THE FEED
Black Friday, or, Holiday Gift IdeasNEW PALTZ, N.Y. 25 November 2009 |
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Black Friday, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, is the Friday after Thanksgiving here in the States, and traditionally the biggest shopping day of the year. Stores have sales on that day only, and people trample each other to get into the Walmart first, to make sure they score a [insert name of this year's equivalent of Tickle Me Elmo here] before supplies run out.
The name derives from the world of the bookkeepers, who denote losses with red ink and profits with black. Retail outlets tend to run red all year, and only go into the black — that is, turn a profit — on the day after Thanksgiving. Hence, Black Friday. (It has nothing to do with race. It might have something to do with Stendhal, but it has nothing to do with race).
I’ve been thinking about Black Friday because it’s the day after tomorrow, but also because Our Fearless Leader got this letter from one of our favorite readers:
Hey Brad,
Is there a central list somewhere of all the TNB folks who have books? I like to give books as Christmas gifts, and this year I thought it’d be cool if I could try to give mostly books by TNB’ers or other people I know.
First of all, my munificent friend, what a fantastic idea! Books by TNB’ers — TNBooks, if you will — make excellent stocking stuffers. Not only would you be spreading comfort and joy with such dynamite reading material, you’d also be supporting broke struggling emerging writers. Thanks so much for the idea!
Well, you asked for a central list, and here it is — on Amazon, so you don’t have to trample anyone to score your copy of Pop Salvation. Although you could if you wanted to. Hey, live and let live, right?
I should also add that these fine TNBooks are not only great Christmas gifts; they also make perfect presents for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Solstice, and Valentine’s Day, as well as whatever holidays they have in New Zealand that we don’t celebrate stateside (Zara: help).
Once again, here is that link. Act now. Operators are standing by. Supplies are limited. And if you order all the books on the list, you’ll get a…a…er…hmm…OK, how about this…Simon Smithson will Skype you on your birthday and sing. Yeah. That works.
But seriously. Thanks for the idea, and for your support, and happy Thanksgiving (unless you don’t live in the U.S., in which case, bummer for you that you have to work tomorrow).
Greg
PS
If you’re a TNB writer and I missed your book, sorry about that, and please let me know asap.
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I just bought yesterday totally killer, banned for life and pop salvation, I already have A.D.D. and loved it.
I even tryed to participate in something you were doing at goodreads but the site didn’t let me because I live in Brazil. It would take me like a year to purchase all the books from the list, the problem is the shipping, it´s not that cheap, so if anyone of you guys wish to give me some, we have christmas here and also my birthday is december 27th
Thanks, Alexandre, for the support. I’ll see what I can do. And happy birthday a month ahead of time.
thanks
I second Greg in wishing you a happy birthday in advance, Alexandre, as well as in thanking you in advance for the read and belatedly for the support. I’ve always wanted to visit Brazil, and if I can’t do it personally, I’m glad that part of me is winging its way ahead.
Best to you –
Duke
thanks man
Excellent idea. You can add Waitangi day (NZ) and Australia Day (OZ) and Anzac day (NZ and OZ) to that list! I shall be using your very very wonderful list for my Christmas shopping….
Thanks for putting it together!
Thanks, Zara.
If these are not the holidays on which gifts are exchanged, folks, hey, start a trend. Be a trendsetter. Your friends will love you for it. They will. I swear.
That’s an awesome list of books! I know have Banned for Life and Totally Killer flying across the globe thanks to Irene Zion. I’ll start working on Korean translations right away…
Man, I wish I had a book to put on that list, but the closest thing I have is the magazine I edited: http://www.amazon.com/Beatdom-D-S-Wills/dp/B002AD5IMK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259209051&sr=8-1
But one day soon, my Korean escapades will be on that prestigious list in novel form! (Insert evil hopeful laugh)
Thanks so much, David. (And Irene!)
I have added your magazine to the list, although my son’s name is Dominick, Dom for short.
The Korean Escapades is not too shabby of a title, I think…although you should just go with DMZ, because people here might buy it because they think the Kardashians will be involved.
And thank you for adding Beatdom, even though it alludes to child abuse, apparently…
And my novel’s working title is ‘The Dog Farm’… Not subtle.
But do you think our books would be appreciated in Korea, David? I eagerly await your appraisal.
I’ll have to read them first… People here like Western movies and translations of books, but nothing too different. They like pretty mainstream stuff – Harry Potter, Sex and the City (edited, of course) and whatnot.
There are a few native speakers out here who might like to read them, but there aren’t enough bookstore or native English speakers to really make it a viable option at the moment. Like I mentioned before, there’s only one bookstore in the capital that would possibly be able to offer them.
Yes, well. What you say about Korea follows what I’ve heard elsewhere — mainstream, etc. I simply must learn to like magic and wizards and all that. It’s the only way, apparently, to develop a following in our insistently childish times.
Hey, you could try writing a TV or movie accompaniment? Or what about a celebrity biography? Or a gimmicky cookbook? Or what about a mystery using either the or words ‘Da Vinci’ or ‘Code’ (but not both)?
That’s how you get front window space in the big book stores.
Got it. I’ve just started writing The da Vinci Cookbook, to be accompanied by Empty: The Zac Effron Story and The Raphael Code.
Thanks for your counsel. Korea, I’m taking over!
Awesome! I look forward to it.
TNB is the perfect one-stop-shopping site, a veritable cornucopia of talent!
Nice Stendhal reference: The Red and the Black. I actually got it without having to look it up. Steely Dan would have been nice, too.
Thanks, Jim.
I had to read Stendhal in college. I don’t remember a thing about that book, other than the title. Which I think is why there’s that song in “Les Mis” about red and black. Either that or they like to play checkers…
Yes! Great idea!
Greg, that’s a handy list. Thanks.
A couple of months ago I started one for myself, but it was less complete. I’m trying to read every TNB book. So far, I’ve gotten through 11 of them.
You missed Tao Lin’s “Shoplifting from American Apparel,” though.
And you somehow missed listing my amazing world-famous anthropological monograph, also available from Amazon.com. For shame!
Thanks, Don. One book per author. I put Tao’s other book on the list.
I’m so gonna add your monograph, even though I don’t know what that means…
Arrgh. No! I was just kidding. Nobody outside of a small group of anthropologists, overwhelmingly Australians, ever read it or ever wanted to or ever will want to.
I should keep my mouth shut, that is to say, hands off the keyboard.
A simply amazing idea….. thanks for including me, Greg!
January will be here before you know it. It will just seem like forever to you…
Another one, Greg –
Suzanne Burns. “Misfits and Other Heroes,” which includes the famous finger-cot-as-condom bit (see her TNB posting about the reading that didn’t go well), as well as some other wonderfully-strange stories.
Oh my gosh, this list is stressing me out. I thought I had read a lot of the TNBooks, but I’ve only scratched the surface.
…I know what I’m doing when I get back to the states.