“By the time Mr. Bass bought the building for $8.2 million in 1997, the Strand had become the largest used-book store in the world.” Fred Bass, the owner of the Strand, has died at the age of 89. Bass — who bought used books with panicked fervor, opened up satellite kiosks, and created the fabled literary quiz for prospective employees — turned his father’s used bookstores into a New York City literary landmark.
The Strand Says Goodbye
Wallace Shawn Interviewed
Wallace Shawn, one of The Millions' favorite humans, interviewed at Splice Today.
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New Kindles
Amazon announced a new crop of digital reading devices today - bringing their lineup to seven in total. The new $119 Kindle Paperwhite features an "ambient light" display, an eight-week battery life, and adjustable fonts; the 3G version will retail for $179. A new Kindle Fire HD starts at $199 -- and one with an 8.9" display starts at $299. Meanwhile the standard Kindle has dropped in price to $69, and the standard Kindle Fire is down to $159. Additionally, Jeff Bezos announced the debut of a new $1.99 Kindle Serials program: customers can buy a serial once, and seamlessly receive all future installments as they come out. The full rundown of announcements (including this mind-blowing chart) can be found on The Verge's liveblog.
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Japanese Cat Cafes
Big in Japan: cat cafés.
@Embarrassment
Sweet peas rejoice!
Dear Sugar is back in action after a few months break from her advice column. And thank heavens, because reading this #LitBeat about an event in her honor over and over just wasn't cutting it anymore.
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SUNY Buffalo’s Electronic Poetry Center
Recommended Reading: Just about every poet listed on SUNY Buffalo’s Electronic Poetry Center, but particularly the work of my former creative writing professor, Paolo Javier. His page was added two days ago.
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Bubbles and Zeroes
There’s been a lot of digital ink spilled about the traumas lurking in the comment section. It’s almost a rite of passage to get abused for something you write. But there’s another kind of trauma -- what happens when you get no comments at all? At The Rumpus, Rachel Newcombe writes about a new kind of emptiness.
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