Link Roundup!

by Roxane Gay · February 25, 2015

I forgot to post this for this morning, so the link roundup will happen in the afternoon today.

This interview with Mo’Nique offers a look into what it’s like to be a black woman in Hollywood.

Perfect pink kitchen.

A sportswriter and a professional athlete had a conversation on Twitter.

Oh, Tinder.

Our boyfriend Channing deserves an Oscar.

I was intrigued by this profile of Columba Bush.

For 20 years, Columba Bush anticipated the day she would have to answer one big question: Would she support her husband, Jeb Bush, if he decided to run for president?

Last summer and fall, as she wrestled with whether to say yes, her sense of duty was mixed with dread.

Born in Mexico, she had married into a famously political American family and had always been an outsider: a prayerful Roman Catholic, a sensitive loner and lover of the arts who still speaks in heavily accented English. As Florida’s first lady, she had arranged Mass in the governor’s mansion and endured weeks of bad press for a European shopping spree. She blamed politics for friction in her marriage and as a factor in her daughter’s drug addiction. A run for the White House would expose her to the spotlight as never before.

Memories, hazy, choking memories. Those were the days.

Excellent music/video.

There is good news for American independent bookstores. What is your favorite independent bookstore? Share in the comments. I love hearing about great bookstores.

In the United States, independent bookstores have rebounded strongly from the financial crisis, increasing their numbers by 27 percent since 2009, according to data from the American Booksellers Association. The group’s chief executive, Oren Teicher, said American indie bookshops have filled the vacuum left by big box bookstores like Borders (which went out of business in 2011) and Barnes & Noble (which has closed hundreds of stores). They have also capitalized on a spirit of localism and urban renewal that is coursing through some American cities. “The enthusiasm and optimism is pretty staggering,” Mr. Teicher said. “Despite all the quantum leaps in technology, the fact is nothing beats a physical, bricks-and-mortar store to discover books that you didn’t know about.”

 

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121 Comments

  1. houblonchouffe +20

    INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES YESSSS.

    I am super lucky to live in a place that has two independent booksellers, Brilliant Books and Horizon Books, within about a block and a half, plus a really good used book shop right around the corner from them.

  2. logicbutton +27

    The official Dove twitter account is currently going around telling women saying that they feel ugly or gross to stop talking about themselves like that.

    We’re talking about this on Twitter right now but I wanted to complain here too because augh no nope no

    4. poletopole +19

      I assume the marketing genius who came up with that also orders strange women they see on the street to smile.

  4. sausagedog +15

    I care little to none about MLB, and know even less, but that twitter convo really endeared Brandon McCarthy to me. He seemed really curious and concerned about gender politics in sports reporting, and he answered questions thoughtfully and honestly. Is he a known Good Guy, or is this an anomaly?

    1. thedaela +8

      RIGHT? This was such a thoughtful, introspective exchange on both sides. I want to know more about everyone involved.

    2. mmsees +13

      Yeah I was super (pleasantly!) surprised when he started actively asking about gender. It was a really interesting exchange from both sides.

      Also, as an Eli fan the fact that Peyton yelled at the reporter for accidentally bringing up that their mother likes Eli better is endlessly amusing to me (though I feel bad for her about the actual yelling). Oh Manning family politics.

    3. WhatICantEven +8

      I don’t know if he’s a Good Guy, but he’s delightful on Twitter. Seems to have a great sense of humor about himself, which goes a long way with me.

    4. anon210 +6

      McCarthy is known as one of the more thoughtful/publicly engaged players in the game. Another example is that he’s pretty conversant with and curious about advanced baseball metrics, a field that many players, current and former, treat as time-wasting nerd stuff.

  5. lilsebastian01 +12

    The Twin Cities have AMAZING book stores. There’s Uncle Hugo’s and Uncle Edgar’s, which are respectively a sci fi and a mystery book store. There’s Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark Books and Garrison Keillor’s Common Good Books. Book stores RULE.

    3. sorrycassandra +1

      (making a list of places to hit up when I head down that way next)

      My spouse is currently underemployed by the Last Ginormous Bookstore Chain Standing, and I get to hear about all the corporate fiats and similar shenanigans on a daily basis. Long live the indies.

