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Petra nearly in Melbourne's Reviews > Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe
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Petra nearly in Melbourne's review
bookshelves: books-reviewed-but-not-read, 2015-reviews, fiction, reviewed
Apr 12, 2015
bookshelves: books-reviewed-but-not-read, 2015-reviews, fiction, reviewed
This is a very good book. Solid hardback. I have about 80 copies in the bookshop. 12 of them are supporting the little fridge up to a reasonable height. Two of them are under the cash desk which otherwise would be a bit wobbly. Another 8 (in two's) are against the ends of the four shelves under the galavanise bit of roof where it leaks when it rains hard (not now, post Irma I need a new roof as I have two huge holes in it, so I moved the books) . Sometimes prior to the hurricanes, when it rained a bit everyday and they didn't dry out they got mouldy so I replaced them with some more. I've got lots to spare. I have to be honest though, I've never even sold a single copy.
You might wonder why I would buy 80 copies of a book that doesn't sell. I didn't. I acquired them through no fault of my own. What happened was the book was remaindered in huge quantities and I buy from this particular remainder house. Some while back I'd ordered about 8 boxes of books but 10 came. Two of them were full of Fried Green Tomatoes. I immediately got on to the company who said yes they knew of the situation and would refund my shipping costs and the debits on my account.
What had happened was that they let one of their members of staff go (customer service, she was a bit... prickly at best and teeth-achingly rude at other times). They didn't exactly fire her they just didn't renew her contract. So to get her revenge in the time left to her with the company she distributed this and other titles (all hardback) to international customers knowing she would have left before we got the books and the shit hit the fan.
Cost the company quite a lot of money, but really, you have to give the girl at least 3 stars for creativity.
You might wonder why I would buy 80 copies of a book that doesn't sell. I didn't. I acquired them through no fault of my own. What happened was the book was remaindered in huge quantities and I buy from this particular remainder house. Some while back I'd ordered about 8 boxes of books but 10 came. Two of them were full of Fried Green Tomatoes. I immediately got on to the company who said yes they knew of the situation and would refund my shipping costs and the debits on my account.
What had happened was that they let one of their members of staff go (customer service, she was a bit... prickly at best and teeth-achingly rude at other times). They didn't exactly fire her they just didn't renew her contract. So to get her revenge in the time left to her with the company she distributed this and other titles (all hardback) to international customers knowing she would have left before we got the books and the shit hit the fan.
Cost the company quite a lot of money, but really, you have to give the girl at least 3 stars for creativity.
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Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
April 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
books-reviewed-but-not-read
April 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
books-reviewed-but-not-read
April 12, 2015
– Shelved
April 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
2015-reviews
April 12, 2015
– Shelved as:
fiction
April 12, 2015
–
Finished Reading
May 5, 2015
– Shelved as:
reviewed
Comments Showing 1-50 of 97 (97 new)
message 1:
by
Erin *Proud Book Hoarder*
(new)
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rated it 3 stars
Apr 12, 2015 02:54PM
Chic-lit is popular in some crowds only, not sure on your area. I know the movie was popular.
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Erin (Series Addict) wrote: "Chic-lit is popular in some crowds only,"Is this Chic-lit? I had no idea what was in it, I just found it nice and solid for propping up things. We didn't get the movie here.
To me it definitely is.
Well I wouldn't know. The book didn't interest me enough to open it. I'm sure you have books like that.
Oh yes, I definitely do, especially if they were gifts or in blind bag book buys from the used bookstore.
What's a blind bag book buy? The bookshop gives you a load of books for a certain price? I'm asking because I need new marketing techniques (although, unless rare, I only sell new books).
I have trouble with the writer's name I'm afraid. It reminds me of a joke played on the headteacher by the girls in a school I once worked in. Don't blame me, blame them!
Petra X smokin' hot wrote: "What's a blind bag book buy? The bookshop gives you a load of books for a certain price? I'm asking because I need new marketing techniques (although, unless rare, I only sell new books)."Yes, the one used bookstore I go to would get in romance books for trade that they knew didn't have much value, so they would put a number of them (20) in a wrapped brown bag for $5.00. You don't know what you're getting but that's part of the fun/surprise.
They've also done it with other genres. At my other library they did this, and I ended up receiving a strange mixture - some looked good, some not as good, but it's a good way to get rid of books that aren't movers, and for the reader to be more open minded on trying new books/genres out. Mainly they were action books, but dramas and others thrown in.
Tony wrote: "I have trouble with the writer's name I'm afraid. It reminds me of a joke played on the headteacher by the girls in a school I once worked in. Don't blame me, blame them!"Ha, I've also noticed the name...several times. It's hard to resist that one.
