Sigh. Vertigo Books is seeking kind home(s) for its fixtures. Vertigo expects to close on April 25. Fisher offers his own personal reflections on the bookstore’s closing and in particular co-owner Bridget Warren: “I’ve rarely met a more passionate and knowledgeable bookseller than Warren, whose commitment to books and the people who read them is so powerful that she managed to conduct simultaneous careers as bookshop owner and as director of programming for the Prince George’s County Public Library system, even while acting as unpaid den mother to countless local writers and readers.”

U Street Girl discovers a garden filled with plastic flowers. Creepy or cool?

Eckington (way better than Spotsylvania) charts a round-trip bike route from his home ‘hood to Nationals Park.

The Change I Wish To See finds sadness on the Metro:

“Every single face was its own perfect storm: furrowed brow, droopy eyes, frowned lips.  There was only reclusive color: a sea of grays and blacks and browns; the kinds of colors perfect for blending into shadows. I felt out of place.  But not because I don’t have any reason to fret or fear or fall.  It was because when people are that sad, you feel as if they should be left alone.”

The 42 notes that Mount Pleasant just might have a cameo or two in State of Play.

Penn Quarter Living notes that Ford’s Theatre is offering discount performances.

D.C. Fire/EMS needs to update its twitter account! We fell for the hype and follow you guys. C’mon!

Vertigo Books has just announced that it is closing. Very sad news as the bookstore had an awesome staff, offered a great selection, and produced interesting readings each month from well-known authors and should-be-well-known authors. They championed African-American literature in particular and had close ties with the DC-area community. They defined the independent bookstore. In an e-mail sent out this afternoon, the shop’s owners write:

“Hello-

After seventeen and half years, the time has come. Curtains down and goodbye–in two weeks Vertigo Books will close.

EVERYTHING IN THE STORE IS 20% OFF. If you’ve been eyeing that special something, come in and grab it now, before someone else does. And our new rules for the next couple weeks: no checks, no returns and no exchanges. Please note: we will be closed Easter Sunday, April 12, our usual hours will resume Monday.

Why are we closing? There are many reasons, but basically, not enough people buy books here.

We have many loyal customers, just not enough of them, and our cloning experiments have not yielded satisfactory results. And way too many people (not you, but someone you know) are buying their books at Amazon. We’ll spare you the inside baseball stuff about the near monopolistic force Amazon has become in the industry. You can also skip to the party info at the end if you like.”

Read More “This Sucks: Vertigo Books Is Closing” »

It’s only a matter of time before ebooks destroy the print publishing industry, an evolutionary inkling that Ted Scheinman and yours truly documented at the District level (and here’s the NYT Magazine’s Gerry Marzorati writing about people who’d rather read novela-length cover stories on their Blackberries). As Kindle Come draws near, bibliophiles can (and should) take refuge in the musty alcoves that still serve their kind.

After the jump: tonight’s recommended reading and the sale of the season at Vertigo Books.

Read More “Book’d: Zombies in Bethesda, Three-for-two in College Park” »

Todd Stewart of Vertigo Books was on the Kojo Nnamdi Show today offering a few recommendations for some of his favorite books of the year. I’ve read (and liked) two of the books in his list, Philip Roth’s Indignation and Art Spiegelman’s Breakdowns, which gives me a fair amount of confidence in the rest. With Black Friday approaching in these Depression-esque times, it’s worth remembering that books are cheap and last forever. What else can you say that about? (Clever/tacky retorts to that question are welcome in the comments.) Stewart’s full list below:

Fiction
Sway by Zachary Lazar
Indignation by Philip Roth
World Made by Hand by James Howard Kunstler
Peace by Richard Bausch
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, translated by Richard Pevear
Roseanna, The Man Who Went Up in Smoke and The Man on the Balcony by Maj Sjowall and Per Waloo

Nonfiction
Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us) by Tom Vanderbilt
Like a Rolling Stone: The Strange Life of a Tribute Band by Steven Kurutz
Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@*#! by Art Spiegelman
Washington Burning by Les Standiford
God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570-1215 by David Levering Lewis

Olsson’s is dead and gone, but that doesn’t mean DC’s meatspace is without some fine used-bookstores. Vertigo Books in College Park has some sweet deals going on right now. (I know, I know, it’s not technically in DC, but spare me the geography lessons–it’s close enough.)

For yer buyin’ pleasure:

The Trials of Lenny Bruce can be had for $6.99, Langston Hughes’ The Dream Keeper (illustrated, no less) for $3.99, and The House at Pooh Corner for $4.99. Vertigo is also selling both American Splendor (starring Paul Giamatti) and Cotton Comes to Harlem on DVD for $6.99. Good deals, all.

Check ‘em out at 7346 Baltimore Ave., College Park. 301-779-9300.