Tuesday, November 30, 2010

{sigh of relief}

Hilo has a bookstore again. It's called "Books, Nooks, and Crannies." If you know the town, it's right above Koehnin's Interiors, facing Waianuenue.

Mom and I investigated it on Sunday. It isn't big, and it doesn't separate science fiction and fantasy from the rest of fiction. It carries a mostly non-specialized selection of fiction and non-fiction. I particularly liked the selection of books in the Independent Readers (Juvenile) and Young Adult sections. It serves coffee if you're interested (I'm not). It has a few chairs and a love seat to sit and read in. The love seat was quite comfortable; Mom and I took advantage of it when we done checking out the store. Mom sat there after she bought what she'd found. I sat next to her while I looked over four potentially interesting books; Masques by Patricia Briggs was the only one that actually came home with me. {Smile}

Mom overheard some lady asking about a book she'd ordered. So next, I want to take Dad and check out their book-ordering capabilities with a few of the books I found for Mom-gifts while poking around online. {Smile}

This is just such a relief. Part of me feels that this isn't much of a bookstore. It's small, and so are the fiction sections; so small, they're only differentiated by age. Still, it's still a general bookstore. It's got enough interesting books, going in to browse doesn't seem ridiculous. That makes such a difference, I feel more like myself than I have in months. {relived smile}

Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

6 comments:

  1. Hi! Just started reading through your posts. I'm so glad you found a bookstore in your area. Do they special order? That's the first thing I always want to know when I check out a new (to me) bookstore. :) I was looking at Masques the other day while I was out Christmas shopping, but my family has a rule that once Thanksgiving is past, you can't buy yourself presents until after Christmas (so you don't accidentally ruin someone's plans for a surprise present.)

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  2. Hi there! Welcome, Chicory! {SMILE}

    Thanks. It's such a relief to have a bookstore again. We lost our Borders in summer... that meant several months with only specialty stores and non-book stores that have a few books. Neither type carries books I really want to browse.

    Now we have a general bookstore again. They apparently do order; Mom overheard a woman asking if a book she'd ordered had come in. I want to try it out with some of the books I found online for Dad nad me to give Mom. If they're any good, I'll start ordering some thru them, and some thru the Book Gallery. The latter only carries Hawaiiana, Children's picture books, and cook books of local interest. However, they'll order just about any book in print, and even ordered an out-of-print book for Dad once. {Smile}

    I normally have a similar rule, inspired by the time Mom got three copies of Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern: one she bought herself, and two as gifts. I don't stop buying at the same time every year, but I'll stop buying for myself sometime before Christmas, and not start again until after my birthday (January 25th). However, I made an exception for Masques, since I haven't been able to buy off the shelf since July. Besides, Mom and Dad know about this now, and I know it isn't on the wishlist I have for my cousin and aunt. So I hope it's relatively safe. {SMILE, wink}

    Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

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  3. (Taking a break from studying.) Not being able to buy off a shelf since summer is definitely reason to make an exception. :)

    Does living on an island mean that there's less choices of stores, or is it a case of living in a small town? (My sister lives in a small town in Wisconsin, and she has similar problems finding a bookstore.) I hope my question doesn't sound rude or anything. I've never been to Hawaii, so naturally I'm interested in details. :)

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  4. Yes, I felt getting a bookstore I can buy off the shelf from required a little celebration. Buying Masques seemed like the perfect celebration, even if it is less than a month from Christmas. {SMILE}

    I'm not certain, but I suspect it's a bit of both. Hilo has a bit over 40,000 people, plus a few thousand who come in from the country to shop on weekends. Hilo also has unusually high shipping costs because of Hawai'i's isolation. Between those two facts, we don't seem able to maintain two bookshops with similar offerings for long. They either start carrying different books, or close. So when our Borders closed, all the other bookstores had either specialized in things Borders didn't cover well, or closed. That meant that suddenly the biggest collection of non-specialized new books was at Walmart. Since I'm not much into romance or best sellers, that didn't help. {lop-sided smile}

    Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

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  5. Yikes! Grocery shopping and book shopping are supposed to be two different experiences. Thanks for answering my question. :)

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  6. I agree. I've never seen a store cover both books and groceries well. So book shopping and grocery shopping relaly ought to be separate experiences. {SMILE}

    You're most welcome. {Smile, wink}

    Anne Elizabeth Baldwin

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