Signs of the Times--another book store closes

I just read that Pages for All Ages in Savoy, Illinois, has closed. They were an independent bookstore that started out in Champaign, IL, and we used to go there back in the 90s when we lived in Champaign. They really ran a vibrant store, with lots of readings and community activities. They will definitely be missed. I'd always hoped to do a reading there for one of my books. Bummer.

guide to how to approach bookstores

I was reading back posts from the Folio Literary Management and came across this very nice talk with a bookseller on how to best approach book stores. I followed all these steps with Tornado Siren a while back, and they worked pretty well. I was able to set up a bunch of signings at local stores. Still, I wish I'd seen this post before I started (and I'll look at it again, when it's time for the next book to come out).

Book Stores Make Me Think About Dying

It's true. We have this fantastic independent bookstore nearby, Brookline Booksmith, and I've gone in a fair bit lately, and I love to browse. But when I'm standing there looking at the fiction section, I can't help but think, "Man, I'll never be able to read all the books that interest me." Which depresses me a little.

I'm almost 40. So maybe I have a good 40 years of reading left. At 25 books a year (I'm slow, I know), that's 1,000 books. Which seems like a lot. But they keep publishing new good books every year. And there's plenty of classics I want to read but haven't. Last time I was there, I picked up Bleak House and then Maugham's The Painted Veil, and thought I want to read these. And then The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Banks caught my eye yet again, but she's got a new one out that looks good, too. I bought Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian for my step-father last year and now I want a copy of my own.

And that's just fiction. I keep meaning to read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. And I need to round out my Michael Pollan collection with Botany of Desire, and actually buy a copy of Omnivore's Dilemma, because my wife loved it, too. And I'm reading Wendyll Berry's The Hidden Wound right now, and feel like I should probably just read all of his work.

Sometimes I fantasize about being locked in a bookstore overnight. (It's fun to spend all night in a theatre, too--I did that for South City's May Day Play Day a few years back, and ended up writing a play, The Sky is Falling, that I still like.)

When I'm in a library, I don't have the sense that I want to take it all in. Maybe because the collections are too large. But something about a bookstore makes me lust for the books, lust to read them backwards and forward. I guess I'd better get going. The clock is ticking.