Your favourite bookstore

[Talysia]

Hmm, I don't really have a favourite bookshop. If I don't buy online, then I tend to shop around. I love looking through the bigger shops - Waterstones and such - but I find a lot of bargains in the small, second hand shops or charity shops. I also love looking around boot sales and flea markets. Boxes upon boxes of books, usually cheap, and all waiting to be read.

 

[jenna]

I like the big stores, I shop mostly at Dymocks and Readers Feast, because they have the best selection and also good loyalty programs so I save a lot of money. Anything I can't find there I buy online. But I also duck into the second hand store every couple of weeks and buy a couple of $6 books that I've never heard of, just because...

 

[Kitera]

I mainly get my books at Angus and Robertson’s' bookstore, but I occasionally go to discount stores like K-mart and Target. The books are a lot cheaper there.

Kitera

 

[Spade]

McKay Used Books in Chattanooga. Best store ever... until they rearranged everything. It's like a maze. I get great books there for under a dollar... especially hardbacks. After they're a year old they get marked down drastically. Books-A-Million for new books around here, because they're the only place that takes care of them.

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

I was a bit worried about the university students too. Most of the ones who come to Silverfish here try to get Phek Chin or me to give them a summary of the books they are meant to be reading and/or write their papers for them in order to not have to actually read the book. This category also includes teachers, which is really rather scary.

But otherwise I do like the idea and it's something Phek Chin (she works in Silverfish) and me have been playing with. We've gone as far as looking for a suitable location so we can either expand Silverfish or open another place. It's been a dream for a long time.

Well, the way we keep the students out is pretty simple: no Cliff Notes for sale!

I do wish you the best on this enterprise. You can never have enough bookstores - especially well-stocked ones run by good people!

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

Ooooooo, Curt, souds like a heaven on earth! Yeah, a salon stuffed with mordern day Liszt, Chopin, George Sand....

Yes! I think we all harbour fantasies about our ideal bookstore. But here's the thing: it actually exists! Yep, that's right. You don't need to have your eyeglass prescription updated. You are reading this correctly. A defiantly delightful archaic hold-out from a former age; a unicorn-of-a-place impossibly and improbably champing and cantering under the shadow of the modern corporate giants.

In a mist-shrouded, rain-swept land called Portland, Oregon, surrounded by a vast intellectual wasteland called America, there is a fabled bookstore that hails by the name of Powell's; legendary for its 3 labyrinthine floors occupying an entire city block, its shelves surface-tensioned to near-eruption with all your heart's content. Men have entered never to return. Others, stout of heart and stern of visage have cried like newborn infants when torn from this magical, wondrous, womb-like paradise by threats of divorce, unemployment or the rumble of an empty tummy . . . .

So, yes, Virginia, there really is a Powell's!

(By way of a minor digression, did you ever see a film called Impromptu? It's one of my all-time favourite movies! The lives of the great 19th century artists played as screwball comedy. Brilliant, witty stuff!)

 

[Taltos]

My favourite doesn't exist yet - it should be something with the stocks like Amazon/Ozon etc. (with the full searching capability) and exist as a actual store, so I could take the book with me, once I've bought it - sadly, that will never happen and especially here.

 

[Allegra]

Yes! I think we all harbour fantasies about our ideal bookstore. But here's the thing: it actually exists! Yep, that's right. You don't need to have your eyeglass prescription updated. You are reading this correctly. A defiantly delightful archaic hold-out from a former age; a unicorn-of-a-place impossibly and improbably champing and cantering under the shadow of the modern corporate giants.

In a mist-shrouded, rain-swept land called Portland, Oregon, surrounded by a vast intellectual wasteland called America, there is a fabled bookstore that hails by the name of Powell's; legendary for its 3 labyrinthine floors occupying an entire city block, its shelves surface-tensioned to near-eruption with all your heart's content. Men have entered never to return. Others, stout of heart and stern of visage have cried like newborn infants when torn from this magical, wondrous, womb-like paradise by threats of divorce, unemployment or the rumble of an empty tummy . . . .

So, yes, Virginia, there really is a Powell's!

(By way of a minor digression, did you ever see a film called Impromptu? It's one of my all-time favourite movies! The lives of the great 19th century artists played as screwball comedy. Brilliant, witty stuff!)

Curt, digression first - of course I've seen Impromptu and it's also one of my favs! Though I thought Hugh Grant was a bit too English for Chopin but the film as whole is excellent. Once I've seen a Polish production about Chopin, the film's title is something like The Lust of Love, which oddly enough is in English and the Polish actors and filmmakers did a fantastic job, not quite the same type as Impromptu though, more of a realistic approach. You may be able to find it in a good library.

