Brooklyn Beat missed Gary Shteyngart reading at BookCourt. He blamed the mishap on circumstances, waning memory, and much eagerness about the reading. But that didn’t stop him from writing about the experience and the new book which is called Super Sad True Love Story, which is garnering amazing reviews.

“We showed up there a day early (ouch) and then a prior commitment prevented a return for what was no doubt a funny and highly literate evening at the always delightful BookCourt on Court and Pacific. I read a digital chapter of Shteyngart’s new tome, Super Sad True Love Story, and was again enthralled by the humor, speed and sheer literary brio of the book. Ironically, I read the digital sample chapter on the Kobo app on my BlackBerry  on the way to what I thought would be the reading on Wednesday evening.

There was a recent article in the NY Times that discussed the potential impact of digital editions of books on mega booksellers, such as Barnes and Noble. The article noted that, as in the film “You Have Mail” the romantic comedy which had Tom Hanks’ “Fox Books” book chain pushing Meg Ryan’s “The Little Shop Around the Corner” out of the book business, digital books sold online at lower prices may now be threatening the large book chains with their relatively high mortar and brick overheads, in the same way the big chains previously muscled the little  stores out of business. Ironically,  the independent book stores that have survived have proven that they can make it (BookCourt is only a couple of blocks away from a large Barnes and Noble also on Court Street).  Like music/CD stores, the big book chains may be fighting a tough battle for survival. The little stores may prove to be the Last Bookstores Standing. Read more at Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn…