Bibliophiles

TBR

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One of my TBR piles

One of my TBR piles

That stands for “To Be Read.”  One of the things that defines a bibliophile are the stacks of physical and/or e-books waiting “To Be Read.” You know how it goes. You are browsing in the bookstore or a library sale or online and you find a great bargain on a book you’ve wanted to read or you thought sounded interesting in a review you read. You can’t read it immediately so it goes on the stack–or one of the stacks.

If you are a bibliophile, you have probably struggled with this. On the one hand, there is the anticipation of reading the books, which sometimes can be as good as the actual reading! Just to look at the spines, the blurbs on the back of the book or the table of content can whet your appetite (and remind you why you bought that book in the first place).

On the other hand, this can verge on, or cross over the boundary to hoarding, particularly if it seems the piles are taking over your house! The challenge becomes even greater if you start getting sent books to review. I realized recently that I probably don’t have enough life left to read all the unread books I have, either in stacks in my house or on my Kindle. That for me seems to define the line where collecting is at least straying into the territory of hoarding–hard as it is to admit!

There is one TBR pile I probably won’t get rid of. It is by the bed and is what I’d call my “staging area.” When I finish a book, this is where I go for the next book to read. I usually filter books from other piles here as the pile shrinks. Right now the pile has some Jeff Shaara novels, a three volume Teddy Roosevelt biography, and some more “theological” books by Os Guinness, Jurgen Moltmann and an autobiography of Therese of Liseaux.  (Previews of future reviews!)

It’s the other piles that need to go. Truthfully, they all make the house look more cluttered. Either I do something or my family will stage an intervention! My first goal would be to clear the one in my spare bedroom by the end of the year (either by moving books into the stack by the bed or getting rid of them).

That confronts a reality I need to deal with. If the books have been on a TBR pile more than a couple years, I need to ask whether I’m really going to read them. This summer, I was able to give away two good size boxes of such books. Yes, I grieved, but I also remember what C.S. Lewis said about our libraries in heaven being comprised of the books we gave away on earth.

There is also the question of where books go after I’ve read them. Once again, it is increasingly apparent that unless it is a book I may re-read or reference, it probably needs to go. I’ve made a rule that I need to weed out a couple books for anything I shelve.

Finally, I can’t shrink these piles if I add to them! Perhaps a goal at this point is to not acquire a new book without reading five others and getting rid of at least that many. That means at most that I can acquire 24 books a year or 2 a month.

Here’s a big goal: have only the TBR pile by the bed by the end of next year. Looking for a good deal on books or even some free ones? Look for a big book purge next summer. It’s time to bring those TBR stacks in line with reality!

Cover-Snooping!

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I had a “gotcha” moment this past week. I was reading a review of a new book by Lauren Leto titled Judging a Book by Its Lover in which the reviewer mentions the author’s lament of the advent of e-readers as thwarting the ability to “cover-snoop.” I realized there is a name for what I have done for most of my life. In the review, this seemed to be connected to assessing romantic prospects. I’m happily married, thank you, but I still stand convicted of this though not for romantic reasons.

I mentioned this to my son and he said, “that’s creepy, Dad!” If that’s so, then I am guilty as charged of creepy-hood. But here’s what it comes down to–I am a bibliophile and a book I haven’t seen before in someone’s hands is something like raw meat to a dog. It’s actually not so much about the person as the book–as callous as that sounds. Now, if it is a romance novel, or some arcane technical book, that’s all she wrote as far as my interest. And I don’t go up to total strangers and start talking with them about their books.

There are times when I’ve struck up a conversation with seat mates on a plane or similar contexts asking “what are you reading?” if they seem disposed to conversation. If they are they usually tell you more than the title. I’ve been asked this as well, and have had some fascinating conversations. Creepy-hood is when it is clear that the book is their shield from conversation and you intrude.

