Thursday, July 10, 2008

Tuesday Thingers and Booking Through Thursday


This week's question from Marie at The Boston Bibliophile:
Since we're past the Fourth of July and the summer season has officially started, what are your plans for the summer? Vacations, trips? Trips that involve reading? Reading plans? If you're going somewhere, do you do any reading to prepare? Do you read local literature as part of your trip? Have you thought about using the LT Local feature to help plan your book-buying?
Just as everyone is beginning to turn their thoughts to fall this year, my husband and I will be sitting on the beach in Hawaii, drinking pineapple juice and watching the sunset. Anjin and I tend to take our vacations towards the end of the summer, right after the American Labor Day holiday. Schools are back in session and the summer vacation rush has died down. It is the perfect time to get away. Not to mention it falls right around the time of my birthday.

In preparation for our trip, I have perused online websites and read through tour books as well as talked to friends and family. In this case, it is more for deciding what we want to see and do. Most likely while there, I will seek out books by local authors and my desire to read more about the state's history will grow exponentially--it always does when I travel. I am thrilled to be returning to Hawaii, visiting the place where I spent a part of my childhood. My time there is a distant memory, and I look forward to creating new memories with my husband.

I never considered using Library Thing as a resource for further research in regards to my trip, but it is not a bad idea!





What would you do if, all of a sudden, your favorite source of books was unavailable?Whether it’s a local book shop, your town library, or an internet shop… what would you do if, suddenly, they were out of business? Devastatingly, and with no warning? Where would you go for books instead? What would you do? If it was a local business you would try to help out the owners? Would you just calmly start buying from some other store? Visit the library in the next town instead? Would it be devastating? Or just a blip in your reading habit?
It would not be a stretch to say that I am already prepared for such contingencies. My TBR collection is quite extensive and would keep me sufficiently entertained for the next decade or so at the very least. Add to that the books on my shelves that I have read that I can always reread. I rarely, if ever, reread books now, but there are quite a few in my collection that I keep around for that eventual day when I will do so.

With the number of book trading sites and online book clubs out there, there will always be resources for obtaining new (albeit used) books. The reading community may not be large in terms of the world population, but I imagine there are enough of us, not to mention in diversity of interests and tastes, that we could easily be able to organize book boxes and rings to ensure that books continue to be shared with others interested in reading them.

If it was just a matter of one store in town going out of business, it would not make much of a difference to me. I have no big attachment to any one store. In fact, I have a tendency to do business in quite a few, spreading my support and money around--this includes both brick and mortar stores as well as online stores. There are other bookstores in the area; the next town over is not so far away or even the town after that. It would not be worth making a big fuss over. Sure, I would moan about having to go a little farther or because of the loss of a good resource, but when it comes to books and reading, I will do what I have to do in order to keep my supply steady.

In the case of a library, if my local branch closed down, there are still several others throughout the city I can use. If the city libraries all closed down, I would then move on to the county libraries or to one in the next town or city over. As it is, I do not frequent my local library very often, and so I probably would not feel the impact of such a loss right away. That sounds terrible, perhaps, but it's true. It is hard to justify using the library when I have my own personal library at home that is full of books waiting to be read.

Even though I may not have a specific attachment to any book store or library, if I discovered that it was going out of business, I would probably make an effort to help out (donate books if appropriate and try and frequent the shop more often), but it would only be in a limited way. As one person there is not much I could do, but even those small efforts made by enough people might make a difference. It would be worth a try anyway.



Tomorrow is the last day to to enter the giveaways! For more information and to sign up visit Sunday's post titled Sunday Salon: In Between Books.

There are two separate contests and participants may enter one or both. The only catch is that participants must answer a simple question. If you answer the question, you will automatically be entered into the main drawing for a book of your choice (limit up to $25).

For a second chance at a prize, you can also enter in the drawing for one of the ARE books I am giving away. In the case of the ARE Giveaway, simply tell me which ARE books you are interested in winning, and I'll add your name into that drawing as well. Do remember to specify which ARE book you are interested in or else you might end up with something you did not want.



I took the plunge and now have my own domain name. While the old web address will redirect you to my new address, those who have me listed in their blog rolls may want to update your link to the new one: http://www.literaryfeline.com/.

11 comments:

  1. Have a great time in Hawaii!! It's the best.:-)

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  2. I've always wanted to visit Hawaii. My aunt and uncle lived there for a few years while my uncle was stationed there with the Navy. My aunt would always sent me wonderful little Hawaiian trinkets when I was a child.

