Roy Blount Jr.: 'Let's Mount a Book-buying Splurge'
"We don't want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let's mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that's just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance! There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they're easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves. Stockpile children's books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they'll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books."--Roy Blount Jr.'s holiday message, posted at the Authors Guild website <http://news.shelf-awareness.com/ct.jsp?uz2497968Biz7625762> . Jennifer John Patterson Continuing Education Coordinator Central Texas Library System, Inc. 512-583-0704 x16
