Book Immobile

Posted by: spacecog

Why did I just waste precious moments of my finite life reading Dan Weissman’s 1600-word profile of two utterly unexceptional Oak Park booksellers? The first sentence of the piece should have clued me in to the fact that it was going nowhere, and very very slowly:

"During a recent visit to Oak Park, some friends told me a nearby bookstore had a bunch of Studs Terkel books on sale."

Books on sale. Yep, that’s the startling detail that’s supposed to grip the reader by the throat and pull him in. BOOKS ON SALE!!???

Books on FIRE, now that would be interesting. Who wouldn’t want to read about a bookstore that regularly set its stock on fire? Books on top of a GIANT MOUND OF CUSTARD. That would be good too. But books on sale? WHO THE FUCK CARES!!!??

Weissman reports with breathless wonder his discovery that the books at The Book Table are actually – gasp! – remainder copies on sale for – gasp! – ONLY A FRACTION OF THEIR ORIGINAL RETAIL PRICE!!!??? He recounts in detail the completely unexceptional work histories of the store’s owners – gosh, they both worked in BOOK STORES before the started a BOOK STORE! -- and their unexceptional romance – she was a LESBIAN, but now she’s married to him!!

It goes on, but I won’t.