Missed Connections fascinate because they say something about the nature of urban love, optimism and the need to believe the person who happens to be reading the same book across the train is your soul mate. Brooklyn artist Sophie Blackall has turned those finely crafted 21st century messages in a bottle into cute illustrations in Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found, which was released in September. The heartwarming book about “the mystery, the yearning, [and] at times the cosmic humor behind the ‘what if?’” includes stories about a hairy bearded swimmer, a shared bear suit, and a Hasidic woman on a ferry. Pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore before you trawl Craigslist this holiday season.
$13.95, Word and other local bookstores.
You’ve read everything by Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead (you call him “Cole”) and the Jonathans, and you’re even Facebook friends with Jonathan Ames. If you secretly believe you’re the +1 in n +1, we’ve got the next read for your McCarren Park beach towel. Literary Brooklyn is Evan Hughes’ new chronicle of the borough’s bookish icons, from rapscallions like Walt Whitman (the borough’s “first literary hipster”) and Henry Miller to Jhumpa Lahiri and her contemporaries. Unlike dutiful history books that guilt you from the shelf, this one really zips along. And we have three copies to give away to randomly chosen commenters on this post. Read the rest of this entry »
Been hiding your shame by stuffing that overdue copy of Mocking Jay under your bed for two months? Suck it up and return it, because the Brooklyn Public Library is offering amnesty all this month that will wipe away your overdue fines if you bring stuff back before May 1. The library reminds us, “When you return your materials, you ensure that everyone has access to the excellent books, DVDs and CDs the Library has to offer.” If you continue to be a jerk in the face of no-questions-asked amnesty, your $25 or higher fine will be turned over to a collection agency. And you don’t want to mess with library thugs. (via L Magazine.)
I can’t be the only one who hates on n+1 for being so cool, yet so inaccessible (read: costly). Electric Literature debuted a free iPad app, but if you can afford an iPad you probably don’t need our lit mag app to be free. As a publishing ingénue, I’m always on the lookout for quality writing from not yet overexposed writers that I can afford to read on an entry-level salary. Our humble borough offers digital dosages of not only Booker-Prize-worthy fiction, but also journalism, poetry, scholarship, and works that can’t be classified into any genre. If you worry that your cultural relevancy wouldn’t survive a New Yorker subscriptionl, treat yourself to one of these literary magazines, the best of the Brooklyn slush pile. Read the rest of this entry »
Emily Gould is reading Saturday night at Brooklyn Fireproof in Bushwick. Photo by Elinor Carucci for the NY Times.
Maybe you thought Brooklyn’s literati would still be regrouping after last month’s festivities, but no—the organized reading continues. On top of the always-solid line-up of bookish happenings in BK, a couple new free offerings this week caught our attention. Tonight, Oct. 19, at Fort Greene’s Greenlight Bookstore, a few well-known authors (Sheri Holman, Rick Moody and others) will be reading from their work to celebrate National Reading Group Month. The 6:30 event (with refreshments) is also being used to promote Greenlight’s in-house reading groups, beginning in January. Then Saturday, Fireside Follies, a new monthly reading series with some heavy-hitters, is kicking off at Brooklyn Fireproof in Bushwick. Read the rest of this entry »
Score! Brooke Bellott from Boerum Hill took home titles by Don Delillo, Haruki Murakami and Orhan Pamuk.
They came, they swapped, they drank beer — and they discussed the difference between African and Latin American magical realism. Sunday afternoon’s Great Brokelyn Book Swap turned out to be a whole lot of brainy, rainy-day fun, and lucrative, in that free loot sense, owing to the fact that everyone pretty much adhered to the rules and brought high-quality titles. There were several Orhan Pamuk title sightings, along with Malcolm Gladwell, Don Delillo, and at least four Stieg Larssons…. Read the rest of this entry »
Pair free drinks or some food with a concert, screening, book-reading, really any good-lookin’ free event, and we’ll likely tell you to check it out. But when the whole thing’s about drinks in the food? Well, two words: Rum. Cupcakes. Tonight, Jun. 22, at WORD bookstore, food writer and recipe tester Lucy Baker will read from her new book (a must-read, we say), The Boozy Baker: 75 Recipes for Spirited Sweets. The eponymous Baker will share tips, tricks and, yes, tastes, from her collection of classic desserts made all the better “with a healthy dose of alcohol.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Community Bookstore. Photo by Annie Wang.
Back in the day, you knew your neighborhood used bookstore. Some of us knew all three of them. Now, these dusty, quirky, often-malodorous treasure troves of recycled literature are a rare, but hearty, Brooklyn breed. But if you know where to look, you can still find a home—and even make a little cash—for your boxes of yellowed, dog-eared pages. Or you can pick up a few of someone else’s. Here’s our guide to Brooklyn’s used bookstores—from dust to dollar-value. Read the rest of this entry »
Author Laura Lee may have well written the Brokelyn manifesto, the recession-victims’ King James Bible and the brokester I Ching all wrapped into one. Her new book, Broke is Beautiful, is a vast, thoughtful and intensely researched tome on the value of living the cash-strapped life. We talked with Lee, a former pizza delivery-girl, fast-food worker and author of several books, about things like the distraction of plutolatry (the worship of wealth), our throw-away culture and how brokeness has always been cool. Read the rest of this entry »
Maybe everyone else has been doing this forever, and if so, feel free to skip ahead to the Punderdome post. But if you haven’t partaken of the Brooklyn Public Library’s eBook catalog, you’re missing out on the deeply satisfying experience of enjoying free — not to mention spooge-free — books without leaving home. I just downloaded my first free-for-14-days BPL eBook, a buzzy new non-fiction release, minus the groady plastic cover and burrito drippings. Read the rest of this entry »
Missed Connections fascinate because they say something about the nature of urban love, optimism and the need to believe the person who happens to be reading the same book across the train is your soul mate. Brooklyn artist Sophie Blackall has turned those finely crafted 21st century messages in a bottle into cute illustrations in Missed Connections: Love, Lost and Found, which was released in September. The heartwarming book about “the mystery, the yearning, [and] at times the cosmic humor behind the ‘what if?’” includes stories about a hairy bearded swimmer, a shared bear suit, and a Hasidic woman on a ferry. Pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore before you trawl Craigslist this holiday season.
