My most memorable reading, or at least remembered by me, are those that mention or invoke, in secret or as shouts, other books. They have a way of exposing the genealogical trails, with all the resulting dead-ends & diversions, that help compile a library worth its weight in words.

Just spoke with the owner, Dante, & learned there is a fundraising page. If you are not in a position to give, please consider sharing this widely. Let's blow through that preliminary # -- immediate access to cash gives options the fire would seem at first to destroy. giveahand.com/fundraiser/n...

Our hearts go out to Northtown Books in Arcata. This is a huge loss. If anybody knows them personally, let them know we’re here to chat if they like. www.madriverunion.com/articles/mas...

A somewhat cantankerous note to begin our social media new year: if you're not actually shopping in our present space, we're not actually all that inclined to engage with you about what will become of the old one.

A perennial to start the new year (w/ one addition - avoid AI if you can)!

FYI ... we are open(ish) today. Very shortened hours: 10am to 2pm. If the store is filled at 2pm, I will not shoo you away, though. So come and make me earn my keep!

Our Solar System is orbiting the center of our Galaxy at about 220 km/s so in 2025 we collectively traveled something like 7 billion kilometers across the Milky Way. Once in a while, when you have a moment, it’s worthwhile to take a look around, see where you are, and appreciate how far you’ve come.

& that’s a wrap for us at EBB for 2025. More to be — surely will be! — said about all that. But for now Happy New Year, everybody. We’ll be open special if shortened hours New Year’s Day (10am to 2pm), alongside Painted Leopard Coffee / Local Economy. Regular hours thereafter.

Love the moon halo tonight. The heavens exceed the multiple hells we might make of things below.

Genuinely love peoples’ New Year aspirational purchases — whether massive / motivational books, planner systems, etc. Accidents happen, & we goof up into doing some we truly ended up loving. But most of the time, it starts with an idea & ideal. The start of a new calendar year makes sense for such.

Told a very well-known to many customer today: “I’m less inclined always to save space for everything that WILL sell than I am to make space for things that I WANT to sell.” Not to say we are the best bookstore, but I desperately believe this is the key to any such aim or measure.

I didn't start my annual tradition of listening to the entirety of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger album until after 4pm, so I guess we're open a little later than advertised.

Christmas Eve at the store is always a funny thing. Very last second shoppers with a defiant & decided “they’re gonna get what they get!” joy.

The horn honkers of this side of College Avenue can apparently not conceive that other cars are almost definitely stopped for pedestrians.

The 20+ or so boxes that arrived today will affirm: we’re not yet out of books this holiday season. Stacks are replenished and ready for a final push.

I mentioned it in our most recent newsletter, but An Encyclopedia of Radical Helping is such a cool book I can’t help but shout it out here too. Social work meets activism meets kickass graphic design. It’s really a wonder. ebbooksellers.com/item/Bp56adu...

I’m sorry but ‘heritage American’ makes you sound like a tomato

It’s going to be a rainy day, Bay Area! Don your boots, grab your umbrella, choose your tote: it’s bookstore weather!

How to kill art one decision at a time.

We are a nonfiction heavy / heavy nonfiction sort of store, and I can respond definitively: no. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/d...

Take it from Barry!

A gift-giving principle I’m always preaching, but nearly no one believes with me: don’t worry so much about what *they* want. Give something that reflects some bit of *you* (or your relationship to them).

Updated our 2025 Adult Top 50 (by in-store sales) to account for some early-December sales. Some details I found neat: a nice distribution of fiction (30 titles)::nonfiction (20 titles); nearly half is from non-Big 5; over half has been out longer than a year. ebbooksellers.com/lists/LUA2JI...

It was another big week for Stationery Club subscriptions. Knew they go quickly, but it’s always something to see in real time. ebbooksellers.com/stationery-c...

When I think back to last year at this time when we were still receiving new stock and chasing our tail trying to stock new books and restock those that sold, & I look at the stacks of books we have now … I don’t know what I feel, but it’s something good.

Congratulations to our bookseller & new book buyer, Leigh, for being awarded a Patterson Bookseller Grant. We now have all been awarded one at least once, which is something of a merit badge. Thanks to those who have nominated us over the past & present years.

I promise you, no bookseller cares to know how much cheaper you could get something online.

Our last newsletter of the year (probably). us16.campaign-archive.com?u=a0d5650803...

Alarm! Sound the alarm! Membership for Stationery Club 2026 is now open! The retention rate for this limited edition subscription service is high, and they go quick! www.ebbooksellers.com/stationery-c...

The holiday season is when we are often asked “How long have you been here?” and we get to answer, “Do you want the short answer or the long one?”

The moon tonight compels you, reject the deadening effect of the corporate would-be masters, who would have you chasing your tails & trends! Lean toward your curiosities! Give of your passions. This is the moon talking, not me.

The least shocking news ever from your neighborhood corporate behemoth. www.bbc.com/news/article...

If you have an order or hold at a bookstore, I reckon right about now is when they’re REALLY hoping you come and get it.

You lot (assuming you're a customer of ours!) had damn fine taste in books this year. Presenting our Adult Bestsellers of 2025: ebbooksellers.com/lists/LUA2JI...

Great catalogue even if (like me) you've never been to California.

Due to some pub date changes & some other books selling out over the weekend, we've made a few changes to the catalog. Thought I'd present three of the art highlights in a thread.

Not so great at compiling lists beyond daily To-Dos, but we did assemble a massive year-end catalog. simplebooklet.com/holiday-cata...

Love the “suddenly” & “become.” www.theguardian.com/books/2024/o...

Strictly speaking, locally & indie may not be punk, but it is a big middle finger to the ICE-supporting / Trump-groveling corporates. So … it’s not not-punk either!

It took some Faustian bargaining, but we somehow got today’s massive order on the shelves & displays today.

When we reopened at a new location last November, we were concerned nobody would know -- the stuff of daily life would surely consume the news, we thought. So, we posted signs around the neighborhood. A year on, the sign lives on now as a tote! ebbooksellers.com/item/is4c-Kb...

Some of you may recall my laments last year around this time about how we were reopening short a lot of books that had yet to arrive from slowwwwwww distributors. No comment about the speed of said distributors these days, but oh wow do we ever have enough books.

& you can have your own here as well! www.bonfire.com/saint-margar...

New you can use.

New limited edition totes coming by Friday!! Hope you like ‘em.

The problem with the NYT 100 Notable Books isn’t the books. They’re mostly fine. Some are even great. It’s the same exceedingly narrow slice of publishing that it takes into account. The small presses that pop up feel largely like credibility bolsters, but also almost jarringly out of place.

If you like an author's work, the best thing you can do is buy it. The second best thing you can do is ask your local library to buy it. Or, do both!

"While other universities report that the humanities are shrinking, at Berkeley, the opposite is true. The music major is the fastest-growing major on campus. We are finding bigger classrooms because film is exploding. English is back to the numbers we saw 15 years ago. We are hiring" bit.ly/4ohKuOe

Just added a temporary holiday popup note to the website. Get ‘em while the gettin’s good!

New newsletter is out in the wild! mailchi.mp/ebbookseller...