January 28, 2008
A Bookstore Grows in Brooklyn
Friends have often told me “You should have a bookstore, Bud.” But the truth is if I had a bookstore of my own I’d go out of business within a month. Example: Customer walks in and asks for a copy of Nanny Diaries to which I reply, looking over my reading glasses, “I’m sorry, we don’t carry that title. May I interest you in, perhaps… War & Peace? You know, we have two new translations and I’m happy to discuss which you might find more appealing [strains of Bach’s B minor Mass in the background].”
“Uh, no thanks.”
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
But there are people who are serious about bookselling, to the point of putting together a well-thought business plan for their potential store. And, just as important, there are people out there with money willing to fund such a plan based on its merits, even to the point of overcoming their pre-conceived notion of how disastrous it might be to open a bookstore in the age of Amazon and high rents. Congratulations, Jessica! She won the Brooklyn Business Library PowerUp! Business Plan Competition to the tune of $15,000 for her business plan to open a bookstore in Brooklyn. Read about it at her blog, The Written Nerd.
Comments
Our local BookCourt does that - the books are varied, but you’ll find stuff that is right for the neighborhood (books from indie presses is one example) and they are involved with local writers, doing readings and such. They are expanding, so I guess it’s working.
– Bud Parr (01/28 02:16 PM)
Anyone coming into this business has to absolutely love it and have a distinct point of view. It doesn’t take much of a search on the internet to see that there are many wonderful virtual independent storefronts trying to make a name and a “profit” for themselves just as there are some wonderful neighborhood bookstores.
Favorite customer question over the years: “there was this book on the today show and I can’t remember the title or the author but it was blue”
– Mary (01/30 08:10 PM)
So, which translation would you suggest? I’m forever partial to Constance Garnett’s. I wasn’t wildly impressed with the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation of Anna Karenina (since it differed little from Garnett’s); and when I looked at their recent translation of War & Peace, I again didn’t see the need to upgrade from Connie.
(My love of the Garnett W&P; hinges primarily on the Daniel Cooper scene very early in the novel. I didn’t want to give the impression that my preference was at all scholarly. I just think the Garnett reads better.)
(By the way, I found you through Edward Champion’s blog.)
– Mike B. (02/07 10:54 AM)
Well, I was being tongue-in-cheek, Mike because I’ve only read the Maud translation, which is the standard. I am intrigued by the new Pevear & Volkhonsky translation. I’ve read some of their Dostoevsky translations and I’ve seen them speak about their translation philosophy. And then there’s the Bromfield translation that just came out too, which is apparantly from the “original version” of the book - that one is slightly shorter (my copy is a proof, but it’s 912 pages) versus over 1200 pages for the P&V;translation (My Maud translation was one of those Norton editions and I think they pack them in so the pagination is not the same). Thanks!
– bud Parr (02/07 09:15 PM)
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Recent Comments
Such a long time since I have read any Muldoon. I will look for that WZ poem. Thanks.
– genevieve
on “Muldoon on Colbert”
I love Ish (not least for his continued advocacy for children of war around the world) and Open Book TV. And of course Madiba is always great. I think I could have done with fewer mystical echoing flutes-of-sadness though.
About the ICC: such an important struggle, and so anathema to the idea of American Exceptionalism we are all raised on. That, along with the debate over humanitarian intervention, look to be the defining international issues of our time exactly because they cannot be reduced to simple dichotomies, or even unambiguous moral stances. By which I mean to say I’m looking forward to the film.
– Dustin
on “More Connections”
Thanks, Sven. Who knew I’d be blog of the week somewhere, anywhere… Nice to know.
– Bud Parr
on “New Words Without Borders: Writing from Pakistan”
A friend of mine had planned to open a bookstore in Astoria, last year. Though, after a few weeks of planning and re-thinking, she dropped the idea. The reasons were pretty similar the ones you wrote. I think in a post-amazon, post-B&N;world one way for a bookstore to thrive is to offer what they can’t. For example a bookstore geared towards the neighborhood it’s in or towards local writers or a bookstore with a changing theme based on the current events or such.
– Parth (01/28 01:42 PM)