The Book Shopper

The Book Shopper in Knoxville

When I attend readings I usually am taking notes for future blog reports, but last weekend, I was on the other side of the lectern, reading two selections from The Book Shopper: “How I Became a Reader” and “ Classic Book Clubs.”  Here are a few photos to jog the memory of all the friends who stopped by Carpe Librum book store in Knoxville last Saturday. I am also inviting them to share their  observations and questions  here on The Book Shopper blog. 

Special thanks to Maggie Carini, Marissa Mills, Judy Barnett, Suzanne Freeman and Susie Hunter for setting up the reading and hosting the post-event cookout. And thanks to Carpe Librum for hosting the event.

Book Shop Rebranding

Last week I stopped by the Atlanta Book Exchange on N. Highland Avenue. For my taste, it’s a fine used book store well stocked in modern literature with shelves full of American authors and writers from other countries. What surprised me was that the store is no longer accepting used books.

I was ready to trade copies of Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood, Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation and Jay McInerney’s Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar —all decent books that served their purpose as fodder for previous postings.

Now I’m left pondering not so much what to do with the books, but the name of the book shop itself -- Atlanta Book Exchange. Somehow it seems to needs a little “rebranding” since books are no longer being exchanged. 

Eclectic Book Blogs

Two of the more eclectic book-related blogs I regularly visit:

Reflections In That Rain Puddle is the blog of retired professor Bill Robinson who taught library science at the University of Tennessee when I attended that graduate program.  Although his academic specialties were government documents, collection development, and the book publishing industry, Dr. Robinson is a man of many interests (including science fiction, art, comic books and trains) and his almost daily postings reflect this.

A Journey Around My Skull is the blog of a Will Schofield who works for my publisher Paul Dry Books. When he is not sending out books, maintaining the database, and editing manuscripts he delves into his “unhealthy book fetishism from a reader, collector, and amateur historian of forgotten literature and more recent obsessions of illustration and graphic design.” Will admits that he is a fanatical book shopper and for the record, keeps his blog completely separate from Paul Dry Books “to save Paul the embarrassment of association.”

Book Shopping at BookExpo America

This week’s entry comes from Paul Dry of Paul Dry Books, a small publisher out of Philadelphia. Last month, Paul published my book, The Book Shopper: A Life in Review, and recently returned from New York’s BookExpo America. Below, he shares his thoughts about the annual convention from a publisher’s perspective:  

Last weekend we attended the controlled frenzy known as BookExpo America, where publishers and “book people” meet to talk about the season’s upcoming books. We have participated in these gatherings since 2000 and each year have a book or two we particularly tout. This year, The Book Shopper led the list. Since everyone at BEA is a book shopper, Murray’s book interested all who came by our booth.

And who were these “book people,” the happy warriors eager to weigh themselves down with giveaways of all kinds? Well, you name it: librarians from institutions large, small, and very small (and friends-of-librarians hoping for free books), writers promoting their published work, writers looking for publishers, cut-rate printers selling services in China, publicists offering to generate buzz for books, software designers specializing in the book trade, delivery men from Chinese restaurants passing out menus (every hour or so), media people from small and big markets—obscure blogs to national networks, and remainder folks who will buy for pennies the overrun copies of last year’s would-be hit.

Coover or the Cubs?

 

It’s baseball week for me as the ill-fated Chicago Cubs come to Turner Field for three games against the Atlanta Braves beginning tonight. I have already taken my Cubs 1908 World Champions T-Shirt out of the storage closet in preparation for attending Thursday night’s game.

As a Cubs fan, I have learned that it is critical to focus on other aspects of baseball besides cheering the team from Wrigley Field.  Thus, I recently finished reading a baseball classic – if peculiarity counts – Robert Coover’s 1968 book, The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop.