December 2011
32 posts
1 tag
1 tag
Anonymous asked: do you offer internships of some kind?
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Anonymous asked: My aunt loves... you know... "those" books. The Help. The Pirate's Daughter. White Oleander. Water for Elephants. Am I making sense? Maybe not. Maybe I shouldn't even be asking someone with such good taste. Anyway, she's 63, she used to be a discoqueenfaghag and was the first person to ever say the word "fuck" to me. Help?
“So it was decided that Emma would be prevented from reading novels. The project...”
– From the Lydia Davis translation of Madame Bovary. McNally Jackson: Poisonmongers.
throughtosomethingnew asked: any gift ideas for shakespeare lovers?
Anonymous asked: Hoping you can help. Looking for a book for a father-in-law type figure. He's from Spain, very liberal, very brainy. I scored big last year giving him Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke, which he loved, and he followed up reading House of Holes, which delighted him. I showed him a Javier Marias short story once, and he was not as smitten as I was. Sometimes he talks about wanting to know more...
meganlives asked: I'm having a pre-Christmas panic attack over what to get my dad. Usually I get him non-fiction, generic coffee-table books on "war" or "history." This year, I want to give him something he'll really love and actually READ. He likes non-fiction + history, is a veteran, and has little patience for pop culture or pretentious writing. Also, he's Southern and used to...
trivialkim asked: Late gift giving Q. My husband is a weekend fisherman, doesn't read a ton, but likes a good non-fiction book with a story line (loved "Cod", for example, enjoyed "Perfect Storm", likes Everest adventure type books). Any suggestions?
Anonymous asked: So, I have a gift-giving issue, if you're still taking those. I have a friend who is really into obscure literature from countries whose literature may not be well known here in the States. I could go on, but I do know she likes Scandinavian and Hungarian (she's currently reading the latest Nadas), but I also know that the recent passing of Vaclav Havel has gotten her to want reading...
annawiener asked: Hi Sam! Any gift ideas for someone whose 2011 favorites included Stone Arabia, Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, The Family Fang, and A Good Hard Look? Bonus points for books set somewhere other than New York City. Also, this someone may or may not be my mother, so I'm going to preemptively veto House of Holes. Many many thanks. xA
Anonymous asked: I'm looking for a good read over winter break before I head to Paris for the semester. Any suggestions?
Anonymous asked: I do have a question, if it's not too late! What recent novels might be good for someone who loves every word F. Scott Fitzgerald ever spewed?
How to give gifts
Since you guys aren’t taking advantage of the Ask box for your thorny giving problems, we put together a list of books for all the people you might need to buy for. They’ll be posted here today and tomorrow. Gird yourselves!
Surprisingly, I am less sure than this guy on...
towirr:
A gentleman named Farhad Manjoo just posted a proudly contrarian article on Slate explaining why independent bookstores are not only irrelevent but maybe even harmful. I work at an independent bookstore, so that’s an argument I’d be very very curious to see made well. Honestly, I know the failings of small booksellers as well as anyone, and it’d be good to see them articulated. But...
Anonymous asked: My brother is a prematurely balding baby-faced graduate student in his mid-twenties. He calls me #sixbooks; I call him Professor Pants. Our favorite books are basically identical to Sam's, but we prefer smart-stupid stuff.. We have an informal competition at each holiday to see who can find the campiest book or card, e.g. his Father's Day Hallmark selection "You're my hero --...
Anonymous asked: What does The Bookmonger hope to find in his (hand-knitted?) stocking this Christmas?
rachelfershleiser asked: Just so I can compare you answer to WW Norton's and proclaim a king of my heart, I like edgy-cute contemporary literary fiction and bearded men. Go!
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Not Afraid to be Seasonally Mongerful
As non-denominational, non-sectarian winter stuff-buying season comes into full swing, AN ANNOUNCEMENT:
The Ask a Bookmonger box is open for all your book-buying questions. “I’ve got this aunt. Loves meditations on wilderness and solitude, maybe some history of fire management, but definitely solitude, definitely wilderness. Also dogs named Alice and the American Southwest.” And...
“You gotta face down yr demons! —————> 400 pp. ———> down [???]
—beard [?]...”
– Ed Park transcribes notes (taken on both sides of a yellow bank receipt—a particularly Bakerian detail!) from a talk Nicholson Baker gave at Columbia in February.