  6. ppyajunebug +24

    My favorite independent bookstore is the genre store here in San Diego, Mysterious Galaxy. Really awesome people, really awesome events, and it’s nice to go to a store where almost all the shelves are sci-fi/fantasy (also, lots of mystery and paranormal romance books, plus a good YA section).

    Also, anyone else need a hug/some more tissues after that Parks and Rec finale last night??? I was SOBBING.

    2. Hey_Cinderella +18

      Parks and Rec is probably the only show where they could give everyone a super happy ending (which of course they did) and it would be a perfect and fulfilling ending. Absolutely loved it and am even more excited about an upcoming trip to Scotland to visit Lagavulin now that I can pretend that in doing so I am supporting Ron Swanson.

      1. threatqualitypress +17

        Oh man the whole time I was watching it, i was overwhelmed with this sense of dread, waiting for everything to go wrong, for the other shoe to drop, BUT NO, the shoes just kept flying higher and higher into the sky until they soared off into space like Channing Tatum’s rocket boots.

        this whole last season of Parks and Rec has been like a series of infinite high-fives to everyone.

        1. Hey_Cinderella +6

          That’s what I loved about this show–it was pretty free of cynicism. I mean, you had cynical characters and moments, but at its heart it was always full of happiness and joy and optimism.

    3. summerestherson +13

      Oh, I was most certainly crying very hard at the end. I emitted a particularly strangled sob when I saw “WE LOVE YOU HARRIS.” Damn.

      1. ppyajunebug +13

        The tears started with Ron in the canoe, got upgraded to sobbing as soon as Ann appeared, and then things got ugly when the message to Harris came up.

        Damn this perfect show!!!

        1. lilsebastian01 +7

          I watched on Hulu and there was no message to Harris! Which I was very surprised by! So I’m glad to know they had one on the actual broadcast.

    4. raqueue +4

      It was suck a lovely ending! I was so worried after so many terrible sitcom finales, but they just went out with such heart — it was close to perfect. Especially with the end of them all just hanging out and talking in the Parks department, catching up and watching the kids bond.

      Just amazing.

    5. rolotomassi5 +5

      The finale it reminded me the most of was Everwood* in terms of sugary sweet endings. I loved it to death, and it was way funnier than Everwood‘s finale. So happy that Garry finally got his due as a decent human being!

      We even saw a headline suggestion for Tweep!

      *home of future star Chris Pratt

    6. ToastiewithCheese +1

      I held it together until Ben made his announcement. Then there was no stopping it. I’m tearing up just thinking about it again now. I will miss Pawnee, so so much.

  7. ramina +28

    8.“Oscar winner Channing Tatum” would make up for the existence of “Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch”

    yes this 100000% this

    Also – which Ricky Martin video???? (edit: I googled, it’s She Bangs and he was paid $400 for it omg)

  8. coloredlights +4

    Favorite indie bookstore: The Writer’s Block. It’s in downtown Las Vegas and they have an amazingly curated selection of books, some cute merch, a well-designed back room for workspace and/or special events, and a FRIENDLY BUNNY. Also the owner might be an actual elf.

  9. vmartinipie +22

    I am biased on the issue of indie bookstores (I work at City Lights!) but in SF it’s really rad that the only bookstores that have survived the meltdown are ALL indies. No national chain bookstores in town! And when people come into the store saying “Oh you guys are like the only bookstore left,” I love being able to rattle off a bunch of shops still going (relatively) strong…and then their eyes glaze over.

    1. deleted7410012 +5

      i love city lights so i don’t blame those visitors for getting tunnel vision, but sf has so many great bookstores! dog-eared! booksmith, alexander, alley cat and adobe and the green apples and the many books incs and lots of great specialty ones like needles and pens and omnivore. oh man, i know i’m missing a bunch too.

  10. gripyfish +20

    Powell’s Books forever. Other independent bookstores may exist, but none are superior to Powell’s.

    1. robot_dinosaur +3

      Powell’s Books is my love and I cannot believe I moved to Boston some days because Powell’s is so far away.

      1. gripyfish +3

        I’m in Philadelphia, and I feel the same way. Thank goodness my parents are still in the Portland area–I can visit!

