In attempts to continue with the theme of reviewing non-traditional book stores, this week I paid a visit to Chronicle Books on Second Street in San Francisco. The Second Street location is their corporate headquarters where they also have a beautiful store. There are also stores in the Metreon as well as on Union Street which both have a larger selection of Chronicle published books, the store on Union having the largest selection.

Chronicle Books (2nd Street)

I’ve visited all three stores but for the review I thought the HQ store would be the most fun, although I did stop by the Metreon store on my way back to work just cause I could.

If you don’t already know about Chronicle they “are an independent publisher of distinctive books and gifts.” Their titles range from Art & Design, Cooking, Literature, Pop Culture and Travel to be pretty broad about it. They also have an impressive selection of children’s books and gifts. You may have at one time received a book titled The Worst Case Scenario… yeah, those are published by Chronicle just to give you an idea of their books.

Yes, there’s more, you didn’t real think I’d stop there did you?

I’m not going to lie, I’m a little disheartened. 46 visitors clicked on the page and the poll garnered only 12 responses! But, the show must go on. Here’s a breakdown of the results.

From lowest to highest in votes:
The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs – 1 vote
Couch – Benjamin Parzybok – 1 vote
This Wicked World – Richard Lange – 1 vote
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace – 1 vote
Zeitoun – Dave Eggers – 1 vote
Little Bee – Chris Cleave – 1 vote
Tattoo Machine – Jeff Johnson – 1 vote
Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein – 2 votes

And the next book that I will be reading is…

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand – 3 votes

I’ll try this again in the coming weeks and hope to recieve some more input! Thank you to those of you who participated. I’m also going to try and find a different way to make this work, I realize that it wasn’t the easiest link to find.

I like to think that most people have been inside the typical bookstore (for those that haven’t I am severely concerned). I have certainly seen my fare share and although each store, the independent one’s that is, often have something unique about them I always enjoy exploring specialty book shops.

To review another cut and dry shop right now I felt would be kind of boring. As you know, cause I’ve said it again and again, I am interested in pursuing a masters in urban/city planning in the future. As a result of this and my search for unique stores in the bay area I stumbled across a real gem, William Stout Architectural Books located on Montgomery Street just north of Jackson.

William Stout Architectural Books

(Just so you know, the store had quite a few signs letting me know that taking photos was not ok, I thought about asking but didn’t really feel like dealing with the problems that could ensue)

Now, the name might make the store sound somewhat drab to those of you who are not the least bit interested in architecture, but I am confident that anyone could find something in there that suits them (alright, you should probably leave the kids at home though).

Aww, come on, keep reading!!

Well… It’s Friday again, and luckily for people like me who sit at a desk in front of a computer all day that means a reprieve from the monotony of work. Unfortunately for you it means I’m slacking and will once again be providing you with an update of my reading list as it currently stands. Come on, I did give you three book reviews this week! Don’t worry I have plenty more but I don’t want to spoil anyone. Where’s the fun in that?

There haven’t been a whole lot of additions since my last update but there have been some. You’ll notice that some of the books at the top will probably remain there for sometime. Either I don’t own them or they just don’t interest me as much as some of the more recent additions.

So here we go:

Maps and Legends – Michael Chabon
Cities in Civilization – Peter Hall
Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience – Yi Fu Tuan
Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception… – Yi Fu Tuan
State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America – Matt Weildand, et al.
The Concrete Dragon: China’s Urban Revolution… – Thomas Campanella
Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein
The Geography of Nowhere – James Kunstler
A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
Six Suspects – Vikas Swarup
Ghost Soldiers – Hampton Sides
Nobody Move – Denis Johnson
The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
Tattoo Machine – Jeff Johnson
Uglies – Scott Westerfield
American Hotel Stories – Francisca Matteola
Little Bee – Chris Cleave
Enders Shadow – Orson Scott Card
The Sower – Kemble Scott
The Time Machine Did It – John Swartzwelder
A Thread of Grace – Mary Doria Russell
Lost City of Z – David Grann
Zeitoun – Dave Eggers
The Wild Things – Dave Eggers
Infinite Jest – David Foster Wallace
This Wicked World – Richard Lange
Couch – Benjamin Parzybok
Forever – Pete Hamill
Voss – Patrick White
You Can’t Win – Jack Black (not the actor)
Generation Kill – Evan Wright
Wrestling With Moses – Anthony Flint
The Death and Life of Great American Cities – Jane Jacobs

Want to help me decide what to read next? Click here!

It’s actually pretty interesting to look back on the list and see where the suggestion or idea to add the book to the list came from. For instance, my brother, it seems, has a knack (recently) to recommend or suggest war themed books, for example Generation Kill, Ghost Soldiers, and others which I am currently reading or have read like Forever War or We Were Soldiers Once and Young. From my sister, recently, I’ve been recommended young adult books (she is YA librarian so it makes sense). As for the rest of the family, they’ll throw anything at me. You’ll also seen on the list quite a few books based on cities, “place,” and topography. Clearly these are a result of my interest in maps, cartography, topography and city planning. In the end though, in addition to all these, there are books that I see other people reading on the cable car, books that the cute girl sitting next to me recommends or books that I see at the bookstore that spark an interest and end up on my list. I’m not biased, I’ll read just about anything, so as I always say if you’ve got any other suggestions, feel free to comment and let me know!

