Book Shopping with FirstBorn
I don’t get out much. I’m not complaining–I’m not really someone that needs to get out of the house a lot. I go to work, I spend time with the family, I read, I write, I eat, and I sleep (not necessarily in that order). But every now and again, I actually shop at real brick-and-mortar stores. This past Saturday, I ventured into our local Barnes & Noble with my FirstBorn. It must be at least a few months since I was last there. She had a gift card, and I had a couple of coupons that were due to expire, and it seemed like a good excuse for some daddy-daughter time.
One of the cool things about being a writer, being on Twitter, and getting involved with the writing community, is it puts a whole new light on book shopping. When I see books by authors I’ve spoken to online, or whose books have been raved about on Road Trip Wednesday, they feel like they’re more than just books on a shelf. These authors are friends, and these books represent months, maybe years of hard work, editing, submitting, hoping, sweating, rejoicing, and so on.
FirstBorn and I immediately headed for the “Teen” section. I sighed. Kody Keplinger’s books were all out of sequence. I fixed that. Tahereh Mafi’s SHATTER ME was on a bottom shelf. My heart sank. There should be lots of copies of that book, prominently displayed. I was tempted to march to the shelf at the front, pull off all those 50 SHADES… books, and replace them with this one copy of Tahereh’s masterpiece. That would seem the just and right thing to do. But I didn’t. I just smiled, thinking of how sweet and funny Tahereh is. And then I looked for Erica O’Rourke’s TORN series. And I looked. And I looked. My heart sank again. She just finished that trilogy, and it’s a really good one. As good, if not better, than others adorning the shelves. Why can’t they spare shelf space for my friend’s books? *sigh.*
I vented my frustration by putting Scott Westerfeld’s LEVIATHAN books in the correct order.
Meanwhile, FirstBorn was selecting books. She likes to pick a pile of books, take them to the coffee shop, and then read the first chapter of each over her mocha-chocolate-latte-whatever (I’m not a coffee person) while she decides which she wants to buy. I try to help by pointing out books that people recommended this past Wednesday (Best Book of the Month day on Road Trip Wednesday). Quite a few were there, and I got to hold them, look them over, consider them for myself.
When she had made her selections, we went to the coffee shop. I then left her with her books to go hunt out my purchase. I returned a short while later to see her making slow progress through her books. We were under a time constraint, so I suggested she pretend she’s a literary agent, and treat her book candidates like manuscript submissions: if the book doesn’t grab in the first five pages, set it aside and move on. Applying that principle, she ended up with two books: THE NAMING by Alison Croggon, and EON by Alison Goodman. The fact that the authors were both Alisons had nothing to do with her choice. She said she was intrigued by the premise of EON (and clearly enjoyed what she read). As for THE NAMING, she really liked that because a) the writing is Tolkienesque, b) it’s epic fantasy, and she’s been looking for a good epic fantasy series (she likes fantasy), and c) it’s epic fantasy with a female protagonist–not something she’s seen a lot of, and would like to see more of. I decided to go ahead and get ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis. I’ve wanted to read this for a while now, and so many have recommended it that I thought I may as well take the opportunity.
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Before ending my account of our book shopping adventure, let me tell you–I had to laugh. Remember a few weeks ago I posted my Top Ten Non-Beach Books? Our Barnes & Noble had a couple of tables set out with “Summer Reading” books. Guess what one of the books was…! Yes: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT!! I shook my head.
Awww! Such a cute shopping trip – father/daughter moment! I used to love shopping with my dad 😀
I loved the way you told this visit to B&N and I think your daughter has a great way of choosing books…
I agree with you that visits to the bookstore since joining the wonderful YA community has changed for the better, looking at titles and names and smiling…(and on another note, I’ll reply to your email tonight :D)
Thanks for sharing, Colin!
You’re welcome, Elodie! I was surprised at some of the titles I saw–I thought they were a little more obscure. Which made the absence of certain other titles a little hard to believe. It was certainly an interesting trip. 🙂
I laughed pretty hard at the 50 SHADES… and SHATTER ME suggested swap. Too funny! 😀 My mom and I were at Costco on Saturday pointing at the 50 SHADES OF GARBAGE and discussing how terrible they were.