My imagination went flying with your Powell's description and came to a halt at the wording 'Men have entered never to return' then descending all the way to the very earth of 'unemployment or the rumble of an empty tummy..' I do believe the Kaffeehaus culture exist till today in many cities especially in Europe where there's culture. May be mostly in Cafés rather than bookstores. You just have to know where to look. A few years ago a friend took me to a small Café in a dark narrow damp street of Florence saying that's a local elite gathering place, 5 minutes later we got seasick and had to escape - not from the powerful brainwaves but the heavy smoke (isn't smoking banned in public?)!

Now comes a major digression. Have you seen the film The Red Violin (Violon rouge, Le (1998))? If not, don't miss it! Since you like Impromptu you are going to love this one.

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

Curt, digression first - of course I've seen Impromptu and it's also one of my favs! Though I thought Hugh Grant was a bit too English for Chopin but the film as whole is excellent. Once I've seen a Polish production about Chopin, the film's title is something like The Lust of Love, which oddly enough is in English and the Polish actors and filmmakers did a fantastic job, not quite the same type as Impromptu though, more of a realistic approach. You may be able to find it in a good library.

My imagination went flying with your Powell's description and came to a halt at the wording 'Men have entered never to return' then descending all the way to the very earth of 'unemployment or the rumble of an empty tummy..' I do believe the Kaffeehaus culture exist till today in many cities especially in Europe where there's culture. May be mostly in Cafés rather than bookstores. You just have to know where to look. A few years ago a friend took me to a small Café in a dark narrow damp street of Florence saying that's a local elite gathering place, 5 minutes later we got seasick and had to escape - not from the powerful brainwaves but the heavy smoke (isn't smoking banned in public?)!

Now comes a major digression. Have you seen the film The Red Violin (Violon rouge, Le (1998))? If not, don't miss it! Since you like Impromptu you are going to love this one.

Hi Allegra:

Well, Hugh Grant isn't one of my favourite actors to begin with and I noticed how his Polish accent kept fading in and out during the course of the film like a secondary theme in one of Chopin's Etudes. Still, if it's an effete, class-conscious prig that you need, there are far worse choices than Mr. Grant to play the role!

Now after hearing your description, I'll have to dig up The Lust of Love! I just love doing a bit of sleuthing to uncover a real gem of a book or movie!

Speaking of the love affair between Sand and Chopin, here's an absolutely first-rate account of it entitled, Chopin's Funeral by Benita Eisler. It comes with my highest recommendation. You're gonna love it!

Here, in many quarters of America, the word "culture" is held in suspicion and contempt. That the kaffeehaus culture still thrives in Europe doesn't surprise me since their values are practically antithetical to that of Americans (excluding the nicotine fixation, of course!). Beyond the petty mercantilist obsessions of my fellow countrymen, there are other hurdles to overcome: an inadequate education system and its end results: widespread ignorance, political apathy and social alienation. The internet - which, ironically, is partly responsible for undermining person-to-person social interaction in the first place - is helping to connect and unite those isolated individuals for whom culture is a vital part of their existence.

The Red Violin - that movie is a true masterpiece! I could easily go on and on raving about it. I saw it in the theatres about 5 times and own it on DVD (of course!). Talk about a flawless production on an epic scale that traverses even time and nations - yet at it's heart's centre is a deeply personal tragedy that sets the whole story in motion - with more than a whiff of supernaturalism.

This is an unusual movie on another level too: it has a literary depth and richness usually found only in films that have adapted a book to the screen. Yet here I believe it was largely an original screen story (although there is some intrigueing and suspicious overlap in John Hersey's book, Antonietta.)

All I can say Allegra is that you have excellent taste!

 

[Allegra]

Thanks, Curt. And thank you for the recommendation of the book Chopin's Funeral, I'll definitely get it with my next book order. Being a big Chopin lover I've read a couple of run-of-the-mill Chopin biography and can't wait to read a good one! Oh I got that Polish film's name terribly wrong. It's Chopin: Desire for Love. I'm surprised to find it on amazon: Amazon.com: Chopin: Desire For Love: DVD: Adamczyk,Stenka,Woronosicz.

About The Red Voilin, you sumed it up perfectly. What you said "at it's heart's centre is a deeply personal tragedy that sets the whole story in motion" and "it has a literary depth and richness usually found only in films that have adapted a book to the screen" are so true! It's a shame that such a brilliant masterpiece is terribly underrated (back to the culture issue). There are other two wonderful non-Hollywood classical music related films I love: Shine (isn't Geofrrey Rush brilliant!) and Roman Polansky's The Pianist. Have you seen Amadeus? I totally dislike it. Mozart was featured like a little clown with an American teenager's accent. But the movie won the Oscar somehow. The only credit as far as I can see is for the superb performence of Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri - if you ignor the historic fact that Antonio was not an evil but a great musician who taught Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert and even Mozart's son.

