Challenge to support bookstores

[Werner]

Back in 2011, a lady on Goodreads, who was concerned about the need to support physical bookstores in order to keep them open and preserve all the benefits they provide, challenged the rest of us to buy at least two books (new ones, not used) per year from a brick-and-mortar store. I've met that challenge every year from 2011 on, and I've met it for 2016, having already bought two books so far (as presents for my wife). Maybe some others would be interested in taking up this challenge as well?

[Werner]

Here's an interesting and encouraging article on independent bookstores, from a blog called the Passive Voice, which one of my Goodreads friends regularly reads: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/2016/0... .

[Paula]

Love that idea, Werner! I love bookstores. This will be one of the best challenges ever!

[Werner]

Thanks, Paula!

[Crystal]

This is a great challenge. I have already met this challenge this year by supporting our local bookstore, Hearthside Books. I also love browsing used bookstores and wish we had a nice one in the area.

[Werner]

Crystal wrote: "This is a great challenge. I have already met this challenge this year by supporting our local bookstore, Hearthside Books. I also love browsing used bookstores and wish we had a nice one in the area."

I hear you about the wish for a used bookstore around here, Crystal! (Hearthside does carry a line of used books, as does the thrift store that supports the Pet Haven no-kill animal shelter; but that's not the same thing as having a whole store dedicated to them.) I used to buy most of my used books from a mother-daughter seller team who used to set up at the weekly flea markets in the old downtown parking deck in Bluefield, WV; but since that market and the parking deck have gone the way of the dodo, I can't do that anymore. :-(

[Werner]

This past Monday, I was saddened to learn that Hearthside Books will be closing its doors for good on Feb. 18. :-( I've shopped there since at least 2004 (they were the only bookstore I could find, besides BC's, that was willing to carry my book!). According to the newspaper article, they just didn't have enough business to sustain the store, so it's a graphic reminder of how important it is to support bookstores while we have them. (Now, I'll have to go further afield to find one to support.)

[Werner]

The closing of our local home-owned bookstore earlier this year made it harder for me to fulfill my goal of supporting a brick-and-mortar store this time around. But there's a chain bookstore in the Mercer Mall, and this weekend, I finally got out there for some shopping. I fulfilled my two-book purchase commitment (for myself, this time!), and was pleased to see that the store was pretty busy with shoppers.

[Werner]

My bookstore-supporting challenge really had to wait until nearly the last minute this year; but I fulfilled it this morning, again at the bookstore in the mall. I was glad to see that once again, they were doing a brisk business!

[Werner]

Once again, I've recently met the challenge to support brick-and-mortar bookstores by buying at least two brand-new books a year in one! This year, I didn't leave it until the last days of December. :-)

[Werner]

I'm glad to say that I've once again fulfilled the challenge to buy at least two books a year from a physical bookstore! Though this year, as we've come down to the last week of December, it was, as some British Goodreaders might say, a bit of a close-run thing. :-)

[Werner]

Since I've accumulated so many piles of unread physical books by now, which are greatly backlogged, and I'm running short on space to put books, I decided not to buy books for myself to fulfill the challenge this year. So instead, I bought two books to donate to the Bluefield University library! (Barb and I also bought several books as Christmas gifts for family members; so the clerks at our local bookstore were probably pretty glad to see us coming. :-) )

[Werner]

In most years, I wind up waiting until very late in the year (and sometimes after Christmas!) to complete this challenge. This year, though, I've been much more on the ball; I picked up two books for myself at the bookstore in our local mall over the weekend. So, I've fulfilled the challenge for another year; and I hope others in the group will be able to join me before the year is out!

[Werner]

Yesterday, while I was at our local mall, I visited the Books-a-Million (BAM) outlet, and bought myself two books. One is New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (to the Bible), which replaces an older edition I've owned for 40 years, that was literally fallen apart. The other is a story collection, American Midnight: Tales of the Dark. So I've fulfilled my challenge to support physical bookstores for another year!

[Werner]

It usually takes me until late December to complete my "support bookstores" challenge in any given year. But having won a $25.00 Barnes and Noble gift card earlier this month through the wellness program where I work, and being in Harrisonburg, Virginia (which is home to a large brick-and-mortar Barnes and Noble bookstore) last week, I took the opportunity to redeem it. With that deduction, it didn't cost me much to buy copies of the anthology Golden Age Detective Stories, and of Mycroft and Sherlock by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse.