Dear Plist, a list of readers

[John Bailey]

One of the bookshops is offering hand massages! I never even knew that
was a thing. Kind of makes sense as relief from the frenzy of self-
er... congratulation some customers may be indulging in.

I'm definitely on the side of local stores over Amazon but it seems to
me that this is a battle between small-c capitalism and big-c
Capitalism. The former invokes nostalgia and a sense of folkiness or
authenticity as a sales tactic in opposition to the new monopoly
models, summoning a sense of the time you knew your butcher's name and
the bakery owner would throw in an extra bun when she saw your kid
smiling. There are farmer's markets and such where you can get your
fix of this today but generally small-c capitalism is a marketing
tactic by big companies aware of consumer suspicion. Black Friday and
Civilized Saturday seems flip sides of the same coin.

On the other hand I greatly enjoyed this piece yesterday on the weird
nostalgic appeal of Faerie Magazine, a high-end publication based
around "the glittery, gossamer, twee or artisanal things faeries might
take an interest in. Frost, amber, red mushrooms, shadow puppet
theater, snowflake photography, Japanese Mori girls, an ice hotel in
Quebec, Alan Cumming..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/24/t-magazine/faerie-magazine-profile.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=2

On Thu, Nov 26, 2015 at 9:07 AM, Jemmy Bloocher <jbloocher at gmail.com> wrote:
> Aye, seems a bit wanky to me aka "english". It would annoy the hell out of
> me going in to Waterstones to be greeted by a prosecco wielding butler. Plus
> it just reinforces the perception of bookstores being for middle class
> arseholes that lots of (non-middle-class arsehole) people have. I
> volunteered with at least two client families who'd never even been to a
> bookstore and found it intimidating. Thus, I too am agin it.
>
> On 25 Nov 2015 17:00, "Mark Kohut" <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Seems "very British" to me but stereotype, I know.
>>
>>
>> http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/20/bookshops-launch-civilised-saturday-as-antidote-to-black-friday
>>
>>
>> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/black-friday/12013231/uk-bookshops-tackle-black-friday-with-civilised-saturday.html
>>
>> www.mhpbooks.com/british-bookstores-respond-to-black-friday-with-ci...
>>
>> 2 days ago - British bookstores respond to Black Friday with
>> “Civilised Saturday”. by Mark Krotov. This year, keep it civilised.
>> Every year, Black Friday sales ...
>>
>> i100.independent.co.uk/.../as-an-antidote-to-black-friday-bookshops-are...
>>
>>
>> magazine.good.is/.../black-friday-civilized-civilised-saturday-bookstore-s...
>>
>> Civilised Saturday @ Book-ish - Facebook
>>
>> On Wed, Nov 25, 2015 at 11:31 AM, kelber at mindspring.com
>> <kelber at mindspring.com> wrote:
>> > Can you send a link, Mark?
>> >
>> >
>> > Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> > Let's talk about this, maybe? Just a snippet
>> > is enough for the notion but you can find it
>> > all if you want. I will lead by saying I'm agin it:
>> >
>> > Bookshops launch Civilised Saturday.
>> > www.theguardian.com › Arts › Books › Booksellers
>> > The Guardian- Independent booksellers up and down the country are
>> > preparing to host a “ Civilised Saturday” next week, as the “perfect
>> > antidote” to the ...
>> > -
>> > Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
>> -
>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
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