Now, where were we? Oh the bookstore - digression is a guity pleasure. Well, though there will never be a bookstore of our dream, at least we have the internet, as you said.

Merry Xmas!

 

[Rosemary]

Any bookshop is!! Although Dymocks or Angus and Robinson have a very good selection

 

[0123vicky3210]

Theres a Borders near where I live. I love it. (partly because it has a Starbucks above it )

 

[Pyan]

We've got two Waterstones, one with a Costa Coffee area in it, and a Borders has just opened, with Starbucks. We also have a Forbidden planet, but that runs mainly to Manga and Star Trek 'novelizations'. Usefully, though, it can get Tor, Baen and Daw books.My favourite stoe, though, is in Carlisle, Cumbria. It's called Bookends, on Castle Street, and is exactly like the Unseen University Library, full of tiny rooms stuffed full of books, stairs, dead-ends, etc.

Bookends in United Kingdom, Castle St - Yahoo! Local UK

 

[HoopyFrood]

Wow, Bookends sounds amazing, Pyan! I've always wanted to go into a bookshop like that. Or one like the book shop in The Dark Tower series, which is set out like a restaurant!

 

[Curt Chiarelli]

Thanks, Curt. And thank you for the recommendation of the book Chopin's Funeral, I'll definitely get it with my next book order. Being a big Chopin lover I've read a couple of run-of-the-mill Chopin biography and can't wait to read a good one! Oh I got that Polish film's name terribly wrong. It's Chopin: Desire for Love. I'm surprised to find it on amazon: Amazon.com: Chopin: Desire For Love: DVD: Adamczyk,Stenka,Woronosicz.

About The Red Voilin, you sumed it up perfectly. What you said "at it's heart's centre is a deeply personal tragedy that sets the whole story in motion" and "it has a literary depth and richness usually found only in films that have adapted a book to the screen" are so true! It's a shame that such a brilliant masterpiece is terribly underrated (back to the culture issue). There are other two wonderful non-Hollywood classical music related films I love: Shine (isn't Geofrrey Rush brilliant!) and Roman Polansky's The Pianist. Have you seen Amadeus? I totally dislike it. Mozart was featured like a little clown with an American teenager's accent. But the movie won the Oscar somehow. The only credit as far as I can see is for the superb performence of Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri - if you ignor the historic fact that Antonio was not an evil but a great musician who taught Beethoven, Liszt, Schubert and even Mozart's son.

Now, where were we? Oh the bookstore - digression is a guity pleasure. Well, though there will never be a bookstore of our dream, at least we have the internet, as you said.

Merry Xmas!

How did I miss this post? Many apologies Allegra!

I agree with you about The Pianist and Shine. Although I can certainly understand and respect your objections to Amadeus I must admit to liking the film. Author Peter Shaffer was less concerned with historical accuracy than he was in using the legendary rivalry between Salieri and Mozart as a springboard for examining the nature of jealousy and the artist's relationship to his society.

Let's face it: watching the act of creation - no matter how sublime or thrilling the end product - is about as electrifying as watching mould grow on a baseboard. So, the dramatist waltzes in and gingers things up a tad with fictional doses of sex, intrigue and violence to make these confections more palatable to the greater viewing public. No matter how far these turgid little soap opera melodramas stray from the facts (and here I felt that Immortal Beloved was truly offensive to the memory of Beethoven) they always assume that pandering to the lowest common denominator must be a given. They have no faith in the natural conflicts found within an artist's life being substantial or compelling enough to support a drama.

What sets Amadeus above the rank-and-file biopic is its story arc, witty dialogue and it's profound underlying thesis concerning the divine justice of bestowing great gifts upon one (perhaps morally undeserving?) man whilst denying many (more virtuous?) others who desire and would appreciate them far more.

We can't forget that no matter how briliant Mozart was as a composer he was also a man - and a flawed one at that. Mozart was a lively, vulgar, but playful man. He loved pranks and jokes of all types, possessed a strong ego because he knew his worth as a composer, had a powerful sex drive that ocassionally spilled over outside the boundary of his marriage to Konstanze, loved drinking and making merry with his fellow court musicians (who, we shouldn't forget, were at that time considered social inferiors, of a stature not much higher than a groomsman or valet). Here the filmmakers were representing Mozart and his milieu accurately - even as they alienated his diehard fans the world over. What many fans - in their need to cannonize and defend him from the cheapjack exploiters - is that his playful, child-like personality is the wellspring from which his music draws its fresh, effervescent, eternally youthful qualities that still delight audiences more than 200 years after his death.

