All Books Must Go

There's a huge sale this week at the 57th Street and Park Avenue location of Borders which is totally going out of business. They filed for bankruptcy last week. Other better performing branches of Borders are staying open, but the company is struggling with the massive changes rocking the book industry and hasn't been able to meet its debts or pay publishers and landlords.

Buy The Books, Please

You are apparently supposed to buy the books and not just copy or photograph them. I've done this before, but certainly not at St. Marks. Sometimes you don't really need the whole book, you just want some information contained inside. Wouldn't it be a waste of paper if you bought the book for just one page? As I see it, you're saving the environment. Photograph away, just don't do it at St. Marks Bookshop.

New Yorkers Are Not Rude

If you're not from New York then you surely know that the city has a reputation for a certain amount of rudeness. It's really not true. New Yorkers aren't any ruder than anyone else or from any other city. Yes, we do everything a lot faster and have less patience for slowness than elsewhere in the world. However, I think we just don't want to be bothered by anyone handing us flyers or begging for money or asking directions or any other sort of random nonsense and that comes off as rudeness. But most New Yorkers are actually very helpful if they aren't rushing off somewhere. Though that's actually rather rare that we're not rushing from one place to another. We do have helpful opinions and ideas about everything and anything and are usually not afraid to share a good tip on a restaurant or a quick way to get somewhere.

One thing we New Yorkers do love is to point out other people's rudeness. So we're used to seeing great signs like the one taped to the information desk/book pick up counter downstairs in the basement at The Strand Book Store telling us exactly how not to be rude. There are a lot of books behind the counter awaiting pickup and I can just imagine it can get pretty frustrating when people come up to the desk all day long and point a finger in the general direction of the massive wall of books and say "I have those books right THERE on hold."

All that being said, The Strand has a really great system for ordering books. You just call and place your order and they find it in the 18 trillion miles of books (and growing) and wrap a rubber band around the books and place them behind the counter awaiting your eventual pickup. It's super efficient, just don't be rude and point your finger.

Captain Kirk's Guide To Woman

If you needed a guide to women, this is it. It's available on the corner of Broadway and 64th Street.

Giant Octopus

I like giant octopus. One of the most mysterious undersea creatures. I saw this one at a great, great Japanese bookstore called Kinokuniya. It's on 6th Avenue and 41st Street, right across from Bryant Park. They sell toys and videos and magazines, but mostly books. There was so much good stuff there. This is what I should have gotten for my birthday if you would have remembered. Oh well, it's not too late. I accept late birthday presents.

Cleaning Day

A lot of blurry books.

Start to Read

One of these books is not like the others.

Sesame Street Elmo Animal Mix & Match is a super effective way to teach your kids to start reading. They are never too young to learn. Madison Avenue somewhere in the 40s.

The movie opens in 8 days!

18 Miles of Paper

Can you really have too many books?

If you're like me, you know the answer to that question. I like The Strand, but I don't love the Strand like some people. There is something that I can't quite put my finger on, but even still this is probably one of the best places to get books in New York City. I primarily buy the art and photography books on the 2nd Floor, the review copies of new fiction and non-fiction in the basement and sometimes I even find myself lugging a small stack of new cookbooks up to the register.

(The purple dress is nice too.)