      1. dakimel +4

        Me too! Plus, I found some copies of my husband’s novels on the shelves & turned them face-out like a total brat, which was great fun.

  12. sausagedog +12

    oh my god i just started laughing out loud at the Oscar for Channing page. I’m at work. Now I’m blushing. so beautiful.

    1. gripyfish +7

      “Suggested Future Projects” includes Henry Winter in an adaptation of The Secret History and I’m both intrigued and conflicted, because he might also make a good Bunny Corcoran? Maybe this is just an argument for Channing Tatum in every role.

      1. sausagedog +5

        That was exactly where I lost it. I could see him playing every role except the bland narrator. He could pull a Parent Trap for Charles and Camilla.

        And now that I’m writing it out… he’d make a really good Charles. Like if I were to pick the role he’d actually be cast in. Attractive, charming guy who doesn’t take anything too seriously, and then loses it by the end? I’m not even joking. We should Kickstarter this adaptation.

  14. Hey_Cinderella +4

    I miss living in a town with a wonderful indie bookstore (Firehouse books in Fort Collins, Colorado was my old stomping grounds–Neil Gaiman did a special signing there not but a month after I moved, le sigh). Of course, my town has the amazing used bookstore Coas Books where I have discovered many truly fabulous books from the wonderful to the weird and I can typically buy a giant stack of books for less than $10. I keep a list of books to buy in my purse at all times because with their turnaround I know whatever book I want it will eventually appear.

  15. turanga_leela +6

    Book People in Austin is great and made even better by the fact that I got to meet Roxane there and get my copy of An Untamed State signed.

  16. MilesofMountain +6

    My favourite indie bookstore is Munro’s Books because it is stately and friendly and started by Alice Munro (and her husband) and it inspired her to start writing.

    1. MilesofMountain +11

      And because when Jim Munro (Alice’s ex-husband) stepped down he gave the ownership of the store to four long time employees rather than sell it and I think that’s lovely.

    2. annebrontesaurus +1

      Munro’s is excellent! The building is beautiful, and they have always been really good about ordering books in for me. 🙂

  17. rhymeswitheight +7

    I love all the indie bookstores near me but I really enjoy Politics and Prose and Capitol Hill Books (language books in the bathroom yall!) in Washington DC.

  18. betsymurgatroyd +3

    In Port Angeles, we have two independent bookstores, Port Book and News and Odyssey Bookstore and Gifts. They are walking distance from each other and they have a great selection of new and used books. They both have great children’s sections.
    There are four in Port Townsend if you ever get that way. The Writers’ Workshoppe and Imprint Bookstore is pretty special.

  20. Absotively +5

    My local independent bookstore is Audreys. The store is lovely, and they host signings and things, and they were great about ordering a book for me one time. But they’re all the way downtown and don’t have a lot of sci-fi and fantasy and I own two e-readers, so I don’t go there very often.

    I spend more time at Wee Book Inn, a used bookstore with four locations and more science fiction and fantasy than Audreys.

    When I lived in Toronto, I was a broke student and didn’t spend much time at bookstores, but I did buy a Diva Cup at Toronto Women’s Bookstore before they were widely available in larger drug stores, so it holds a special place in my heart. It’s closed now, though.

    I visited Bakka Phoenix last time I was in Toronto, and it was very neat. Wikipedia tells me they’ve moved to a larger space and now have a used books section, so I’ll definitely have to visit again next time I’m in Toronto.

    Oh, and The Sentry Box in Calgary has an excellent sci-fi-and-fantasy-focussed book section. I’ve only visited once, but it’s definitely on my to-see-when-in-Calgary list now.

    Apparently I like a bunch of independent bookstores.

  21. blueblazes11 +9

    Life before smoking bans. I often reminisce with friends about the unique pleasure of sitting down, indoors, with a cigarette and a pitcher of beer. I was never more than a social smoker, and I still feel nostalgia.

    I think we’d all be surprised how smoky the world used to be. I think as a society, we’d all gone somewhat nose blind to it. But now even the slightest whiff of smoke in a public place irritates my system.

    1. houblonchouffe +7

      Man, do I miss whiskey and cigarettes together in the same place inside. I mean, wow.

