“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way— in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” –Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities

There are some quotes that are always worth revisiting. Years ago customers and staff helped us choose quotes for a selection of bookmarks. But is there a literary quote you feel strongly enough about to have tattooed? Share your favorite quotes with us, maybe it is time to do the bookmarks again.

As a bookseller, one whose house is overflowing with books both read and (mostly) unread, I know I should stop acquiring even more reading material. Indeed, I sometimes wonder if I should radically downsize my collection. I read somewhere years ago (can’t remember where) that there are two kinds of personal libraries: those that show where one has been, and those that show where one aspires to go. I definitely fall into the latter category.

I have done a rough calculation, and figured at my current reading rate there is no way I will read all the books I have filled my house with over the years. I admit this gives me pause when I bring home another four coals to Newcastle. But recently I plucked one off the shelf–Cloudstreet, by Tim Winton. It had been sitting there, staring at me, for something like 17 years (the publicist’s letter still tucked inside). I packed it in my suitcase with other books for a recent vacation. And when I read it–wow, what a book. It was an amazing reading experience, one of my favorite books of the past few years. How can I get rid of my books now? Who knows what other gems are waiting to be discovered?

Check out this great video of next week’s author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, then join us at the event. Cuz truth be told, he is a splendid writer. Perhaps it’s OK that bookselling thing was temporary (although Vertigo did experience an up tick in sales of Franz Fanon titles when Ta-Nehisi was working at the store).

A university is a place where people pay high prices for goods which they then proceed to leave on the counter when they go out of the store.–Loren Eiseley

Our store is located a block or so from the campus of the University of Maryland, so we get quite a few students and academic types passing through. 

Despair:
Students overheard while buying books for classes: "Didn’t they make a movie of that (Toni Morrison’s Beloved)? Yeah, they did–I don’t need that one."

"Six books? Man, this is so not what I signed up for." 

"I can’t even remember the last time I read a book."

"I’m not going to read them–I just need the professor to see me in class with them."

"It smells like books in here." 

 My eldest daughter is off to college next year, and one of the panelists interviewing her for a scholarship had this comment on reading: "I just don’t have the concentration to read an entire book. Sports Illustrated and Cosmo are all I can handle."

Hope: 
The student who had to read Samuel Beckett (Nohow On) for a class and loved it so much he’s been back to buy two more copies to give as gifts. (I hope his friends appreciated it.)

The student who asked me for Tolstoy, Dickens, Pynchon and Philip Roth. When I asked if they were for a class (curious as to what class would be reading such a wide variety of books), he replied, "No, they’re just to read."

A group of parents who got together and decided that instead of giving the kids coming to their children’s birthday parties more useless knick knacks in a goody bag, they’d give them each a book. 

"It smells like books in here."

 Hmm. . .Despair currently outnumbers Hope 6 to 4.

Of course, booksellers loved The Golden Compass, which has its orgins in Milton, Blake and Kleist. But now it is a holiday season Hollywood release, a fantasy movie inspiring a good deal of controversy. Some might say that Christians have their C.S. Lewis, now the agnostics and the atheists have their fables, too. Or you might just enjoy a good read and put the brouhaha aside.

If you liked the Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (of which The Golden Compass is the first volume), you might want to try these titles.

Un Lun Dun The revolution will be started by a soccer hooligan with a PhD in Marxist economics. China Mieville is a fine writer who may have found his groove with this kids’ novel. Use it as an intro to linguistic theory, enjoy the cool monsters or don’t even give it to the kids. Keep it for yourself, sit on the couch and read all day.

All adolescents should be handed The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy at some point. And we conveniently have a 5 volume boxed set available for only 19.99. If you need more ideas, swing by the store. 

PS-And we have Horton Hears a Who to look forward to as well. 

Does news of Dubya & Company’s antics leave you eager to take a shower? The founder of Scrubya soap agreed and took action. She’s brought us Scrubya Soap in 3 scents and now we can wash George W. away. Just lather liberally and repeat until November 2008. Choose from Cameliza Rice, Neo-Con Coriander and  Smell the Damn Coffee! 5.95 each or 17.50 for the trio, all are naturally good for you. Scrubya’s proceeds benefit organizations that are cleaning up after the Bush administration such as Physicians for Human Rights. Update: as seen in the Washington Post.

