Not sure how I feel about this...

On one hand, I totally want to go wander around in this bookstore and find random, awesome stuff. But at the same time, there's something that makes me slightly uneasy about the way the article, at least, makes it seem like the books here really are just stuff - cool to look at and think about, but in the same way that, say, old postcards (or those vernacular photographs from the Ransom Riggs book!), or any kind of collectible - especially offbeat ones - might be. I mean, I absolutely agree that with some books, part of their value is as an object: not necessarily what they're worth, but the way they look/feel/smell/make you feel or make you think of something. Books aren't just the stories inside them. But those matter too... Dunno. I also don't really think I buy, at least as it's laid out here, the Times' editorializing that this kind of place/model "may just be publishing's great new hope."

An Oddly Modern Antiquarian Bookshop

A tiny shop in Toronto, specializing in the arcane and the absurd, may just be publishing's great new hope.

So, this is kind of interesting...

New York Times / Books



Electronic Mini-Books That Allow Writers to Stretch Their Legs


By DWIGHT GARNER


Published: March 6, 2012


Kindle Singles are works of long-form journalism that seek out that sweet spot between magazine articles and hardcover books.
 
 
I thought I could make that look nicer...anyway, I wasn't aware of these "singles" (which makes me think of slices of American cheese, but whatever), in part, I am sure, because I am desperately trying to stick to "real," flesh and blood (or paper and ink) books.
 
But I like this idea a lot. Essays, in general, are just a great idea. And these remind me of the broadsides of yore - quick, cheap, accessible to the masses but also potentially brilliant and thought-provoking.
 
Nice.