1001 Books To Read Before You Die

lareviewofbooks:

Free Bins

by Green Apple’s Kevin Ryan

Lots of retail stores can boast that they offer items for sale in a broad price range, say from $999 all the way down to $.99. But at Green Apple, we can do better than that, not only because we usually have at least a few rare books priced at $2000 and up, but because our lowest-priced books are free. And the selection is usually pretty good. The Free Box has been a part of Green Apple, and a fixture on Clement Street, since we first opened our doors in 1967. Here’s how it works.

We have the busiest used-book buy counter in the Bay Area. Every day, dozens of folks bring in their boxes and bags of books to sell.  Because we have limited space, we have to keep control of our used book inventory, which means turning down a lot of good books.  Yes, that copy of Madame Bovary is in nice shape, but it’s the third one we’ve seen today. Sorry, but when that Stephen King book came out in paperback, we are no longer able to sell the hardback. Once folks have gone to the trouble of hauling their books in to sell, they’ve often made that emotional break with them, and aren’t interested in lugging the rejects home or around to other stores. And that is where the free box comes in.

The fact is, many books that go into the free box are sellable, just not at Green Apple.  For the entrepreneurial sort, willing to collect the books to try and sell at other stores, or to list on eBay, there is profit to be made. This has occasionally led to conflict.  Over the years, there have been an assortment of characters who seemed to be making a minor living out of our free box.  In the ecosystem of Green Apple, these folks are the bark beetles, breaking down the final remains of the fallen tree and returning the parts back into the cycle. But mostly we consider the free box a community asset. The ideal consumer is the casual passer-by, who spots a book by a favored author, but maybe a bit dog-eared or with a torn cover, and snatches it up.

For more on LARB’s Naked Bookseller program, go here.

(Source: woodysblues, via literarylust)

bookish-thoughts:

#batman knows where the action is :) #library

(via bookriot)

literarylust:

From Lev Shestov’s Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Nietzsche:

“It will probably not seem strange that Nietzsche held such a high opinion of Dostoevsky. Here are his actual words: “Dostoevsky is the only psychologist from whom I was able to learn anything. I rank my acquaintance with him among…

ianbrooks:

Street Lit

Putting a message on a wall can be a much more effective way to reach the masses than expecting them to go find a book and learn it themselves. Some men just want to watch the world learn, regardless of medium. This collection of street arts details some memorable lines from famous books, hit the pictures to see which author and title, if you didnt already recognize them immediately.

(via: BuzzFeed)

(via souzyandherbooks)

YES. 

(Source: howriddikulus, via wordpainting)

Stephen King reviews Joyce Carol Oates’ The Accursed (NYT)

Want this book in my paws ASAP.

(via thelifeguardlibrarian)

ladyfrankenstein13:

sea-blue-lou:

papercutperfect:

forever-and-alwayss:

this cup is amazing

I want it D8

!!!!!!

OMG OMG OMG OMG.

(via wenchingwithshakespeare)

That’s one for Nietzsche. 

(Source: kahlan)

unmannedpress:

C.S. Lewis (Jack) & J.R.R. Tolkien (Tollers):

Like so many growing gardens of love, things started out well.

Lewis and Tolkien were friends. Both were writers, both were invested in literature, both enjoyed poems and myths, both taught at Oxford, both were in some sort of book club, and both held