I tried to purchase the latest Stephen King this weekend. At an honest to goodness real live indie bookstore in N. Jersey. They were out of stock. Out of stock!! After my mouth stopped its jaw dropping, the bookman explained he couldn’t keep it in the store, that it’s an original paperback and not in e-book form. All of which I knew, other than the lack of maintaining stock with what should be a no brainer book choice to keep heaps on hand. I really wanted to support an indie, but now will be forced to purchase it from a B&N, which is all this area offers. And why on earth would I want to buy a Stephen King novel? I’ve only bought one other
Independent Book Stores Archive
I didn’t join Goodreads. Mostly because until recently I didn’t know what it was or what I would want to join for. Many authors and friends had suggested via facebook I should join, and that only made me less likely to do so, because I assumed it was another facebook game or oddity. When I finally realized it consisted of normal people, well, as normal as any one who would join something called Goodreads–meaning lovers of the written word–are, the grassroots group sold out to the man, as the kids in my youth would say. They sold their original nice friendly swapping of what members enjoyed and didn’t like to the Robber Baron devil of Amazon. On the Goodreads home page, the list owners describe
Murphy’s Loft, Mullica Hill NJ. This was my third experience in this laid back book and ephemera store. I visited years ago, and then a few months back, right after the original owner retired, and her son (grandson?) took the reins. Unfortunately, his mother decided to rid herself of half the inventory, so he let it be known he was fine with trade ins, if I had them. Ha, is the pope catholic? (at least he was when the smoke cleared). It took me months to get myself in gear and bring the boxes piled up at my mother’s front door–yes there was still room to go in and out–barely. I had around 5 filled regular sized boxes, and a couple of bag pretty nice copies.
So, when my husband started trolling the internet to find some new old bookstores on his iphone, we were both momentarily elated when he hit– a 24 hour bookstore. Imagine! Just like the diner on the highway, or the fruit market on the city corner–a place to purchase books all day and night long!! How could this be? Indies have enough trouble staying in business open 8 to 10 hours a day–how does this store do it and where can we find it?! Scrolling down clued us in–sure it’s open 24 hours, it’s a porn store. A well established porn bookstore, I’ll have you know. From the website: Caution–Adult content. ”Since 1975, Gemini Books has provided a safe and comfortable space for both males and females to shop
The Glass Room Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller 1946 “In 1946 the phrase first appeared in the murder mystery novel Murder in the Glass Room (by Edwin Rolfe and Lester Fuller) as “you can never tell a book by its cover.” Wow, that fact, I just found, may tip the book onto the list! We’ll see. Whenever I’d pass a particular spot on one of the myriads of bookcases, I’d see the spine of The Glass Room and remember that I had really liked it. Finally, after thinking about it again and again, I decided to reread. I thought maybe I was leaving out a book that should have made the Best 100 list, if I kept thinking how great it was. So I did–reread