Any Friend of Tom's...

We're hip. We have a myspace page for the store. If you're already on myspace you can see our events calendar and blog entries there, now.

What does that mean? I'm about the last person who can explain myspace to you, but I'll give it a try. Myspace lets you join social networks, which means you can talk to other myspace-cases, which in turn keeps you updated about what's going on. I don't understand it either, but if you want to enlighten me, you can post a corrective comment to this item.

I gather now it's all about acquiring friends. I'm inviting folks left and right, but the only one to reply thus far is Josh Kilmer-Purcell, author of the hilarious drag-queen dating a crack-addicted hustler memoir I'm Not Myself These Days. Be my friend, get a blurb.--David E

PS: I actually did like the book quite a bit, Josh.

PPS--Since myspace requires that everyone signing up include a gender and a birthdate in their profile, our store is presently a 38-year-old female. I'm not sure if that accurately reflects our vibe. What do you think? What age and gender should Magers & Quinn be? Post your thoughts in the comments section, please.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Seattle bookseller Paul Constant has written an article in The Stranger about the social networking site Goodreads. "The website tore through the Seattle bookselling community like an STD. Soon, every bookseller under 40 was a member. "Will you be my Goodreads friend?" we'd whisper to each other among the stacks. It was like MySpace, only better—it was all about books."

M&Q has a myspace page, but as I've said elsewhere in this blog, I just don't get the social networking phenomenon. I'll poke around on Goodreads in the next few days to see if it changes my mind. Is anyone out there a member? Post a comment.--David E

Loving Yourself

On Sunday, June 28, at 6:00pm, Magers And Quinn Booksellers, bloggers Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby discuss their book Lessons from the Fat-o-sphere.

When it comes to body image, women can be their own worst enemies, aided and abetted by society and the media. But Harding and Kirby, the leading bloggers in the “fat-o-sphere,” the online community of the fat acceptance movement, have written a book to help readers achieve admiration for--or at least a truce with--their bodies. The authors believe in “health at every size”--the idea that weight does not necessarily determine well-being and that exercise and eating healthfully are beneficial, regardless of whether they cause weight loss.

Kate Harding is a Chicago-based writer, editor, crazy dog person, humorless feminist, recovering grad student, and blonde. She also a contributor to Fatshionista, Shakesville, and Salon’s Broadsheet. And yeah, she’s on MySpace (more or less), Facebook, and Twitter

Marianne Kirby is an Orlando-based writer, editor, artist, cat-owning, feminist-theorizing, blue-hair-dyeing, fatty. She helps moderate the livejournal community Fatshionista, blogs at The Rotund, sells mixed media pieces and jewelry at a gallery called Naked Art (which is not to say it is all nudes--just that the art tends to be functional and unpretentious), and generally has herself a good time.

For more information on any of our readings, visit our events listings.--David E

Myspace for Readers

Call me a Luddite, but I'm underwhelmed by shelfari.com. So the news that some big online bookseller with a riverine name has invested in the site has me puzzled.

Shelfari works like this: you sign up and then list the books you own or have read. This list is available for the whole wide world to see. You can post reviews of your books and meet likeminded readers with similar tastes. Then you can stalk your new virtual friends, peeking at what they have read and what they thought. See their virtual bookshelves at any time. And show them yours.

Or maybe it's like a terrible cocktail party where you can't get away from the book bore who's staked out the drinks table. Except that now he can follow you home and look in your windows.

My feeling is that if you want to see what's on my shelves you have to be charming enough to get an invitation to my house. If you can't do that, you'll just have to live in ignorance of my wonderful and diverse tastes and possessions.--David E

If you feel otherwise, feel free to post a comment.