Highlights From BookExpo America 2010...

This year BookExpo America was busy, a good time, and a lot of work. Everywhere we went people were spotting Pete from the Green Apple Book vs. the Kindle Videos, commenting on how much they like the store, or ignoring us to stand in very long lines to get some random author to sign some random book that may or may not be worth the time.

As for myself I was trying to find the few small press booths around to see what the Fall will bring. Some of what I saw just came out, some is set for the Summer. Here are the books that look like great reads to me...

Anne Carson's Nox hit our display table just as I was getting ready to leave for B.E.A. and it is beautiful. I haven't had time to dissect and enjoy this book yet, but what I have read is amazing. New Directions was prominently displaying this and Antwerp, which I previously wrote about here.
New Directions says of Nox, "Anne Carson’s haunting and beautiful Nox is her first book of poetry in five years — a unique, illustrated, accordion-fold-out 'book in a box.'

Nox is an epitaph in the form of a book, a facsimile of a handmade book Anne Carson wrote and created after the death of her brother. The poem describes coming to terms with his loss through the lens of her translation of Poem 101 by Catullus 'for his brother who died in the Troad.' Nox

is a work of poetry, but arrives as a fascinating and unique physical object. Carson pasted old letters, family photos, collages and sketches on pages. The poems, typed on a computer, were added to this illustrated 'book,' creating a visual and reading experience so amazing as to open up our concept of poetry."

Along with the new release of Joshua Cohen's book Witz, Dalkey Archive is getting ready for the release of Best European Fiction 2011, in their annual Best European Fiction series. I, for one, cannot wait for this collection, as 2010 was amazing.

Green Apple also got a big thank you for our Running Away video!

(Also check out Self-Portrait Abroad: A Novel Toussaint's newest release from Dalkey)

One of my new friends in the publishing world is Graywolf Press. They have been putting out quality books since the mid-seventies, but have really come into their own. What were they touting for the Summer/Fall? Well it shouldn't be too hard to guess since I put a picture of the cover just to the left of this...

That's right a new Per Petterson novel, I Curse the River of Time. It's short but this galley has already been making the rounds and looks to be just what it is...another fantastic book from Per Petterson!

I also got to meet Jessica Francis Kane, who's first novel, The Report, will be released in September.

And lastly (though there were a lot of great books to be seen this year I will update you on more later) The good people of Coffee House Press are very excited by Andrew Ervin's Extraordinary Renditions.

So stay tuned to thegreenapplecore and always check out our display shelves for the best in small press new releases.

The Book vs. the Kindle, Round 8: Staff Favorites

Welcome to Round 8. It may be too late for the Kindle to come back, but there's still reason to watch: Sparks and Nick get saltier every time, if nothing else. . . .

Herein we pit Green Apple's Staff Favorites display (the best-selling bookcase in the store, mind you) against Amazon's inventory for Kindle. You may be surprised at how few of the 35 or so titles on our display are available on the Kindle. . . .

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.

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 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. . . .

The Book vs. the Kindle, Round 2: buying a book

Here's Round 2 of the smackdown between The Book and Amazon's Kindle e-reader. An intro to the series is here, as is Round 1.

Enjoy, and check back tomorrow for Round 3.

The Book vs. the Kindle, Part 1 of 10

People keep asking me, as an owner of an old-fashioned brick-and-mortar independent bookstore, what I think of the Amazon Kindle, one of the many “e-readers” available. So I bought one.

I admit, I was curious. The buzz is nearly screeching; and there must be a reason we don’t sell as many John Grisham novels as we did when I started 16 years ago; and who can resist the appeal of a new gadget dedicated to one of life’s necessary pleasures: reading.

Sure, I had heard some bad stories: there’s the class-action lawsuit against Amazon concerning screens that crack. And the recent brouhaha about Amazon silently removing 1984, Animal Farm, and other titles from Kindles (albeit for a good reason—they had sold pirated copies). And having seen Amazon founder Jeff Bezos laughing on Jon Stewart's Daily Show is enough to make anyone scared.

And while there are some thoughtful, balanced articles out there, like Nicholson Baker’s piece in the current New Yorker, I wanted to see for myself.

So Green Apple's crack video crew came at it with an open mind, pitting “The Book” against the Kindle in a smack-down of the most literary sort. We had plenty of help from some, um, "talented" folks, as you'll see.

What follows over the next ten days are ten short videos, taking a careful, if tongue-in-cheek, look at each “format.”

Enjoy Episode 1, and check back tomorrow for Episode 2.