Every day across America, thousands of books are printed with nefarious destruction awaiting them. Each Barnes & Noble, Borders, Books-A-Million, Wal-Mart, etcetera take part in this insidious plot. If the book does not sell in time for them to maximize their profit, the poor dear is stripped of it’s cover and naked, it is thrown into the trash heap. This raping of books happensby the hundreds and thousands at every well-lit, cold hearted corporate establishment. Many do not even bother to recycle these pages for brothers and sisters to be birthed from this genocide.
So today, as we submit these brave, heroic pages to the sacrificial flames, we intone this Manifesto of Book Rights:
We Have the Right to be Read.
…to be shelved properly.
…to be held delicately with tender care.
…to have spines unbroken by harsh hands.
…to have untorn dustwrappers.
…to be unsoiled by careless coffee and noxious smoke.
…to be returned to our rightful homes
…to be retired from circulation with dignity.
…in short, to be praised for our merits, both in thought & aesthetic.
Coming soon: Video of Fahrenheit 1026°
THIS IS IT! All the hard work has been done. Okay, there’s still a lot left to do, but we are going to reopen our doors January 22nd at 5pm and if you miss this, you’ll regret it more than missing our fire sale/book burning!
There will be FREE FUDGE with every purchase until we run out and that’s just what we’re not keeping SECRET!
Food. Fluids. Fiery Films. Friends. Does anyone know a word for conversation that starts with “F”? And FREE stuff!
We’ll stay open until we close. Keep hanging out and I might even hang up my old man sweater and stay up past midnight!
Tricia Hughes, Downtown Augusta Hero, humbling herselfby getting down on the floor and reading to young customers.
I snapped this photo tonight at First Friday where we had an amazing crowd for the four short hours we opened. Aside from fudge tastings and hot wassail warming our gullets, we started selling off our overstock for $5.00 or less per book. Saturday we’re open from 10am – 6pm and the overstock stacks will be out front under our tent and inside the store in every nook we can find. Plus all our regular inventory will still be 30% off including new, used and rare books along with chocolate, fudge, ugly dolls and stationary. The only thing not marked down right now are DVD’s, special orders and employees (none of them seemed eager to match our inventory discount with a pay cut).
Thanks to everyone who has rescued books this week. We’ve got nine more days to go before The Great Book Burning consumes the tares & chaff and perhaps a few noteworthy titles too. The responses to our pronouncement range from unspeakable consternation (though somehow they found words) to “could you please burn my high-school journal?!?” We’ve even had numerous complaints filed against us with various state and federal authorities so next Saturday promises to be more exciting than I’d anticipated. Please plan on joining us to witness our protest and proclamation.
Regards,
David Hutchison
The Book Tavern
The number one question I am asked since The Great Book Burning Sale began is whether or not The Book Tavern is really going to burn books? While the future is the future precisely because we can’t be as certain of what will happen as we are about what’s happening right this moment, I fully intend to burn books in front of our store on Saturday, January 9th as soon as the sky gets dark. Some people can’t believe we would consider the act of book burning because they know we hold a sacred feeling for words in print. I sympathize with a sensibility which seeks to preserve words and knowledge. It’s the main reason I am willing to let you buy the books discounted rather than see them burn. But they must go, because changes are coming. And on that fateful day, the Book Tavern must become Fahrenheit 1026°. This transformation is not purposeless. The Book Tavern has been in Downtown Augusta for over 4 years and remain relatively unchanged. In the wake of so many amazing stores closing near us, we realized an adaptation was quickly becoming necessary. So the change is coming. Keep watching the horizon. Join us on twitter, facebook, or subscribe to our email service. Come rescue books and make sure you are there on the ninth to witness the death of the old by fire!
p.s. – for those of you who think book burning is great, we also offer you this option: buy a book and reserve it for the fires. See Katie for details.