    Enjoy your trip!

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  3. How exciting! I wish I'd have the chance to visit Hawaii one day. I know it's a beautiful place. :)

    I buy my books from bookstores and sometimes online ones, and I find used bookstores another great resource because of the cheap prices and sometimes I could even find some out-of-print books too! :)

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  4. Marie - Thank you. I definitely plan to!

    Ruth - I hope you get to go someday. It is such a beautiful place and so rich in culture.

    Melody - I hope you get to visit there someday too!

    Used bookstores can be quite the treasure trove!

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  5. Like you I have a pretty massive TBR collection (it goes beyond pile or shelf!). I am upset though as my favourite book shop is closing and has hardly any books in it. It's so depressing going into a nearly empty bookshop. They also made the best hot choclate in town so where will I go now?!

    Yay for getting your own domain name. Was it easy to transfer your blog over?

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  6. Rhinoa - Calling my TBR collection a pile never seems adequate. I am glad I'm not the only one who thinks so!

    I am sorry about the closing of your favorite bookshop. I imagine it is sad seeing all those empty shelves. And then to lose the best hot chocolate in town . . . I don't drink coffee, but I do love hot chocolate so I know what a loss that is.

    The transfer of my blog over was really easy because I didn't venture outside of Google (I went through Google Apps). It costs $10 a year for the domain name and if I decide I don't want to pay that much, I can easily switch back to blogspot. The transfer and registering is included in the price and I didn't really have to be involved with that process--Google does it automatically since I stayed within the "family".

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  7. I didn't know you could establish a domain name through Google Apps - I may just have to look into that myself.

    I'm envious of your upcoming vacation - both the destination AND the timing! We are constrained to summer vacations because of school schedules. Well, someday that will be past us...

    I am not quite as well prepared for the loss of book suppliers as you are - I could probably only get through about a year or two with my TBR collection. Now I have a goal - a decade! I just need more space :-).

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  8. I used to LOVE going on vacation in the fall when everyone else was done traveling. So many places we go are VERY hot in the summer, but since I work in the educational system I'm kind of stuck with summer. Hope you have a great time in Hawaii in September!

    I laughed when you mentioned your TBR pile in relation to not needing to worry about books if your favorite bookstore went out of business. I've thought the same thing. I've got enough books in TBR to last me for at least a decade too. I am saddened that so many used book sellers have a hard time staying in business in So Cal.

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  9. First of all, try to use your library - the more usage they get, the more likely they'll be there for the people who need them in the futre.

    That said, I'm good without a library or a bookstore with my stack of TBR shelves and I'm pretty sure I could set up a nice black market for books in a heartbeat if I had to. :)

    Have fun in Hawaii! Sept-Nov are the best vacation months.

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  10. I'm lucky to live in the Bay Area where independent bookstores galore. Like you, I do not have a particular preference and try to make my way around all of them, depending on which neighborhood I'm in. Gertrude Stein once mentioned how she would uneasy running out of books to read, I share that anxiety, but realizing that I'm in book heaven, I'm just grateful for the literary scene here.

    Have a great trip to Hawaii. :)

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  11. Florinda - I just found out about Google Apps offering domains this past week. It looked like a simple enough transition and the price was right, so I took the leap.

    I have a friend who goes to Hawaii every year with her family at the beginning of October. She takes her girls out of school for the week. The girls do special assignments while on holiday to make up for last time, but it seems to work for them. I always thought that was an interesting approach. I'm not sure it is something I would ever do if I had children of my own, but then I was raised by a teacher and school was of the utmost importance. (Not to say it isn't for my friend--we just see things a little differently.)

    I could probably stretch my TBR collection to a couple of decades if I continue reading at the rate I am reading, but I didn't want to admit to that. :-)

    Terri - Thanks! I'm really looking forward to Hawaii. The end of summer is a great time to travel, we've found. I've often thought of waiting until the official fall season, but then I couldn't include my birthday. :-) And then the summer months seem so long without hardly any breaks . . . I'm ready for some time off of work by the time early September rolls around.

    LOL I think it's sad too, that used book sellers have a difficult time of it. There's one not so far from where I live that has changed ownership a couple of times. I was at least glad to see that the shop itself was able to stay open.

    Carrie K - I probably have a decent start for my own small used bookstore or library. :-)

    Matt - Thank you! I wish there were more independent bookstores near me. Although, that might not be a good thing for my bank account. :-)

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