Wednesday, January 23, 2013

We Don't Blog Around These Parts No More



If you've been refreshing this page thinking maybe the most recent post won't be from October when it loads again -- well, I guess that just happened, so you're welcome. And our sincerest apologies for not updating our Green Apple Core in so long. With all the things to check/update/waste time doing on the internet these days, this one fell  by the wayside.

The good news is, we haven't stopped reading, writing, or writing about what we're reading, and there are plenty of ways to stay up to date with what Green Apple is up to. There's our Facebook (includes both important news AND jokes) our Tumblr (where you can find the best books we read last year, among other miscellany) and our Twitter (formerly Green Apple guy, now Green Apple, still a guy). Our website is also more curated and browse-able than it ever has been, so take a look.

So by all means, peruse the archives, but we hope you'll keep tabs on us in all of the above ways. See you around.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Pre-order SIGNED copies of Chris Ware's Building Stories


The inimitable Chris Ware is coming to sign books, and we want to make sure you get your hands on 'em.
And by book, we do mean the architectural marvel that is his latest, Building Stories. You may have seen it on our Facebook page, in our store window, or everywhere. A signed copy of this gem is worth having, and this is your opportunity to pre-order it.
Ware will be at the JCC on October 23rd, and we'll be taking orders up until that date. Unfortunately, due to the expected turnout, we cannot offer personalized inscriptions.  Order it now, pick it up (or have it shipped for free!) on the 24th! 



Building Stories, in pieces

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

(video) On Bookselling




We made this video for a contest: Why My Bookstore Matters.  Did we capture the essence of Green Apple?  What do YOU like about Green Apple that we missed? Do these books make our butts look big?

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Relief for the blog-deprived


As you can see, we haven't been posting here much lately.  To best stay in touch with all things Green Apple, find us here:

We hope to see you in person soon!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

September's Apple-a-Month Club Pick: Don't Take Our Word For It...


Happy Apple-a-Month Club subscriber Michelle Richmond posted these lovely pictures of our latest offering on her excellent blog, Sans Serif. Maybe there's a filter involved, but I'm choosing to believe that this is just how nice the world looks when you open an Apple-a-Month Club package. 




Says Cervantes (in the above word bubble) of September's pick: “As the creator of the immortal Don Quixote, I (Miguel de Cervantes) deserve a suitably rich story, which I get here in Jaime Manrique’s Cervantes Street: a novel full of the vibrancy, clamor, and catastrophe of the 16th century. Manrique deftly intertwines my life and adventures with that of my friend-turned-rival, Luis de Lara. (Our relationship, unsurprisingly, soured over the love of a woman.) Told in alternating chapters, so each character (humbly permit me to say I get the better parts) gets his say, the novel builds layers of swashbuckling adventures and back-stabbing betrayals. A page-turner worthy of its subject.”

Want to unwrap a similar marvel -- and have such nice lighting when you do -- next month? Subscribe

Thursday, September 27, 2012

New Fall Season

The equinox has passed, autumn is in the air, bones are broken and brains contused against the skull--America's most popular sport has returned for another glorious season. While here at Green Apple, books on America's past time have proven more commercially viable than those on America's more violent Sunday showdowns, a few great titles concerning professional football have arrived this fall, to wit--

Best of Rivals by Adam Lazarus is an in-depth report on the days when Steve Young backed up Joe Montana during the 49ers glory years. Thankfully, the local eleven are quite strong this year, so the media isn't dependent on digging up old news to satisfy local fans. Nevertheless, having two #1s at your most important position is a good problem to have, except for the #1 who ends up sittin'. However closely one may have followed this story, there will be something new discovered in this exhaustive work.

The Last Headbangers by Kevin Cook is mis-titled, as many heads are banged, hammered and slammed in the modern game. To be fair, the violence of today's NFL is in many aspects quite tuned down from the legalized muggings of the 1970s. Cook begins his story with the 1974 Oakland-Pittsburgh Divisonal playoff, immortalized as "The Immaculate Reception" in the Steel City and remembered less charitably by East Bay devotees and sympathizers. Miami and Dallas figure in as powers of the time, and the end of '70s style pro football is marked here by "the Catch," the January '82 Dwight Clark reception heralding the rise of 49ers dynasty.        

The Code by Ross Bernstein purports to explicate the "unwritten rules" of the game and the penalties enforced by other players on those who cross them. In practice it's a compilation of anecdotes about the culture of physical intimidation on the field. No one wants to injure anyone, they just want to hit them so hard they stop playing. Well then.

The National Forgotten League by Dan Daly covers the early days of pro football, ending with the birth of the AFL in 1960. This book is also a collection of anecdotes, but darn, there are some good ones. The first professionals were regarded by the general public as thugs too undisciplined to work for a regular criminal enterprise. The fans were held in even lower regard, being largely immigrant single men who spent the Lord's day gettin' drunk and gambling on the aforementioned thugs. Football is a rough game today, but it's nothing like the Coal Leagues of Western Pennsylvania, where nationally renowned referees had to be imported to prevent fans who bet on the losing side from rioting.

The professional football season is only five months a year, so let those of us who care, care deeply, and let's use the power of reading to broaden our historical knowledge. It would be a shame to run out of things to yell about.      

Friday, August 31, 2012

An Election Year Message from Green Apple Books

The evolution of a Green Apple commercial:

1. It's campaign season. We should do something political.

2. We have this major online competitor, and we think people should buy their books from us rather than from them for a lot of reasonable reasons.

3. Reasonable is boring.

4. This happens: