What I Most Miss About Bookstores - Part II

 

OK, so bear with me for a minute because at first glance this is likely to seem more than a little bit strange - and like a lot of work. But, in fact, I didn't even realize I was doing this for a while because it is just a steady progression of something I was already doing to a smaller degree. And over the last thirty days or so, it's been working beautifully for me.

I'm lucky enough to have access to the digital public libraries of my county, my city, several adjacent counties, and a rather remarkable community college system. The really beautiful thing about all of this access is that all of these libraries share assets among each other - and they can be simultaneously (completely in the background) browsed from a single software application. The same seems to be true for access to physical copies of books, but I'm pretty sure that I would have to collect those myself in some cases. 

Two or three times a week, I do a deep dive on the app to see what catches my eye. And now that I understand the app settings, I am often notified the moment some hot new book hits the digital shelves, meaning that I get to skip the hold lines completely, or at the very least, place myself near the top of any queue that develops. I grab whatever looks interesting, and sometimes that means six or seven books in one evening. Then, over the next several days, I "flip" through the books, maybe reading a chapter or two in the process before deciding that I do indeed want to read the whole book. Of course, I'm just as likely to learn that the style and content of something is not anything I want to waste my time on - and back it goes. 

So some books get returned almost immediately, some get a prompt reading, and when things really get out of hand, others are returned and placed on the hold list for a second look later on. 

The check-out and hold list limits are so generous that I haven't come near testing them yet: 50 total books on loan and 30 books on hold. Right now, for example, I have 25 books on loan from the library and another 23 on hold. Those on hold are estimated to be available to me anywhere from two weeks from now to six months from now, so they are sort of a TBR list that the library maintains for me. 

Something I've started doing more of lately is browsing by genre - and I've found the experience to be very much like it was in the bookstores, maybe even better in some ways. For instance, I browsed the history section and the historical fiction sections last night and caught up on the best of what's been published in the genres since Covid. I have a fair feel now, I hope, for the ones I don't want to miss, and I was even able to pair up some fiction and nonfiction titles the way I used to do. 

For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm fairly informed about the genres I enjoy reading the most. I see the hot titles, the backlist from authors I haven't heard from for a while, and discover new writers I would have missed by relying on chains like the infamous B&N. It works really well for me - and so far at least, my library system doesn't seem to have any problems with the larger than average turnover I've created. (I doubt they've even noticed, actually. And if they have, they may welcome the boost in usage statistics that results.)

I know this is not for everyone. But if you read e-books a lot, or if you don't have easy access to brick-and-mortar bookstores anymore but do have a library to tap, this might be something you want to consider.

Suggestion: If you try this, and you notice others stacking up behind you on a hold list for a book you have checked out, please don't keep the book for two weeks trying to decide whether you want to read it or not. Decide quickly whether you will be reading it anytime soon, if at all, and get it back into the system ASAP. I can't help but feel as if I'm gaming the system a little bit, so that is a high priority for me.

Anyway...let me know if this is something you might try - or if you think I've completely lost my mind now.

What I Most Miss About Bookstores - Part I

 

What I miss most about having half-a-dozen favorite bookstores to make regular visits to is the pleasure of shutting out the rest of the world for an hour or two while slowly making my way through shelf after shelf of books I'd never seen before. Whichever book caught my eye next was going to, at least for a few minutes, feel like a new gift to be opened. I couldn't wait to see what was inside "the box." 

Sadly, those days are long gone. In the Houston suburbs I now have relatively easy access to two Barnes & Noble big box bookstores, but except for their physical layout they are pretty much the same. And neither of them offers any real bargains anymore other than the same handful of discounted books I can find in any Target store in the country - or even in my local Kroger grocery store, for that matter. Knowing that I'm unlikely to be able to carry home for much under $30 any book I might fall in love with (even though I didn't even know I was looking for it when I came into the store) takes away most of the joy of exploring the shelves. Instead of walking away with four or five new books on each visit - some from the now non-existent remainders shelves - I might come home with one, or none, nowadays. Let's face it, all of us read a lot of books or we wouldn't be talking about them so much, but most of us can't afford to pay $100 for four or five new ones every couple of weeks. 

So I don't browse much anymore, and when I do I often (I know, I know...that's not the thing to do) come home and place an order with Amazon. And I always come home at least a little bit angry about what Barnes & Noble has turned itself into after so ruthlessly driving all the competition right out of business like it did.

But I've found a solution of sorts. And in Part II, I'll tell you what that is and how it's worked for me for the last thirty days.