Eighth Day Books Discussions

Monk e-business

2006-07-13T08:38:43-06:00

If like everyone else you’re paying exhorbitant amounts for ink and toner cartridges, check out Lasermonks.com, a Cistercian monastery business that sells new and remanufactured printer supplies. Steward of Temporal Affairs Fr. Bernard McCoy at the Abbey of Our Lady of Spring Bank in Sparta, Wisconsin tells the story of how the financially-strapped monastery started in this business here. They’ve had great success the last few years, and profits have gone not only to the monastery but also to many charities. Not to mention you can submit prayer requests and order monastery-made caramels while ordering discount ink cartridges. Don’t fail to check out the cartoon strip the Abbot Superior draws, Luxor and Ludwig, chronicling the adventures of their cloistered canines.

Off the Shelf - what the staff is reading

2006-09-05T18:50:00-06:00

Dear Friends,

Erin and I have just returned from a 4-day backpacking trek in central Colorado, near Breckenridge. Our discussions were inspired by a book called “The Teaching of the Holy Fathers on the Passions.” Once or twice each day of our trip, (during meals or at night around the campfire) we paused to read and to meditate on the words of this little gem. If you’re not familiar with the way the Fathers use the word, “Passion” refers to a sin that has captured the mind and become an internal habit. The Fathers maintain that the Life in Christ is a struggle against the passions, and a fight to acquire purity of heart --to the end that we become temples of the Holy Spirit. The book introduces the Fathers’ concept of struggle, and gives their “prescription” for the passions of gluttony, anger, vainglory and lust (of course, their are many more passions, but it’s just a little book!). The last chapter is on dispassion --our goal, the state of theosis.

This book, along with its companion volume, “The Teaching of the Holy Fathers on the Body” are troves of distilled patristic wisdom. Both are pocket-sized - I might say “road-trip-sized” - and are worth checking out! Look for them on the website soon. They’re $4.50.

from the third floor of EDB,

Joshua

Brewed in Byzantium

2006-06-12T14:46:03-06:00

Next time you’re cruising through Colorado Springs (or, if you’re lucky enough to live there) be sure to stop in the new Agia Sophia coffee house--where Fresh Coffee and Ancient Wisdom meet for drinks. Eighth Day Books is proud to be the official literary supplier for this unique marriage of Jerusalem and Java, which is housed in a beautifully restored historic building, complete with a Russian Samovar Room, fine food, pastries and in the tradition of the unmercenaries, free wi-fi. See pictures on their site--quite a stunning place. Congratulations to all those whose dream is realized with this Grand Opening, and we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership.

The current promotion: mention this internet announcement and get $1 off your first order. No word yet whether the bottomless cup stretches to eternity.

Bibliophile Social Networking: Library Thing

2006-09-06T05:48:30-06:00

Anywhere you see the phrase (quickly becoming a tired cliche) “Web 2.0,” what it means is, inevitably, some variety of social networking. You have your MySpace, your Flickr, your del.icio.us, and now: Library Thing. But this one not only kicks it up a notch, as they say, it also seeks a higher level of intellectual stimulation than one is accustomed to on the web.

Here’s how it works: First, one must have a desire to connect with other readers and writers, and then a little time on your hands to enter some of your library into the database. But once you clear those hurdles, tag your books and start meeting fellow-travelers, striking up conversation and--maybe as importantly--finding new books you might otherwise have missed.

In case you’ve never seen a TagCloud, check one out at Library Thing.

Bookstore Tourism

2006-06-01T22:01:08-06:00

We know of several people who make long journeys to Wichita to visit Eighth Day Books, and many others say they’d like to, but we’ve never seriously considered putting a tour package together. But apparently we’re falling behind the curve. Check out this site about bookstore tourism and read about a movement afoot to promote independent bookstores as travel destinations. If you do make the trip, and after you’ve tired your eyes with reading, we’ll ensure you see Wichita’s other unique attractions.

The Fate of Independent Bookstores

2006-05-22T12:02:21-06:00

This is a thread to discuss this BookBlog entry, “The Fate of Independent Bookstores.”

The Pulp Canon

2006-05-26T03:54:20-06:00

It’s been Pulp Fiction week at Slate, and here’s pulpy cover art for literary classics.

25 Years of American Fiction

2006-05-22T23:08:57-06:00

On Sunday, the New York times published the results of a survey taken by the experts--“writers, critics, editors and other literary sages"--seeking to identify the single best work of fiction in the past quarter century. And the chosen ones…

1. Toni Morrison--Beloved

2. Don Delillo--Underworld

3. Cormac McCarthy--Blood Meridian

4. John Updike--Rabbit Angstrom

5. Phillip Roth--American Pastoral

The article goes on to give more runners-up, including Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and John Kennedy Toole’s Confederacy of Dunces. I’m sure there are myriad responses to these choices floating about (and why else do it but for a response? The selections were anything but surprising) but the only one I’ve seen is Megan O’Rourke gives a good defense of the ignored “small novel” here. Interestingly, not a single one of the honored books made the Modern Library’s much publicized Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (Beloved and Blood Meridian made the Reader’s choice list), which means, at the very least, there are plenty of other books we should keep on our meaning-to-read list. Know any?