Photo by Mor (bcnbits) Used under a Creative Commons license.

Every year the staff at Vertigo argues–umm, make that "debates"–titles for our Holiday Specials. While we push our favorites, we try to strike a balance and wonder if So-and-So’s brother-in-law (who doesn’t really read) would find something on our list. We discuss why certain titles qualify or do not. Are they gifty? Special in some way? Here’s this year’s list, let us know what you think. Visit our Holiday Specials page or download a flier and stop in soon.

Amazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery by David Attenborough, Reg. 37.50, Now 30.00
Around the World in 80 Tales by Saviour Pirotta, Reg. 19.95, Now 15.96
Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits by Deborah Willis, Reg. 35.00, Now 28.00
Jimi Hendrix: An Illustrated Experience by Janie Hendrix, Reg. 45.00, Now 36.00
The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps: The Best Crime Stories from the Pulps During Their Golden Age by Otto Penzler, Reg. 25.00, Now 20.00
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Reg. 24.95, Now 19.96
The Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman, Reg. 29.95, Now 23.96 
All the Rage: The Boondocks Past & Present by Aaron McGruder, Reg. 16.95, Now 13.56
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain by Oliver Sacks, Reg. 26.00, Now 20.80
The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross, Reg. 30.00, Now 24.00
The Art of Simple Food: Notes and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution by Alice Waters, Reg. 35.00, Now 28.00
Secret Ingredients: The New Yorker Book of Food and Drink by David Remnick, Reg. 29.95, Now 23.96
Other Colors: Essays and a Story by Orhan Pamuk, Reg. 27.95, Now 22.36
The Landmark Herodotus: The Histories by Robert B. Strassler, Reg. 45.00, Now 36.00
Our Dumb World: The Onion’s Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Ed. by The Onion, Reg. 27.99, Now 22.39

"Books are the carriers of tradition and the seeds of change; a source of solitary enjoyment and communal celebration; beautiful physical objects and abstract spaces for language and thought; work and pleasure; desirable and burdensome; always doomed and always thriving; cheap thrills and pricey enlightenment; worth talking about, worth fighting for, worth loving, worth sharing, worth making a life about."–Jessica Stockton of McNally Robinson Booksellers, NY

We could not have said it better. Our only addition to the quote above might be bookstores as a center for a community of readers. Yesterday’s Washington Post’s Weekend section highlighted Vertigo and other indies, saying "If you’re longing for a cozy place where folks really share your zeal for books, step out of the big-box stores and away from the Internet."

Well, actually, it was substitute host Matthew Felling. Anyhow, if you missed the Kojo Nnamdi Show’s Winter Reading Show on WAMU today, here’s my abbreviated list of recommendations for the season (list with blurbs here). You can listen to the show in Real Audio or Windows Media. Stop in soon, we have lots of suggestions.

Fiction
 Like You’d Understand, Anyway by Jim Shepard
The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu
DeNiro’s Game by Rawi Hage
The Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
 
Nonfiction
All the Rage: The Boondocks Past and Present by Aaron McGruder
The Slave Ship: A Human History by Marcus Rediker
The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? by Francisco Goldman
Crazy ‘08 by Cait Murphy
 
Art
Evolution: Five Decades of Printmaking by David C. Driskell by Adrienne Childs

Click to enlarge.

That’s OK. The scary thing is, even with just a topic or color, we can usually help. One example: this past year, when a longtime customer came in looking for a book she’d heard about on NPR 2 or 3 years ago about homosexuality during the 19th century. It seemed like a long shot. Todd remembered it, looked it up and found it on the shelf in the sale section–in hardcover. Amazon can’t do that for you, but we are happy to–just ask.

P.S. The book was Graham Robb’s Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century. Cartoon by Norm Feuti.

"When I am attacked by gloomy thoughts, nothing helps me so much as running to my books. They quickly absorb me and banish the clouds from my mind. . .They are the best provisions I have found for this human journey. And I am sorry indeed for the man of understanding who is deprived of them." –Michel de Montaigne, The Autobiography