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Books, books, and more books.
Apr. 14th, 2005 08:17 pmMy class was very boring today, and I was very naughty and spent a few minutes surfing through Amazon.com looking at all the lovely books I would like to read but can't afford, which will never arrive at my library.
Laura Ann Gilman's Retriever's Books
Rachel Cain(e?)'s Weather Warden books
Books by P.C. Cast, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Katie MacAlister, and a host of other romance/fantasy writers. I don't know why, but these books don't ever arrive on the shelves of the library. Dumb cowboy-series-romance books #39-104, yes. But the ones I want, no. Apparently despite their strong online sales, they just don't appeal to librarians.
As a librarian to be, and an ex-employee of a major independent bookstore (one of the BookSense 76 and all that), I have to say that I would be more supportive of libraries and independent bookstores if they occasionally stocked what I wanted to buy/read. I have become a reluctant supporter of Borders/Barnes and Noble/Amazon because they are the only sources for the fun, fluffy stuff I love to read while in school. I have spoken with numerous independent bookstore owners (not the genre specific stores like Dreamhaven or Uncle Hugo's, obviously) and asked why they didn't carry more romance/mystery/science fiction books. The answer, especially about romance books, as I think I've mentioned before is that "readers can get those at the drugstore". Hrm. Well, if I want to read only things by Judith McNaught, Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, and maybe eight other authors at a given time, I suppose I can. But if I want any range of romance books, generally the mega chain stores are my only option. And I'm often not in the mood for the dank, cavernous, "cooler than thou" attitude of the genre specialty stores anyway. And I won't even start on how irritated I am that most used bookstores don't choose to stock romance novels. Why? As far as I can tell, because they're run by old crotchety men.
I want a store that's independent and specializes in popular fiction. I don't read literary fiction unless extremely bored, and so all the independent bookstores that stock only literary, high-falutin' fiction and then cry because they don't get my money are just going to have to hang. I love the independent bookstore, with its idiosyncratic displays, but I love being able to buy something I want when I want it more. And if it were only one or two books occasionally that I wanted and they didn't have, I wouldn't mind waiting to order it and helping out the local store. But it isn't. It's almost anything I want to read that isn't a kid's book or a classic. Grr.
One last gripe: whenever I bring this up to bookstore owners/librarians, I can *see* their eyes glaze over as they tune me out, assuming I must not be very bright. Well, I read lots of heavy non-fiction. I can get through Foucault or Derrida or Howard Zinn or Milton Friedman no problem, voluntarily. I just like my fiction fluffy. That's the other reason the independent stores are losing my money - they keep looking at me like I'm dirt because I want to read stuff I don't like. I don't look at people that way when they tell me for the 80millionth time how I really *have* to read _The Life of Pi_ or what have you. There is no justice, I tell ya.
Laura Ann Gilman's Retriever's Books
Rachel Cain(e?)'s Weather Warden books
Books by P.C. Cast, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Katie MacAlister, and a host of other romance/fantasy writers. I don't know why, but these books don't ever arrive on the shelves of the library. Dumb cowboy-series-romance books #39-104, yes. But the ones I want, no. Apparently despite their strong online sales, they just don't appeal to librarians.
As a librarian to be, and an ex-employee of a major independent bookstore (one of the BookSense 76 and all that), I have to say that I would be more supportive of libraries and independent bookstores if they occasionally stocked what I wanted to buy/read. I have become a reluctant supporter of Borders/Barnes and Noble/Amazon because they are the only sources for the fun, fluffy stuff I love to read while in school. I have spoken with numerous independent bookstore owners (not the genre specific stores like Dreamhaven or Uncle Hugo's, obviously) and asked why they didn't carry more romance/mystery/science fiction books. The answer, especially about romance books, as I think I've mentioned before is that "readers can get those at the drugstore". Hrm. Well, if I want to read only things by Judith McNaught, Nora Roberts, Julia Quinn, and maybe eight other authors at a given time, I suppose I can. But if I want any range of romance books, generally the mega chain stores are my only option. And I'm often not in the mood for the dank, cavernous, "cooler than thou" attitude of the genre specialty stores anyway. And I won't even start on how irritated I am that most used bookstores don't choose to stock romance novels. Why? As far as I can tell, because they're run by old crotchety men.
I want a store that's independent and specializes in popular fiction. I don't read literary fiction unless extremely bored, and so all the independent bookstores that stock only literary, high-falutin' fiction and then cry because they don't get my money are just going to have to hang. I love the independent bookstore, with its idiosyncratic displays, but I love being able to buy something I want when I want it more. And if it were only one or two books occasionally that I wanted and they didn't have, I wouldn't mind waiting to order it and helping out the local store. But it isn't. It's almost anything I want to read that isn't a kid's book or a classic. Grr.
One last gripe: whenever I bring this up to bookstore owners/librarians, I can *see* their eyes glaze over as they tune me out, assuming I must not be very bright. Well, I read lots of heavy non-fiction. I can get through Foucault or Derrida or Howard Zinn or Milton Friedman no problem, voluntarily. I just like my fiction fluffy. That's the other reason the independent stores are losing my money - they keep looking at me like I'm dirt because I want to read stuff I don't like. I don't look at people that way when they tell me for the 80millionth time how I really *have* to read _The Life of Pi_ or what have you. There is no justice, I tell ya.
