Comments (0) BEST LIT GROUP FOR HIPSTERS - 2006

PAGE 23 at Changing Hands Bookstore

According to a recent National Endowment for the Arts Reading at Risk study, most people between the ages of 16 and 35 think books are blasé. PAGE 23 isn't going to let you fold up literature quite yet. Through guerrilla marketing and word-of-mouth promotions, a group of Changing Hands employees hopes to inspire a new generation of readers by seeking out and recommending new fiction (Icelander by Dustin Long), edgy nonfiction (Drugs Are Nice: A Post-Punk Memoir by Lisa Crystal Carver), and graphic novels (Black Hole by Charles Burns) that pass under the Sunday book page radar, each distinguishable by an in-store brown bookmark. The group also programs unique community gatherings, including "Lit Noise." The unveiling event featured readings from the snarky Jack Pendarvis and experimental neo-magical realist Salvador Plascencia, the latter who read from his debut The People of Paper while wearing a beekeeper's suit. The stacks were moved and hyperactive acoustic rockers Andrew Jackson Jihad performed spastic mood music during the book signings, while the adjacent Mac's Broiler & Tap offered reverse happy hour specials for those who wanted a little booze with their books. What is it they always used to tell us in school? Reading is FUN-damental.