The books, I'm excited to say, are books that students inspired me to buy. In fact, they're books that I totally have to buy and read so I can help three really smart, really self-motivated and curious honors students bring to fruition three really cool honors projects.
I love Prospero's book store, that mainstay of midtown KC culture. I also like Half-Price Books, that favorite of frugal and/or university-bookstore-averse RU students. But I rarely buy from either place (though I browse plenty).
According to Richard Russo, I am part of the problem. I am feeding right into the nefarious scheme hatched by amazon CEO and evil genius, Jeff Bezos.
[couldn't resist]
I love Richard Russo. Love him. His New York Times op-ed about the death of bookstores made me think about my favorite character from Russo's best novel, Empire Falls (well, the son of my favorite character from that novel): Miles Roby. Miles' ambition was to move to Martha's Vineyard and open a bookstore. Nice dream. Why am I killing it by feeding Bezos' Moloch?
 |
| via Ed Drooker |
Why don't I feel bad that I don't buy more from local bookstores?
Farhad Manjoo knows why. He argues against “bookstore cultists like Russo,” who mystify the experience of book buying. Now I’m no unfeeling automaton, but I do recoil a little at the stereotype that English profs love books in some fetishistic way. I also protest too much. Heck, I once walked into a dank, spore-filled old bookstore in Omaha, NE (a casualty of the indy market contraction, btw) and loved it so much I begged the owner for a job. I also worked for a time at Barnes and Nobel (best near-minimum-wage job ever).
So I’m not anti-bookstore culture. What convinced me to not feel bad about not buying books from local bookstores is this: To buy from a local store is actually to be less supportive of local culture than to buy from amazon. (Dig that counterintuitive thesis statement.)
Here’s how: Because books are cheaper at amazon, I have more money to spend on what Manjoo calls “authentically local cultural experiences.”
Because I got that 39% discount on that Jonathan Fafran Foer book, I now have more money to go to the Unicorn or the Met or the Kemper or City Market or that funky vintage place that’s only open once a month. I retain the means to support more local cultural institutions than I would if I did all my book-buying at a local bookstore. I know what you're thinking: "But supporting a local bookstore is a way of supporting a local cultural institution." Sure. But books ain't broccoli. They're not local to KC (unless they come from BkMk press). Most of the books I buy come from one of a half dozen NYC-based publishing houses.
In a way, by saying no to Prospero's, I'm saying yes to a prosperous (rimshot) cultural life in KC.
Because I got that 39% discount on that Jonathan Fafran Foer book, I now have more money to go to the Unicorn or the Met or the Kemper or City Market or that funky vintage place that’s only open once a month. I retain the means to support more local cultural institutions than I would if I did all my book-buying at a local bookstore. I know what you're thinking: "But supporting a local bookstore is a way of supporting a local cultural institution." Sure. But books ain't broccoli. They're not local to KC (unless they come from BkMk press). Most of the books I buy come from one of a half dozen NYC-based publishing houses.
In a way, by saying no to Prospero's, I'm saying yes to a prosperous (rimshot) cultural life in KC.
 |
| Don't cry for local bookstores, giant sculpture in the front of the Kemper |
Most importantly, because I can follow student recommendations in real time, and order the books that they inspire me to read as they inspire me, I have more time to do things like write blog posts that buzz-market cool things to do in KC.
No comments:
Post a Comment