“Buffalo Street Books, the Ithaca, N.Y., bookstore that closed last month and has reorganized as a coop (Shelf Awareness, March 7, 2011), is opening this coming Saturday, according to the Ithaca Journal. The store has more than 600 members and has raised $250,000.
The opening will include catering by Ithaca Bakery and music in the evening.”
Not such good news, from the same source:
“…Top bidder for the Davis-Kidd store in Memphis and the Fredericksburg, Va., Joseph-Beth was the Gordon Brothers liquidation chain, though Van Uum said a deal has been worked out for the Fredericksburg store to transfer to Books-A-Million, the Herald reported.”
I must confess that I did not properly appreciate indie bookstore Davis-Kidd during my years living in Memphis, but I did enjoy a few very nice lunches in their cafe. Sale to a liquidation company is truly sad, though, because that means it’s really over.
During most of 1991, I worked in downtown Ithaca, NY, just a few blocks from Buffalo Street Books, and whiled away a few lunch hours there. I really hope their second life as a co-op goes well (but if that could work anywhere, it’s Ithaca). My memories of the Ithaca Bakery – where I was first introduced to the glory of the Cheesecake Brownie – may be even fonder.
(BTW, a clarification on something I posted on Sunday: the freelance reviews I’ll be doing for Shelf Awareness are for their new, soon-to-launch “consumer edition” – watch for it!)
Gotta love a book festival that takes book bloggers seriously. The recent University of Central Florida (UCF) Book Festival had three official bloggers: Jenny, Sandy, and Heather (Zibilee) – well done, all! And the upcoming Newburyport (MA) Literary Festival will include a book-blogger panel (Saturday, April 30, at 11 AM). Note to the LA Times Festival of Books, which is happening the same weekend as Newburyport’s event: when do you plan to get with the program and give bloggers a place at the table?
Also re: bookish events, guest posts from Book Blogger Convention panelists kicked off the “Follow the Blog Tour” this week
“Culling” vs. “surrender” – the knowledge that you’ll never be able to see/read/hear everything worthwhile…and that’s OK
If your first and/or only exposure to the classic Greek play Lysistrata was Meg Wolitzer’s new novel, The Uncoupling, here’s a review of the source material.
Bibliomania: it’s for real, and not quite as much fun as you might think. Also from @BookaliciousPam: she’s cooking up a cookbook to benefit the hungry, and your recipes are wanted!
Sadly, anyone who really needs to read this post on review-query peeves probably won’t, but Wendy speaks for a lot of us (the comments certainly make that clear), so you REALLY should!
You may never have worked for a nonprofit, but perhaps you’ve given money to one (I’ve done both); either way, you should check out Melissa’s thoughtful insider take on the Three Cups of Tea/Greg Mortenson controversy.
Books on a Boat: Shipboard libraries that could really take you away!
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| Another look at Valley Books |
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| A replica Gutenberg Printing Press, upstairs in the “loft” at The Book Loft |
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| This may be the most picturesque Subway ever! |
