Books. Piles of books. Three sit on my desk, one waiting to be reviewed; two I'm reading with another three or four stacked in my bedroom waiting their turn.
Books are my crack, my hopeless addiction; my therapy, my pure entertainment, my inspiration; my feel good, safe escape when escape is called for. When I am stalled in other areas of my life, you can bet that the one thing I'm still doing is reading books, ordering books, going to libraries, prowling the aisles of Barnes & Noble, ordering books from Amazon, and hunting out the smaller, independent book stores when I can.
Launch - How To Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond The Competition, by Michael A Stelzner.
Doc, by Mary Doria Russell.
Life from Scratch, by Melissa Ford.
Going Home - Finding Peace When Pets Die, by Jon Katz.
There are stories behind all of these books. Two of them, Stelzner's and Ford's books, were ordered off of Amzaon's web site. Read Launch over a month ago and just got Life from Scratch in the mail yesterday.
Interestingly enough, the first of these two books is a "how to" tutorial - proof that anyone can harness what they're passionate about and build a sustainable business online using online and offline systems to first build brand awareness and then to roll out a product.
The second book, Life From Scratch, is an illustration of what Stelzner writes about, regardless of whether Ford was even aware of Stelzner's book.
Doc literally fell into my hands last week as I cruised the new fiction shelf in the library. As I posted on Facebook two days ago, it is meticulously researched and beautifully written. For a language - lover (that would be me), this book is like a glass of aged malt scotch. It goes down with a richness that needs to be s-l-o-w-l-y savored.
Going Home is in "pre-launch." It's official sell date in September 27 or September 29th. Yesterday, I called the Battenkill Bookstore and placed my order. Like Launch and Life From Scratch, Katz's latest book is an example of how some books are coming to the attention of readers using Social Media.
Using his blog, YouTube channel and Facebook presence, Katz has created awareness for his latest book with an audience already familiar with his books. And, as a supporter of independent book stores, he started talking about this book to his fans by suggesting that they consider ordering it through the Battenkill Bookstore.
More than 300 of us have taken him up on this. So far.
I'd like to think that there's room enough for all of this. For ordering books online, for public libraries, for Barnes & Noble and for independent book stores.
I need them all.
For simple convenience when the ease of online ordering fits into my day, for the physical pleasure of browsing the stacks, talking to librarians about books, or losing myself in the commercial aisles of a Barnes & Noble, and for the intimacies that smaller book stores provide.
I'd like to think that the rest of the world feels the same.
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