Shoes Fanzine #9 At The Table: Bookseller Stories

Razorcake review of this issue: As a bookseller myself (working in the used/rare/antiquarian world in Minneapolis), I knew this could go one of two ways. It seems that we, as a trade, have two modes—the pretentious and the humble—sometimes mixed in new and rewarding ways, more often than not serving as poles of contention. I’m happy to report that our guy in At the Table primarily displays the latter, taking themselves and their work seriously but presenting it without bullshit. I really liked the meandering nature of this narrative: day in and day out, one gets a sense not only for what it’s like to sell books, but also the culture of the park they sell books in, the personalities of their regulars, fellow vendors, and sundry park dwellers, with just enough life story mixed in to pull them out of the noble everyman tropes autobiography so often presents. I’d call this a nice after-dinner read, thoughtful and interesting as a window into a small world that treats its denizens with equal respect—and respect enough to talk shit—whether they’re Young Communists or just another regular. No one is important or unimportant enough to escape the bookseller’s gaze, in this one, and that, I think, is what really compelled me about the narrative here. A true leveling at the level of the workday. –jimmy cooper

Edited by Nate Maxfield in Vancouver, BC. 40 pages, half-letter size, offset print.