shout out to The Strand bookstore staffer who did this

We’re just a bookstore, but just have to say: this is fucking perverse. www.cnn.com/2026/07/17/c...

Rose Horowitch recently published a piece in the ATLANTIC MONTHLY that made a bit of noise online about “the end of reading.” I didn’t think I had a lot to say about it until I was actually asked. I thought I’d share a portion of my response.

For those counting that's now FOUR national book banning bills that are moving their way through. This one seems to be a senate companion to 7661 (much of the same language). Call the senate re: 2616 and 4925, call the house re: 8705, 7661 And as always, fuck censorship 📚

there is a reading crisis, one element of which is the seizure of control over reading in schools by people who aren't serious readers

Lisa Robertson's RIVERWORK has been our bestselling novel published this year! And, happily, as of right now, this very moment, we have more in stock! ebbooksellers.com/item/eICIMlJ...

We celebrate. m.youtube.com/watch?v=VHoT...

Obviously read whatever you like, but the general & consistent laziness of the NY Times “Best Books (So Far)” lists suggest you could just as well ask a stranger for theirs when waiting in line for a coffee.

VAR ruling is official: we’re open July 4th from 11 to 7pm. No foul or penalties.

Bro, you’re one hot mic away from being excommunicated yourself.

Operational note for this weekend: we are open throughout, including July 4th, our normal hours. We encourage everybody to celebrate the holiday with *apparently* un-American behavior like empathy, curiosity, and humility in the face of human and non-human complexity, possibility, and finitude.

New summer reading email is out in the wild! mailchi.mp/ebbookseller...

"The Government Doesn't Want You To Read These Zines" – new benefit zine packets from South Bend Commons! All proceeds go to Prairieland Defendants. firestorm.coop/products/253... @dfwsupportcommitt.bsky.social

A lot of social media posts (pro and con) about Amazon this week. You can certainly divine our feelings. Amidst the tumult, I esp. like Emily West's BUY NOW for its analysis from the perspective of a media studies scholar. ebbooksellers.com/item/Jt0yuxc...

Mighty friendly words from our buddy @alexis-madrigal.bsky.social. sfstandard.com/2026/06/23/1...

Workshopping new store slogans we’ll never merchandise: “East Bay Booksellers — relatively irrelevant”

Public service announcement: we have gifts aplenty for Dad; definitely some for Daddy; and hell, we probably have something around here for Father.

Last night I saw the word "Booksmaxxing," and had to clean my eyes with a strong alcohol concentrate. But now I've typed it, and am back to square one.

The reward for being one of the more loathsome people on the planet is apparently up to a trillion dollars.

Looking for your next read? Our Bay Area indie bookseller friends at Niebla, @ebbooksellers.bsky.social, and @pointreyesbooks.bsky.social shared literary translation titles you’ll want to add to your TBR this summer ☀️⛱️. 

Read the full list here: buff.ly/0j3rDCv

We very highly recommend giving this conversation a listen -- not least because one of our very own (i.e., ME!) is quoted praising Robertson's book in the introduction.

Got to bed, Metaphor, you’re drunk. www.greenwichtime.com/news/article...

When I last visited (their newer location), I was delighted by the range of unusual and uncommon books and little magazines they had. @ebbooksellers.bsky.social is a model community bookstore — not just recreating the same, expected stock!

Spent a long time with East Bay Booksellers’ staff picks, which are really unexpected and varied and interesting. So many books in the world! ebbooksellers.com/staff-recomm...

We don’t get a lot of A-list celebrities at the store, as far as I know. But we did recently have a dog named Doug.

Sold a fair number of these yesterday alone! May need to break out radio silence & do these more often, huh?

We don't send many emails, and we almost never send emails featuring nothing but books. But today we thought, why not now? Ten(ish) books -- or bookish magazines -- we're excited to be featuring this summer. mailchi.mp/ebbookseller...

It’s hard, but crucial, to be consumed with the potential of human / artistic creativity, when the bulk of our economy is built around short-cuts and fakes, and the whole of our present federal government destruction.

this is my kind of company motto right here

Love that our in-store bestseller list can run the gamut between "Sure, that makes sense, that's selling everywhere" to "What the hell, what?" ebbooksellers.com/lists/LkUnOZ...

Today I learned that it was Northern California booksellers who first (or at least most emphatically) emphasized the “independent” in “independent bookstores.” The association here at the time was the first to put it in the association name. How ‘bout that!

Our broad commitment to university presses — to selling them, ideally; & promoting them, at least — is apparent w/ even the most cursory browse of our shelves. So, yeah, fantastic, long “state of the union” type pieces like this are incredibly important for us. www.publicbooks.org/publishers-a...

🤩

Staying a little late a Local Economy event, which gave me a chance to chance this pleasant front-of-store color from this early-evening sun. The vibes & music are solid.

Probably shouldn't have let a handful of weird business perverts unwind the cultural miracle of American research universities

Two funny spam emails this week asking if we'd benefit from sponsorship opportunities with Shania Twain.

This right here is necessary reading.

🚨Bad news. A THIRD National book banning bill has passed committee in the house.🚨 Meet the CHARLIE act that will prohibit the teaching of what they call: equity ideology (not white supremacist jingoistic history) More from @authorsabb.bsky.social when we have it. www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...

Agreed! The *effects* of framing physicality as "inconvenient," as a problem to be solved, usually by somebody with deep pockets eager for deeper profits, are more often than not the causes of far more inconvenience.

It is with deep sorrow and profound love that we announce the passing of Sonny Rollins. The Saxophone Colossus died this afternoon at his home in Woodstock, NY at the age of 95. 1/2

just got to the love shack, you wouldnt believe the size of the chrysler in the parking lot

That this dude is at the helm of one of the companies around which the western world’s economies run is, let’s say, *telling* of the present state of things.

ProPublica used leaked tax returns to calculate that through complex tax avoidance schemes, Jeff Bezos pays a tax rate of 0.98% www.propublica.org/article/the-... So if we doubled the taxes he pays, that would mean he'd still be paying less than 2%.

*Sigh* Adding Pizza Hut to the list (see previous post).

An unsolicited (& surely unnoticed) memo to enormous tech companies who have cornered the market on the daily working life of millions -- say, Adobe and Google: knock it off with the AI clownery. You were doing fine!

Love the blurb for this: “This book masterfully reveals how the jammed guillotine, the derailed train, and the misfired missile truly shape our world. Elegant, essential, and profoundly disruptive: a truly innovative insight on how technology actually happens." ebbooksellers.com/item/Jt0yuxc...

Lots of good bookstores in the East Bay are finalists for Best of Oakland. Happily, we're one of them! www.oaklandmagazine.com/best-of-oakl...

I used to get a little bummed when the cool kids didn’t know of our store. But fear not, I now just assume they’re not so cool after all.

Got to spend this past weekend at the LA Art Book Fair. It's a perfect blend work work and pleasure, exhaustion & exhilaration. It is going to be so fun featuring some of these new finds in the store over the coming months.

Yeah, there really is a book for sale on Amazon called Infinite Jeffs, where they replaced all the words of Infinite Jest with the word "Jeff". It's 25 bucks. www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jef...