MY FAVORITE PLACES (PART 2), AND E-READERS
In Part 1, I talked about Book'em Mysteries, Eso Won and The Mystery Bookstore. Another bookstore that's close to home in Pasadena is the venerable Vroman's Bookstore. It's Southern California's oldest and largest indie bookstore, attached to which is the very cozy and inviting Zeli Coffee Bar, and next door a Fine Writing and Gifts store with some very nice stuff.
Vroman's was one of my first book signings back in July 2009. WIFE OF THE GODS hadn't been out very long and I was pleasantly surprised by the substantial number of attendees. Vroman's has a large and faithful following and a huge space for readings and events. The organization and people-power involved in keeping a store as large as this going must be quite staggering.
Vroman's is a treasured place that one hopes will exist and thrive forever. Speaking of which, e-book readers have been a huge topic as 2010 draws to a close. How will they affect the success of the indie bookstores? There's the standard-setting Kindle, which, to use a play on words, "sparked" the movement, the B&N Nook, the Sony, the Alex, Pandigital, Kobo, Foxit, Jetbook, and so on. Enter Google e-reader. This is an inclusive reader rather than an exclusive one. You do not physically buy the Google e-reader. This is ideal for me. Frankly, my Mac laptop goes everywhere with me and I'm just as happy to read on it as I would be on a Kindle. Incidentally, I bought my Kindle when they first came out and haven't bought one since. It's battery life is now quite anemic. Essentially Google e-reader is an app that you can use on an Android platform, your web browser, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and Nook or Sony. I don't know about anyone else, but I look forward to an electronic future that's inclusive, rather than the opposite. Kindle's exclusivity to Amazon.com might eventually become a dinosaur model. (By the way, Russo's Books has a nice little video explaining Google e-books.)
On Vromans.com, Ruby's blog talks about e-books and how the Vroman's is one of the lengthening list of indie bookstores that participate in the Google e-reader program. Indeed, I've just bought a copy of Michael Connelly's The Overlook from Vroman's using my Google e-reader (web app). In deference to all indie bookstores, especially mystery ones, I would not have ordered this novel from Amazon.com or bn.com, but having the Google e-reader, I was able to order online while still supporting Vroman's.
Ruby's blog also links to a nice post by Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Az. This store is also a Google e-reader participant, and to me it's a thrill that someone like Gayle with a store like hers can now start to compete with Amazon.com. Marvelous. Maybe there is justice in this world after all.
