Blogs

Three Good Things: A Perfect Storm

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1. There's been some discussion in the past week or so concerning whether George Orwell's 1984 or Franz Kafka's The Trial is the more appropriate literary allusion when thinking about the National Security Agency, surveillance, etc. We'll let you be the judge of that. What cannot be questioned, though, is the greatness of Orson Welles' adaptation of Kafka's classic, and how happy we are it is in the public domain.



2. Teju Cole, author of the phenomenal must-read novel Open City, not to mention a certified Master of Twitter (nb: there's no such there, we know, but hey), is also one of the sharpest essayists going. His most recent offering in The New Inquiry about the ever-present eye and never-blinking gaze of Google is fantastic. Very highly recommended.

3. There's nothing particularly literary about this, but it is sublime, jaw-dropping, and something to think about during the weekend. Be sure to expand it to full-screen for the full, near-apocalyptic effect. Visit the photographer's blog for a full story and more images. 

A supercell near Booker, Texas from Mike Olbinski on Vimeo.

Reading Material for World Ocean Day

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The 11th annual World Oceans Day is happening June 8th, thanks to the coordinated efforts of The Ocean Project and The World Ocean Network. Their goal is to spread awareness about how we can all do our part to conserve and protect our oceans and the plant and animal life that call it their home. The website for World Oceans Day has a link to Reef Live, where they will be streaming a real time tour of the Great Barrier Reef, and you can go on a virtual marine safari with ARKive. So even if you don't live near the ocean, you can still celebrate. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Libraries of Protest

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The causes of political resistance are inevitably complex and their effects, invariably mixed. So much so that a certain measured dose of ambivalence would seem (rightly or wrongly) healthy. I will not claim for myself an informed perspective on the current climate of protest settling over Turkey -- though, by and large, protest movements of all stripes, along the full spectrum of ideology, often prove to be instructive kicks against the tires of the powers that be. These outbursts -- sometimes vapid and petulant, other times eloquent and inspired -- reveal as much about the voices raised as they do about the ones that remain silent. As such, the varied shades of agreement and disagreement are actually in a way secondary to, and in fact arise from, our taking notice and paying attention -- such is the give and the take of being a part of the world.

It is with this in mind that I look at these images (and read the ongoing story) of the makeshift library built on the disputed grounds of Gezi Park, visually reminiscent of efforts of the "People's Library" in New York City's Zuccotti Park and Biblioteca Popular Victor Martinez in Oakland, as ones of literate disobedience and cinder-block strong hope.

I hope that they, and we, keep kicking.

 

-- Brad J. 

 

 

3 Good Things: Free Your Mind

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1.Welcome to the Woodstock of the Mind

"Kindles and other e-readers are bad for the health of booksellers in the way that cigarettes are bad for the health," he said. Around town, Addyman has placed banners — "by royal decree" — which indicate that the devices are not permitted. "People are smuggling e-readers into Hay-on-Wye, but I should make them aware that we are training poodle sniffer dogs to find them," he said." Read more

2. John Green Accepts Awards with Panache 

John Green, author of the award winning novels Looking for Alaska and The Fault in Our Stars (and one of the minds behind the always-entertaining and informative mental_floss) has words of encouragement for independent booksellers . . . and some potty-mouth words for those who would wage war against them.


3. Liberation "from the hypnotism of the entire order of things."

"While radio and newspapers today are more open than state-controlled television, in recent years the Internet has been the most free space in Russia. Now authorities may be clamping down. Still, just as “The Master and Margarita” once did, the Internet has already helped create a community with its own shared language and understanding." -- A fascinating article from the New York Times about the state of political resistance in Russia and its long history of inciting it in literature.

The June Bookseller of the Month

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Our bookseller of the month for June is Cheryl.  Each month, we ask a staff member a few questions about their relationship with books, and reading in general.  Below are Cheryl's responses.

