So Many Books, So Little Time

Amazon.com knows me, probably better than my kids. They send e-mails when they think they have a book (or CD) I might want. They send these e-mails frequently and are usually correct. Don't tell Amazon that I still hang out in bookstores, and libraries sometimes, too. The virtual world will never recreate the sights, sounds, textures, and smells of being surrounded by real books - thousands of them. There was no internet when, as an early grade schooler, my uncle took me along to the library where I couldn't narrow my choices. I practically cleared a shelf before he promised I could return with him every two weeks. I can get lost for hours in bookstores. Browsing takes half the "hours" and the other half is spent promising myself I can return in order to force a purchasing decision. My daughter used to try to distract me as we walked past mall bookstores. She'd hope I wouldn't notice the entrance so I could remain focused on her priorities. Currently, my most frequented Rhode Island bookstores are Barrington Books, and Borders at Providence Place Mall. However, my all-time favorite bookstore is a recent discovery and too far away. You'll find Elliott Bay Book Company near Pioneer Square in Seattle. It's the best bookstore ever and a reason to relocate. The store goes on forever, and once you've made a purchase you can take it downstairs to their cafe and start enjoying it with a beverage and snack. I will never live long enough to even make a dent in all the novels, essay/short story collections, and non-fiction works that constitute my ever-increasing mental list. My pile - actual and virtual - is limitless, like some kind of surreal, Alice In Wonderlandish stack teetering precariously into infinity. For the most part, reviews and recommendations send this pile soaring even higher, but occasionally help to cull, or at least keep a title from becoming another book in the load. With my next post, I'll begin to share reviews of my own which will probably add to the lists and piles of others, and occasionally warn someone away from a dud. That is if anyone actually ever reads this stuff.