Thanks for the update, Pookie. (Thinks: Someone buy "Fear And Loathing...", dammit)

damn! drugs always win. but danny will be happy, and you'll save postage.

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ps you know who bought those? demographics?

I didn't take their details to be honest.

Maybe a questionnaire for each one sold?

I would guess:

Democracy in America, bought by somebody who thought it was a James Patterson style thriller.
Drugs Are Nice: emo.
Crime & Punishment: slightly older emo.
Dorian Gray: student.

i was wondering who frequents your store-- stuffy professorial types, bored housewives from book clubs, students, old hippies... i could pick a book for each group i think , ha ha.

We are definitely middle-brow.

The most suprising sale so far is Democracy In America. We sell a lot of 'popular history' books, typically those that read more like novels (Antonia Fraser, Alison Weir, Stephen Ambrose etc.).

Crime does very well for us (Martina Cole, Ian Rankin, Lee Child etc.)

Thrillers (James Patterson, John Grisham, etc.)

Chick-lit (Sophie Kinsella, Adele Parks, Marian Keyes etc.)

Middle-brow fiction (Sebastian Faulks, Ian McEwan, William Boyd, David Mitchell).

Classics (Jane Austen, Dickens, the Brontes, etc.)

We DON'T sell anything too literary, too academic, or too pricey!

ohhh.. so yes democracy in america is a bit highbrow ... but thats why i picked a sensasionalistic tagline, ha ha.

im not very good at the middlebrow & gere fiction im afraid-- im not trying to give myself airs, it's just that i read voraciously as a kid, and now it takes a lot for a book to really engage me.

on your "classics" line, since you mentioned, wuthering heights i hold in the highest regard... that book is... something out of this world.

hm.. im hungry, im sleepy, im tired, its 3am...

i'll go turn off the lights & think of a book...

The good thing about recommends is that it's an opportunity to try to sell something regardless of demographics.

Which is why I didn't say too much about customer base before. I just wanted books people love and can have the opportunity to pass on to others.

Democracy In America is a perfect example.

ok. it occurred to me that perhaps paul auster's "new york trilogy" could be peddled as detective fiction. it's not exactly a "crime" novel, more of a "mystery" but with a bizarre i dont want to call postmodern take on the genre, and quite abstract. it's not new by any means, i think it's from the 80's, and sorta like flaubert's parrot, but it might be a nice addition to the reader who is tired of the same crime novels (then again, they might WANT the same crime novel). now, the thing about "new york trilogy" (it's a penguin book, im pretty sure), it's also been published as a graphic novel. so you can offer the 2.

how would i qualify it.. hm..

a modern classic of detective fiction, a book unlike any other you've ever read. the new york trilogy 's 3 novellas trace the mysterious algebra between pursuer and pursued.

^^ something like that?
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edit: i edited.
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edit: now that i wrote that i realized that auster draws heavily from borges... oh i could write you a review for "ficciones"!!!! (but then auster is not "unlike any other...").

chesterton --> borges --> auster

Paul Auster actually sells quite well here.

We stock 4 or 5 of his books, including New York Trilogy, but I've never seen the graphic novel version.

it's only for "city of glass" the first novella

looks like this (i own it, but the book is better)





^thats art spiegelman who did maus

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312423608
• ISBN-13: 978-0312423605
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review:
  
   
  based on 5 reviews. (Write a review.)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,881 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
  (Publishers and authors: Improve Your Sales)

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ps im going to sleep man, got a monster headache now. have a fun saturday.

On a side note, have you seen this site?

http://www.literature-map.com/

Hmmm, I dug the City of Glass comic but the Auster that I then read (Oracle Night) left me a bit cold to be honest.

Never managed to get the whole Auster thing.

Wow, floaty names.

Nice idea but it would be nice if there was a bit more info about the writers on the site. Too lazy to google right now. I might try it out and see if it recommends good stuff.

It could certainly do with some work, and there are some quite odd selections on there.

As you say, it's a nice idea.

Emo!?

I am offended, but amused, because my book is winning so far. I won't be smug, however, because I'll probably lose this little competition eventually.

I'd say indie bitches and drama queens buy Drugs Are Nice.

Update:

Democracy In America 1
House of Leaves 1
Fear & Loathing... 0
The Picture of Dorian Gray 2
Naked Lunch 0
Drugs Are Nice 2
Crime & Punishment 4
The Perks of Being A Wallflower 0
Feast 0

Pookie, I'm late but i never tire of recommending Songs They Never Play On The Radio by James Young. Even if you don't like Nico, it makes for excellent reading, filled with tragedy and comedy.

whats the prize again? respect?