Basement Books has increased the amount of information it delivers via e-mail. I don't remember when I subscribed to their service, but it must have been some time late last year. The e-mails are text-only using Courier font. Very basic when you compare them to the e-mails produced by British book chain Waterstone's.

Two e-mails arrived today. One covers 81 novels new in stock, including Mark Haddon's new release A Spot of Bother for $7.95. If you want one of the 10 copies they have, you'd better hurry. They also have three copies of Howard Jacobson's Kalooki Nights. They cost $14.95 each.

According to the e-mail, books "will be sold on a first come first served basis and can not be held".

The other e-mail covers a small selection of business and academic titles. I saw one title that looks academic. The rest seem to be popular non-ficton titles. The Web site claims that there are "2 - 4,000 different titles each month".

Basement Books is handy for rail travellers, and is located in the Broadway underpass leading to Central Station.