I had not heard about B&N recovering and having stores one might like to go to now. I had not heard of Ted Gioia or his substack, either, but am enjoying poking around in it. It may make it to the sidebar soon. He is a jazz historian of many books, and the substack is music, books, and culture. He seems to have taught at Stanford's jazz studies program at some point
I was surprised, a few weeks ago, to see a new Barnes & Noble store (not far from one that closed a couple of years ago), and went in the check it out. Smaller than the older stores, but basically a nice place, complete with cafe. Stopped in again yesterday.
ReplyDeleteThere is more self-conscious Wokeness in the book selection & display than I would like...maybe inevitable given the political demographics of the area...but I found an interesting book I hadn't previously known about each time.
If they are letting the employees choose I think that will happen, but organically by local demographics instead of imposed by the national woke consciousness. I can live with that a lot more easily.
ReplyDeleteMy bookstore browsing days are over, for the most part. Though I occasionally browse Half Price Books, nearly all my purchases there are music CDs. I go to Barnes and Noble maybe once a year.
ReplyDeleteIn the last decade, I have done nearly all my book reading from e-books.Their ability to change font size and thickness make e-books easier to read for me than hard copy books. Nonetheless, many books published in previous decades are available only in hard copy- if at all. Such as Malcolm Muggeridge's Winter in Moscow, currently featured at NR's Great Books.
I have been reading books and articles about the Spanish Civil War. The lefty narrative on Spain, like the lefty narrative on Latin America, leaves out many inconvenient facts. (Such as Jose Calvo Sotelo. I recommend Stanley Payne.)
I looked up Warren Carroll's The Last Crusade on the Internet. Not available in e-books. Usually not available in hard copy at Barnes and Noble or Amazon. I found a new paperback edition from the Sophia Institute located, in of all places, Manchester NH.