decatur Book Festival but GABA has already decided to sit 2020 out and let our books and ephemera age a little longer.Most GABA members do lots and lots of online selling.

In contrast Destination: Books has less than 20 listings at its destination.alibrisstore but what we lack in numbers we make up for in personality, eclectic offerings and creative deals.  Check out the updated online catalog.

Destination Books Goes to Italy

Even though Destination: Books remains on lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis, we have used the time to read some of the inventory.  One book of interest has been Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome (2019) by Susan Levenstein, MD. 

After Dr. Levenstein finished her medical studies at Mount Sinai in New York in 1978  she moved to Rome with her  Italian husband to set up a medical practice and immerse herself in the culture. The marriage didn't last, but her love of Italy did and she remains there to this day. 

Her account can be enjoyed as one might a frittata, with the tale of establishing herself as a physican in Rome serving as the eggy part, enhanced by the tasty ingredients within like food, booze, drugs and sex.  She mixes them together with the skill of a top chef. 

Since COVID-19 ravaged Italy before it overran the United States, Dr. Levenstein's observations on the Italian medical community have even more relevancy; more medical updates appear on her blog, Stethoscope on Rome. Dottoressa also reveals by comparison (for better and worse) the medical establishment here in the United States.  But the book is actually more of an overview of the plusses and minuses of Italian society, which she writes about with humor and affection.  There are also revealing personal chapters where Dr. Levenstein is candid about her own feelings about life and death and the sometimes complex relationship she has with her patients. "Compassion and annoyance are potentially two sides of the same coin of engagement," she writes. Often times the book reminds one of the stories medical friends tell over cocktails about the real behind-the-scenes doctor stuff (with names changed of course). 

In these stay-at-home times, the book can scratch that travel itch that many of us have, and for my partner Denise and me it serves as a pleasant reminder of our trip to Italy last fall. (Full Disclosure: the picture of the Coliseum is from Verona not Rome.) If Destination: Books ever gets out of the house again we'll have it available at our pop-up book stall. In the meantime, you can order directly from Dr. Levenstein's publisher, Paul Dry Books, which is one of the publishers we enjoy working with and some of whose books appear on the bookshelf below.

 

Destination: Books Suspends Operations at Freedom Farmer's Market

Although the Freedom Farmer's Market at the Carter Center remains open for the time being ( they are controlling crowds to maintain social distancing), Destination: Books will not be there on Saturday, April 4th.  Books about gardening, the environment and sustainability are important and we enjoyed conversing with people about books, but it is better to be safe and allow those selling and purchasing fresh produce the space they need.

We hope  to be back later this year. You can still view a host of books on these topics at Chelsea Green Publishing  and you can order from the employee-owned publisher directly. (We will continue carrying their books in the future.)

Yes, we'll miss being there just like we are already missing the baseball season. A Cubs "emotional support" blanket will just have to suffice.

 

 

 

Destination: Books at Freedom Farmer's Market

Destination: Books will be at the Freedom Farmer's Market at the Carter Center in Atlanta on Saturday, March 7th and Saturday, April 4th, selling books from Chelsea Green Publishing, which publishes a cornucopia (a word I use sparingly) of books on "the politics and the practice of sustainability." The pop-up booth will be feature books on organic gardening, vermiculture (worms), edible landscaping and grassroots activism. Destination: Books will also have a few used books on related topics such as alternative transportation. 

The Farmer's Market hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

 

Destination: Books at Alibris

Destination: Books has an online portal on Alibris at destination.alibrisstore.com. Books that have been recently added are listed on this site's sidebar. 

A complete list of offerings with further commentary can be found here. 

 

Destination: Books Defined

   Destination: Books is a  pop-up booth based in Atlanta that reflects the interests of its proprietor-moderator, Murray Browne, who is the author of The Book Shopper: A Life in Review and Down & Outbound: A Mass Transit Satire. Destination Books specializes in history,  travel writing,  organic gardening - sustainability, and books about books.

Murray lives in Decatur, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. He maintains blogs based on his two books  The Book Shopper blog and the Down & Outbound blog. Destination Books is dedicated the idea that books can take you to many places in many different ways.

To contact Destination: Books, send an email to murray.browne905 AT gmail.com. Our first pop-up was at the 2019 Decatur Book Festival, see details below.

To buy books online from Destination: Books visit our store on Alibris at destination.alibrisstore.com