AndrewJamison

Sometimes one word says more than a thousand pictures. This one sure rings true for me. Read all about it:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/05/way-past-its-prime-how-did-amazon-get-so-rubbish&ved=2ahUKEwjwv7eYxoyQAxW2LhAIHdM1ADQQxfQBKAB6BAgSEAE&usg=AOvVaw2gTdjPMWpeNQju0j1VWPS1

and then order the book…

Thanks to Alison, Hanna, Judith and Rastko for a marvelous kick-off for our 10th anniversary celebration with their guided tour through the music of the Nordic countries. It was, as always with the Bellevue String Quartet, a wonderful mixture of entertainment and education and lots of fun. Alison will be back on Sunday to play duets with Johnny Teyssier at our anniversary party. Tonight we continue the festivities with Giulia Cantone offering a program of baroque lute music.

at least in Plattsburgh, New York.

When I was planning my trip to North America and found that I could take a train to and from Montreal to visit my sister and brother-in-law in Burlington, Vermont, I saw that one of the stops was in a place called Plattsburgh, New York, and when I looked it up, I discovered that one of its main claims to fame was a room at the local university’s library devoted to Rockwell Kent, an artist I had never heard of. When I read about him at wikipedia I was truly fascinated and decided to make a visit to the room. Kent was a well-known artist and illustrator in the first half of the 20th century before running into trouble with crazy Joe McCarthy and had quite a remarkable life that combined an active involvement in a wide range of socialist and environmental causes with artistic expression of various kinds. He also wrote and illustrated books based on journeys to Alaska, Greenland, and other places that are still well worth reading. My kind of guy, in other words. Do check him out. Here’s a sampling of some of his art that was on display in Plattsburgh.

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Don’t miss our upcoming 10th anniversary celebration with concerts on Wednesday and Thursday and a party on Sunday. Should be fun. For details go to “bookstore events”.

As I am in Burlington, Vermont, visiting my sister and brother-in-law it seems somehow appropriate to imagine what the world would be like if Bernie Sanders, who served as mayor here for many years before he was a senator, had been elected president in 2016. To help you carry out the thought experiment you might consider what Bernie has to say today:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/24/bernie-sanders-opinion-billionaire-politics

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Since I am away this week the shop will be closed, but next week do join us for our tenth anniversary celebration. Click “bookstore events” to find out what’s in store.

Bunny Ragnerstam, who passed away this spring, was the author of many fine historical novels primarily about working class life in southern Sweden in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His wife Christina came by the shop recently and asked if I would be interested in buying some of his books and, after two visits to their house in Ystad, a good deal of his collection is now at Andy’s Corner. Much of it is in the same spirit as his novels – socially-engaged literature and social and political history, the kind of books that are so important in the world today and which we try to keep in stock at Andy’s Corner. Anyway, do come by and have a look. There’s even a record of Joe Hill songs. Remember him?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DyUR2PDTptO0&ved=2ahUKEwj0oYOx8eGPAxWuU1UIHQN_Hu8QwqsBegQIFBAF&usg=AOvVaw1HnHmoKkwfGtwYULsv4pqn

Rebecca Solnit is always worth reading (I have just started Orwell’s Roses, a wonderful way into the life of George Orwell) and in this interview, she is at her acerbic best, as she talks, in her inimitable way, about Trump and America and the importance of reading books as a way to persevere in the strange times in which we live.

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/qa-rebecca-solnit-trump-books

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And let me remind you that our summer sale ends next week as summer turns to fall and that we will be closed the following week (September 25-27) when I take my annual trip to Vermont to visit my sister. And after that, it’s time to celebrate our tenth anniversary. For details go to “”Bookstore events”.

Giulia Cantone, who had played with Alison Luthmers at Alison’s release party in the spring, came by the shop the other day and will now contribute to our tenth anniversary celebration with a concert on October 2. Giulia is an Italian lutenist specializing in Renaissance and Baroque plucked instruments. Based in Malmö for the past two years, she will play a selection of pieces from the German Baroque lute repertoire. The concert will start at 6 p.m.

The Swedish government has just announced a “cultural” canon, and, unlike all the real cannons that the government buys and sells around the world, this one has been controversial. May I suggest that instead of trying to impose one cultural canon on its people the government might instead encourage each of us to find our own canon. And why not start finding yours at Andy’s Corner where our summer sale continues for three more weeks? Here is an interesting comment on the “controversy” in today’s Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/sep/04/sweden-cultural-canon-abba-ikea-meatballs

It’s hard to believe, but Andy’s Corner will have been in business for ten years on October 5, which calls for a celebration. The plans are still not completely finalized but we will be having at least two events to mark the occasion, a concert with a new program by the Bellevue String Quartet, entitled “Nordic Bridges” on October 1 and a party on October 5 with our old friends Kevin Benn and Robin Gott putting on “Botticelli”, a short play by Terrence McNally and Alison Luthmers and Johnny Teyssier playing duets for violin and clarinet.