San Francisco is My Home

23
Jan

Antiquarian Book Fair

Author: kris, Category: Events, Literature, Shopping

The Antiquarian Book, Print and Paper Fair is fast approaching. I know, I know: it seems like only yesterday that you attended last year’s Antiquarian Book, Print and Paper Fair. The older you get, the quicker the years seem to pass. Soon you will be attending an Antiquarian Book, Print and Paper Fair practically every darn day.

But seriously, folks. This Fair is not as nerdy as it sounds; or rather, it is exactly as nerdy as it sounds, and possibly more so, but it’s the fascinating kind of nerdy that makes even non-nerds sit up and pay attention.

Fans of first editions, ancient maps, rare old photographs, and anything else old and printed that you can think of will of course love this fair. But the truth is, even if you’re not keen on old stuff, anyone with an eye for aesthetic appeal will enjoy this. The fair is a testament to the craft of all things paper, a bonanza of book-related beauty.

Lacking thousands of spare dollars, I myself will attend to look rather than buy, but collectors and hapless rich folk should come with pocketbooks prepared.

The Fair will take place on February 9th from 10 am to 7 pm and on February 10th from 10 am to 5 pm. It’s located at 7th Street & Brannan.

10
Oct

Book nerds, get happy!

Author: kris, Category: Events, Literature, News

For this is the week of Litquake, the annual orgiastic celebration of the written word in its many published forms. The week is packed with local and nationally-recognized authors speaking alone and in panels at book havens across the city. But to my mind, the best part of this week-long festival is Litcrawl, the traditional Saturday night end to Litquake wherein a group of readers and the authors who live off their patronage embark on a mammoth bar-and-bookstore crawl across the city.

Are you an aspiring travel writer? Got a novel languishing in your drawer? Is erotic writing your true passion? Or maybe you’re just dying to sling back a beer with Amy Tan? Litcrawl has something for everyone. Check it out.

27
Sep

And it’s all still happening

Author: kris, Category: Events, Literature

It was a beautiful day down at Fort Mason, sunny and breezy, in the low seventies. The fort lies on the edge of the blue water looking out at the iconic Alcatraz Island and the orange tips of the Golden Gate Bridge peeking over a fog bank. In other words, a perfect day to line up in the sun while you wait for the Library Book Sale to open.

“Look, a queue for losers,” quipped a Fort Mason worker as he walked by the line of grim-faced bibliophiles clutching out boxes and shopping bags. But two hours later I emerged from the warehouse-like Festival Pavilion covered in dust and clutching a head-high stack of British comic fantasy novels. Who’s a loser now, eh? Ha ha ha!

…Hmm.

24
Sep

Words, words, words

Author: kris, Category: Events, Literature

This is the week I wait for all year long, for this week begins the San Francisco Library giant book sale.

The sale takes place in an enormous warehouse at the lovely Fort Mason, and it is filled to the brim with used and new books on every subject. If you go in the early days of the sale (Thursday through Saturday), most books are around two or three dollars. Come back on Sunday and everything is a dollar or less.

Even if you are not a reader, the study of human folly is well worth the price of a bus trip, as thousands and thousands of bibliophiles come out of the woodwork and engage in subdued near-fistfights over the boxed set of Trollope or the 18th century cookbook one of them found in the humor section.