Tony wrote: "I have trouble with the writer's name I'm afraid. It reminds me of a joke played on the headteacher by the girls in a school I once worked in. Don't blame me, blame them!"What was the joke?
Erin - thanks for the explanation.
I worked in a girls school back some years. On the way to the main hall was a board used for careers notices with a sheet intended for the girls to sign themselves up for a careers interview. Each morning the headteacher would take the list to assembly and read out the day's appointments. Some girls added the name 'Phanny Phlaps'. The headteacher read it out, staff and students alike exploded. He never lived it down. Those girls could be a cruel bunch!
A joke... of sorts!
A joke... of sorts!
Phanny Phlaps! That is funny. I once put a personal ad (with phone number) in a mag. for the headmistress/deputy head as bdsm lesbians :-)
I bet the Head and Deputy wondered who'd worked out their delicious secret... Petra you are fabulously naughty. :)
James wrote: "I bet the Head and Deputy wondered who'd worked out their delicious secret... :)"They were actually lesbians, but we didn't know it, we just guessed. They were nasty old bags and had expelled me (yet again). I have no idea if there were any responses as I used their phone number. "Leather lesbians will punish you" or something similar.
lol that's funny.And the characters in this book are thought to be lesbians, even if the movie removed that fact.
That is a GREAT revenge story.
Rooster wrote: "That is a GREAT revenge story."Yes it was. I still have most of the books. They prop up things mostly. Stands in corners where the rain comes in, that sort of thing.
Never read it but as someone said it was a good chick flick movie. That was years ago, though.
Laura wrote: "Never read it but as someone said it was a good chick flick movie. That was years ago, though."I have no idea what it is about at all. It never appealed to me. I just priced the books at $5 and left them. I think 2 sold.
Shows what an impression it made on me as I don't recall what it is about either than it is set in the American south.
Have you really not read it yet? (Non-judgmental question) It is a lovely book, but with some rough stuff that some women have to deal with. Not chic-lit at all.
Jonathan wrote: "Have you really not read it yet? (Non-judgmental question) It is a lovely book, but with some rough stuff that some women have to deal with. Not chic-lit at all."No. I doubt if I ever will. Doesn't appeal to me at all.
Haha love that you are using them as propping tools
Have you read it? Is it sacrilege to treat a book, or rather many books, this way?
I wouldn't describe it as "chick lit" either. I read it years and years ago and I really liked it. Maybe it's looked down on because the movie was so popular. I've read a few of Fannie Flagg's books.
Petra X wrote: "Have you read it? Is it sacrilege to treat a book, or rather many books, this way?"Haven't read it (yet). I have seen snippets of the movie many years ago and was interested when I noticed this book on GR. Now the shelving as chicklit turned me off a bit. So it isn't one I must read.
Re. how to treat a book, if there is no other use in it, giving it a second purpose seems like the way to go. Door stop, stepping stool, art canvas, crafting paper...
And especially in your case if they are only taking up valuable space and are not selling, why not? :-)
I have hundreds of non-selling books. I hate almost all of them. But when I bought them I was enthusiastic about them and could see the interest and virtues of each one. Sadly no-one agreed.
Petra X wrote: "I have hundreds of non-selling books. I hate almost all of them. But when I bought them I was enthusiastic about them and could see the interest and virtues of each one. Sadly no-one agreed."Oy that's too bad.
They won't even sell on sale? What if you used the blind bag idea as mentioned in one of the comments. Just to recuperate some of your investment.
Yes, that is a good idea. I should do something like that next time I have a big delivery.
Petra X wrote: "Yes, that is a good idea. I should do something like that next time I have a big delivery."Great! Hope it works, good luck :-)
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was one of those books which began a more public designation and awareness of a genre of fiction in the North American market: "Southern modern". It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. On first appearance, it is a folksy homespun tale of small town America. However, as with most amiable Southern stories, the facade is grist for satire and dissembling the darker aspects of bigotry. The antebellum wealthy south had a social structure based closely on that of the British upper classes, from whence USA's ruling classes prior to independence had originated. The manners and in some case pretentiousness may be recognized by those familiar with such old British etiquette. This novel is NOT chick lit. It was controversial. And out of context, i.e., read outside of North. America, the finer points of satire would easily be missed as is often the case, given historical and cultural differences.
DeB wrote: "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe was one of those books which began a more public designation and awareness of a genre of fiction..."Dunno about that Deb, I was never interested enough to read it. But the 60 free copies are really good at propping things up. 5 stars all the way. I've just upped the star rating as they are still going strong years later. Never sold any. .I suppose no one was interested in Southern American stuff out here in the Caribbean.
