Movie Review: The Booksellers Documentary

A few days ago, my friend Steve, a former bookseller, author, and videographer sent me a text recommending an Amazon Prime Video documentary entitled, The Booksellers. As I have mentioned in numerous posts, I am a sucker for any medium dealing with bookstores, bookselling, publishing, or the world of books.  Fortunately, we have a subscription to Amazon Prime Video, and my wife and I watched the documentary on Sunday afternoon.

A Brief Explanation of the Documentary:

The Booksellers is a 2019 American documentary film that was directed, edited, and produced by D.W. Young. It was also executive produced by Parker Posey, an American actress, and musician who provided narration in the film. The film explores the world of antiquarian and rare book dealers and their bookstores. It focuses primarily on booksellers in New York City, including Adina Cohen, Naomi Hample, and Judith Lowry, the three sisters of the Argosy Book Store, Stephen Massey, founder of Christie’s NY Book Department, and Nancy Bass Wyden, owner of the Strand Bookstore. Other prominent people featured in the film include Fran Lebowitz, Gay Talese, Justin Croft, Zack Hample, Susan Orlean, William S. Reese, A. S. W. Rosenbach, Jay S. Walker, and Kevin Young.

NPR reported in their review of the documentary:

“The books being bought, sold, and read there, though, are unlikely to be the kind found at the New York Book Fair in a gorgeous old building on the city’s Upper East Side: ancient tomes, some with curled and peeling pages, others gorgeously illuminated. The handlers of those books are the subject of D.W. Young’s beguiling film, The Booksellers, about the world of New York antiquarian book dealers. They’re a vanishing breed who, with some exceptions, regard their work more as consuming passion than as a career.”

This is a delightful documentary for every bibliophile to watch and enjoy, it is well-produced, scripted, and narrated — a most informative documentary.  I highly recommend it if you have access to Amazon Prime Video.

(Featured below is The Booksellers trailer)

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* Content for some of this post was obtained from the NPR website and Wikipedia.

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A Brief Review of a Netflix Series

Dash & Lily…

I’ve written in previous posts and in a number of my book reviews, that I’m a real sucker for any book or movie featuring books, reading, bookstores, or libraries. The new holiday, eight-part Netflix series, Dash & Lily meets and exceeds my “sucker” criteria.  The series features The Strand Bookstore, a New York City institution, as well as many individual book references, and literary quotes.  The series is a well-written story about young love, family issues, and sexual orientations that is well-acted and well-directed. The series is based on the young adult book, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares, book one of a three-book series by authors Rachel Cohn, and David Levithan. 

A Brief Description of the Plot: 

Lily, a 17-year-old has left a red notebook full of challenges on a shelf at her favorite bookstore, The Strand, waiting for just the right guy to come along and accept its dares. Dash, a young guy, in a bad mood during the holidays, happens to be the first one to pick up the notebook and rise to its challenges.

Dash reads the first page of the notebook, that states:

“I’ve left some clues for you.
If you want them, turn the page.
If you don’t, put the book back on the shelf, please.”

After Dash accepts the first challenge, the two continue to trade written dares, dreams, and desires in the notebook. Hiding the notebook throughout the city after each entry, the two begin a romantic scavenger hunt without every meeting until Christmas Day. It is truly a wonderful heart-warming holiday story.

Featured below is the Netflix trailer for Dash & Lily:

 

 

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