The other place I cover-snoop is when I see books lying around in a friend’s homes or on their book shelves. Again, some is just curiosity about books. Beyond that though, cover-snooping is a way I learn about what interests my friends and what interests we might have in common or even what books we’ve both read.

Of course, now we can do this electronically on Goodreads, which even has a heuristic that allows you to see what books both you and your friends have read. I suppose the creepiness of this is removed by the fact that when we sign up for these things and accept friends we invite people not only to cover-snoop our books but to read whatever thoughts we care to share about them.

My defense of cover-snooping is that all of us notice things about the people that are shaped by our age, gender, race, and a variety of other factors. Glancing around the library where I’m writing this post I notice the t-shirts people are wearing, the types of computers they are using, and even some of the books they are carrying. Creepy is staring or otherwise crossing social boundaries and assuming a familiarity we don’t have.

So I don’t lament e-readers. I can still always ask “what are you reading?” in the appropriate contexts. And if they are a bibliophile, they won’t mind talking about their books and learning about mine because chances are they will have cover-snooped me as well!

So, what do you think about cover-snooping? Do you cover-snoop? Or do you agree with my son and think it is creepy?

 

And Then There is The Big Box Bookstore

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I wrote yesterday about my visit to a wonderful little independent used and antiquarian bookstore. As it happens, I also had a chance to visit our nearby Barnes and Noble store, incentivized by a 20% coupon I’d received by email. Turns out I was able to score a copy of Capital by Thomas Piketty (my BIG summer reading project) at under $20 (retailed at $40) using my Barnes and Noble membership, the coupon, and the discounted price they were selling it at. Perhaps they knew that sooner or later potential readers would figure out this is a LONG book even if it is a best-seller.

Capital_in_the_Twenty-First_Century_(front_cover)

It is interesting to reflect on how my experience compared to my visit to the Indie bookstore. Both certainly offered the experience of browsing long aisles of books and discovering books of interest I was unaware of. Barnes and Noble occupies far more space of course, and one of the big differences is no floor to ceiling bookcases and much wider aisles. There was no Norman in the basement lovingly preparing books for the shelves because there was no basement.

Still, the booksellers were friendly and I was asked if I needed any help. So were the people at checkout, but with a big difference. It was all very inefficient, and impersonal. No one knew any names. The customers by and large didn’t know the booksellers or each other. I suppose there are times we want it that way. But the feeling was, as I reflect on it, that this was just a big box store for books and media–and pastries.

Our local Barnes and Noble.

Our local Barnes and Noble. Picture from B& N website: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/1968

That was the other thing. At checkout, we were given a coupon for $10 off cheesecake from their cafe’. And we were really encouraged to go buy one. So we wandered over, only to find out that the starting price was $40. We didn’t need cheesecake that badly. But we were given plenty of reasons why we could need it. It was plain that they really wanted to sell us a cheesecake.

It was interesting that the greatest effort to engage me as a customer in a bookstore was to try to sell me a cheesecake. In the other store, what they cared about were what kind of books I was interested in. It is fascinating that there is something of a resurgence in the Indie stores, at least according to this Salon piece. What I wonder is whether this season of discontent with Amazon over its treatment of Hachette might be an opportunity for Barnes and Noble stores to take a look at the Indie stores and how they might operate more as a “third place” than as a big box store for books, media and pastries. I don’t say ditch the pastries– a cup of coffee and a scone are wonderful adjuncts to leafing through newly purchased books! But thinking about how to make this like the neighborhood bookshop might be worthwhile as well.

What strikes me is that the Barnes and Noble booksellers I’ve met also know and love books. And my observation is that most of what people are actually buying in the stores are books. In the small Indie store I wrote about yesterday, they help foster a community of booklovers. It occurs to me that there are many members of the same tribe frequenting Barnes and Noble–and working there. I can’t help wondering if working on that connection could make Barnes and Nobles a more enjoyable place for booksellers and customers alike. And I can’t help wondering if it would enhance sales. I could be totally out to lunch here. What I do know, and maybe this is a function of age, is that I am increasingly attracted to the places where that connection happens.