The Bookshop - Penticton, British Columbia

In the sleepy valley city (it does have a population of near 32,000, although it feels like 2,000) of Penticton, British Columbia there is but one book store, The Bookshop. Located at 242 Main Street, the shop is on the main drag of the town. From the outside anyone passing by really wouldn’t have the mind to think too much of this store (except for the awesome horse pulled wagons full books for signage). But, once you step inside you realize that you have been sorely mistaken.

You may be wondering what I was doing in Penticton, which is 4 hours from Vancouver and 6 hours from Seattle by car. Well, I was there for Ironman Canada to watch my brother kick some ass (which he certainly did). During the actual event which was on August 30th of this year I had quite a bit of downtime seeing as the race takes at least 8 hours, 25 minutes, 13 seconds (Jordan Rapp’s winning time). While I waited for my brother to come into the transition, while he was out on the road for his five and a half hour bike ride, I did the one thing I know can keep me occupied for a very long time, peruse the book store.

But wait, there’s more…

I’ve been sick, and it’s not been fun. After two weeks I think I am finally starting to feel like myself again. I thought I would get some reading done while I was stuck at home but every time I sat down on the couch or in my chair I somehow just fell asleep. I guess that’s not very surprising. I have to say the book I’m reading right now is pretty fascinating but still, I’m not getting very far (after all it’s a staggering 1162 pages). That said, my list has not shrunk at all and has only grown by a few books in the past weeks. Oh well.

My list…

Having recently moved and not having very much furniture I have been looking for a few bookshelves to store books and other junk I have no place for. The obvious less expensive locations (for me) to look have been craigslist and Ikea. While I’m not particularly picky, I still do appreciate a well built bookshelf as well as something that is aesthetically pleasing and will fit/go well in my new apartment.

Needless to say my search continues. Craigslist while having many options just didn’t have anything that suits my needs. And as for Ikea, I have enough cheap particle board in my life already. I considered typing “bookshelf” into yelp to see what would happen, but honestly, I can’t stand yelp. Yes, its somewhat bizarre but I think their business practices are phony and ruthless. What to do? When all else fails use Google. My first attempt led me to Books & Bookshelves, and just like that I had I found what I was looking for.

Books & Bookshelves, 99 Sanchez Street, SF

I have to say, it seems quite silly that their aren’t more similar stores out there. Other than coffee, what really goes better with books than bookshelves. Sure I could think of some other things but none as functional.

My adventure/review continues…

Where the Wild Things Are by Muarice Sendak

When I was young and rotund, Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are was certainly one of my favorite books, actually it still is. It ranks right up there with Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree and Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight Moon. I don’t think many people out there could argue that there are better children’s books (mom, Susie and others you’re not allowed to interject).

As many of you probably know by now they are or have turned Where the Wild Things Are into a major motion picture and it actually looks like it could be pretty amazing. Yesterday, I came across an interview from the “The New Yorker” where Dave Eggers talks about his involvement with the movie and a new book which he has coming out titled The Wild Things. And yes, the novel is related and does have something to do with the children’s book of a similar name.

As I was surprised to learn when reading the opening of the interview, Dave Eggers actually worked with the incredibly awesome Spike Jonze writing the screenplay for Where the Wild Things Are. Pretty crazy huh? I thought so. Apparently after they wrote the screenplay Dave was contacted my Maurice Sendak and was asked to make a novelization of the movie. As it turns out the movie is more Spike and the novel is more Dave despite both of them having worked together on the screenplay. Makes some sense though, after all Spike is a director/producer and Dave is a writer (not to categorize or anything).

With that, I’ll leave you with the link to the interview and let you read it for yourself. As for me, I’m excited for the movie and now equally excited for Eggers new book.

The Wild Things by Dave Eggers

This past weekend I had the pleasure of flying to LA for Saturday night and returning to SF on Sunday. Quick trip, I know, but these are the things you do for family. Honestly, I don’t mind traveling so much, airports/airplanes are a great excuse to get a lot of reading done and occasionally you may meet some nice people.

While in LA though I decided that I would visit a local independent bookstore and see how it possibly differed from those that I frequent at home. I conveniently chose one which was on the way from my sisters house to my brothers.

Skylight Books at 1818 N. Vermont Avenue is an amazing shop. The layout is great and it feels like a homey store. One indication by which I judge a bookstore is the availability of the books on my list (sometimes some of them are hard to come by, although they are not “rare” books). Skylight passed with flying colors. Before I managed to get my list out I spotted a good number of them not to mention several to add.

Skylight Books

Don’t stop now!!!!!!!! There’s more to read right this way…

Being an avid reader (avid being a bit of an understatement) I am frequently seeing, hearing and reading about books old and new that I want to read. Admittedly, a few of them I want to read due to their mainstream appeal but the majority of them spark some sort of interest in me for one reason or another. Some have been on the list for ages while some have just been added.

Take a Look!