Get In the Car, Loser

At Zuccotti Park, A People’s Library

Amid one of the most dynamic political events in recent American history lies one of the most harmonious of places – a library.

Occupy Wall Street has become known for its animated protests and run-ins with police, but walk inside Zuccotti Park – the movement’s unofficial headquarters – and you get a different story. Organizers have created a medical center, food station, and donation drop-off point. But it’s “The People’s Library” that has become an example of the group’s mission and outside support.

“The library is a demonstration of the fact we aren’t just a bunch of crazies,” said Stephen Boyer, 27, who volunteers there. “Were trying to build a community and we’re succeeding.” (Read more)

(via)

[photo by Kevin Lorla]

September 23rd
9:51 AM EST

22 notes

"Print! Print! Print! If I have the option, I always read the paper or a book or something I can touch and destroy in my own hands."

September 17th
11:08 AM EST

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blogfrombookstores:

Banned Books Week: What subversives are you reading?

Why should Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston (one of my personal favorites) be a banned book? Because it acknowledges that sometimes men didn’t treat their wives so well, or because it features a large cast of African-American people? (I suspect strongly that, while it’s both, it’s also very much the latter–there is a high proportion of banned literature by African-American novelists.) Are The Grapes of Wrath and The Jungle taboo because they shine a light on the real struggles of the poor and working-class Americans? Mental illness, women’s issues, sex, money, racism, equal rights–it’s not smut that is being consistently challenged, or things that are actually depraved. (Continue reading)

[via The Insatiable Booksluts]

September 12th
11:22 AM EST

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blogfrombookstores:

Blogging From: Hole in the Wall Books

Bookstores with creative names, are always the best kinds of bookstores. What bookstore lover wouldn’t want to step inside of a store called Hole in the Wall Books, right? It’s funny because I think most people might shy away from any other type of establishment named after an idiom that sometimes has a bit of a negative connotation. But a bookstore with this name; it sounds like it will lead you right into a scene straight out of Alice in Wonderland! It leaves an impression that makes you feel like once you step though the door, you’ll be transported, through a hole in the wall, to a magical land of books. For the most part this is true. Minus the part about going through a hole in the wall. (Continue reading)

September 11th
7:20 PM EST

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blogfrombookstores:

Monday on Blogging From Bookstores: Hole in the Wall Books

September 9th
3:27 PM EST

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blogfrombookstores:

Celebrating International Literacy Day

This year’s International Literacy Day theme is Peace (As noted on the poster above.)

In 2008, about 796 million adults were unable to read and write, which means that about one in six adults is still not literate.

Of those 796 million, 64% were women.

“The adult literacy rate increased by about 8 percentage points globally over the past 20 years – an increase of 6% for men and 10% for women.”

In 2008, for the majority of countries surveyed, youth (ages 15-24) literacy rates were greater than adult literacy rates.

Still, “131 million youth worldwide lacked basic reading and writing skills,” that same year.

(Read more on Blogging From Bookstores)

Yesterday was International Literacy Day, but let’s keep talking about it on all of the days!

(Source: unesco.org)

September 5th
11:22 AM EST

16 notes

blogfrombookstores:

Blogging From: Kramer Books & Afterwards Cafe

Non-native DCers, who dare to enter the complicated traffic patterns of Dupont Circle often become lost and end up wandering around the loop for some time before finding their way out. Fortunately, I didn’t have to take to the circle with my car (lord only knows I’d still be driving around it), but thanks to Kramer Books, I did get to wander and circle around quite a few bookshelves.

I don’t live in D.C., so I didn’t know, but Kramer Books is sort of the place to be if you’re anybody who’s anybody residing in the city known as our nation’s capitol. And with good reason too. Not only is it a fully functioning bookstore with a hearty selection of books, it also houses a bar and a cafe. Books, food, and drinks. There’s not much else you need in life, so once you step inside Kramer Books, you’re pretty much good to go. (Read more)

September 3rd
10:15 AM EST

7 notes

"With the demise of the Borders chain and the shaky footing of Barnes and Noble, one might be tempted to write off the whole business. But as one who spent her summer on a book tour, I would like to offer this firsthand report from the front lines: Americans are still reading books. Night after night after night I showed up in a different bookstore and people were there with their hardbacks. Sure, I signed a couple of iPad covers, Kindle covers. I’ve got no problem with that. But just because some people like their e-readers doesn’t mean we should sweep all the remaining paperbacks in a pile and strike a match. Maybe bookstores are no longer 30,000 square feet, but they are selling books."

September 1st
2:46 PM EST

24 notes

blogfrombookstores:

Blogging From: Dolce Coffee

Although renamed Dolce Cofee in the real word, if you type this coffee house’s address into Google, you’ll find that it was previously called “Greenberry’s.” Social Media Management people! Someone tell the owner of this place that they need to up their game when it comes to the their online presence. Just kidding! Does it really matter? Probably, not. Plus, I’m not here to judge their marketing strategies. Although, I guess I just did. Anyway…

When it was good ol’ Greenberry’s, this place was a franchise. During that time another blogger called it a ”local Starbucks wannabe.” I don’t know what it was like before now, but I’m going to guess that it’s at least made a little bit of an improvement from being a chain coffee shop. It’s not the greatest or cutest or nicest place in the world, but I don’t see it as a Starbuck’s wannabe, which to me, would be worse than being an actual Starbucks. (Read more)

August 31st
10:16 PM EST

17 notes

"All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer."

11:36 AM EST

9 notes

The death of books has been greatly exaggerated

blogfrombookstores:

It’s almost impossible for someone who has spent decades working in a calm, creative environment not to be enraged by the sight of American technology companies tipping everything on its head.

But let’s not overdo things. Let’s not lose sight of the data we have, and let’s not invent data when we only have anecdotes. And finally, let’s not forget the wonders this new world opens up. Being able to download a book to read instantaneously wherever you are is a thing of wonder, after all (and there is some anecdotal suggestion that people are coming back to books via new digital platforms).

For authors, the chance to reach out to readers, instantly and effectively, is changing the way titles are marketed and delivers a glorious independence that comes with having your own digital presence to curate and to shape. There are new creative opportunities offered by interactive technologies. There is the chance to play in a world where books and stories can be either the private, cherished experience of old or a public, shared conversation with other readers from across the world.

So yes, the party’s still on. It’s not quite the same party, the drink’s a good deal cheaper and we’ve got crisps, not caviar. But there are more people invited, and some of them look pretty groovy. I’ll not get my coat just yet.

And as I learned from a fellow bookshop browser this weekend, people still love their bookstores!

August 29th
7:59 PM EST

6 notes

"I wanted to read my books, write my poems and drink with my friends at the West End bar."

4:06 PM EST

9 notes

blogfrombookstores:

Blogging From: Reston’s Used Bookstore

It’s the weekend of Hurricane Irene and today I went out and braved the storm in search of Reston’s Used Book Shop. Just kidding, it was only raining a tiny bit when I made the trip, but the store is located along the lovely Lake Anne and it definitely felt like a storm was brewing as I walked along the waterside.

Enough about the weather, though. What we’re here to talk about is the bookstore, and the bookstore we shall talk about! Reston’s Used Book shop is everything that the quintessential, cozy, cute book store should be and then some. Upon walking inside, I was immediately greeted by an antique-like china closet turned bookcase, filled with rare collectible books. The store has a classic, vintage-y vibe that triggered my old soul senses right away. It’s a cute little maze of tall, towering bookcases, all filled to the brink, with books of course. (Read more)