January 03, 2005

Keyser Soze Loves Lit Blogs

 


Our dear friend Traver Kauffman (who?) tells us about a David Milofsky article on literary blogs* at DenverPost.com.


Following the press on blogging, I’ve found there are generally two types of write-ups on the phenomenon: they either introduce blogging and marvel at some peculiar aspect such as something about relationships and how blogging perverted social norms, or they introduce blogging and marvel at some peculiar aspect, like how can pajama clad non-professionals know anything.


This article, while slipping toward the latter (“There’s no accounting for taste, and anyone with a computer is welcome at the party.”) at least commends the idea of literary blogging when we are otherwise seeing a shrinking audience for literature. Mr. Milofsky rounds up the usual suspects, but says that many other blogs have “no editing either, which is sometimes painfully obvious” (hey, doesn’t my wife count).


Milofsky warns his readers, “Some of the books discussed might be a bit elegant or refined for the average reader…” sounding like the side of a cigarette pack, but, oddly, goes on to say that “… it’s important to remember that blogging is vox populi. ” Suggesting?


Anyway, I’m always glad to see attention for lit-blogging instead of all the articles on political blogs. Sooner or later there will be enough of these articles that people will stop asking me “what the hell are you doing?

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"Keyser Soze Loves Lit Blogs" was posted January 03, 2005 and written by Bud Parr.

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Recent Comments

Hi Bud,

This is so bittersweet to read. I wish U of Penn more than luck in tackling the collection and making an exhibit for the books. I can’t wait to see the store again. I used to work at Gotham (all too) briefly, from the summer of 2001 to the fall of 2002 when I was 19 and in school for illustration. The building, the books, and especially the people (I had amazing co-workers, plus some really lovely customers) have a special place in my heart. I’m was hoping the link would mention Andreas (Andy) Brown, the last owner of GBM, but no such luck.

I was going to venture a guess that if the old man you met at the store was a GBM employee it might have been Phillip Lyman, but my understanding was Mr. Lyman was notoriously well-read (and had substantial library himself) so I suppose he would not have been reading Dante for the first time when you met him. More likely it was one of our splendid customers. It happened more than once that one customer on the floor would ask me about an author or title and I would meet them with my perfectly hopeless stare ‘n stammer—until another customer that had overheard the plea would effortlessly proffer the desired answer or suggestion. I learned so much working there, from everyone, but was a pretty useless specimen while the learning percolated. One of the more useful employees (our resident poetry expert) recently got a shout-out over at the New Yorker’s book blog after being made famous at the splendiferous Kwik Meal #1 cart:

New Yorker Link

One more book nerdy bit before I cut off the nostalgia trip. The above-mentioned Marc was the first person to Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino in my hands; I read it up in the 2nd floor gallery on my lunch breaks (lunch from Kwik Meal #1, of course), surrounded by art books and Edward Gorey paraphernalia. That book took (and takes, I’ve re-read it many times) me so many places, but when I’m lucky it takes me back to Gotham’s gallery, by the 2nd floor window where the constant refrain of the gold and diamond sellers coming in through the window mingled with the dulcet tones of NPR from a radio bigger than a microwave and the smell of old paper—all unchanged almost more than a decade later. At least in my mind. It’s still one of my favorite books (and authors), ever. Marc also blessed me with recommendations of Wallace Stevens’ Palm At The End of the Mind, Moby Dick with the Rockwell Kent illustrations, and my first ever NYC apartment: a little studio over in Astoria, Queens. Everyone at that store was overflowing and generous with knowledge, stories and history.

Places like Gotham do more than provide fodder for sentimental blog comment drivel though; I hope the lessons learned from the ongoing troubles are shaping a new generation of booksellers and customers that can find ways to thrive. Bookstores don’t belong in museums. Wise men fish there.

– (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
on “Well That's That”


Best wishes for the holidays, Bud.

I used to work in the Pan Am/Met Life Building in Manhattan.  I would walk over to Gotham at lunch and browse, browse, browse.  Books were the only thing I ever bought on that stree.  It’s a shame it’s gone.  Thanks for the update for those of us no longer living in NYC.  Atlanta is not so much a book haven.

Best,
Jim H.

– Jim H.
on “Well That's That”


Yeah, for all of our technology - which is great - I mean you and I are talking about this from two ends of the country - but there’s nothing like being there.

– Bud Parr
on “Well That's That”