Archive for February, 2011

A Swell article on Discounting

Moby Lives is one of the best book industry blogs you can hope to find. Today they posted a great article on the problem of discounting.

The bookstore I co-founded and built from the acquisition of a single rare book is closing at the end of March. Wolfgang Books has been a mainstay of the Philadelphia area for the last five years. It has won four consecutive “Philadelphia Hot List – Best of Philly” awards and has never been shy of good press. Any walk of bibliophile can find something at Wolgang’s. Rare, used and plenty of new titles are to be had. Of the new titles I’d say 80% are from indie publishers and 100% are chosen by the bookseller.

That’s a lot of talk. Since my former business partner, Jason Hafer, to whom I sold my half of the company, announced that he was going to close the store because of slowed sales (and they are slow) I have heard a lot more talk. No doubt he’s heard still yet more.

“Was there no way to save it?”
“Are e-books killing bookstores?”
“I thought with Borders retreating it might get better for indies.”
“I always mean to go in but forget to.”
“These are hard times.”
“Amazon, Amazon, Amazon…”

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Published February 24th, 2011 in Announcements

Are WE Winning?

Borders is bancrupt! Hurray!

My little store is wining its battle against all that we loath! Next up, Chapters and Indigo? We can hope.

There are a 100 good reasons to shop at independent stores. We pay city taxes that help support the systems you rely on. We pay provincial/state taxes that you rely on. We pay rent and buy groceries and support soccer teams and literacy campaigns. We offer good books, helpful advice and an ear to listen. Neverthless, predatory actions by Big Money have been driving us out of business for years. Is it because they are better than us? Serve their communities better? Or is it that they play viscious and dangerous games with money (and so with people’s lives)? I think we all know the answer to that.

Has the trend been bucked? Is the Borders Bancruptcy the dawn of a new era? Can the indie be the local store it once was and serve its community? Will imagination and thought be re-evaluated by society and found to be important? Call me an optimist but I think so. I will not sell cds, dvds, nor toys, candles, pens, or any other non-book item. I will not sell Dan Brown, John Grisham or Nora Roberts, I will not jump on any-old-bandwagon in a desperate attempt to make enough money to pay my creditors. I will accept that e-books are being read but know that they are not the whole industry and suspect that they cannot ever be if the publishing world is to continue to exist (there are no concert revenues to prop this industry up).

The Soviet Union taught us how dangerous centralisation is. As a people, we in the west tend to dislike monopolies, for good reasons. I hope that this bancruptcy is beginning of the end of monopolies on language, literature, ideas and culture. I hope people fill the vacated spaces with independent bookshops that actually serve and support their communities or return to the ones that are still around. I hope they do not turn to the other big-uglies but realize that where they get their books matters.

I raise a glass to anyone still fighting the good fight. Books matter.

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Published February 16th, 2011 in Announcements

The Shadow of the Wind. Carlos Zafon

Shadow of the Wind. Carlos Ruiz Zafon. At Argo.
 
I know at least one person that claims this is the best book he ever read and another that claims it is an absolute must read. Its star-power made me leary and so it has taken me a long time to get around to reading it. The family and I were off to a quiet long weekend punctuated by a fireplace and the superbowl and I needed something engrossing and easy to read. The time for Zafon’s mystery had arrived. I will not say it is one of the best books ever because it was about 15% too long and contains at least one storyline that is of no real use but it was a great book to read on vacation.
 
First the good: The narrative is engrossing. Daniel is 10 years old and the son of a used book dealer in Barcelona when he encounters the book called “Shadow of the Wind” by Julian Carax. He then learns that despite his great literary merit Mr. Carax never had the sales he deserved. To make matters worse someone is going around burning all the copies of the books that can be found. This adds an element of danger to the story as you begin to hope Daniel will remain safe. The book follows Daniel and a (too-large) cast of characters as he tries over the course of several years to unwrap the story. The story includes everything from prostitutes to nuns, loving of all sorts (homosexual, incestual, etc.) it has wealthy families and poor ones. You name it youll find it here. It is a little like a blockbuster movie trying to fit all the clichés in to make sure everyone gets what they wanted, but it works well, like you favorite Hollywood movie.
 
The start of the novel is hauntingly beautiful and makes you want to keep readin and get to know Daniel better. The ending was satisfying and worth waiting for. The beginning and the ending demonstrate what this book almost was and what I think my friends focus on. These certainly combine to make the book worth your time.
 
The bad: The story is much too long and drags throughout the middle. There are pointless characters that slow the book down and are only there to lead you down the wrong path in your mystery solving. Most of the characters in the book are like robots. They are there to divulge their own little bit of the mystery and nothing more. They are unreal and appear to have no life outside of the story. This novel would have been better if more atttention was given to the gaggle of characters that float within it. The flatness of the characters renders the book very close to a basic mystery novel that just has a neat premise revolving around a book. Which is annoying because other characters fly off the page and serve little purpose in the mystery, and by doing so suggest that Zafon could have rendered the characters of his novel much more completely.
 
I do not read a lot of mystery novels because they either have terrribly low quality of writing (that is right James Patterson and Dan brown I am talking to you with your oversimplified phrases and nonsensical premises) or they captivate a person but at the end you feel you have wasted your time. This novel is well-written and I recomend it, but I am not sure if it was a waste of my time because the characters did not teach me anything about being human.
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Published February 10th, 2011 in Book Reviews

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