Along with the bag full of books, I couldn’t resist grabbing the HOWL bumper sticker by the register. City Lights is the first place I visited arriving here yesterday and the only must on my list of things to see.
Throughout my wanderings yesterday amongst the three floors of bookshelves, I was reminded why some if not many bookstores will remain and why a place like City Lights will continue to thrive.
I’m not one to bash Amazon for putting bookstores out of business. I’m to big an Amazon customer. Having just about anything I could want at my fingertips even though I live in an isolated rural community is awesome.
That being said, scrolling through hundreds of pages of on Amazon would not have duplicated the shopping experience I had at City Lights yesterday. The four books I purchased were nowhere on my mattering map when I entered the store. Instead, slowly scanning the shelves I casually found some gems.
- On Earth by Robert Creeley, his last poems and an essay.
- Pragmatism, A reader, ed. by Menand (I was reminded that I’ve been wanting a reference that gathered the essential essay of Peirce and James together.)
- The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales (with Commentary by Joseph Campbell)
- The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, by Tatar
The thing that really jumps off the shelves at City Lights, the thing that makes them great: unlike the large chain bookstores, their subject areas are well curated.
I guess I could provide links to these books for you on Amazon, but it somehow just wouldn’t feel right (so copy and paste.)
One last note: I’m not the tidyiest of bloggers for grammar and spelling, so I it made me chuckle that the two Grimm’s books place the apostrophe in different places…
Lifestream Digest for August 30th
Marking Time
...along the Devil's Path