Perusing the shelves

I’ll be honest, I really needed to rethink my book buying habits, so I did. Just not in the way you’d expect.

I’d been a subscriber to the magazine Publishers Weekly for a good number of years, mainly because I got to read all the news and reviews about the writing field, and during those years I would make note of many of the books that got reviewed and add them to my shopping list. In fact, I ended up obsessively working on that shopping list just like I’ve always done with music releases.

Thing is, there were a few problems with going this route. One, I had to wade through a lot of reviews of dramatic “heartbreaking” litfic that I had zero interest in. Two, these reviews were for books that would not come out for another couple of months, so whenever we made a bookstore run, I’d often get frustrated because everything I wanted to look for was not yet out. Three, eventually I began losing interest in the magazine and going through the same process with every issue. I’d fall behind, sometimes six or seven issues behind, and I finally made the decision to let it lapse earlier this year. Four — and most problematic — I realized that about half of the reviewed titles I thought might be interesting were not resonating with me at all once I read a page or two at the store. It was too much of a long game crapshoot and I was losing interest.

And as a writer, that’s really not something I want to let happen.

So. Did I have any new process for finding books worth reading?

Yes! And it was deceptively simple. It meant doing it old school: perusing the shelves, picking up titles that caught my attention, and perhaps buying them if not making a note of their release for later purchase (or alternately, borrowing via the Hoopla library app on my e-reader). I reminded myself of those pre- and passive internet Belfry years when I would spend hours at Barnes & Noble or Toadstool back in New England, just trying things out. I found so many of my writing influences that way, and not via a professional trade.

And let me tell you, it felt so…refreshing. The other week when we stopped at Copperfields in Petaluma, I truly enjoyed scanning through their science fiction section, truly paying attention to what they had and what popped out at me. Seeing the trending styles and paying attention to what resonated with me. I did it again this past Sunday when we stopped at Books Inc on Van Ness when we were out and about, and I’m sure I’ll do it again the next time we step into Green Apple Books in our own neighborhood.

I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to walk into a store and not immediately refer to the shopping list on my phone (which, by the way, I’ve been threatening to thin out for the last couple of weeks). That’s not to say I don’t mind heading into a book store knowing exactly what I want to buy, it’s just that I think it’s time I started relying a bit more on chance and fate when it comes to finding something new to read. I need to find more books that will influence and inspire me, because I’ve been obsessing with the same styles for far too long.