From the monthly archives:

September 2009

Social Publishing & More Good Stuff

by Patrick on September 29, 2009

One of the most consistently thought provoking and informative blogs on the web is The Lone Gunman.  Some of you no doubt follow it after Jason Kottke gave it a plug a few months back.  For those who haven’t taken the time to check it out, now would be a great time to start, as [...]

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Best of the Millennium?

by Patrick on September 25, 2009

I know I’ve been talking about this all week long, but it’s all been building to this moment.  Today, The Millions revealed its pick for the best fiction of the millennium (so far).  The top choice was The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. Author Margot Livesey writes about the book: Illuminated by Jonathan Franzen’s brilliant prose, [...]

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Branding: The Future of Publishing?

by Patrick on September 24, 2009

Bob Stein has written a very thoughtful and compelling post about the future of bookstores at if:book, the website for the Institute for the Future of the Book.  It’s an excellent piece, so please click through to read it in its entirety, but I’ll try to summarize a bit of it here.  His thesis is [...]

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Get Linked

by Patrick on September 23, 2009

It’s Wednesday afternoon, which means there’s a lot out there to point out.  Here’s what we’re excited about at the moment: Boing Boing has a post about this incredible bookstore now inhabiting an old church.  It’s bookstore porn, though, as one of the commenters laments, no wifi.  Darn. I’m mentioning it again:  The Millions will [...]

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Excerpts!

by Patrick on September 22, 2009

Two exciting excerpts (you have admit, that’s an awesome alliteration — another one!) are happening on the internet this week.  First, all this week, HTMLGIANT is excerpting Mark Bibbins’ new book of poetry The Dance of No Hard Feelings.  Today’s entry features a poem written with one of my favorite poets (yes, I have favorite [...]

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Meet the Bookseller: Alanna

by Patrick on September 21, 2009

We’re back with another in our wildly popular series Meet the Bookseller (for the previous installment, click here).  This time, we’re talking with Customer Service Manager Alanna Kirby.  There’s significantly less gum chewing in this video and significantly more giggling.  Hope you enjoy it. Click here to buy Alanna’s recommendations It’s Not Me, It’s You [...]

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Well, really it’s just the best of the decade, since, you know, the millennium is only one decade long so far.  Anyway, Max has put together an impressive panel of about 60 experts to vote for the best.  Each day, they’re posting five books, with the number one book coming on Friday, so stay tuned [...]

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Keeping the Internet Weird

by Patrick on September 18, 2009

My favorite thing about the internet is that it isn’t the newspaper.  Or actually, it’s that it isn’t TV.  It isn’t either of those things because it is so much weirder than those things.  Think about it, what’s the weirdest thing you’re likely to see in the newspaper?  Some story about a guy who uses [...]

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2009: The Best Book Year Ever?

by Patrick on September 17, 2009

Looking back through the National Book Award’s excellent project chronicling its 60 year history in blog posts (go read a few of them, if you haven’t already), it occurred to me that we’re in the midst of a year every bit as historic as any of the previous 60 years.  What am I talking about?  [...]

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Afternoon Coffee & Links

by Patrick on September 16, 2009

Well, I’m having coffee.  You’ll have to supply your own. Ander Monson, author of the excellent Other Electricities, has an interesting look at the “Essay as Hack:” I have lived the life of accessing networks, exploring PBX systems and phone lines, been publicly punished for it, for my audacity. Illegal access to credit cards, to [...]

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