McHuston Booksellers

Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: used books (Page 117 of 128)

Filling the bill.

August 11, 2012 /

THAT’S the one I’m looking for!

Those are words that a bookseller loves to hear. Someone stopping in to look for a specific title – something written years ago – and, against the odds finding it on the shelf. There are so, so many titles.

I’ve been around books all my life, but before getting into the business of selling books, I had no idea that so many authors had written so many books. Not having been a reader of series fiction in my younger years, I naively thought that an author wrote a book or two and then rested on their laurels. (I understand that’s the part of the anatomy that grows larger from big royalty checks and sitting at the keyboard. I could be wrong.)

It turns out, there are some writers that must be writing twenty and thirty hours a day to crank out so many titles. James Patterson, for one.

To keep ALL those books in stock would take a store the size of Texas and an army of employees to keep them organized and alphabetized. Honestly – no store can stock all the books. No can do.

So, it is somewhat of a rarity when an older title is on the shelf just waiting for its new owner. We’re talking about those books that even the big-boy Barnes & Noble has to special order (and charge full cover price for…).

There are some categories that I have a pretty good shot at fulfilling a request. American and English literature, for example. I try to keep the classics in stock, even to the point of ordering them in new to have copies on the shelf. For genre fiction like suspense, mystery, and fantasy – it is just impossible. Even in the currently popular George R.R. Martin series “Game of Thrones” that has been brought to life on Showtime, there are more titles than I can stock in new copies.

This afternoon, I had several satisfying moments. In fact, the majority of the requests today were in stock, and available in nice clean used copies that saved the buyers a little money.

I like that.

Until the store grows to the size of Texas I’ll just take pride in those occasions where my selection of books has satisfied a specific need.

Maybe I’ll brush up on my fortune telling to better know what to stock.

Smarty/Bossypants

July 18, 2012 /

The title is Bossypants, but it could have easily been called Smartyhead. Comedian Tina Fey is a funny woman. Maybe a little smart-alecky, but that’s what we expect of comedians. She’s obviously a bright woman. Maybe it could have been called Smartypants.

She had a lot to say when she sat down to write.

Just short of two-hundred pages into the book, Ms Fey addresses her readers on a subject, and then presumably realized that her public isn’t necessarily comprised exclusively of women. She compares applying her newly bought contact lenses to activities required by feminine hygiene products.

“If you are male,” she writes, “I would liken it to touching your own eyeball and thank you for buying this book.”

Since I am a male reader, I appreciated the recognition while bearing up under her condescension – not that I particularly cared to visualize the analogy she had offered to women readers. I think I caught the drift of it. But I’m guessing she didn’t expect men to read the book.

It’s for the most part entertaining, as would be expected from a comedian. Humor isn’t the sole focus though, and that’s where it bogs down a little, particularly for the men. Birthday party planning, breast feedings, bad dates. I wasn’t looking for slapstick, but I was caught off-guard by some of the contents.

There is a how-to section regarding comedy performance. I guess there are up-and-coming comedians who might read the book for insights in honing the funny-skills. Personally, the guidelines for improvisation are wasted on me. I don’t see myself – near future or long-term – trying out a humor routine in front of an audience.

Similarly, the topics she covers in the space given to her Boss experiences have already been covered in greater detail by business management and human relations authors. Her insights are interesting, but seem wedged in and slightly out of place in a memoir (That’s how the book is categorized on the back cover).

Bossypants speaks to female equality, maternal issues, and Oprah. ESPN is not mentioned once. Therein lies the appeal – or lagging interest – depending on perspective. (I didn’t really expect sports jokes. There are some places that might have benefited by the inclusion of one or two as a distraction from the strict female orientation.)

Still, Bossypants is a quick and easy read, offering plenty of familiar cultural references. Some of the funniest lines are those throw-away types:

Two peanuts were walking down the street and one was a salted.

That’s her token joke, one she says she included for book buyers expecting a humorous read.

I guess that is enough for me.

1st Editions after the 4th.

July 9, 2012 / / 0 Comments

After a brief test-run, it is time for some fine tuning. There have been no big announcements to date regarding the bistro end of the new shop. That’s because much of the time up to now has involved getting the books and the store’s interior in order.

Even that is still an ongoing process.

There are more items in boxes in the office awaiting rediscovery. I did find my first edition copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and the three-volume Universal Songster (Jones, London 1832) by George Cruikshank, who illustrated Dickens’ Oliver Twist and two other volumes. It was a pleasure to hold those books once again.

Meanwhile, I’m still fielding questions about the food service.

The trial run revealed a few areas requiring attention, and there is still the matter of suppliers: Specifically – trying to get their attention.

In my previous life as a restaurateur, I contacted Coca Cola about switching to their products and they were quick to bring out a machine that would dispense soft drinks. All we had to do is buy the product. Of course, Paddy’s Irish Restaurant seated 150 people (we had many more than that inside on St. Patrick’s Day, but that’s another story…), and the current layout for the bookstore bistro will accommodate about a tenth of that number.

The food distribution company salesperson hasn’t been seen round these parts since April, so it has been Plan B in the meantime.

There is also that issue of publicizing the food service. It’s in the works now, part of the planned entry-level marketing that will accompany the inaugural run, once we’re beyond the trials.

A number of bookstore guests have already expressed their impatience over the delay – a feeling I share completely. I can only point out that several of the Main Street neighbor restaurants were months in opening, even after posting their outdoor signage. The McHuston awning has only had lettering for just over a week now.

My sixth grade science teacher was fond of repeating the adage “Patience is a Virtue.” I’m not going for sainthood or anything.

It’s only in hopes of avoiding the snags that sometimes come with hurrying.

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