Archive for the ‘Tales of a Bookseller’ Category

Do You Believe?

One day last week, my yard was full of toadstools and/or mushrooms; I never have known how to tell one from the other so it’s a good thing chefs and farmers do it for me. These mushrooms were everywhere, I suppose brought out by the intermittent rains, excessive heat and high humidity we’ve been having [...]

August 18, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

The Torturous Path to Smaller Bills

Like everybody else these days—or, at least, everybody who isn’t in the upper strata financially—I’ve been looking for ways to cut some expenses.  My income isn’t going to get any bigger so reducing what I spend is my only hope.  That, of course, means getting rid of some of the little extras since most of [...]

August 15, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

This Changing Book World

I spent some time Friday reading an opinion piece titled “Bye-Bye Bookstores” written by Sven Birkerts in the August 6, 2010 Wall Street Journal .  In the piece, Mr. Birkerts talks about his history with bookstores, chain and independent, and his sad feeling that physical brick & mortar bookstores are becoming a thing of the [...]

August 8, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  One Comment

SHARK!!

It’s Shark Week  and, once again, I find myself watching many of the shows that get recycled every year and as many of the new ones as I can.  This season, I’ve been captivated by two in particular. “Ultimate Air Jaws” is an astounding documentary about great white sharks that gather in large numbers around [...]

August 5, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

Love Those Animals in Books

Several weeks ago, I got into an email discussion with Becky, one of my reviewers and a friend of the erstwhile brick & mortar store.  She had sent me a review of  Scent of the Missing by Susannah Charleson, a story about Puzzle, the author’s Search and Rescue dog, and that led to us emailing [...]

August 3, 2010  Tags: ,   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  One Comment

A 9/11 Story

Friday evening, I sat in my car in the driveway, riveted by a chapter of the audio book I’m currently listening to, Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper.  I haven’t finished it yet so I’m not ready to do a review but I have to say this one section of the book took me completely unawares [...]

August 1, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

The Book I Can’t Wait For

How excited do you get about books coming out?  Do you wait anxiously, hoping against hope there won’t be any delay by the publisher because the release date has been fixed in your mind for months? Such a book for me is Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, due to be released August 24th.  The final book [...]

July 29, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  3 Comments

Sniff

As I write this, it’s Friday night but I’ll post this Saturday morning. It’s time for me and Janis to say goodbye to Annie.   In the last several days, we’ve driven 14 hours to get here, a couple of hours longer than it should have been because of a flat tire.  I’ve replaced two tires [...]

July 24, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

Adventures on a Road Trip

So, Janis and I headed out Monday morning around 9:30, aiming to get to St. Augustine not too long after 10:30 or so. Wrong. Along about milepost 143 in North Carolina, a very nice Good Samaritan started waving at Janis in the shotgun seat and shouted that we had a tire going flat.  Not too [...]

July 21, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments

A New Beginning for Annie

Today, we leave for St. Augustine to move Annie into her new apartment and her new life.  Our friend Janis, who’s handy with fixing and hanging and lifting, etc., is riding down with me and we’ll stay till Saturday.  We’re staying at the Holiday Inn, right on the beach on Anastasia Island, a one-time splurge [...]

July 19, 2010   Posted in: Tales of a Bookseller  No Comments