Very cool that you got to do a little date with your daughter, and that it was too a bookstore–you win a parenting award, Colin. 🙂 I also laughed when you were mentioning rearranging books into the right order, because I totally do that too. Drives me nuts. We should get paid for our services!
Ooo… thanks, Jaime! I don’t feel worthy of any kind of parenting award, but I’ll take as many as I can get! 😀 The rearranging… yeah, perhaps I’m a little OCD about that… but I also see it as a mark of respect for these authors. I want people to see all their books together so they can marvel at how much work they’ve done and how successful they’ve been. I wouldn’t say no to getting paid, though… 😉
That sounds like a pretty great day! I always get frustrated when a book I’ve been hearing about and hearing about isn’t on the shelves at B&N. But glad you both found something you liked–and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (I really enjoyed that one.)
It was a fun time, for a number of reasons–spending time with FirstBorn, being surrounded by books, and also the fact that our air conditioner stopped working on Friday, so our house was in the 90sF *indoors* with fans struggling to give us some relief… it was nice to be looking at books in a nice, cool environment. 🙂
I’ll probably post a review of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE when I finish it. FirstBorn *almost* got it herself, but didn’t know if she could afford that with the other two, and she was quite excited about those two. So me getting Beth’s book actually satisfies *both* our needs to read it! 🙂
Ooo Eon sounds good. I’ve been looking for some good high fantasy lately. Not that I’m being naughty and buying books when I should be focusing on the TBR pile… *innocently whistles*
You know, I’m always so tempted to do that with Twilight. Once I was with a friend and we put all these New Moan books in front of New Moon. Petty and I’m a little bit ashamed of that action but I was a teenager and had a lot of issues with the whole Twilight thing. I just ignore it now and try not to comment on it.
I think that’s great you can bond with your daughter that way. If I ever have children I’d like to think that I can easily share a love of reading with them and introduce them to so many books and vice versa. I think reading to or with your children is one of the most effective ways of bonding. You have so much to talk about.
Yeah… my TBR list is way too long, so I try to shop for things on it, not shop for things to add to it. That doesn’t always work out… 🙂
I would also say it’s not just reading to or with your kids, but also letting them see your love of reading by the fact that you have lots of books, you read a lot, and you talk about books a lot. That can have a profound influence on your kids, especially as they go through phases of wanting to be like mum or dad, or want to do things they know will please or impress you (“mum likes to read, so if I read, mum will be happy…”).
Ooh, I look forward to hearing what you think of Across The Universe. And please let us know what your first born thinks of her selections as well! Haven’t heard of either of those!
I was at the bookstore today, doing research – that is, trying to find books similar to my current WIP. I found a couple and after reading the first few pages, I bought them both. I hope they help me see what needs to be done in my WIP.
I’ll certainly post a review of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE when I get to it, either here or on Goodreads. The pile of books on my desk is looking quite ominous at the moment, and I REALLY need to work on my WIP. *sigh*! As for FirstBorn’s books, I’m sure she can be persuaded to share a few words about them when she’s read them. 🙂
I have a story idea percolating in my brain at the moment that I’m sure must have a sibling out there–something like it must already have been written. I’m not sure how I would go about hunting for it, though. I may have to just do “due diligence” and read as much as I can around the genre, and then write the best story I can. Hopefully, if it’s been done before, my voice and perspective is enough to make mine unique. We’ll see. It’s tough–no-one has read, or can be expected to read, every last book out there to know how close your book is to something already published. I wish you all the best with yours, Daisy! 🙂
I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to comment on this – IRL stuff’s been hectic!
My search at the bookstore was more for things in the vein of character archetype. I’m working on a book where a tomboy type girl develops feelings for a friend. This, of course, is pretty standard fare in a lot of contemporary YA, so I want to see when it works and when it doesn’t. Now, my goal is to turn this idea completely on its ear and add some new layers and plot! We’ll see. Thanks for the best wishes!
Ooo–interesting, Daisy! I hope to read the results of this sometime in the not-too-distant future… 🙂
Aww, that’s wonderful! Our trips to B&N were always good fun. Very interested in FirstNiece’s book selection strategy… Might attempt to do the same in future.
And I look forward to future trips to B&N with you, bro! 😀 It might seem a little brutal for a book selection strategy, but it can be very helpful–especially when you’re up against time, or you have limited funds and multiple possibilities.