What do you think? What do you value most about going to a brick and mortar bookstore?

In Praise of the Indie Bookstore

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I’ve been seeing lots of posts decrying Amazon’s recent conflict with the Hachette Publishing Group. I don’t intend to add to that outcry with this post, other than to say, if we think Amazon is a monster, then it is one we have helped create and it is just doing what it thinks are in its best business interests. There is a brutal, bottom-line logic to how these companies (Hachette as well as Amazon) operate. I suspect in the end they will come to some kind of compromise — neither wants to kill the goose laying the golden eggs. My son did a post on his blog that argues this point in far more detail, so I don’t need to.

Acorn Bookshop (from http://www.acornbookshop.com/)

Acorn Bookshop 

What I would rather talk about are the great brick and mortar Indie bookstores, whether selling used and collectors book, or new. I was reminded these treasures during a visit this week to the Acorn Bookshop in Grandview Heights, a couple miles west of Ohio State’s campus. Acorn sells used and antiquarian books. George Cowmeadow Bauman is the co-owner and known widely as “bookstore George”. His love of collecting books and selling them came from his aunt, to whom the store is dedicated. He tells the story wonderfully!

This was my second visit to the store (I mentioned it in a post early in this blog’s history). I was in the neighborhood and decided to use a gift card a kind friend sent because she liked some of the posts on this blog! Who was I to complain? I hadn’t explored the basement before and in the process came across Norman. George calls what he does “Normanizing”. Before books are shelved, Norman repairs, cleans, and for books with dust jackets, puts a protective sleeve like those you see on library books over the dust jacket. I think for this reason, the store doesn’t have the musty, dusty feel I encounter in most bookstores of its type.  I’ve not been to a bookstore before that did this and I thought it was quite a nice touch!

My purchase. Notice the protective sleeve on the Modern Library edition

My purchase. Notice the protective sleeve on the Modern Library edition

One of the things that marks this store is the friendly relations between all the booksellers and the customers, those who are selling books and those who buy. I was looking for a hardcover copy of the first installment of Rex Morris’s biography of Teddy Roosevelt but could not find this. They had a paperbound copy which I ended up buying but they searched downstairs to see if they had it. On their website, they speak of this store as having an atmosphere kind of like the old comedy, Cheers, where everybody knows your name.

There is an experience in wandering around a bookstore like this, not only of discovering things you’ve not heard of before that are interesting, or finding that book you’ve been looking for. There is also the experience of being among a community of book lovers, of people you don’t have to explain your quirkiness to, because they get it. While I’ve not decided to boycott Amazon, I want to patronize places like this as often as I can because these people genuinely care about the love of books (as well as making a living at it), and fostering a culture where books and ideas and conversation about them are valued. It seems to me that places like this are part of what make a good city and a good society.

I’d love to hear your stories of the physical bookstores you love and value.

[Acorn Bookshop is permanently closed]

Gifts for Readers

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One of the comments I received on yesterday’s post on bookmarks was from someone who had never received a gift bookmark. I suppose it takes a bibliophile to recognize the things that bibliophiles like. But here are some hints in case you have a bibliophile in your life:

1. Of course, there is the humble bookmark.  Something that is artistic or literary, and durable makes for a nice gift that reminds someone of you every time they read!

2. Many readers keep some form of book journal–a record of the books they’ve read.

3. Book weights come in handy for holding the book open while you are reading. Similarly, there are book holders and book stands that serve the same function.

4. In the same vein are various forms of lap desks or pillows to prop your book on in bed. Many of these accommodate iPads and e-readers as well as regular books.

5. Booklights are nice particularly if you are traveling or don’t want to keep someone awake you are sharing a room with. Just make sure to buy something durable with a long-lasting light bulb for which replacements can be found.

