Joseph ’s
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(group member since Jul 28, 2009)
Joseph ’s
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from the Book Buying Addicts Anonymous group.
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WOW! Holy cow! I go off to work and miss practically the whole thing! Way to go you guys. Kristin's topic is going to be tricky. Can I ask for a revision, to make things a little easier? How about books that have to do with drugs or medicine or medical conditions? Until I hear an ok, I'll do the best I can with what Kristin picked.
brian wrote: "The breadth of your knowledge is staggering, Joseph.Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (am I stretching the rules?)"
Comes from being a librarian, Brian. :-) And you're following the rules to the letter, actually.
George Shrinks by William Joyce
Congrats Kathryn!
Looks like I get A again. Ok, this time the rule is the title must have a person's name in it. Either first or last name will work. For example: Runaway Ralph or Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic. If you use a last name with a title, for this one the Mr., Mrs. Dr. etc. is ignored like The, An, or A are ignored. So Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Magic would count for P not M.I'll start with:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
For example, the same title but a hardcover and a paperback copy? Or maybe two copies with different illustrators or different commentaries or different notes? If so, what sort do you have and why?
I have some fun buying used books. Brought home a variety of reference books and classics to bring me up to 73 for December so far.
Cool, all three of E.B. White's greats were used. Neat.Unicorns! Unicorns! by Geraldine McCaughrean.
As the rains come and the flood waters rise, Noah and the animals on the ark repeatedly call to the unicorns to hurry aboard. That enough animals for you? :-)
Actually Looloo, I have already read it and liked it so much I wanted to own it so I could reread it. I thought the story traveled very well, no slow spots, lots of action that held my interest. I found the concept of a shapeshifting, hunter of vampires that could turn into ANY animal to be something brand-new and very different from the many other urban fantasy series I've read. Most other authors I have read often have the shifter restricted to one form, be it wolf, bear, rat, etc. Being the first in the series, There were lots of different relationships introduced between the main character with many other interesting characters. I'm hoping the romantic and other relationships will develop more in the next book. This one could have used a bit more romance, I thought. I also like how the author defined her vampires and vampire community, not completely new but different enough from the usual to keep me happy. I also liked how the story took place in New Orleans, one of the cities I like to read fiction about. I kind of hope the author keeps the stories there, I think she introduced enough in the first book to build a good foundation for the series there. All in all, this one is near the top of my list for favorite UF.
Just bought
at Borders. That makes 21.
I just did a bunch of double stacking on shelves so I could make room on other shelves in order to fit in some new books and keep my categories together.
Check out this scary article: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Laredo-...Laredo could be largest US city without bookstore
Laredo could soon be largest US city without a single bookstore; B. Dalton to close next month
By Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Writer , On Wednesday December 16, 2009, 4:37 pm EST
LAREDO, Texas (AP) -- The final chapter has been written for the lone bookstore on the streets of Laredo.
With a population of nearly a quarter-million people, this city could soon be the largest in the nation without a single bookseller.
The situation is so grim that schoolchildren have pleaded for a reprieve from next month's planned shutdown of the B. Dalton bookstore. After that, the nearest store will be 150 miles away in San Antonio.
The B. Dalton store was never a community destination with comfy couches and an espresso bar, but its closing will create a literary void in a city with a high illiteracy rate. Industry analysts and book associations could not name a larger American city without a single bookseller.
"Corporate America considers Laredo kind of the backwater," said the city's most prolific author, Jerry Thompson, a professor at Texas A&M University International who has written more than 20 books.
Since the closing was announced, book lovers in Laredo have flocked to the small store located between City Trendz ("Laredo's No. 1 Underground Hip Hop Shop") and a store that offers $4 indoor go-kart rides to stock up on their favorite titles.
Schoolchildren even wrote letters to the parent company, Barnes & Noble, begging for the store to stay open.
"Without that store, my life would be so sad and boring," wrote a fifth-grader named Bryanna Salinas, who signed her name with a heart.
The Laredo store is among 49 remaining B. Daltons nationwide that Barnes & Noble will close by next year.
