2011 March

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  • The Cuban Drumbeat, by Piero Gleijesis - $15.00
    In waging a long war against oppression and misery in the third world, Castro's Cuba sent more troops into battle on foreign soil in defense of besieged populations than all but the U.S., Russia and a few Western European countries. Gleijeses wonders what's next for a post-Castro Cuba. […]
  • Two Underdogs and a Cat, by Slavenka Drakulic - $17.00
    Drakulic, well known to readers of The Nation, the New York Times and the New York Review of Books, ponders the fate of the communist idea through three stories: "An Interview with The Oldest Dog in Bucharest," "A Guided Tour of the Museum of Communism" and "A Cat Keeper in Warsaw" […]
  • The Idea of Communism, by Tariq Ali - $15.00
    "What Was Communism" series editor Ali ponders the over-arching question, and argues for a new form of socialism and global planning. […]

  1. Friday to Wednesday at Bird & Beckett

    March 31, 2011 by Eric

    Poets Monday night…
    and, then, the night train to Lisbon…arriving Wednesday…

     

    MONDAY (4/4) – 7:00 to 9:00 pm
    POETS! Hosted by Jerry Ferraz
    Jason Morris and Patrick James Dunagan

    Patrick James Dunagan‘s new book is There Are People Who Say That Painters Shouldn’t Talk:  A GUSTONBOOK, just published by the Post-Apollo Press. His work has been published in many magazines, including AMERARCANA 2011: A Bird & Beckett Review. Next month he’ll be at The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church in NYC. This month, we’ve got him… as for Jason Morris?  He writes, he thinks, he tends bar.  Pours whiskey, takes money, pays the rent, writes poems. He is the editor of Push Press and author of Spirits and Anchors and the Golden West Notebook. An open mic follows; always erratic, always interesting, it’s worth your while.

    WEDNESDAY (4/6) – 7:00 to 9:00 pm
    Bird & Beckett Book Club discusses Night Train to Lisbon by Patrick Mercier (next book: England, England by Julian Barnes)

    FRIDAY (4/8) – 5:30 to 8:00 pm
    jazz in the bookshop – a neighborhood party every week!
    This week:  The Jimmy Ryan Quintet
    with Henry Hung (tpt), Danny Grewen (tbn), Scott Foster (gtr), Bishu Chatterjee (bs), Jimmy Ryan (dms)

    NEXT SUNDAY (4/10) – 4:30 & 5:30 (two sets)
    which way west? Sunday concert series – all ages welcome!

    The Saddle Cats

    Western swing from a masterful group featuring pedal steel player Bobby Black (Commander Cody & the Lost Planet Airmen, Asleep at the Wheel), fiddler Richard Chon (Dan Hicks), rhythm guitarist Gordon Clegg and bassist Bing Nathan.

     

     

    Category: B&B Events, jazz in the bookshop, POETS!, which way west? Sunday concertsTags: , , , | Comments (0)

  2. What Was Communism?

    by Eric

    What Was Communism?

    We sure as hell ain’t sure… but they’re contemplating the question big time at Kolkata’s Seagull Books.  (That’s Calcutta to you!)  Specifically, they’re wondering why it’s so abruptly gone by the boards — and whether that implies the death of the associated ideals.

    Seven volumes in Seagull’s “What Was Communism” series examine the overall mystery, and the individual circumstances in six countries:  the USSR, Yugoslavia, China, Cuba, Indonesia and India.  The writers (Tariq Ali, Boris Kagarlitsky, Slavenka Drakulic, Mo Yan, Piero Gleijeses, Max Lane and Mahasweta Devi) wonder if the idea of communism has really been so thoroughly discredited that nothing is to be learned from it — and ponder these specific cases for answers, or at least for deeper questions.

    Series editor Ali muses, “The Communist system lasted 70 years and failed only once. Capitalism has existed for over half a millennium and failed regularly. Why is one collapse considered final and the other episodic?”

    With the chaos that is global capitalism these days, and manifestations among the young and the restless of their persistent desire for a vibrant commons, we at Bird & Beckett have to wonder if there are lessons to be learned, and think it worthwhile to look back while looking forward.

    We’re not immune to the book designer’s stunning work on these titles either!

    Here’s to Seagull Books and West Bengal’s thriving intellectual and creative environment.

    Come into the shop to browse these titles — and anything else that catches your eye…  or click here to buy them in our online shop…

     

    Category: BooksTags: , | Comments (0)

  3. You don’t miss your water…

    by Eric

    Books and Bookstores = Nostalgia?
    or the Future of Your Ever-Lovin’ Mind???

    A reader of our website wondered if it was doing a disservice to one of the local shops we mightily admire to imply that they were “on the ropes” — by which we meant struggling to keep their balance and survive an economic (and real estate) environment that’s forcing them to find a new storefront on terribly short notice.

    Point made, and taken!  We invite your testimonials on the ways your favorite bookshops are managing to forge ahead, or maybe even finding ways to blaze ahead, despite the challenges of the day… This assumes that you yourself are still throwing your business the way of the bricks and mortar establishments and intend to continue to do so…

    email us at birdbeckett@yahoo.com!

    Category: Books, Bookstore newsTags: , | Comments (0)