Brokelyn Special Events

Sunday’s Brokelyn Book Swap: Dos and Don’ts

Illustration by Jennifer Holder
Do vs. Don't, as illustrated by Jennifer Holder

Sure, football is underway this weekend, but the real big game in town is for the nerds: The Brooklyn Book Festival, Sunday’s bibliophiliac, star-studded fete of novelists, humorists, journalists and all things printed and bound. In the spirit of the free fest, join us at The Great Brokelyn Book Swap, a free event that can actually help you read new releases by those authors. Not sure what we mean? Here’s a handy guide of Dos and Don’ts so we’re not swapping  200 books about tattooed Swedish girls.

First, the details: The Great Brokelyn Book Swap will be from 4 pm-6pm on Sunday at People’s Republic of Brooklyn at 247 Smith Street (close to the festival action).

How it Works: Bring up to five books, and take someone else’s in return. The idea is to trade around those sought-after (but often pricey) newish releases you keep meaning to read (or share with others).
The Drink Specials: PRB is offering generous drink deals for our literary libations: $10 Coors Light pitchers, $15 premium pitchers and $1 off well drinks

BOOK SWAP DOS AND DON’TS

DO: Bring recent bestsellers, Booker Prize winners, New York Times notable books from last year, hardcover new releases or buzzy reissues.
DON’T:  The box of books you found on the street with a dubious “no bedbugs” sign; the stack of tween fiction you just happened to have lying around; your high school copy of The Crucible so marked over with pink highlighter it glows in the dark.

DO: Richard Yates, the new novel from 20-something provocateur Tao Lin.
DON’T: A musty old book by Yeats that you think is pronounced “Yeets.”

DO: C, the new thriller from Tom McCarthy.
DON’T: Chicken Soup for the Soul: Christmas Cheer edition

DO: Bring Pulitzer Prize winning books.
DON’T: Bring books you won for cashing in skeeball tickets at Coney Island.

DO: The Politician, a reporter’s inside look at the rise of a Southern political star in 2008.
DON’T: Primary Colors, a reporter’s inside look at the rise of a Southern politician in 1992.

by Jennifer Holder
by Jennifer Holder

DOPoint Omega the latest from Don DeLillo.
DON’TPoint Break: The Novelization.

DO: Hollywood, Charles Bukowski’s movie industry satire/thinly veiled autobiography.
DON’T: Mommywood, in which Tori Spelling worries about the size of her newborn son’s nose for 300 pages.

DO: Imperial Bedrooms, Brett Easton Ellis’s sequel to his classic Less Than Zero.
ACTUALLY DON’T: Imperial Bedrooms, because it probably isn’t very good.

DO: I Drink For a Reason, the best-seller by Brooklyn Book Festival alum David Cross.
DON’TCarlos Mencia — Sharing the American Dream: Overcoming Adversity.

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