Danika– Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall (fiction) Jason– Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die by Michael Largo (non-fiction, see below) Jenni– Copper Sun by Sharon Draper, Queen’s Soprano by Carol Dines, Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (all young adult)–So, Jenni’s on a state committee to award a young adult book prize and [...]

Big cliche: We all die. Some “naturally” (the heart stops and the lungs no longer fill with air). Some bizarrely. Some stupidly. Michael Largo catalogs them all, from lung disease to being crushed by a vending machine, in Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die. The book gets my thumbs up, but I [...]

It seems like you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t (though that’s really lesson number one for dealing with the public). And young “situationists”, believe it or not, not everyone lives in New York and can see the originals. And they’re not even discussing the ethics of defacing public (or private) property.  Sheesh. This [...]

We’re partnering with City Sprouts (the best baby/kid store in the bi-state area, or, probably the whole country) to put on a Summer Story Hour.  Well, 1/2 hour really. It will be held the 2nd and 4th Thursday of each month at Subterranean, from 11-11:30 am. And it starts this Thursday (the 28th). Our storyteller is Mrs. [...]

So this article is in there today.  We are so far ahead of the times.  Next month they will open their own boutique in Wicker Park, Renegade Handmade, selling some of their favorite goods from the fair. I think the article’s a bit snarky in places (is that de rigueur for discussing anything about “hipsters”?) but [...]

Danika– Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan (non-fiction) and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (fiction) Jason– No Blade of Grass by John Christopher (British disaster fiction) Jenni–The Real Question by Adrian Fogelin (young adult) and Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace … One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson [...]

  The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge has had some pretty serious ups and downs in its relatively short lifespan. Built as a toll bridge originally, its heyday was during its tenure as part of Route 66. The bridge was known for its unique bend in the middle and was a highlight for folks traveling [...]

  In the late 19th century, Thorstein Veblen put forth the idea of “conspicuous consumption” (BTW: Conspicuous Consumption is available at Subby right now in a beautiful, but affordable Penguin edition). Veblen thought the wealthy of the Gilded Age consumed big ticket items in a very visible way in order to denote their class and [...]

This is a really good article on what it’s like to run a bookstore and how the small bookstore business works.  It’s so true that as a buyer you agonize over whether to order 1 copy or 2.  The part that is so not applicable to us is: Diesel, meanwhile, managed to generate profit of $138,000 [...]

The whole thing’s here  Nancy F. Koehn, a professor at Harvard Business School who studies retailing and consumer habits, said that the leveling off of e-commerce reflected the practical and psychological limitations of shopping online. She said that as physical stores have made the in-person buying experience more pleasurable, online stores have continued to give [...]