      (I have been quit for over a year but still, there is something about sitting down at a bar with a glass of red wine or a huge pour of bourbon and a pack of cigarettes and a book, and shooting deathstares at all the men trying to interfere with the precious precious alone time.)

      1. mirandawmeyer +3

        Meeee toooooo. Although sometimes it is nice to be able to excuse yourself to go outside and smoke, if you’re like me and sometimes people become Too Much.

    2. laureleye +7

      I was watching Columbo the other day and the episode opened with a security guard smoking in a museum. I was shocked! You can’t smoke in a museum, the artifacts!!

      And then later Columbo smoked his cigar in the museum!! Columbo’s always getting in trouble with snooty people for smoking in fancy places though.

      1. bookwormV +9

        I recently read this in a book from the 70s about designing library buildings: “The borrower in a lending library is only slightly inconvenienced by the ‘no smoking’ rules but an argument can be sustained in favour of the reader who is studying for a lengthy time being allowed to smoke at his desk”. Can it? Can it really?

        My partner stayed in a hotel in Serbia recently which had ashtrays in the bedroom, and I found that weird enough.

    3. raqueue +3

      I know! It’s always so jarring to go to countries where there’s smoking inside — kind of awesome, but then all of your clothes stink of smoke when you get back home.

  23. floridagal1 +3

    That pink kitchen is spectacular. I think I’d want white cabinets rather than that light woody colour though..and top loading dishwasher?? Never heard of that before! Weird.

    In Edmonton, where I used to live, there is the Wee Book Inn, a local chain of independent bookstores, and each store has a floofy cat and they are open until midnight.

  24. cait0716 +10

    My favorite ever book store is The Tattered Cover and, sadly, it no longer exists.

    Okay, it exists. There’s like three of them spread across Denver now. But the one I went to all the time growing up, the mammoth one in Cherry Creek closed its doors years ago. It was huge, four stories tall with a basement and a restaurant on the top floor. And there were books everywhere, lining the stairs and every bit of space that might hold a shelf with all these comfy chairs squashed in between. It was like a giant labyrinth of books and my mom and I would go down there and I’d spend hours choosing the perfect book and then we’re get dinner and read our purchases and it was so perfect. The new ones are fine, but they just aren’t as massive as the store of my memories. I could never quite get lost in them.

    1. meetapossum +2

      Oh man, I got really upset after the first sentence! Thank goodness I read the rest. I never got a chance to go to the Cherry Creek one, though I’ve been to the one on Colfax and in LoDo. I have a great deal of affection for the LoDo one; Joyce Meskis was the director of the Denver Publishing Institute when I went and we went to many events there.

    2. JGlo +2

      I remember the Cherry Creek one. It was a thing of magnificence.

      I liked the downtown one too, when I lived there. I have a cool memory of going there on a night when it was gently snowing and then walking with my friends to Paris on the Platte for a London Fog. And alas for Paris on the Platte.

  25. GreenGrasses +9

    10/10 would date the UAE dude with the corvette and the fancy Arabian horse. He has his priorities super straight!!

    1. winterbymorning +17

      I’d date the guy with all the cheetahs on his bed! He’d have to sleep somewhere else though. There would clearly be no room left for him between me and the cheetahs.

  26. MailerMattDaemon +4

    Square Books in Oxford, MS is excellent. And they have a close-out/used-book space, Off-Square Books, as well as a kids’ spot, Square Books, Jr. You can tell the people working at Jr. that you have a niece who is 5, loves dinosaurs, hates the color brown, and only eats corn cereal, and they will come up with a book that she will love and treasure forever. It’s remarkable.

  27. Steph +5

    I have a deep and abiding love for The Bookshelf, in downtown Guelph: http://www.bookshelf.ca/ Excellent bookstore, fantastic indie cinema, and a kind of pricey but still very nice cafe which may be closed now? It’s been there for decades and I hope it never closes. <3

  30. babblingbrookelet +7

    I’m obligated to mention Elliott Bay because I live in Seattle, but others I frequent are Book Larder, Left Bank Books, Secret Garden Books, and Ophelia’s.

    But my favorite, the home of my heart, will always be Smith Family Bookstore in Eugene, OR. I may miss the bookstore more than I miss my parents. I mean, you can call parents, but when you call the bookstore it’s just not the same.

