Friday, October 20, 2006
Where everyone still reads books
An impassioned defense of a simple, but imperiled, pleasure: browsing the shelves of an independent bookstore.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
The e-book rides again
Just in time for the holidays, Sony has a new ebook Reader that wants to overcome all your objections. So you like the feel of a book in your hands? Check out that leatherette binding. Well, the similarities end about there, but little matters like weight, aesthetics and tactility are matters of habit, right? Here’s a link to David Pogue’s review of the new Sony Reader at the New York Times. He finds it fair enough, and it’s a handsome enough gadget, and he’s probably right to note that while it might be a great utility for the most utilitarian purposes, those who like to read their books with love and affection will find little to hold.
Discuss this in our forumsWednesday, September 06, 2006
Off the Shelf--What the Staff is Reading
Erin and I have just returned from a 4-day backpacking trek in central Colorado, near Breckenridge. Our discussions were inspired by a book called “The Teaching of the Holy Fathers on the Passions.” Once or twice each day of our trip, (during meals or at night around the campfire) we paused to read and to meditate on the words of this little gem. If you’re not familiar with the way the Fathers use the word, “Passion” refers to a sin that has captured the mind and become an internal habit. The Fathers maintain that the Life in Christ is a struggle against the passions, and a fight to acquire purity of heart --to the end that we become temples of the Holy Spirit. The book introduces the Fathers’ concept of struggle, and gives their “prescription” for the passions of gluttony, anger, vainglory and lust (of course, their are many more passions, but it’s just a little book!). The last chapter is on dispassion --our goal, the state of theosis.
This book, along with its companion volume, “The Teaching of the Holy Fathers on the Body” are troves of distilled patristic wisdom. Both are pocket-sized - I might say “road-trip-sized” - and are worth checking out! Look for them on the website soon. They’re $4.50.
from the third floor of EDB…
Discuss this in our forumsTuesday, September 05, 2006
Bibliophile Social Networking: Library Thing
Anywhere you see the phrase (quickly becoming a tired cliche) “Web 2.0,” what it means is, inevitably, some variety of social networking. You have your MySpace, your Flickr, your del.icio.us, and now: Library Thing. But this one not only kicks it up a notch, as they say, it also seeks a higher level of intellectual stimulation than one is accustomed to on the web.
Here’s how it works: First, one must have a desire to connect with other readers and writers, and then a little time on your hands to enter some of your library into the database. But once you clear those hurdles, tag your books and start meeting fellow-travelers, striking up conversation and--maybe as importantly--finding new books you might otherwise have missed.
In case you’ve never seen a TagCloud, check one out at Library Thing.
Discuss this in our forumsThursday, July 13, 2006
Monk e-business
If like everyone else you’re paying exhorbitant amounts for ink and toner cartridges, check out Lasermonks.com, a Cistercian monastery business that sells new and remanufactured printer supplies. Steward of Temporal Affairs Fr. Bernard McCoy at the Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank in Sparta, Wisconsin tells the story of how the financially-strapped monastery started in this business here. They’ve had great success the last few years, and profits have gone not only to the monastery but also to many charities. Not to mention you can submit prayer requests and order monastery-made caramels while ordering discount ink cartridges. Don’t fail to check out the cartoon strip the Abbot Superior draws, Luxor and Ludwig, chronicling the adventures of their cloistered canines.
Discuss this in our forumsMonday, June 12, 2006
Brewed in Byzantium
Next time you’re cruising through Colorado Springs (or, if you’re lucky enough to live there) be sure to stop in the new Agia Sophia coffee house--where Fresh Coffee and Ancient Wisdom meet for drinks. Eighth Day Books is proud to be the official literary supplier for this unique marriage of Jerusalem and Java, which is housed in a beautifully restored historic building, complete with a Russian Samovar Room, fine food, pastries and in the tradition of the unmercenaries, free wi-fi. See pictures on their site--quite a stunning place. Congratulations to all those whose dream is realized with this Grand Opening, and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.
The current promotion: mention this internet announcement and get $1 off your first order. No word yet whether the bottomless cup stretches to eternity.
Discuss this in our forumsThursday, June 01, 2006
Bookstore Tourism
We know of several people who make long journeys to Wichita to visit Eighth Day Books, and many others say they’d like to, but we’ve never seriously considered putting a tour package together. But apparently we’re falling behind the curve. Check out this site about bookstore tourism and read about a movement afoot to promote independent bookstores as travel destinations. If you do make the trip, and after you’ve tired your eyes with reading, we’ll ensure you see Wichita’s other unique attractions.
Discuss this in our forumsFriday, May 26, 2006
The Pulp Canon
It’s been Pulp Fiction week at Slate, and here’s an artist’s rendering of pulpy cover art for literary classics.
Discuss this in our forumsMonday, May 22, 2006
25 Years of American Fiction
On Sunday, the New York times published the results of a survey taken by the experts--"writers, critics, editors and other literary sages"--seeking to identify the single best work of fiction in the past quarter century. And the chosen ones...1. Toni Morrison--BelovedThe article goes on to give more runners-up, including Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping and John Kennedy Toole's Confederacy of Dunces. I'm sure there are myriad responses to these choices floating about (and why else do it but for a response? The selections were anything but surprising) but the only one I've seen is Megan O'Rourke gives a good defense of the ignored "small novel" here. Interestingly, not a single one of the honored books made the Modern Library's much publicized Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (Beloved and Blood Meridian made the Reader's choice list), which means, at the very least, there are plenty of other books we should keep on our meaning-to-read list. Know any? Discuss this in our forums
2. Don Delillo--Underworld
3. Cormac McCarthy--Blood Meridian
4. John Updike--Rabbit Angstrom
5. Phillip Roth--American Pastoral
The Fate of Independent Bookstores
Last Week Slate ran a story asking whether the loss of independent bookstores was such a great loss--the conjured ideal being "cool hang-outs where the staff knows something about literature, the owners select each title with care, and bearded patrons sit at crowded coffee tables, talking about Jack Kerouac or the latest translation of Tolstoy"--or whether large chains were even actually at fault. The article's author, Tyler Cowen, suggested that:The real change in the book market is not the big guy vs. the little guy, or chain vs. indie stores. Rather, it's the reader's greater impatience, a symptom of our amazing literary (and televisual) plenitude. In the modern world we are more pressed for time, and we face a greater diversity of cultural choices. It was easy to finish Tolstoy's War and Peace when there were few other books around and it was hard to find them. Today, finishing it means forgoing many other options at our fingertips.In many ways Eighth Day Books strives, unabashedly, to fit that ideal (although beards are by no means a prerequisite!). And even for our online and catalog customers, we try to be a "cool hangout" by filling a unique niche, offering and promoting books to meet a select interest group. I wonder if many independent stores fail--there's a great, and sad example in most of our towns, I bet--because they try to be too general-purpose, and so compete head-to-head with the chain stores and Amazon rather than better-fulfilling a more specialized need larger companies cannot. Even if it's the case that we're reading less, we're still buying a lot of books and I wonder if any success companies like EDB experience is less about being "independent"--and all of those groovy ideals--and more about simply better supplying what a particular group of people are looking for (note that in that USA Today story religious titles are one of the fastest growing categories). Discuss this in our forums