This week we’re taking a look at one of the shop’s most distinctive features: our outdoor sale lot. Open year-round in extreme New England weather, the lot presents some unique operational challenges for the Brattle crew (not many booksellers have to worry about their customers getting frostbite, or about sudden summer thunderstorms decimating their sale sections). It’s a fun, photogenic space that generates a lot of publicity—we’ve hosted weddings, served as a movie location, and appeared in countless social media posts—but the lot also acts as a practical pressure valve for overstuffed shelves inside the shop, allowing new books to be brought in almost every day. Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at our book-eating monster on this outdoorsy new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #211 - Photo Ops
These days, the Brattle is more than a book shop—it’s also a backdrop. In this episode, Ken talks about what happens when someone wants to film here, whether it’s for a hotel promo, a student film, or a Hollywood movie with an actual budget. We’ll cover the questions we ask before saying yes to a project, why it’s usually worth participating, and how the shop has shown up in everything from Instagram stories to Oscar winners. It’s always an honor to be included—and we’re not above appreciating the free advertising.
Brattlecast #48 - Africa
A family wedding in Kenya inspires Ken to start reading about Africa-and thinking about the book collections that could be made up of works about this vast and varied continent. From the early exploration narratives of the 1700's to the novels of Ernest Hemingway and Isak Dinesen, the possibilities are almost as diverse as Africa is.
