True to Form

Start with the fun one.

I like the idea of schools having kids order books, but, like the mom in today's Andertoons, I kind of questioned the quality standards in the flyers the kids brought home.

Not only were the items offered not always what I considered "books," (and sticker books weren't the worst of that), but the blurbs for actual books were minimal. It seemed like there was a greater premium placed on buying something than on reading.

So our deal was that, when they got a book flyer from school, they could go down to the Chinook Book Shop, our local indie, instead, and pick out any book they wanted.

Granted, Chinook was not typical and we were lucky to have it. I used to joke that you could walk in there and say, "I saw this book in NYTimes Book Review. I forget the title and author, and what it was about, but it had a gray cover," and the staffer would say, "Oh yes," and walk you over to that spot on the shelves.

Still, I felt holding a book in your hands, of being able to see it and open it up and browse, was part of book-buying, and I wanted the kids to learn that.

A couple of things that Dick and Judy did made a difference, besides having a playhouse near the front desk where you could park your kids while you did some serious browsing, and a free coffee pot in the back.

One was that, despite their small space and huge inventory, they had as many books as possible shelved face forward, so you didn't have to scan spines to see what was there.

It's not simply a matter of preserving your eyes, but spine-scanning is for customers who know what they want. Browsers may be attracted to the cover.

Another was that, when someone special-ordered a book, they'd order two copies, on the theory that, if one person came in looking for it, there was a good chance someone else would, too, and people are more apt to make the purchase if it's in stock than if they have to wait three or four days.

Which is why what I find interesting about those linked pieces about the closure is that Dick blamed the chains far more than Amazon. He's right, and I've said so before.

Specifically, people didn't go to Chinook because they wanted to buy a book. They went to Chinook because they wanted to go to Chinook.

Maybe the Barnes & Noble in NYC was a real bookstore, but the Big Box/Big Books incarnations out here in the real world are hardly distinquishable from K-Mart or Wal-Mart, except that, at those general merchandise stores, there's a chance the staff will know where the blenders are and won't just wave in the general direction of appliances the way Big Books employees vaguely send you off to Literature or Health.

So anyway, one time when we were at the grocery store, the boys pestered me to let them buy Franco-American spaghetti, and when I saw how cheap the stuff was, I gave in and let them each select three cans. Then, six months later, I donated the four untouched cans in our cupboard to a food drive.

The times I let them use those school book order forms did roughly the same thing for book drives.

 

Speaking of Classics:

 

 

The man behind the stained-glass curtain

Nick Anderson on the Pope's recent statement about love, marriage and relationships, the heart of the matter being that Conservative Catholics cleave faithfully to every dictate of their religion except when it comes to accepting the current Pope as the vicar of Christ on Earth.

He obviously isn't reflecting Christian values when he challenges the good people who genuflect, kneel and stand at the appropriate points in the Mass, who follow all the rules (that they agree with) and who demonstrate their faithfulness to the Church by criticizing "cafeteria Catholics" who think you can pick and choose among the rules.

As with Christian Taliban of any faith, there's no point in arguing theology or exchanging scriptural references, no more in Rome than in MIssissippi or North Carolina, though the futility seems more frustrating when the authority of the leader is such a cornerstone.

Papal authority, however, is vastly overestimated by outsiders, as well as a lot of insiders who are equally unclear on the details of the whole infallibility thing. Pope Francis does not speak infallibly when he tells people to love one another. 

The idea that Jesus doesn't want you to be cruel to each other, or to strangers, is simply a suggestion, as is the idea that, because Jesus specifically came out against capital punishment, he was against it.

Anyway, I'm not part of this conversation, as long as it stays within the Church and doesn't worm its way into secular law. And the Constitution protects us against that.

My issue is that they promise that, if I come back, they'll forgive me, and I don't see that Francis has changed that.

Which reminds me of when my son was going through First Communion, which includes First Confession, the theory being that the kids are now old enough to recognize sinful behavior.

So each kid was giving a lit candle, the lights were turned down, and the leader started explaining sin by giving examples, and, as an example struck home, each kid was supposed to blow out their candle.

He went through telling fibs and saying mean things and refusing to share toys and so forth, and, finally, only one little girl was sitting there in the darkness with her candle lit. 

Asked, gently, why she hadn't blown out her candle, she said, "But I haven't done any of those things."

My guess is that, today, she's either head of a militant pro-life group or divorced and unchurched.

Either way, I'll bet she's not seeking forgiveness.

 

If Bad Vibes Persist, See the Doctor:

 

 

Comments

[Brian Fies]

We still have a fairly thriving independent boookstore scene locally, though it always seems to be teetering on the edge. While my head agrees with your assessment of the industry, my heart will always have a soft spot for B&N because they came to town and gracefully restored an old Art Deco building that everyone else wanted to tear down, saving a real community jewel. I've also met a few people who work at B&N HQ and they love books as much as anyone I know. Their jobs remind me a bit of the wine buyers for Costco: they seem like swell people who really know their stuff, but their carefully curated products still end up on a palette in a warehouse store.

[Austin]

In new Zealand there are only small chain book / stationary shops and second hand book shops. Barnes and noble was heaven for me when I came to the us.

[Lori B]

Our son was raised on weekend morning trips to the mighty Powell's City of Books, (still there,) and breakfast in the embedded Anne Hughes Coffee room.(Sad to say, not still there.) But we weren't fussy, we'd stop in at B&N, or Borders, or the countless and nameless musty smelling used bookstores at the beach.

I like to think it's partly why he's such a great adult.

[Mark Jackson]

When we were in graduate school at the University of Illinois no trip up to Chicago was complete without some time in Kroch's and Brentano's - although Ellen preferred the more manageable (but still extensive) book department at Marshall Field's. Both long gone now, of course.