On the other hand the darker side is, of course, his innumerable scatological wordplays and references. His letters to his sister Nanerl are chock-full of these. What his fixation on rectal functions tells us about his nature is probably best left to the clinical psychologists. That the filmmakers chose to focus on his more puerile traits to the exclusion of others informs us that they were possibly playing up to the egalitarainism of the public . . . . however historically accurate or well it supported the basic premise of the film in the first place.

As far as Antonio Salieri goes, he's certainly received the the worst bum rap in the history of the arts. You're right in saying that he was a great teacher and a good, highly respected composer - if not at the level of some of his more esteemed pupils like Beethoven and Schubert.

Here's hoping that this post finds you and yours in great health and in even better spirits for the upcoming New Year!

 

[Blue Tyson]

fishpond.com.au

Minotaur Books

Known Space books

 

[Allegra]

How did I miss this post? Many apologies Allegra!

I agree with you about The Pianist and Shine. Although I can certainly understand and respect your objections to Amadeus I must admit to liking the film. Author Peter Shaffer was less concerned with historical accuracy than he was in using the legendary rivalry between Salieri and Mozart as a springboard for examining the nature of jealousy and the artist's relationship to his society.

Let's face it: watching the act of creation - no matter how sublime or thrilling the end product - is about as electrifying as watching mould grow on a baseboard. So, the dramatist waltzes in and gingers things up a tad with fictional doses of sex, intrigue and violence to make these confections more palatable to the greater viewing public. No matter how far these turgid little soap opera melodramas stray from the facts (and here I felt that Immortal Beloved was truly offensive to the memory of Beethoven) they always assume that pandering to the lowest common denominator must be a given. They have no faith in the natural conflicts found within an artist's life being substantial or compelling enough to support a drama.

What sets Amadeus above the rank-and-file biopic is its story arc, witty dialogue and it's profound underlying thesis concerning the divine justice of bestowing great gifts upon one (perhaps morally undeserving?) man whilst denying many (more virtuous?) others who desire and would appreciate them far more.

We can't forget that no matter how briliant Mozart was as a composer he was also a man - and a flawed one at that. Mozart was a lively, vulgar, but playful man. He loved pranks and jokes of all types, possessed a strong ego because he knew his worth as a composer, had a powerful sex drive that ocassionally spilled over outside the boundary of his marriage to Konstanze, loved drinking and making merry with his fellow court musicians (who, we shouldn't forget, were at that time considered social inferiors, of a stature not much higher than a groomsman or valet). Here the filmmakers were representing Mozart and his milieu accurately - even as they alienated his diehard fans the world over. What many fans - in their need to cannonize and defend him from the cheapjack exploiters - is that his playful, child-like personality is the wellspring from which his music draws its fresh, effervescent, eternally youthful qualities that still delight audiences more than 200 years after his death.

On the other hand the darker side is, of course, his innumerable scatological wordplays and references. His letters to his sister Nanerl are chock-full of these. What his fixation on rectal functions tells us about his nature is probably best left to the clinical psychologists. That the filmmakers chose to focus on his more puerile traits to the exclusion of others informs us that they were possibly playing up to the egalitarainism of the public . . . . however historically accurate or well it supported the basic premise of the film in the first place.

As far as Antonio Salieri goes, he's certainly received the the worst bum rap in the history of the arts. You're right in saying that he was a great teacher and a good, highly respected composer - if not at the level of some of his more esteemed pupils like Beethoven and Schubert.

Here's hoping that this post finds you and yours in great health and in even better spirits for the upcoming New Year!

Hi Curt, thank you for your kind words and wish you all the best in 2007 too!

You are quite right about Amadeus' writer and director's intention - the film is not a portrait of a music genius but a human drama of jealousy, hatred and murder. It's more of a story of Salieri rather than Mozart. I've read about Mozart as a child prodigy being both spoilt and exploited and the rumours that he might have had tourette syndrome which was a convenient explanation to his obscene language and inappropriate social behaviour... However, Mozart as one of the greatest music genius of all time who wrote his symphonies no. 1 - 5 at age 9, and first opera at 11, has become less of a human and more of a god to me. That's why I was disturbed to see him like a spoilt brat on 'The Moving Pictures' (at least they could have faked some accent). But I think I'll watch it again from a different angle, and remember that he was a man.

 

[Saolta Oiche]

Fast becoming is The Book Depository, if you can count an online store that is.

 

[Anomander]

Forbidden Planet works for me. It's always nice to be surrounded by fellow weirdos and misfits.

 

[dsmith]

For new books, there is a new Borders near me. Most of the used bookstores in my area have closed, but there is one called The Bookrack where I can sometimes get used books at cheap prices. ONline I tend to use alibris.com most of the time, sometimes amazon.