The Sunday Salon: A Good Reading Day

It's a windy, rainy day here in central Florida, a perfect day to stay inside with a good book and that's what I've been doing. We had a terrible storm in the early morning hours which woke me, so I got up, made a pot of coffee and grabbed my book.

I'm reading THE HERETIC'S DAUGHTER by Kathleen Kent this week. I started it last night so I'm only about 66 pages in. I've read some really great reviews and I've never read about the Salem witches before. I've been quickly drawn into the story and I'm planning to spend much of my day reading more.

Yesterday I went to a new-ish bookstore, A Novel Idea, that opened up a few months ago. I had heard they sold new and used books, but as it turns out they only sell used books. Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with that, but it would really be nice to have an independent bookstore that sold new books in my town. If you want new books you have to go to the big chain stores. That said, I was able to leave with a couple of good finds. One is THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver. The other one I picked up is Michelle Richmond's THE YEAR OF FOG. Overall, I was happy with this new store. It's very cozy with a few places to sit and the owners two kitties were lounging and playing around and that gave it a homey feel.

I finished reading THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett last week and will post my review in a few days if I can tear myself away from reading! I'm falling a bit behind in my reviews but I'm planning to get caught up this week.

As for the rest of today, I'm going back to Massachusetts in the year 1690 where its bitterly cold and the threat of small pox is running rampant forcing young Sarah Carrier's family to be split up in fear that the sickness will kill them all if they don't.

Where are you this Sunday?

Musing Monday: Bookstores

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about bookstores…

How many bookstores do you frequent? Do you have a favourite? If so, which one and what makes it so?

Living in a small-ish town, my choices of bookstores are limited. Even though the city I live in is growing rapidly, there are very few independent bookstores. There is a Books A Million not too far from my house that I will go to if there's a new book coming out that I just have to have. There's also a new Barnes & Noble, but it's so far on the other side of town that I probably won't go there at all. One of the bookstores I use frequently is Twice Read Tales, a used bookstore. They have an online catalogue, which is wonderful when I'm looking for a particular book. I probably go there the most.

Do you have a favorite bookstore in your town?

Musing Mondays: Book Buying

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about book stores…
How do you choose what do buy from your local bookstore? Do you have a list, or just browse? What is the selection in your book store like? Do you find what you're looking for? Do you feel pressured to buy the kind of books the store makes prominent? (question courtesy of MizB)

I live in a small town, even though it is growing by leaps and bounds, there still is not a lot to choose from in the way of booksellers. Of course, we have the big stores, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million, but the small independant stores are practically non-existant. This limits my book buying options. There is a used book store I go to, but they don't carry any new books. There is another one that opened up recently ,but I haven't checked it out yet. I intend to do that very soon.

Nowadays, I'm more of a list person than a browser when I visit a bookstore. The main reason is that someone has to drive me and I feel funny taking up their time while I browse, so I make sure I know what I want, I get it and then we leave. I would love to be able to just browse. When I was married, my husband and I would go hang out at the bookstore for an hour or so on a weekend evening. I always enjoyed that.

For the most part, I'm usually pretty satisfied when looking for a book in the store. Since most of the time I go to one of the bigger named stores, they usually have what I'm looking for. If it's an older book I'm after and especially a classic, I always check my used bookstore first. I've had really good luck there. I remember last year looking for a used copy of GARDEN SPELLS by Sarah Addison Allen and the lady that works there told me they had just sold the only copy, but she offered to put my name on a list for the next one that came in. I really didn't hold out a lot of hope that it would happen anytime soon. But low and behold, two days later I got a call saying they had just gotten one in and it was mine if I wanted it! I was thrilled! I called my friend and she drove me over immediately! (I very much wanted to read that book!)

I don't feel pressure of any kind to buy the books the bookstore displays prominently as you come in the doors. Naturally, they're going to display the NYT Bestsellers, but that's typically not what I'm looking for. I read a lot of debut authors and books that have been out awhile, so they're further back in the store. The stores certainly don't dictate what I'm going to read.

I've made a decision to utilize my public library more this year, mainly because of the economy and also because I'm hoping to read some classics and they will definitely have them there. I will at the same time, however, keep my eye out for them at the used book store for my home library.

Well, I certainly didn't intend for this to be such a long response, but I think I've answered all the questions posed. If you'd like to participate or read other responses to today's musing, click here to go to Rebecca's Just One More Page, our host for this weekly event.