NP - Need books, but not from Amazon

[Quizael]

Brooklyn Heights, forget it, youre doomed.  But im curious, I know Manhattan as well as anybody, but where is the Donnell branch? Or was.  Lower where, west side?

I personally love libraries, but I also see them as no longer necessary. Half their space, in new ones, are computers.  What, you want Alexandria back? But it was torched, flattened, turned to dust..

By whom? Surely not the same entities that are razing public libraries to raise Ikeas.. .

And ill take Amazon, I dont care what anyone says. You despise Bezos?  So fucking what. Nobody has noticed that largest companies keep growing, and devouring?  To fight Amazon and the parking_lotting of Nyc libraries, is not the way to go.

Believe it or not, we can have this convo without these devices.   Everyword Aristotle ever thought is too, available without libraries or devices. The libraries were beautiful. Let them burn. Move on. Soon, we,ll burn these devices too.


-------- Original message --------
From: kelber at mindspring.com 
Date: 09/19/2014  12:36 PM  (GMT-06:00) 
To: pynchon-l at waste.org 
Subject: Re: NP - Need books, but not from Amazon 

The Brooklyn Public Library (distinct from the NYPL) has recently announced a plan to increase the hours in some of its branches. Too late for my childhood library in Brooklyn Heights - hours and hours and hours, whole summers, practically, spent there - which is being torn down and replaced with a giant condo building. They claim the necessary renovations are too expensive to maintain the building as is. The Donnell Branch in Manhattan (a favorite of my teenaged years) was similarly condo-ized. And the nearby beautiful old, ornate bookstore, Rizzoli (I read almost the entire series of Tintin books, standing leaning against the wall, as a kid)met the same sad fate. Can't have too many overpriced soul-less condos for stockbrokers and overseas investors.

One small non-library victory: Junior's, the classic downtown Brooklyn restaurant, purveyor of NY's most famous cheesecake (I always preferred the "skyscraper sundaes," when my family went there on pre-movie outings) was on the chopping block to be ripped up and condo-ized. The owner had put it up for sale, but, after sleepless nights and a talk with his therapist, decided to save his family business, turning down the offered $40M. Heroes still exist!

My local Midwood branch library has a paltry collection of books in English. But it provides books, audiobooks, and videos in Russian, Hebrew, Urdu, Turkish, Chinese and Spanish, and it's always packed!

Laura

-----Original Message-----

From: msacha1121 at gmail.com

Sent: Sep 19, 2014 1:14 PM

To: Antonin Scriabin 

Cc: John Bailey , Matt Ryan , Mark Kohut , matthew cissell , "pynchon-l at waste.org" 

Subject: Re: NP - Need books, but not from Amazon



I didn't know that about Abe - thanks for the heads up, Antonin.

Wish the public library news in NY were as bright. At least they gave up on butchering the 42nd st branch of the NYPL.
On Sep 19, 2014, at 9:40 AM, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:

Yeah, there is a HUGE new library going up near my house soon as well.  Should be done early next year.

On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 9:38 AM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:
It wasn't that link but close to it, Antonin. A reminder that the echo

chamber of today's news cycle refers to cultural reporting as well as

hard news.



Also, I read that there was to be a local library built in my area

yesterday and Twitter folk pointed out dozens of new libraries being

built around here. Death of publishing says Whaaaa?



On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 10:44 PM, Antonin Scriabin

<kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:

> John, was it this?

>

> A second vote for Better World Books.

>

> And a friendly reminder that Abe Books is a subsidiary of Amazon.

>

> On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 8:18 AM, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com> wrote:

>>

>> Heard the other day (maybe on this list?) that indie bookstores in the

>> US are on the upswing and that the decline reversed around five years

>> ago. Worth looking local?

>>

>> In any case, Dave Monroe is probably your go-to guy for this question!

>>

>> On Fri, Sep 19, 2014 at 9:16 PM, Matt Ryan <matthew.ryan at gmail.com> wrote:

>> > Better World Books. Free shipping worldwide.

>> >

>> >

>> > On Friday, September 19, 2014, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

>> >>

>> >> Powell's is in bed with them. Order many a new book and it will come in

>> >> an

>> >> Amazon box, sub sourced. Just FYI.

>> >>

>> >> Whaddya think of B & N? Now struggling as they prepare to die slowly.

>> >>

>> >> will any indie store pay shipping if you have to pay full price?

>> >>

>> >> Some publishers slowly---Amazon has threatened them for over a

>> >> decade---are building a direct shipping operation.

>> >>

>> >> Sent from my iPad

>> >>

>> >> > On Sep 19, 2014, at 5:09 AM, matthew cissell <mccissell at gmail.com>

>> >> > wrote:

>> >> >

>> >> > Hello P-list,

>> >> >

>> >> >    I have grown tired of MR. Bezos and his Amazon empire. The row

>> >> > with

>> >> > book publishers got my gizzard but the realization that I was getting

>> >> > screwed on Shipping and Handling pushed me over the edge.

>> >> >

>> >> >  so my question: How do you good folk buy books through if you want

>> >> > to

>> >> > avoid the Bezos-constrictor? Which ones have a good record? Powell's?

>> >> > Abe's?

>> >> > Looking for some help on this one. Many thanks.

>> >> >

>> >> > El hijo de Sancho Panza

>> >> > aka Otis

>> >> -

>> >> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l

>> -

>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

>

>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
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