Another Look (Also, winners)

Recently, I re-watched You’ve Got Mail. I don’t think I’ve seen this movie in seven or eight years, since before I knew anything about the book industry, before I lived in New York City, before I’d heard of Books of Wonder, before B&Ns and Borders were as ubiquitous as they are today, and finally, before most people had moved away from AOL dial-up.

It’s interesting to see how fast this movie has aged. I feel like I’m watching a period piece. What also interests me is all the little publishing inside jokes that I never before would have noticed. When Greg Kinnear’s NYO columnist character attacks Tom Hanks’s bookstore chain owner, he call him an “enemy of the mid-list writer.” Parker Posey’s “Patricia Eden of Eden Books” is a harsh, gossipy, whatever-it-takes publisher that it now, to me, eerily reminiscent of a certain publisher who recently lost her job over a murderous memoir. I’m probably the last person to notice any of this, but hey, this flick came out while I was in high school.

Oh, and Dave Chapelle plays Tom Hanks’s friend. So weird.

Okay, let’s give a book away.

This week’s winner of the Book Pimp Giveaway is… PATRICK. Patrick, please email me with your choice of book.

Have a great weekend everyone! It’s my birthday (this weekend), so I shall be celebrating. Of course, last year was a “cubed” birthday. This year is what…? 7×4 is the best I can come up with. Not quite as cool. Also, I think it’s official that I’m in my late 20s. I can no longer claim “mid.”