Thirteen Hundredth Post Today
This is the blog’s 1300th post today. I don’t think I mentioned when it hit number 1200 or 1100. Thanks for following and looking and writing when you can.
Maybe it was the 13 which was the lucky number for two of my kids on their baseball uniforms years ago!
I was sitting on the floor and looked at some of Matthew’s books on a shelf at his Aunt Mary’s, thinking about him. Saw the brick wall reflected in the vintage looking alarm clock.
The Book Loft of German Village – Columbus OH – Independent Bookstore
Not many independent booksellers left in my city of Pittsburgh.
If you come to Columbus, Ohio you must visit this bookstore. In fact, plan a trip to Columbus so you can go to this bookstore.
Thirty-two rooms of books!
I spent most of time in the children’s section but you could lose yourself for hours in any one of the sections- travel, cookbooks, business, art, mystery, fiction, bestsellers, biography, magazines…..
My DIL’s friend, Christina, recommended it as I had some time in the city after dropping my granddaughter and her daughter off for Writing Camp at the Thurber House, but that is another whole post.
Laura and I had lunch at the Brown Bag Deli and after I took her back to work, I followed her directions and found the Book Loft. The number 631 was the same number as my parents home so that was fun.
It is an Independent Bookstore and here is their link- The Book Loft of German Village
My big purchase of the day was 4 Advent Calendars from Germany which reminded me of growing up and when we lived in Germany, too. I got an iced coffee at Cup O Joe next door. The building is pre Civil War and there is more info about it on their website. Left in time to drive back to pick up the girls from camp and they were so excited after taking a field trip to the Topiary Park Garden.
Summer vacation is in full swing!
Whether You Like Them or Not, They Sell More Than A Million Copies a Year!
So there’s no Franklin W. Dixon ( or Carolyn Keene for that matter, sorry Nancy Drew fans) But Frank and Joe Hardy lived nice lives in the books.
All volumes written by various ghostwriters ( who were paid very little and received NO royalties). First published in 1927. I’d heard this but never paid much attention until I was at Book Club and saw them all lined up with the great bright blue spines. (Thank you Lisa and Richard) Click to read more about the Hardy Boys and Mr. Edward Stratemeyer’s Syndicate.
My Bookshelf
You tell me my old books smell
like a Goodwill bin.
Old dust and stick your nose in,
breathe.
The weight of them
on the house’s foundation.
My hardwood floors sag.
You say I’m impaired
in technology.
Society will evolve without me?
All I need in my life
is an e-reader not musty books.
I like the feel of them in my hand.
Turn them over, slip off a dustjacket.
See the author peer back at me.
The opening of the first page.
Or a slender bookmark to hold my place.
I’m sad they’re closing the store.
My list of reasons to read
from a page (or your preferred screen)–
There’s escape,
entertainment,
information,
directions-
maps, cooking, and signs,
travel or how to put something together
take meds,
but for me
reason number one. Two and three.
There’s my mother’s voice
my dad’s, in certain volumes
reading to me-
the escape I mentioned before.
And enjoyment. Sheer enjoyment.
I’m sure you can think of more.
I read a bunch of these when I was in 4th or 5th grade.
Eljay’s Used Books is Moving from the South Side to Dormont
I asked why and the answer wasn’t surprising. “Economics.”
After 14 years on Carson Street. I bought a James Beard Cooking Lessons volume to read while I waited for a friend. The fiction section was already boxed up and packed. A lot of books to move. A loss for the South Side scene for sure.
Dormont is fortunate. 3233 West Liberty Avenue will be their new digs.
I Love Bookstores
Losing two bookstores in the city.
Just this week.
Borders with the new books-not open lomg
barely two years
and now Eljay’s Used Books on South Side,
Signs of the times.
My Bookshelf
What books would you put on your favorites bookshelf?
What books would you select for your bookshelf to be painted by artist Jane Mount? Her Ideal Bookshelf paintings (click link to see) featured in the New Yorker last August 11 inspired me to put twenty volumes together on one shelf and photograph them. Anne of Green Gables was a Christmas 1925 gift to my mother from her mother and the Gene Stratton-Porter book was my mother’s. C.S. Lewis’ Silver Chair is a stand-in for The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Most of these books belonged to my sister Mary and got passed down to me. Longfellow was a gift to my brother David and me from Cousin Paul in 1961. In sixth grade I had to memorize, “Under a spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands….. The Beatrix Potter in French was from my sister (who signed it Marie) and presented it to me on my half birthday one January fourth. The Tiny Golden Book in The Naughty Little Guest by Dorothy Kunhardt. The Sunny Sulky Book opened two different directions with the good children and bad children stories. I loved Fairy Eat-It-All who came in the night with a spoon for a little boy whose eyes were bigger than his stomach, and he had to eat his way through a mound of food he had taken and not eaten. So here are my books from growing up, all on one shelf.
My Bookshelf
You tell me my old books smell
like a Goodwill bin.
Old dust and stick your nose in,
breathe.
The weight of them
on the house’s foundation.
My hardwood floors sag.
You say I’m impaired
in technology.
Society will evolve without me?
All I need in my life
is an e-reader not musty books.
I like the feel of them in my hand.
Turn them over, slip off a dustjacket.
See the author peer back at me.
The opening of the first page.
Or a slender bookmark to hold my place.
I’m sad they’re closing the store.
My list of reasons to read
from a page (or your preferred screen)–
There’s escape,
entertainment,
information,
directions-
maps, cooking, and signs,
travel or how to put something together
take meds,
but for me
reason number one. Two and three.
There’s my mother’s voice
my dad’s, in certain volumes
reading to me-
the escape I mentioned before.
And enjoyment. Sheer enjoyment.
I’m sure you can think of more.
What books would you put on your favorites bookshelf?
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