Home >> Poetry & Literature >> What book are you reading?
29.03.2008, 09:35 quote
Haruki Murakami - 'Norwegian Wood'
(Well, Waterstones are doing 3 for 2, y'know......)
30.03.2008, 17:04 quote
| darkhorse57 wrote: |
| Haruki Murakami - 'Norwegian Wood'
(Well, Waterstones are doing 3 for 2, y'know......) |
You should be ashamed of yourself!
Watcha doin pouring money into the coffers of large soulless conglomerate book suppliers??? Find a small local independent booksellers (an increasingly rare breed) and give them your money instead.
I know Waterstones will be cheaper cos of their ability to bulk buy but c'mon, a little retrenching on the Minstrels and you could manage it, surely?
Hehehe ........
30.03.2008, 17:15 quote
| paganpoetry wrote: | ||
You should be ashamed of yourself! Watcha doin pouring money into the coffers of large soulless conglomerate book suppliers??? Find a small local independent booksellers (an increasingly rare breed) and give them your money instead.
I know Waterstones will be cheaper cos of their ability to bulk buy but c'mon, a little retrenching on the Minstrels and you could manage it, surely? Hehehe ........ |
Couldn't be arsed looking for one on the day I felt like buying something to read. Besides, I was in a hurry, and when you go into Waterstones, you pay for what you're buying and leave. In the little indie bookshops the people always want to talk to you (bookseller = "oooh, have you read this", "what did you think of that"....... me = "fuck off, all I want to do is buy a book and go home"). I know, I'm evil.....
30.03.2008, 17:31 quote
Jeepers creepers you are evil! That's one of the delights of working in a bookshop - you get to have some great talks with all sorts of people, even evil ones....
Mind you anyone worth their salt in that situation should be able to tell when a customer just doesn't want to talk. I just take their money, give them their book and do nothing more engaging than smiling at them and saying goodbye.
Funny I would've thought nattering idly in a bookshop was right up your street 
30.03.2008, 17:54 quote
| paganpoetry wrote: |
|
Funny I would've thought nattering idly in a bookshop was right up your street |
Depends on what else one has to do really, doesn't it? As much as I enjoy reading (very much!), buying a couple of paperback novels as part of a shopping trip is like buying the bread from the bakers - doesn't require any more than a polite greeting and an exchange of goods/money.
On a more casual book buying trip, as far as where I buy books, it depends very much on whether or not I get told I can't bring my dog into the shop or not - I carry pebbles into Waterstones, and no-one has ever asked me to leave.
Typical reaction in Totnes on Saturday:
Me: Walks into book shop with dog
Shop person: "You can't bring your dog in here"
Me: "That's OK, I'll go somewhere else"
Shop person: "Oh, you could tie the dog up outside"
Me: "No thanks" /* thinks - I'll take my money somewhere else, no skin off my nose */
30.03.2008, 18:10 quote
| paganpoetry wrote: |
| Find a small local independent booksellers (an increasingly rare breed) and give them your money instead. |
I gave you a fiver PP - what more do you want?
I`m currently juggling various legal texts, a history of medieval Europe and a book about a whale that shall remain nameless...
30.03.2008, 18:28 quote
| anaximander wrote: | ||
I gave you a fiver PP - what more do you want? I`m currently juggling various legal texts, a history of medieval Europe and a book about a whale that shall remain nameless... |
True, true - but you gotta admit, a fiver wouldn't keep a shop afloat now would it?
next time I'll charge you an exorbitant finders fee
Oh and you have no idea how much pleasure it gives me to know that you are STILL wrestling with Moby Dick...... Any residual guilt I may have had at never finishing it has disappeared, vanished into the ether, helped on its way by the knowledge of your literary labour.
Nyuk nyuk nyuk. Throw in the towel and admit defeat, man. Or you may end up with the same fate as old Ahab!
30.03.2008, 18:38 quote
| darkhorse57 wrote: | ||
Depends on what else one has to do really, doesn't it? As much as I enjoy reading (very much!), buying a couple of paperback novels as part of a shopping trip is like buying the bread from the bakers - doesn't require any more than a polite greeting and an exchange of goods/money. On a more casual book buying trip, as far as where I buy books, it depends very much on whether or not I get told I can't bring my dog into the shop or not - I carry pebbles into Waterstones, and no-one has ever asked me to leave. |
Now that's where you're wrong - buying a book isn't the equivalent of buying a loaf of bread! Well it isn't for me anyways. Just cos they're readily available, doesn't mean it shouldn't be treated as a trip into the unknown - you never know where that book may take you/affect you/change you.
But then I'm absurdly passionate about books anyway.
Oh and dogs are always allowed into my bookshop (MY bookshop, sez she - if only) plus I keep a stash of dog biscuits specially for when they venture in - I have a bookish pigeon that comes in too when it's quiet - it gets dog biscuit crumbs
30.03.2008, 18:44 quote
| paganpoetry wrote: |
| ............buying a book isn't the equivalent of buying a loaf of bread.........
|
I specifically said "buying a couple of paperback novels" (which, as good as Haruki Murakami is, that is all they are - paperback novels. The equivalent of a freshly baked seeded loaf from a bakery)
30.03.2008, 19:20 quote
it's a perfectly good analogy, you go in, you take what you fancy, pay for it and leave again
_________________
Myspace clicky
Facebook Clicky
06.04.2008, 16:03 quote
I'm reading Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook - not read that much yet but gawd it's a bit hard work.
I very unwisely started a bookgroup about 18 months ago among all the people that work in the bookshop that employs me - cos we work shifts we never get to see each other. It's been great fun, not one of those stuffy groups where you have to prepare answers and read bits out (I've heard of one local bookgroup that has a rule that you have to take turns speaking about the book, and when you're holding the copy of the book, no-one else is allowed to speak and interrupt you! Jeepers!)
We talk about the book for about an hour then get down to the serious business of catching up with each other and drinking copious amounts of wine.
The really good thing is that you do get to read books that maybe you wouldn't have ordinarily chosen - but sometimes a really dense one comes along like this Lessing one. Maybe the fact that the group meets this Thursday and I have to finish it by then is affecting my view of the book, hmmm?
07.04.2008, 17:50 quote
| paganpoetry wrote: |
| I'm reading Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook - not read that much yet but gawd it's a bit hard work |
The only interesting thing that I know about Doris Lessing is that she once submitted one of her books under an assumed name, only for one publisher to reject it as being "too derivative of early Doris Lessing". Actually that`s not very interesting at all, is it? Perhaps you should save that anecdote until after the serious drinking has started.
I`m reading a history of Scottish castles, amongst other things...
11.04.2008, 16:09 quote
I'm still labouring through a book on global aphasia. 
That's not to say it's not interesting...Just a tad dense.
11.04.2008, 16:10 quote
I'm still labouring through a book on global aphasia. That's not to say it's not interesting...Just a tad dense.
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
