The Book vs. the Kindle, Round 7: Storytime

OK. We have not yet been fair OR balanced, but now it's just going to get gratuitous. Yes, we will shamelessly use our very own children to illustrate the value of the printed book. Enjoy, spread the word, and buy a kid a book.

August Book of the Month: The Big Rewind!

The Green Apple AV Club has teamed up with the kids at French Press Films to bring you a fancy new video for our August Book of the Month, The Big Rewind by Nathan Rabin.

This isn't just your average pop culture memoir peppered with references and snark-- while that's expected of Rabin, one of the head writers of the Onion's notorious AV Club, The Big Rewind is the surprisingly moving story of Rabin's tumultuous childhood, his upbringing through various group and foster homes, reconnecting with his father, and how becoming a critic actually saved his life. Through it all, Rabin's writing is hilarious, but most importantly, genuine.

The Book vs. the Kindle, Round 6: Finding the right read

Now let's pit the Kindle's search function against a bookseller's knowledge. Surely a handheld computer can help this young lady find just the right book for her boyfriend? Comeback time for the Kindle?

The Book vs. the Kindle, Round 5: The Icebreaker

Who has the smooth moves with the ladies? It's Round 5 of the smackdown between The Book and Amazon's Kindle e-reader thing. Let's check out the action:




(note: many comments have focused on how other e-readers are superior to the Kindle. We agree, and we're not against e-readers, per se. We just think the Kindle will soon be the 8-track of e-readers. And we're trying to keep our business thriving, of course. And we're just having fun. We hope you are, too).

The Book vs. the Kindle, Round 4: Nap Time

In episode 4 of 10 of the Book vs. Kindle smackdown, see what happens when a tired reader succumbs to sleep. Warning: graphic images of Jeff Bezos laughing. . . .

ACTION PACK'D

A while back my buddy Derek Charm and I were having a conversation about children's entertainment. Specifically, cartoons on the television. Now I hope I'm not losing the interest of anyone right off, I know this blog is primarily to be about books, but I promise I'll get there.

I'm not highly familiar with a lot of the cartoons aimed for young audiences today. I don't catch Nickelodeon as much as I'd like. It seems to me though, that kids have it pretty low impact compared to the weird stuff that I was growing up on. I was born in 1983, my friend Derek in '82. This means that by the time we were around eight or nine there were basically two fields that our viewing interests fell in-

a) The by that time dated Hanna-Barbera cartoons, full of references way over our heads. ( as a kid I remember watching an episode of Scooby-Doo guest starring Jonathan Winters and puzzling over who the heck he was the whole episode).

b) The then emerging cartoon programming directed towards adults, i.e. The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, etc.

So what is my point? Well, what my pal and I came to conclude is that during this period of time, while adults were trying to figure out just what was appropriate for an animated character to be doing on public television, we were in the midst of an important artistic gestation. We started drawing comics, writing, and without really realizing it were equally influenced by both the dated styles of the 60s and 70s (sorry if that makes anyone feel old), and the "twisted" modern cartoons and comics of the time. And of course we weren't the only ones. The current hit show The Venture Brothers (a Green Apple staff favorite, and a personal recommendation of my own) is a perfect example of the marriage of those two concepts.

I take cartooning very seriously, as does Derek Charm. It's not only is it a challenging medium to master, but it is still very young. Keeping one's work fresh and exciting, while still hailing back to a number of established, "functional" styles can prove to be difficult indeed. That being said I am proud to present that Green Apple Books will now be carrying Derek Charm's ACTION PACK. The book is 36 pages of comics and activities, printed in handy digest size and genuinely quite funny. Here is a quick preview of what you're in for:

Self-Published Authors

We're going to take a short time-out from our Kindle smackdown to return to our regularly scheduled blog, but be sure to check back on Monday for episode 4 comparing the joys of settling onto the couch with a book or a Kindle.

As the new book buyer, one of my responsibilities is to talk to self-published authors who want Green Apple to stock their book. If you ask buyers from other stores, I think you'll find that this is one of the least favorite parts of their job: having to deal with some pushy, self-promoting author who drops in without an appointment and expects you to stop whatever you're doing to meet with them.

I'll admit, I sometimes grumble when I get paged to the front counter for this purpose. And if I'm in an appointment, I'll give them The Heisman (i.e. politely ask them to come back at a better time).

However, I know that it is important for me to be open to these interactions for several reasons. For one, independent bookstores, I feel, have an obligation to stock books from local authors, assuming the books are reasonably well-produced and have some potential for selling. Two, pushy and self-promoting is the only way to get it done if you want to get your book into a store. And three, it's amazing how often I am pleasantly surprised by the author and/or their book.

The most recent example is when Rauf Naqishbendi dropped in to see if I would carry his book "The Garden of the Poets." Rauf is from Halabja, in Kurdistan, which was famously the victim of a chemical gas attack by Saddam Hussein in 1988, killing 5000 inhabitants. Here is a review of the book. I haven't read it, but it just makes you wonder at the people who walk into your store, and what stories they have to tell. This is one of them. Here are a few more.

Camp Quest has one of the worst covers, but two of the nicest authors I've ever met. Written by two former San Francisco teachers, it is set in a fictionalized Bay area locale during the years 1984-2028, and is about a science teacher who invents a drug that turns gifted but underachieving adolescents into dedicated students (what teachers fantasize about in their spare time, no doubt). The Shankels must have a lot of dedicated former students, because we've sold 36 copies so far.


Bill Lee's Chinese Playground, the story of his involvement with local Chinese gangs, earned him some death threats upon publication, but it is the best-selling consignment book in Green Apple history and has been course-adopted by some schools in San Francisco.

San Francisco has a long and sometimes bloody history of labor strife (the 75th anniversary of the Longshoreman's strike is this year). When The San Francisco Labor Landmarks Guide Book was presented to me, I knew we'd sell a few, but is has done much better than that, selling almost 40 copies in 6 months. A very different kind of tour guide.

A final word to all you self-published authors who are going to rush to the store- we are pretty strict about only carrying books by local authors, i.e. living on the west side of the city. And the books have to have a spine. And please call and make an appointment before coming by.