Burn After Reading

All ye need know. 

and

and

Music for Browsing

On a winter's night a traveller from Montreal came into Balfour with a shiny 12-string guitar and started singing songs...

Patrick Krief, guitarist for The Dears, was touring in support of his solo project simply titled Krief. 

This in-store performance was for a video shoot for Heartstrings.tv, an online music video archive of artists performing in unusual and unexpected locales. Although they don't make the cut, while the singer played, the customers continued to browse around with expressions of quiet delight. 

Then, after strumming out a few haunting melodies, Krief disappeared into the blizzards that brought him.  

(All right, he went on to his gig at Sneaky Dees.) 

If On A Winter's Night Part Two

In 1941, John Steinbeck travelled to Mexico to script a documentary about a rural village's transition"in the long moment when the past slips reluctantly into the future'. The Forgotten Village offers a kind of 'photo comic' version of the same tale, mixing still pictures 'selected for thei rintrinsic beauty and the graceful harmony with which they accompany Steinbeck's text'. 

For the Vorticist in your life, Ezra Pound's Personae offers "the definitive collection of shorter poems" by the Transatlantic modernist, including works from the English avant-garde manifesto magazine "Blast." Reprint edition from 1971, but will still makes you look pretty damn smart if left casually lying around. 

Also from the seventies, this photo-cover of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep brings a whole Charlie's Angel vibe to the femme fatale.  UPDATE: SOLD 

We must stop now. It's silly. 

Welcome Back Winter

Christmas is the busiest time for shopping.  If you're a serious reader, books are often the go-to for presents for everyone on your list, making for an often hectic experience in stores. An entire industry revolves around our quest for the ideal gifts. 

Those who return to bookshops after New Years do so for completely different, more personal reasons.

For us, a book shop becomes once again that quiet retreat, a place to browse, to take your time, to discover your own pursuits, whatever they might be.  And those are exactly the kind of readers we encourage. So take your time. 

Welcome back. 

On Location: Jon Redfern

Local filmmaker Joseph Frankel creates unique documentary-style videos for authors. He shot a few scenes for his latest right here at the store, in an interview with Jon Redfern, a mystery writer and Balfour Books regular. We decided to turn the tables back on Joseph, who shared with us his secret to a great book trailer:

What got you involved in making a book trailer for Jon Redfern? 

I was introduced to Jon by Robert Rotenberg, another Toronto-based mystery writer who is a mutual friend.  In addition to being a great writer who has won several awards, Jon is very savvy about what it takes to stand out and market yourself well within the publishing industry.  I showed him the videos I made for Rotenberg and he instantly saw the value in it. 

  

Why did you want to shoot at Balfour Books? 

Balfour is a great cinematic location.  In my mind it's really the definition of a "neighborhood book store."  It has so much charm and character and Lewis stocks books you can't find at the average mega-store.  People come from all over the city and they don't just buy books, they come to hang out!  When I was interviewing Jon Redfern prior to our shoot I learned that he has a ritual: he goes to Balfour every afternoon after a morning of writing to clear his head and chat with Lewis and the staff.  From that moment, shooting there became a no-brainer. 

What do you think makes for a good book trailer? 

I think the subject dictates the approach, but I'm always focussed on telling a story whether I'm promoting a book directly or promoting the author of a series of books.  In Jon's case, I thought his charisma and charm would help connect him with new readers, so I made him the focus and produced an author profile about him.  In contrast, the package I produced for Robert Rotenberg included actual trailers for his books and I combined HD video and actual film to create some dynamic visuals.  No matter what medium or approach you choose, a book trailer or author profile should enhance the books without giving too much away or spoiling the experience of reading them.  

Are crime or mystery is particular good for trailers?  

Right now the market is wide open.  I think there are dynamic and innovative ways to promote a cookbook if you think outside the box, but mysteries are driven so heavily by action, plot and atmosphere that they certainly lend themselves to cinematic storytelling.

Find out more about Joe Frankel.

And author Jon Redfern.