    BONUS FACT: For several years “crop circles” appeared in the books at Smith Family. The clerks would SWEAR that nobody was in the store, that they had just tidied and stocked that section 2 minutes ago, that they hadn’t heard a thing. But every so often, sometimes months between incidents, somebody would walk past an aisle that had been empty (of people; the books are stacked knee-deep on the floor in places) and find upside down pyramids made out of books, or towers of books, or bridges. I was there a couple times when it happened and it was EERIE.

      1. babblingbrookelet +2

        BAWL!! That’s my corner! I can’t tell you how many hours I spent sitting on a step stool reading in that corner. THANKS FOR THE HOMESICKNESS YOU JERK.

        (But seriously, this picture made my day. Thank you!)

          1. babblingbrookelet +2

            something something any club that would have me for a member…

            Oh, who am I kidding. Thanks for the invite!

  31. clairebm +3

    I love Imprints bookshop in Adelaide, it has such a lovely atmosphere.

    I know this isn’t the open thread, but Toasties I need some good thoughts and vibes please! My labrador puppy (I say puppy, he;s 18 months old, but still a puppy to me!) Major is having some pretty complicated surgery this morning (Aus time), so any good thoughts you might care to send his way and crossing of fingers and/or toes would be much appreciated!

    I’ll try to remember to update on the open thread (though it might be late because of the time difference)…and maybe I’ll try to figure out how to post pictures finally so everyone can see him!

  32. jtradke +3

    There’s a bookstore in Milwaukee called Downtown Books. They’re in a new location now, but their previous one looked like it was originally just a single-story storefront in a high-rise, but then they just started annexing the surrounding abandoned space, knocking down walls or adding staircases as needed to connect it all. I got lost more than once.

    The music room (as in: CDs, cassettes, vinyl, 8-tracks, reel-to-reel, and enough sheet music to wallpaper the Moon) had a funhouse dip in the floor that I’m shocked I never fell through. The third floor (maybe fourth? it was confusing) had a loft area that was just comic books. They converted a bathroom into more shelving space, but just left the toilet in there and put books on it. I once came across an entire section of books labeled “firefighter fiction”.

    I haven’t been to the new store yet, but there’s no way it can match the dilapidated warmth of that space.

    1. aiquale +1

      I loved that old location. It was like a magical, Alice-in-Wonderland-esqe space – endless, surreal, and ever so slightly disorganized.

  34. Mrs_Peel +3

    I love the pink kitchen!!

    My life goal (for many years now) has been to track down one of those top-loading vintage dishwashers, and get it in working order. (My own late-50s kitchen sink cabinet still has a top panel that opens up, so you can load the dishes in there).

  35. hweverka +1

    I’m 100% Mallory knows about this already, but Diesel Bookstore in Oakland (on College Avenue, near the Rockridge Branch library) is WONDERFUL. Regular speakers, a really cozy YA section with the comfiest couch in the entire world, and an equally adorable children’s section. Had a #BlackLivesMatter display in their windows all fall and winter. Bless ’em.

  36. deleted7410012 +1

    i spent my teen years working in an independent children’s bookstore, so i have an especially nostalgic soft spot for independent bookstores.

    in the east bay, where i live, there are so many great independent bookstores. pegasus, mrs. dalloway’s, moe’s, diesel. the brand new e.m. wolfman is lovely so far, too. and there is a wealth of independent bookstores just across the bay in sf.

  38. JGlo

    Talking Leaves has wormed its way right into my heart, especially when at either location I can also frequent two other favorite local businesses (Caffe Aroma and/or Queen City Comics). Plus they have all these cool literary events that I never have time to go to because I work and go to school and live in the country. Rust Belt Books is also great in its own way.

  39. aravisthequeen +26

    BAGHGH TOAST THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING BUT I HAVE WATER AGAIN!!!! I get to take a shower in my own home for the first time since Saturday! And do laundry AND dishes AND wash my hands like a normal person!!!!!!

  40. anniekate76 +1

    A Room of One’s Own in Madison, WI is my favorite. I don’t live there anymore but every time I visit the city, I visit the store and buy a thing. It moved recently, and now shares space with another bookstore, which sucks, but at least it didn’t close entirely.
    http://www.roomofonesown.com/

    1. jessethek +1

      The share is actually a positive: Avol’s Books is a used bookstore. What’s cool is they shelve the used and new together&mdash;only place I’ve seen that.

