Sign in with Facebook
Michael Reilly's Reviews > The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore
by
by
This is not a full history of bookstores in America. It is mostly a series of profiles of significant bookstores in the last hundred years or so.
The first sixty pages feature Ben Franklin as a bookseller and the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston. The next three hundred pages take us from Christopher Morley's 1917 book "Parnassus on Wheels" and the traveling bookstores it inspired through to "Parnassus", the bookstore Anne Patchett opened in 2011 as an answer to the Amazon threat to bookstores.
Friss also has chapters on;
the fam0us book department in Chicago's Marshall and Field Department Store,
The Gotham Book Mart, the classic NYC literary bookstore,
The Strand, NYC biggest bookstore,
Barnes & Nobles,
Amazon.
He has a chapter on political extremist bookstores, left and right wing, a chapter of LBGT bookstores and a chapter on sidewalk bookselling. He has interesting vignettes between each chapter.
The bookstore stories are interesting. Friess tends to focus on the marketing and display strategies of the stores. He is good at giving a physical sense of what the stores where like.
He shows how each store aimed at a particular type of buyer. The Gotham Book Store had to be in NYC because it was the only City that had enough of its target highly literary customers. Anne Pratchett in Nashville has done a marvelous job of cultivating readers in her city.
There is very little discussion of the used book market. None of the featured stores are primarily used bookstores.
This is a solid survey of some highpoints and notable moments in American bookstores. It is not fair that I am disappointed in the book because Friss wrote the book that he wanted to write rather than the book I wanted him to write. I would enjoy a full detailed history of American bookstores. That is not what Friss set out to do.
The first sixty pages feature Ben Franklin as a bookseller and the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston. The next three hundred pages take us from Christopher Morley's 1917 book "Parnassus on Wheels" and the traveling bookstores it inspired through to "Parnassus", the bookstore Anne Patchett opened in 2011 as an answer to the Amazon threat to bookstores.
Friss also has chapters on;
the fam0us book department in Chicago's Marshall and Field Department Store,
The Gotham Book Mart, the classic NYC literary bookstore,
The Strand, NYC biggest bookstore,
Barnes & Nobles,
Amazon.
He has a chapter on political extremist bookstores, left and right wing, a chapter of LBGT bookstores and a chapter on sidewalk bookselling. He has interesting vignettes between each chapter.
The bookstore stories are interesting. Friess tends to focus on the marketing and display strategies of the stores. He is good at giving a physical sense of what the stores where like.
He shows how each store aimed at a particular type of buyer. The Gotham Book Store had to be in NYC because it was the only City that had enough of its target highly literary customers. Anne Pratchett in Nashville has done a marvelous job of cultivating readers in her city.
There is very little discussion of the used book market. None of the featured stores are primarily used bookstores.
This is a solid survey of some highpoints and notable moments in American bookstores. It is not fair that I am disappointed in the book because Friss wrote the book that he wanted to write rather than the book I wanted him to write. I would enjoy a full detailed history of American bookstores. That is not what Friss set out to do.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
The Bookshop.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
Finished Reading
August 12, 2024
– Shelved