6. Things to hold or protect your books are helpful. This can range from a protective cover or case for an e-reader or tablet to messenger bags or totes to carry your books to the library (or beach).

7. Bookplates are a nice gift to friends who lend books so that the lendees can at least be reminded whose book it is (lendees sometimes genuinely forget!). Not sure this actually helps in getting your books back. But someone, I believe C. S. Lewis, commented that our library in eternity will be the books we’ve lent and were not returned! There are also journals or library cards one can use to keep track of borrowed books if you are inclined to keep track of such things.

8. A nice set of bookends is always a great gift–don’t buy something gaudy or ugly though!

9. There are all sorts of novelty gifts from t-shirts to, believe it or not, Jane Austen air fresheners! I still treasure the t-shirt my son bought me many years ago saying, “So many books, so little time!”

10. Finally, booklovers never mind a gift card to a bookstore. If you can find one for an indie store near the booklover, even better!

Of course, you may decide that your booklover really needs something far more practical than books, like socks or other clothing items. They may not thank you as effusively, but, if you keep them from looking like they’ve been out on the streets too long, that is also a good thing!

I’ve never shopped at either of these sites but Gone Reading and Levenger provided inspiration for this article and might for you. For my book loving friends, what have I missed? What was the best non-book, book lovers gift you received?

Bookmarks

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Today I received a gift that any booklover would delight in. Sara, a woman in my church who is quite accomplished in woodburning mentioned that she wanted to give us some bookmarks. This Sunday she brought them and I thought they were so nice, I thought I’d share them with you by way of a post on bookmarks.

Sara's Bookmarks

Sara’s Bookmarks

One of the nice things about e-readers is that they keep your place for you, and even allow you to electronically “bookmark” places you want to go back to. I’m glad for this since it would have been far more tedious to electronically flip through pages from the beginning to get back to the place I last read–especially when I fall asleep reading my Kindle and it turns itself off!

But I still read lots of old fashion print books, and usually have multiple books going at one time. Some way of keeping track of where I’ve left off reading is crucial–my memory is not always that good. Folding over the corner, or dog-earing is one way to do this. But it is tough on the pages, makes the book look messy, and isn’t great if you give or re-sell the book. I think dog ears belong on dogs!

You can just leave the book open face down at your page. Hard on the spine and those you live with might not like you leaving books lying around and will close the book and put it away. Place lost. And it especially doesn’t work well if you carry your books around.

Some other gift bookmarks

Some other gift bookmarks

Sometimes I’ve used the flaps of dust jackets on books that have them. That works well at the beginning and end of the book, not so well in the middle and takes the nice clean crease out of the dust jacket.

So most of the time I’m left with the humble or not so humble bookmark. Sometimes we’ve received some very nice ones (and if you can’t think of a book your bibliophile friend doesn’t have, then a bookmark is a good alternative gift).

From the Wikipedia article “Bookmark” it seems we’ve had bookmarks nearly as long as we’ve had printed books. Early printed books were rare and bookmarks, either a ribbon bound into the book or a parchment strip on the edge of the folio. Better made books often still come with a ribbon bound into them for marking your place, which I always like because the ribbon doesn’t fall out–although I once had a ribbon ripped out of a Bible by a friend’s child. The first detached bookmarks seem to have been made in the 1850s and with this came a new market in collectibles.

A bookmark sampler

A bookmark sampler

As you can see, bookmarks can be made out of a number of materials from wood, to leather, to cloth to metal to plastic. Most of the ones I use are made of cardboard. Bookstores are a great source of these but lots of other people from publishers to organizations to holiday cards use bookmarks to publicize themselves or give one a memento of the occasion. If I use these, I usually end up either losing them or eventually throwing them away because the ends tend to get curled up and bookmark itself worn out from repeated use. Usually I stretch a bookmark over ten or more books though.

What are your bookmark stories? Do you have bookmarks that are special to you? How do you like to mark your place in books? And what bookstore, in your experience gives away the best bookmarks?