  41. Kitling +12

    I mean I can’t be the only one who saw the tinder profile of all the cheetahs on the bed and thought back to the possibilities of recreating this from the aritcle ‘Gleeful Mobs of Women Murdering Men’:

    Though being a cat lover, I’d rather we just rode the cheetahs/leopards like some maenads are depicted doing.

  43. yrpretendfriend +2

    click on Visions of a Future–> Channing Tatum: A Life and you will not be disappointed. Roxane is in there!

  44. Megan Knight +2

    I lived in Dubai, and every one of those Tinder profiles is oh so true. Dubai is the motherlode of tacky misogyny.

  45. :'( +1

    In the category of “independent bookstores that are no longer with us,” I would like to name Library Ltd of St. Louis. Borders bought it in 1997, and the sky darkened, all around the world.

    1. :'( +1

      “They divided their store into theme rooms – for mysteries, for travel, for gardening, for cooking, for business, for pets. That was a risk because at any time the market might shrink for a category and expand for another. Then you were stuck.

      They went ahead anyway, fashioning their mystery room with its wing-back chairs and faux fireplace in such a way that it conjured images of Holmes and Watson. Their travel room evoked a train station with a huge clock and a wooden waiting room bench.

      In the second phase of their construction in 1994, they built a 15-foot castle for children’s books with a moat containing real fish.”

      from http://www.weisswrite.com/about/a-society-of-two-…

  46. mmcoulston +1

    You asked:
    Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC. Joseph Beth around the Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio area (Lexington, KY, is my fave). Blue Manatee and Blue Marble for children’s books in the Cincinnati area.

  48. thestonefruit

    Dammit, I thought I had done all the weeping I needed to do last night after we watched it, and now I'm choking up again.

  49. tabwootwo +2

    Shout out to:

    Green Apple Books in San Francisco for being down the street from me, occasionally plying its customers with free beer, and expanding to a second location on the other side of Golden Gate Park (to help keep Le Video in business! yayyyy).

    Book Passage in Corte Madera and the San Francisco Ferry Building for the sheer force of their events schedule (but also because in full disclosure they employ my wonderful husband). We have met so many great folks at their events- authors and attendees alike. Hillary Clinton! John Waters! Mallory Ortberg!

  50. emlorark

    The Bookstore in Chico, CA (https://www.facebook.com/bookstorechico?sk=info&tab=overview) is my favorite because of memories and friends and creaky wood floors.

    Powell's Books is obviously amazing and I was lucky enough to live near it for a number of years and I miss it very much. I still get emails about author signings and get very sad that it's now so far away from me.

    Now I live in a very small town with a really great book store, Fireside Books (http://www.goodbooksbadcoffee.com/). Unfortunately, I made a new rule about buying books (as in I can't for a while) so I don't go in there nearly as often as I should 🙁

  51. donkeywork +1

    Treehorn Books in Santa Rosa, CA, is a beautiful used and rare bookstore that 1. is named for an Edward Gorey character, 2. in its current incarnation is very refined and carpeted and playing vintage LPs, but it used to be in a scary neighborhood and have crap piled absolutely everywhere. I forced my family to come see my heart’s true love once when my grandma was visiting, and two drunks got into a fight outside and one threw a television set at the other. It’s great that they’re in a gentrified area for bill-paying purposes, but I do miss that seedy allure.

  52. Heather S.

    Treehorn Books in Santa Rosa, CA, is a beautiful used and rare bookstore that 1. is named for an Edward Gorey character, 2. in its current incarnation is very refined and carpeted and playing vintage LPs, but it used to be in a scary neighborhood and have crap piled absolutely everywhere. I forced my family to come see my heart's true love once when my grandma was visiting, and two drunks got into a fight outside and one threw a television set at the other. It's great that they're in a gentrified area for bill-paying purposes, but I do miss that seedy allure.

  53. Jesse the K

    The share is actually a positive: Avol's Books is a used bookstore. What's cool is they shelve the used and new together&mdash;only place I've seen that.