 

1. What kind of reader are you? 

I'm a very picky and impatient reader. If a book doesn't grab my attention within the first twenty pages I will most likely set it aside. As a child, I was an avid reader, but now I read mostly on my days off while I'm barbecuing and sipping on a cold beer. I've also been known to read in rush hour traffic. I figure if it's going to take me an hour to drive three miles, I should make good use of my time!

2. Name three favorite titles that came out in the last three years. 

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch, Three Weeks in December by Audrey Schulman, and Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed. It was bittersweet when I finished the last pages of all of them . . . part of me wanted them to never end.

3. What reading experience surprised you recently?

The surprise wasn't so much the book as the circumstance. A regular customer got hooked on reading Julian Barnes after reading A Sense of an Ending. One day he came in and said he wanted to buy me Barnes' Pulse if I would read it. I said I would, and he bought me the book. I had never read Barnes before, and this collection of short stories was a great introduction.

4. What upcoming book are you looking forward to? 

Provence, 1970 by Luke Barr. Imagine James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones hanging out in the South of France cooking and discussing food for an entire winter. It really happened! The author is the great-nephew of M.F.K. Fisher and he references conversations that were chronicled in her journals as well as some letters of hers that he discovered. Sounds like a fascinating foodie read!

“The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist.”

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We don't like to play favorites at Diesel -- well, maybe a little -- but occasionally a book will enter the store that we can't help but champion a little more than normal. Jeremy Scahill's bold and contentious book Dirty Wars is one such book.

Scahill is the type of journalist we're glad still exists, whether one agrees with him or not. In Dirty Wars he traces the seen and unseen consequences of the reliance on covert warfare. There is a war, Leonard Cohen once sang, and though it is rarely debated in the public debates on cable or detailed in the pages of our papers, Scahill argues persuasively that the present secret one is no less deadly than the conflicts we've officially named. We owe it to the voiceless victims of night raids, nameless detainees in secret prisons, faceless targets of cruise missile and drone strikes -- to the full range of "collateral damage" of the Global War on Terror -- to at the very least momentarily stop and consider what is being done in our name and allegedly on our behalf. The documentary companion to Dirty Wars opens in the Bay Area June 14.

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, you can join us in our ongoing reflection on wages and wagers of war.

 

Customer Book Review: Holding Silvan

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We at Diesel like books. We're more-than-friends with books. And we have the best customers because they, too, love books. Here's a review from one of our customers:

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Holding Silvan by Monica Wesolowska

A Fierce and Courageous Story of a Mother’s Love

Monica Wesolowska has written a fierce and compelling account of love and loss and more love. This story should be read by anyone who has been engulfed by a tragedy and who has lived on to risk and love again.

Holding Silvan is a beautifully written and glaringly honest account of a crisis faced by a couple and the family, friends, nurses, and doctors who surrounded them.

I recommend this beautifully written memoir to friends, therapists, pastors, and anyone who wants to be reminded of the transformative and unexpected choices we can bravely make for those we most deeply love. This book will deepen your appreciation for all of the blessings in your life and give you greater compassion for those among us who must make the hardest of choices.

--Anna Weidman

Three Good Things

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1) The lolling lilt of Marcella Riordan reading Molly Bloom's famed soliloquy at the end of James Joyce's Ulysses is a joy and a treasure unlike many other.

2) Speaking of Joyce's classic, Dublin has unveiled its newest postage stamp, and it features a short story written by one of its local teenagers.

What's the 250-word (or so) essence of your home city?

3) There's been a lot of debate and wringing of hands concerning which is better, the original art adorning F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby or that of the movie adaptation, but I've heard precious few people argue that there should be a handwritten manuscript edition. Well, we have page one at least.


 

Readings at Diesel are Events!

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I have worked at Diesel since we opened on June 1st, 1989.  We've had amazing events over the last 24 years, too many to recount here.  Some of the best have had hundreds of people, a couple have had only one person attending.  When the magic happens, it happens no matter how many come.  Last week we had two extraordinary events and I was lucky to be at both of them: James Kelman at our Brentwood store on May 14th and Anchee Min for a Luncheon in Malibu on May 16th.  What a week!

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