The Book Shopper; A Life in Review
Philadelphia: Paul Dry Books, 2009. First Paul Dry Books Edition [stated]. First printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Format is approximately 5 inches by 8.5 inches. viii, 215, [1] pages. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Part One--The Principles of Book Shopping; About the Author: An Introductory Memoir; How I Became a Reader; A Reviewer's Lament; Book Lovers Are Not Necessarily People Lovers; Amazon Uncovered; and Master Control: The Influences of a Book Shopper Friend. Part Two--Acquisitions; Prerequisites: What Every Good Bookstore Should Have; Growing Old with the New Journalists; Big Social Book Shopping Novels; Humorists: Being Funny Can Be Such a Chore; and Larry McMurtry: Patron Saint of Book Shoppers; Part Three: What Next: Read, Store, of Sell? Books as Gifts; The Classic Book Group; Managing the Personal Library; and Parting Words. Also contains Acknowledgments for Troublemakers and Index of Authors and Titles. Murray Browne has published numerous essays, book reviews, newspaper articles, feature stories, and technical articles. He holds a BA in English and Radio-Television and an MS in Information (Library) Sciences from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Though he grew up in the Midwest, Browne now lives in Atlanta, where he works as a media content analyst. The Book Shopper is a spirited and witty guide to the world of disheveled used bookstores and dusty basements where shelves sag under the burden of so many books. In the limitless sea of books, here's one that will make you laugh as it helps you find your way to titles and authors you'll really want to read. Found on the author's website: Barnes & Noble Review, October 9, 2009, Reviewer: Thomas DePietro: It's always a pleasure to be reminded that reading is more than an academic exercise, or a consumerist indulgence. Murray Browne, a proud middle-class eccentric, here fashions a modest and very casual book out of his simple love of literature. And not just what's in the books themselves but all the odd and wonderful consequences of living a life among books: the friendships nurtured, the joys of the bookhunt, the dilemmas of managing one's library. Browne's no slouch when it comes to matters of taste. His ideal store includes the many writers he celebrates: Pat Barker, Jim Harrison, Milan Kundera, and Annie Proulx, to name some. No idolater, he's unafraid to point out deficiencies in novelists he admires, such as T. C. Boyle or Richard Ford. And for all his midwestern humility, he enjoys his Proust and Pynchon. Browne surrounds his critical opinions with essays and sidebars that chronicle his years of book love, first as a child who read more for quantity than quality, then as a regional newspaper reviewer who slogged through his share of dreck. As someone who's spent lots of time on both sides of the bookseller's counter, I can confirm Browne's astute observations about the trade, especially his credo: book people are not often people people. In other essays, Browne makes peace with online bookstores, explains the difficulties of giving and receiving books as gifts, and offers a few suggestions on how to arrange for our libraries after death. All in good humor, of course. Browne's critical populism never panders. Think of him as an all-American reader truly in love with books. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Bookbuyer, Bookseller, Book Collector, Larry McMurtry, Reading, Reviewer, Book Lover, Bookstore, Personal Library, Thomas Pynchon, Bookmark, Tom Wolfe, Philip Roth
ISBN: 9781589880566
[Book #83081]
Price: $35.00