$13.95, Word and other local bookstores.
You’ve read everything by Jennifer Egan, Colson Whitehead (you call him “Cole”) and the Jonathans, and you’re even Facebook friends with Jonathan Ames. If you secretly believe you’re the +1 in n +1, we’ve got the next read for your McCarren Park beach towel. Literary Brooklyn is Evan Hughes’ new chronicle of the borough’s bookish icons, from rapscallions like Walt Whitman (the borough’s “first literary hipster”) and Henry Miller to Jhumpa Lahiri and her contemporaries. Unlike dutiful history books that guilt you from the shelf, this one really zips along. And we have three copies to give away to randomly chosen commenters on this post. Read the rest of this entry »
Been hiding your shame by stuffing that overdue copy of Mocking Jay under your bed for two months? Suck it up and return it, because the Brooklyn Public Library is offering amnesty all this month that will wipe away your overdue fines if you bring stuff back before May 1. The library reminds us, “When you return your materials, you ensure that everyone has access to the excellent books, DVDs and CDs the Library has to offer.” If you continue to be a jerk in the face of no-questions-asked amnesty, your $25 or higher fine will be turned over to a collection agency. And you don’t want to mess with library thugs. (via L Magazine.)
I can’t be the only one who hates on n+1 for being so cool, yet so inaccessible (read: costly). Electric Literature debuted a free iPad app, but if you can afford an iPad you probably don’t need our lit mag app to be free. As a publishing ingénue, I’m always on the lookout for quality writing from not yet overexposed writers that I can afford to read on an entry-level salary. Our humble borough offers digital dosages of not only Booker-Prize-worthy fiction, but also journalism, poetry, scholarship, and works that can’t be classified into any genre. If you worry that your cultural relevancy wouldn’t survive a New Yorker subscriptionl, treat yourself to one of these literary magazines, the best of the Brooklyn slush pile. Read the rest of this entry »
Emily Gould is reading Saturday night at Brooklyn Fireproof in Bushwick. Photo by Elinor Carucci for the NY Times.
Maybe you thought Brooklyn’s literati would still be regrouping after last month’s festivities, but no—the organized reading continues. On top of the always-solid line-up of bookish happenings in BK, a couple new free offerings this week caught our attention. Tonight, Oct. 19, at Fort Greene’s Greenlight Bookstore, a few well-known authors (Sheri Holman, Rick Moody and others) will be reading from their work to celebrate National Reading Group Month. The 6:30 event (with refreshments) is also being used to promote Greenlight’s in-house reading groups, beginning in January. Then Saturday, Fireside Follies, a new monthly reading series with some heavy-hitters, is kicking off at Brooklyn Fireproof in Bushwick. Read the rest of this entry »
Score! Brooke Bellott from Boerum Hill took home titles by Don Delillo, Haruki Murakami and Orhan Pamuk.
They came, they swapped, they drank beer — and they discussed the difference between African and Latin American magical realism. Sunday afternoon’s Great Brokelyn Book Swap turned out to be a whole lot of brainy, rainy-day fun, and lucrative, in that free loot sense, owing to the fact that everyone pretty much adhered to the rules and brought high-quality titles. There were several Orhan Pamuk title sightings, along with Malcolm Gladwell, Don Delillo, and at least four Stieg Larssons…. Read the rest of this entry »
Pair free drinks or some food with a concert, screening, book-reading, really any good-lookin’ free event, and we’ll likely tell you to check it out. But when the whole thing’s about drinks in the food? Well, two words: Rum. Cupcakes. Tonight, Jun. 22, at WORD bookstore, food writer and recipe tester Lucy Baker will read from her new book (a must-read, we say), The Boozy Baker: 75 Recipes for Spirited Sweets. The eponymous Baker will share tips, tricks and, yes, tastes, from her collection of classic desserts made all the better “with a healthy dose of alcohol.” Read the rest of this entry »
The Community Bookstore. Photo by Annie Wang.
Back in the day, you knew your neighborhood used bookstore. Some of us knew all three of them. Now, these dusty, quirky, often-malodorous treasure troves of recycled literature are a rare, but hearty, Brooklyn breed. But if you know where to look, you can still find a home—and even make a little cash—for your boxes of yellowed, dog-eared pages. Or you can pick up a few of someone else’s. Here’s our guide to Brooklyn’s used bookstores—from dust to dollar-value. Read the rest of this entry »
Author Laura Lee may have well written the Brokelyn manifesto, the recession-victims’ King James Bible and the brokester I Ching all wrapped into one. Her new book, Broke is Beautiful, is a vast, thoughtful and intensely researched tome on the value of living the cash-strapped life. We talked with Lee, a former pizza delivery-girl, fast-food worker and author of several books, about things like the distraction of plutolatry (the worship of wealth), our throw-away culture and how brokeness has always been cool. Read the rest of this entry »
