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Loading... Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World (1997)by Lawrence Goldstone, Nancy Bazelon Goldstone (Author)
None. I enjoy reading books about books and discovered this one right after I finished reading [b:A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books|791098|A Gentle Madness Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books|Nicholas A. Basbanes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291315548s/791098.jpg|777083] by Nicholas A. Basbanes. The Goldtones leave their up-scale life in Manhattan to move to the Berkshires and collect books. There must be something in the water in Massachusetts. The book is full of insider stories about every which way that you can buy books and everyone who buys and sells them. ( )I enjoy reading books about books and discovered this one right after I finished reading [b:A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books|791098|A Gentle Madness Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books|Nicholas A. Basbanes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1291315548s/791098.jpg|777083] by Nicholas A. Basbanes. The Goldtones leave their up-scale life in Manhattan to move to the Berkshires and collect books. There must be something in the water in Massachusetts. The book is full of insider stories about every which way that you can buy books and everyone who buys and sells them. I enjoyed this book. It was entertaining and it paralells my experience (up to a the point of escalatingly priced rare books) of the joys of used bookstores and the booksellers you find in them. This book was my first entry in the Books About Books genre and for a while, I know it will be my favorite genre. A decent depiction about how one might grow into book-collecting. It's actually more of a collection of anecdotes than a coherent story, most of them educational about some particular aspect oc the book circuit - almost to the point of being suspiciously so. Competently written, but earns no bonus points for shining prose. Has a tendency to sink into tedious back-and-forth dialogue between the two protagonists that is probably sopposed to be charming banter, but really just feels embarasingly forced and phony. The book is ultimatly saved by the genuine love for the subject, the entertaining characters, and the loving decriptions of bookstores of every kind. It's a trifle, but and entertaining trifle. Very engaging description of how ordinary people fall into book collection. I fault the book only in that it struck me at times as being too contrived in order to create the necessary expository opportunities. I mean, really, were they taking notes during these actual conversations? Also, while those who came in for criticism appeared to earn the notoriety, I shuddered to think someone may have lost his or her job because of one customer's reported bad experience.
[A] sprightly paced travelogue....A sort of 'Year in Provence' for book lovers: an entertaining armchair introduction to an esoteric but captivating subject. Rarest of all, Goldstone can write. Her sentences are clean, flowing, intelligent, even arch. This Goldstone woman has a talent that you cannot buy.
Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0312187688, Paperback)After years of competitive extravagance at birthday time, Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone decided to limit themselves to $20 each, which is how they came to be in possession of a $10 definitive translation of War and Peace, complete with maps of the major battles and fold-out color illustrations. It is also how they eventually came to be the owners of a $650 edition of Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit. Used and Rare, the Goldstones' tale of the journey from point A to point B, is a joyful celebration of their love of books. Rare-book dealers are a quirky lot; while one might invite you to caress an Adventures of Tom Sawyer worth thousands, another might turn you away altogether for no apparent reason. The Goldstones' enthusiasm is infectious, and, besides offering a lesson in used-book parlance, the pair remind us that for every book there are at least two stories: the one between the covers, and the one beyond the covers.(retrieved from Amazon Sat, 05 Jan 2013 12:52:22 -0500) No library descriptions found. |
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