Hahaha! Well, I am glad it is being put to use. I've heard a lot about it, so i might read it. But then again, I read anything.
If shipping wasn't so expensive from here, I'd send you a copy for free.
Sandra wrote: "Now the shelving as chicklit turned me off a bit."Oh, you shouldn't let that turn you off books that otherwise sound interesting! I noticed that on GR there is a tendency to shelve books by any female author as chicklit. F.e. Margaret Atwood, Joan Didion... It is one of my pet peeves.
lethe wrote: "I noticed that on GR there is a tendency to shelve books by any female author as chicklit. F.e. Margaret Atwood, ..."Apart from the very creative names of shelves some people have, lik e iq-lower-than-age and too-ick-even-for-me, I don't think the shelf names are worth much.
A terrific, fun read. Reading your review made me smile about it all over again.
Since I see newer comments from the last time I posted about the label, I wanted to clarify I still consider it chicklit, which I don't think is a derogatory label either way. Any book that is mainly about the bonds between women and girl power is chicklit to me, good story or not. I'm finding the opposite views on that interesting.
To me, chicklit is a very specific genre. Bridget Jones' Diary, Sophie Kinsella, etc. Basically feel-good straight romances with covers to match.
Chicklit to me is "life would be wonderful if I could only lose 10lb, buy that handbag and have a man who wanted to marry me." White girls read it. Black girls read urban fiction, baby momma dramas with long nails. I rarely have any crossover sales in my shop. I wonder why?
Kindles? No idea, so few who aren't young children come into the shop.
Petra X wrote: "Chicklit to me is "life would be wonderful if I could only lose 10lb, buy that handbag and have a man who wanted to marry me." White girls read it. Black girls read urban fiction, baby momma dramas..."Petra X wrote: "Chicklit to me is "life would be wonderful if I could only lose 10lb, buy that handbag and have a man who wanted to marry me." White girls read it. Black girls read urban fiction, baby momma dramas..."
That's basically how this book is. The main character wants to improve herself, get more attractive and lose weight, get into a better relationship with her husband, start remodeling her house, so finds a friend at the nursing home. Through the friend she hears stories of strong women from the past who formed bonds, fell in love and ran a business together.
Could the issue with the chick lit label be age-related? I tend to think of chick lit being about women younger than any of the protagonists in this.
Cecily wrote: "Could the issue with the chick lit label be age-related? I tend to think of chick lit being about women younger than any of the protagonists in this."I never read it so I don't know anything about the ages of the women in the book but I think you are right in saying it is age-related.
Chicklit as I think of it in the shop is about slightly desperate women under 30 who want a man and handbag etc. I don't describe to customers any book as chicklit that is about older women whose angst has a deeper root than that.
Books about women in their 30s, typically to do with affairs, divorce, being a career woman and having to deal with... I describe as women's books. Rosamund Pilcher is such an author. Men don't buy them, or rarely. If they are that sort of thing and written by such as Julian Barnes, then they are just fiction, literature and men buy them as well. I can tell which each book is when I pick it up, but can't perhaps describe it so well in words here.
Cecily wrote: "Could the issue with the chick lit label be age-related? I tend to think of chick lit being about women younger than any of the protagonists in this."I don't see why age matters. Plus the book is mainly telling the story of younger women. To me chicklit isn't usually straight romance either, but about women independence - sometimes they end up single in these books. It's interesting how people see the sub-genre differently.
Erin � *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: "I don't see why age matters...It's interesting how people see the sub-genre differently. "
Very interesting, and I wasn't suggesting it "matters", so much as explaining what the label means to me, and wondering if it has similar associations for others - which Petra's comment suggests might be the case. But such labels are very rough and subjective.
message 49:
by
Petra nearly in Melbourne
(last edited Oct 19, 2016 09:12AM)
(new)
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rated it 5 stars
Erin � *Proud Book Hoarder* wrote: " It's interesting how people see the sub-genre differently. ..."I don't read this genre so I am only speaking from a point of view of selling it and the way I describe it is the way that sells it best. Age matters only in that I very rarely sell these books to anyone much past 30 and I think they are looking for identification with the characters.
Conversely (or perversely) selling urban fiction ('baby momma dramas;) to black women is about non-identification. They are all well-educated women working in offices, living very middle-class lives and we don't have ghettos here in any case, it's something completely different in the same age range for them. (Some of them do have the extreme nails though!)
Well I'm glad you found use for them. That really was a creative bit of revenge for the customer service rep...
