Village Books Blog

Literary Personal Ads

I was a reader from early on, reading as many books as I could during the school year, then checking out books from the library during the summer. Many of these books simply slipped through my fingers, the result of poor writing or embarrassingly bad plots or subject matter that just didn’t stick with me, but others have helped define who I am today--those books that did stick with me, that set a baseline for every book I now read or think about reading (who doesn’t have a massive to-read pile?) So I started to think about those books, the ones I always rattle off when talking about my favorites, the ones that never lose ground with me. What if I were to write a personal ad based on my favorite books and authors? It’d look something like this:

I’m a Monster at the End of This Book, The Phantom Tollbooth, Book Thief sort of girl who longs for creepy nights with House of Leaves, lazy Sundays with The Book Thief, Douglas Coupland, and The Lonely Polygamist, adventures with City of Thieves and The Night Circus and wild nights with The Last Werewolf, Don Quixote, Tom Robbins, and Vonnegut. If you’re looking to be Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, give me a call.

My mom might say that makes me sound like a questionable lady, but I'd beg to differ.

What would your literary personal ad say?

-Lindsey  

 

The Art of Reading

We all have our own quirks and habits in every aspect of our lives and, as this job constantly reminds me, just because two people share a love of something (let's say books) doesn't mean they express their love in the same way. I'm talking about HOW we read. Here are some specific factors that come to mind:

Inside vs. Outside: I love the IDEA of reading outside; I imagine a beautiful, sunny day where the warmth soothes without scorching and the faintest breeze provides atmosphere and cooling relief. However, I seem to have rather bad luck with the real thing. Whether it's sunburns, unexpected rain, blinding brightness, or a breeze that tugs on the pages, reading outside rarely lives up to my fantasized ideal and I usually find myself curled up inside instead.

Night vs. Day: I don't have a preference here, but my schedule dictates when I read. I enjoy reading during the daytime, because it's a chance to slow down, to focus a little less on an endless to-do list and just relax and savor a beloved activity. However, I find that to-do list leaves little extra time for reading, which is why I allot an hour each night before I go to sleep. Reading is important to me, so no matter how busy I become, I refuse to relinquish this one hour every evening. If I'm lucky, I sneak in more!

Long vs. Short Time Periods: I read a lot of books, so people are sometimes surprised to hear that I rarely sit down and read for hours at a time. As I mentioned, I do allow myself one hour of reading before bed and sometimes that spills over into more, but usually my reading comes in snippets, even as short as five and ten minutes whenever I can steal the time. It all adds up. Many people do consider devouring a book in one day a sure sign of its brilliance, but when I look back on the books I've read in one day they were shorter, easier reads, not favorites. In fact, if I'm loving a book, I want to savor it. Take the example of chocolate. Some people chew and gulp it down while others let the flavor melt and linger on their tongue. I'm the latter type of person, in regards to both chocolate and books! When I love a book, I don't want it to be over too soon. I want to experience the unraveling story for the first time ever over a couple of weeks, or at least a few days.

Books vs. E-readers: I am a "real" book gal all the way. There are many, many reasons why and that could be an entire post on its own, but I'll pick just one to mention here: my book will never break down. I'm under no faulty impressions that e-readers malfunction more than they do, but the fact remains that my book will NEVER break down.

Multiple Books vs. One At a Time: I'm always reading something. However, I used to only ever read one book at a time, beginning to end, until I allowed myself to start something new. I had friends who would juggle multiple books at once and I didn't understand how they could do that and still appreciate each one. So I tried it. I'm a convert! I now have multiple books by my bed at one time, giving me a little more choice about which one I want to continue at the moment. I also saw a rise in how much I read when I started this. With one book at a time, if it wasn't hooking me it could take months of reading here and there before I finished. Now, if a certain book isn't holding my attention, I simply turn to another, and come back to the first when I'm in the right mood.

Re-reading vs. Once Only: Many people read their favorite books again and again. Not me. There are just too many books out there that I want to read at least once for me to re-read something instead. There are a few exceptions, but only by circumstance not merit of the book. I have re-read books for classes and for book groups. And now that I have my own blog where I review books, I am re-reading some of my favorites so I can write fresh reviews.

Slow vs. Fast: Everyone reads at their own pace. Some people read faster and some simply have more time. It can also depend on how many other hobbies you have. I, for example, have dedicated my life to writing and reading and personally read about 50 books a year or 1 book a week. I'm always trying to bump that up to 2 books a week, 100 books a year, but I'm kidding myself if I think I have that much free time!

Read to the End vs. Move On: Most people I know simply set aside, permanently, any book that isn't drawing them in. I can't do that, though I understand the impulse. I read every book to the end, because I feel it's the only way to fairly judge the work. Most of the time, this pays off, and some books that weren't riveting me become a favorite when I reach the incredible end. However, since I devote this time and effort to each book, I find myself overly frustrated when I still don't like it by the end. I stare at my stacks of unread books and wonder how this usurper of my time slipped its way past so many loyal books that will pay well for the time I give them.