The company believes a bookstore is viable in Laredo and has identified a location for a large-format Barnes & Noble, but the space will not be available for at least 18 months, said David Deason, Barnes & Noble vice president of development.
In the meantime, without a single independent bookseller, Laredo may be in a league of its own among big cities.
Though an independent bookstore is the only one of its kind in Newark, N.J., a city of nearly 288,000, big chains are nearby in the suburbs or New York City. Laredo is surrounded by nothing more than rural ranching towns on its side of the border.
"We suffer, but we don't suffer to the extent that a Laredo would," said Wilma Grey, director of the Newark Public Library.
Some worry that the closing could send a message that books and reading are not priorities in Laredo, a hot, steamy city of 230,000 that is choked by smog from trucks lining up at the border, which is home to the nation's biggest entry point for trucks and trains.
Nearly half of the population of Webb County, which includes Laredo, lacks basic literacy skills, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Fewer than 1 in 5 city residents has a college degree. And about 30 percent of the city lives below the poverty level, according to the 2000 census.
Laredo residents can still purchase books online, but civic leaders fear that without a bookstore, many residents will not have the opportunity to buy books.
Many also feel that the stigma of not having a bookstore hurts Laredo's reputation.
Outsiders, even other Texans, do not always distinguish between "los dos Laredos," the relatively peaceful city in Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, across the border in Mexico, which has been wracked by drug-war violence.
But some bookstore supporters are undaunted.
Maria Soliz, Laredo Public Library director, is leading the charge to get a bookstore back. The city's library system was already planning to open two more branches over the next two years to meet demand. That's in addition to the two-story main library painted in bold, Mexican-inspired colors that serves about 400,000 visitors annually.
"It's not reflective of the city that they're closing," Soliz said. "I know this city can support a bookstore."
Deason said the Laredo store is profitable, but its profits are not significant when factoring in the expenses of running a chain that's being phased out.
Some people also question the city's priorities. As Elaine Perry walked out of the bookstore earlier this month with a heavy bag of hardcovers, she criticized a recent proposal to build an indoor snow park.
"A snowboarding park in Laredo," Perry said. "Have you ever heard of anything so stupid?"
Bookstore customers tend to be well educated and to have disposable income, said Michael Norris, an analyst with Simba Information. But that demographic is hardly what makes or breaks the business, he said.
A bookstore is "either the cultural center in its community, or it's a pile of books with a roof over it," Norris said.
The B. Dalton in Laredo certainly skews toward the latter. It has narrow aisles, no coffee for sale and not a single chair to sit and read.
City Trendz employee Seve Perez said much of the traffic at Mall del Norte comes from Mexico, both from Nuevo Laredo and deal-seeking shoppers bused in from the country's interior.
Standing behind a rack of sale T-shirts that read "Save Texas Rap," the 66-year-old said his bookish daughters will be crushed when the bookstore leaves.
Next door, Laredo resident Misti Saenz walked out of B. Dalton with a sack of nine romance novels for her teenage daughter. She was stocking up before the store closes Jan. 16.
"It's going to be a total bummer," Saenz said. "It made me wish I had shopped there more."
The Quest for the Great White Quail #52 by John R. EricksonAbout the Hank the Cowdog, has an animal in the title, AND its got 2 Qs in the title too! Top that! lol
Well Greta, being a bachelor, when I get home from work I've got several hours before turning out the lights to do whatever I want, which is usually read. I can usually finish a 300 page book in about 3 hours. Do that almost every weeknight and maybe on a weekend day too and it's not that hard to read on average at least four books and maybe more a week.
Greta, to be honest, I read so much I'll often go through on average four books a week or about 16 a month. Really only a quarter of that is usually rereads. I never really thought about it before, but I figure so long as my new books read stay the majority, nothing really is lost in rereading an old favorite every so often.
If I ever move, one main thing that house will have to have is room for all my books. I'm a chronic rereader. I often buy books I could get at the library mainly because if I want to read that book again, I want to be able to just pull it off the shelf at any time. I don't want to waste time driving to the library or risk it not being there or even have to wait for the library to be open. When I move, I'll probably have to get a truck just for all my books. :-)
