I thought that's what I was saying: my tastes are too quirky/cerebral. No
one'sfault but my own. (Though as for customers messing with the political
balance
of your book displays . . . would the exact tactics differ if you worked in
Berkeley, or
Manhattan, or Austin, versus in the O.C.?)
And I will have you know that Postrel's literary agent also represents
serious writers like
Salman Rushdie, along with some pop-science lightweight called David Linden
. . . Sounds
kinda Jewish to me. Whaddya think?
Actually, I think some of you would like Postrel's second book, The
Substance of Style.
The premise is that aesthetics are relevant, and the line between what is
"useful"
and what is merely "cosmetic" might be a good deal finer than many of us
suppose.
--J
On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 2:47 PM, Alex Melnick <aemelnick_at_yahoo.com> wrote:
> Honestly, I'd never heard of Virginia Postrel. I see from our
> wholesaler's website that her most recent book came out four years ago
> and was published by Yale University Press. Sorry, but that's not
> something you're going to find in a run-of-the-mill, general interest
> bookstore. Nothing to do with her politics, and everything to do with
> business.
>
> You're complaining that there aren't conservative authors represented
> in general-interest bookstores. The truth may be more accurately that
> there aren't serious authors represented. You're not going to find
> George Lakoff in most stores, either.
>
>
> --- Joy McCann <joy.mccann_at_gmail.com <joy.mccann%40gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> > But you're entitled to your feelings and your perceptions. I
> > recognize that
> > I'm hard to please in bookstores, so I don't complain--I was able to
> > find
> > Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism at the La Canada Bookstore & Coffee
> > House,
> > but there's a lot of dreck out there that's "conservative" or at
> > least
> > looked at that way (Bill O'Reilly's just a populist, though I would
> > have
> > gone on his show to talk about this in a minute). And I've got no
> > interest
> > in it. Ann Coulter? Please.
> > What I want is Virginia Postrel, Thomas Sowell, Popper, Mencken.
> > Stuff like
> > that.
> >
> > So I walk out with a copy of Foreign Affairs, and order what I want
> > online.
> > I mean, I'm happy that Michelle Malkin sends me traffic, but that
> > doesn't
> > mean I'm going to read one of her books. (I don't even read books by
> > media
> > people I like: Larry Elder is great on the radio, but he can't write
> > worth a
> > damn.)
> >
> > Still--if I'm willing to spend the money, there's always something
> > wonderful
> > at a bookstore. Like David Sedaris. Who can quarrel with David
> > Sedaris?
> >
> > --J
> >
> > On Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 8:21 AM, Alex Melnick <aemelnick_at_yahoo.com<aemelnick%40yahoo.com>
> >
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I was going to stay out of this, but there were some comments in
> > Joy's
> > > blog about bookstores hiding conservative authors that have got me
> > > riled. I'll admit that it's possible that individual clerks may be
> > > hiding books, but the notion that there's any sort of organized
> > > movement to do so seems absurd. In the stores where I've worked,
> > > nearly every worker would rather sell a book they despise than no
> > book
> > > at all. It's simple economics.
> > >
> > > On the other hand, bookstores face a big problem with conservative
> > > customers who vandalize displays of liberal or even non-partisan
> > books.
> > > It's gotten to the point that our Anaheim store got rid of our
> > > election display, which was scrupulously balanced between liberal
> > and
> > > conservative best-sellers, because customers kept messing it up.
> > > They'd take any books with Obama on the cover (even the anti-Obama
> > > titles like "Obama Nation") and move them to other parts of the
> > store,
> > > hiding them behind or underneath stacks of unrelated titles, or
> > even
> > > tossing them up into the rafters. The McCain books, meanwhile, sit
> > > untouched (and, notably, unsold).
> > >
> > > Our clerks also have to deal with a constant stream of complaints
> > about
> > > the "liberal" leanings of our products. I worked the counter during
> > > much of the 2004 general election, and I got really very tired of
> > > dealing with this. It didn't matter how prominently displayed the
> > > conservative books were, the fact that we had even a single liberal
> > > book anywhere in the store was cause for complaint.
> > >
> > > Grumble. Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but this is a sore
> > subject
> > > with me.
> > >
> > >
> > > --- Christophe <xof_at_chanticleer.com <xof%40chanticleer.com> <xof%
> 40chanticleer.com>> wrote:
> > >
> > > > If anyone has managed to come up with a way of getting hundreds
> > of
> > > > teenagers to silently participate in a nation-wide conspiracy,
> > they
> > > > could be doing much more interesting things that suppressing the
> > box
> > > >
> > > > office on a movie.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Alex Melnick
> > > aemelnick_at_yahoo.com <aemelnick%40yahoo.com> <aemelnick%40yahoo.com> --
> > > http://www.geocities.com/alexm_94109
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Joy M. McCann
> > Goddess of Ink and Paper
> > (But pixels obey me, too.)
> > Mistress of proofreading, fact-checking,
> > Line-editing, and copyediting
> > Copy Write Editorial Services
> > 818/429-9806
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
>
> Alex Melnick
> aemelnick_at_yahoo.com <aemelnick%40yahoo.com> --
> http://www.geocities.com/alexm_94109
>
>
>
--
Joy M. McCann
Goddess of Ink and Paper
(But pixels obey me, too.)
Mistress of proofreading, fact-checking,
Line-editing, and copyediting
Copy Write Editorial Services
818/429-9806
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Received on 2008-10-10 15:01:08