Advice for surviving your 20s from Catherine Bohne

WHY did I start working in the bookstore? When I discovered the bookstore, in my early 20's, it was the sole (it seems to me now) haven from the terrors of trying to figure out how to live and be a grownup—life was hard and scary, expensive and confusing, and I seemed to find myself in one situation after another that I'd thought I wanted but didn't really suit me at all…the bookstore was simply the one place that felt calm and sane, peaceful and welcoming. I applied for the weekend job on a whim, got it, and just never left. Whenever other opportunities would come up I'd find that if I was honest, I'd really rather live in the world of the bookstore, and so although it sometimes seemed irresponsible (or at least quixotic) I just stayed and stayed—moving into positions of increasing authority seemed to happen naturally. And now I own it!

Interview on Bookslut with the owner of the Park Slope Community Bookstore (one of my favorite bookstores in the world), Catherine Bohne. (via Three Percent)

Changing the world

Here's a list of books that "changed the world." (via Kottke)

Commercial publishing

Didn't expect the media to come down so hard on Samuel J. Wurtzelbacher, but these stories should pass within a short period of time. It's kind of boring - I didn't mean to add to the media onslaught. So to make it up to you, here are some highlights from Bookninja's book cover contest.










Happy Friday.

Update: Bookworms Are Your Friends

I'm finally abandoning the photo I took of a tennis court in February for a light summer salad I made a few weeks ago. It is summer, after all. Hope it brightens the page a little.

(I've also enabled all comments. If you've visited before and haven't yet said hello, hello!)

Typed my notes instead of hand-writing them today, in hopes of saving a few hours summarizing. But before any of that, here are some updates from Life Beyond Columbia:

GalleyCat has a nice little entry on publishing according to Funky Winkerbean, Judge Parker, and For Better or For Worse. Glad to know determining an advance can be comical.

The Syntax of Things has two fabulous pieces of news: there's a Pandora for books! Also fiction readers have more empathy, according to a research group in Toronto.

I'm missing Brooklyn quite a bit this week. Slate.com has a great slide show of the Brooklyn Museum's "Changing Faces of Brooklyn." And even our bathroom reading, edited by Chris Knutson of Vogue, has made news. This weekend will be a perfect break from the program, with free concerts in Coney Island all through Saturday.