There's no doubt that this a long list, but there are still so many other questions I haven't rambled on about: Do you eat or drink while reading? Do you like to listen to music? Can you read if the television is on? Can you read around others, say those you live with, or do you need to be alone? Do you read bestsellers, the ones everyone else is reading, or more obscure books? Do you follow particular authors? Will you buy hardcovers or do you wait for the paperback? Do you prefer to own or borrow books?

How do YOU read?

--Rachel

Turning the Page

Over the course of the past three decades there have been many challenges in operating an independent bookstore. "You've Got Mail" chronicled the rollout of the big box corporate stores and the difficulty of surviving in their shadow. Amazon, during the height of the dot com boom, spent millions of dollars (and were able to lose money for several years) marketing a delivery system made popular by Sears and Montgomery Ward at the turn of the previous century—mail order. And now, with the advent of eBooks, everyone, including publishers, is scrambling to determine a workable business model.

Add in an uncertain economy, escalating operating costs, and the sale of books in nearly every type of retail store, and it becomes clear that in our thirty plus years at Village Books we've never seen the confluence of challenges that we've experienced in these past few years.  It may be, in fact, "the perfect storm."

So, what does the future hold? I have to admit that my crystal ball is a little cloudy, but what seems clear is that we—the bookstore, our customers and the community as a whole—need to determine the value we add, and figure out a way to monetize that.

Bookstores, both indies and chains, have increasingly become showrooms for books, without always having commensurate sales. In more urban areas especially, it's become common to see someone in a bookstore browse a book, then download it or order it on line from another seller. That wouldn't be so bad if stores like ours were compensated to display and market the books, rather than sell them, but that's not currently the case.

Each year we host around two-hundred-fifty author events. Only a handful of those events are ticketed, and in those cases the ticket price generally offsets additional costs or raises money for a local non-profit. Though we've not seen it to the extent some of our colleagues around the country have, occasionally someone will come to an event with a book they've purchased online or onsite from another retail outlet. There is a cost associated with planning and putting on every event, and when costs exceed revenue...well there's a bit of a problem. A number of stores have begun to charge for most of their events, and though we're not currently moving that direction, it may become necessary.

Though I would argue that the collapse of the Borders chain was due in large part to a series of bad management decisions, that bankruptcy has brought attention to the difficulties across the book publishing and retail industry. Though not surprising, their demise gave us no joy. The reduction in bookstores doesn't bode well for the industry, or for society.

On a positive note, we've been pleased with recent discussions with publishers who are recognizing the importance of independent booksellers and investigating ways to change the industry to better assure our survival. Conversations about inventory consignment, print on demand, and other alternative business models are occurring every day. We're guardedly optimistic that changes will come quickly enough.

We've also been gratified by the response we've had to our One Book Pledge campaign. Many of you have said that, of the books you plan to buy, you'll buy one more of those from us, and one less from other sellers of books. If that becomes common behavior, not only will VIllage Books survive, the store should thrive. We hope everyone will ask themselves this question,"what is the value of an independent bookstore to me, and to my community, and would things be just fine without one?" Your answers are important; we hope you'll share them with us.

--Chuck

The Red Ink of Applications

"We're hiring!"

That phrase is usually met with a little whoop of glee and then a mad dash to fill out our application.

Please take a moment to pause. As the person who reviews the applications to decide who will be chosen as a potential interviewee, I beseech you to please not rush. Yes, we have an application deadline. However, the extra few minutes you take on the application might be the difference between getting put in the "yes" pile or getting put in the "no" pile.

Here I will share a couple of tricks and secrets to getting into the "yes" pile:

--Read through the entire application first before answering a single question. Follow the directions. If you can't follow the directions on an application, how would I know if you could follow directions in the workplace?

--Use a pen. Preferably black or blue ink. Your personality should shine through in your answers, not in your purple, sparkly ink.

--Your personality can't shine through at all if I can't read your handwriting.

--Think about your answer to a question and if it is saying what you want it to say. If the question is "How do you know you have done a good job?" (real question) and your answer is "When I've done a good job" (fake answer), that doesn't tell me anything about you.

--Have your most OCD, grammar-freak friend read over your application. An applicant can be forgiven an its/it's or you're/your, but I can't forgive five or ten of them. I would rather see little corrections, which shows that you are reviewing your work.

If you can implement these little tips, you might get a call for an interview. And if you do, one last tip. If you are called for an interview, dress like it's a job interview. We are a fairly casual workplace but that does not mean you should dress like you just got back from the gym.

Finally, thank you for applying with us. We wouldn't have the great staff that we do without starting somewhere and we know applying for jobs isn't always the easiest, so we truly appreciate the time you devote to your application.

--Sarah

And yes, we are currently hiring. You can learn more about the openings here.