[Bananafish] Book Brokers

[Christopher Kubica]

You're a book collector, eh? What are the favorite parts of your collection?
I'm not a collector per se, but I've got a few gems that I love, worth money
or no...

---a signed Donald Barthelme book that I found in a used bookstore for $4
(the owner seemed shocked with his underpricing as he sold it to me)
---a bible sized gold leaf complete Shakespeare from 1920-something. I don't
care what translation it is...it is great carrying around a little "bible"
and then show people that is actually the Bard. :)
---Wigger, by William Goldman
---Some Richard Brautigan broadsides
---A first edition Neverending Story with the alternating red and green type
---My signed Nicholson Baker collection

What are other collectors collecting now?

I'm not sure about Franzen. I think no one will give a hoot about the
controversy or even remember it in ten more years. Nor will they remember
James Frey for the same reason...our short attention span. As for DFW, I'm
just not sure. Infinite Jest is one of those books that everyone bought but
no one read (me, too!). Is it actually a good book?

Sincerely,
 
Chris Kubica

President, Founder
Application Architects, LLC
Research Triangle Headquarters
(P) 919-259-8023
(F) 425-671-5648

FileMaker 8 Certified Developer

FDA, Part 11, GxP, HIPAA and SOX Compliance Experts



> From: "D." <darjr1 at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: bananafish list <bananafish at lists.bway.net>
> Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 04:51:19 -0700 (PDT)
> To: bananafish list <bananafish at lists.bway.net>
> Subject: Re: [Bananafish] Book Brokers
> 
> Well, Franzen has a bit of the "controversy" factor
> with him, especially nearly 5 years after the Oprah
> Debacle.  DF Wallace has a bit of an "underground"
> following, such as those are today, and may still yet
> have another opus up his sleeve to rival or surpass
> Infinite Jest.
> 
> My response was mainly from the perspective of a
> collector of rare books who is serious interested in
> developing a valuable (especially in the future) or
> respectable collection.  The Dan Browns, John
> Grishams, J. K. Rowlings of the current best-sellerdom
> have demand on their side today, but almost to a
> writer they don't have stellar reps as quality
> producers and their books are so ubiquitous that they
> remind me of Ford Escorts in the 1980s.  Book
> collecting is an odd sideline where condition
> (condition, condition, condition!), author reputation,
> and scarcity of items get jumbled up to produce insane
> values either short-term (see Harry Potter today) or
> long-term (see The Great Gatsby).  Collectors, from
> the ones I've known, really don't give two s--ts about
> who is popular or not today--they care more about
> whose works will last in the coming years and
> generations.
> 
> D.
> 
> 
> --- Christopher Kubica <info at applicationarch.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Really?
>> 
>> See:
>> 
>> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/books/review/scott-essay.html?pagewanted=p
>> rint
>> 
>> I don't think there's many people reading those
>> guys. Especially see the
>> paragraph:
>> 
>> IS this quantitative evidence for the decline of
>> American letters - yet
>> another casualty of the 60's? Or is the American
>> literary establishment the
>> last redoubt of elder-worship in a culture mad for
>> youth? In sifting through
>> the responses, I was surprised at how few of the
>> highly praised, boldly
>> ambitious books by younger writers - by which I mean
>> writers under 50 - were
>> mentioned. One vote each for "The Corrections" and
>> "The Amazing Adventures
>> of Kavalier & Clay," none for "Infinite Jest" or
>> "The Fortress of Solitude,"
>> a single vote for Richard Powers, none for William
>> T. Vollmann, and so on.
>> 
>> Sincerely,
>>  
>> Chris Kubica
>> 
>> President, Founder
>> Application Architects, LLC
>> Research Triangle Headquarters
>> (P) 919-259-8023
>> (F) 425-671-5648
>> 
>> FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
>> 
>> FDA, Part 11, GxP, HIPAA and SOX Compliance Experts
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: "D." <darjr1 at yahoo.com>
>>> Reply-To: bananafish list
>> <bananafish at lists.bway.net>
>>> Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 15:22:29 -0700 (PDT)
>>> To: bananafish list <bananafish at lists.bway.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [Bananafish] Book Brokers
>>> 
>>> As for payoff in 20 years from now, I'd say,
>> perhaps,
>>> David Foster Wallace or maybe Jonathan Franzen, as
>>> they   young, with some level of recognition, and
>>> their earliest books had relatively low print
>> runs.
>>> I'd have to think on this one longer to give more
>>> suggestions.
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
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