I’ve been meaning to come over here and type a note for a while… Obviously I stopped blogging here.  Why?

I still believe it, I can think of examples every day.  I got some great reactions to it.

Everyone reacting, everyone reading it, was from the book industry.  It was an echochamber of people who already believed what I was saying.  The people who need convincing as to the value of a good book? They’re not reading this blog.

So I suppose I’ve decided to redirect my energy elsewhere… to making new readers, not just patting already-readers on the back.

But I’m keeping it up, in hopes that someday, I’ll figure how better to use it.

Thanks,

Katherine

This morning, everyone who lives here at work, I turned on the television.

See, I don’t have a TV at my house. That’ not to say I don’t love television.  If a show has me interested enough, I borrow the DVDs once they are released. And I watch The Daily Show every day online, as well as Project Runway as soon as it’s available.  But there’s no TV, no cable at my house.

I thought, wow, I can be a couch potato today.  I started flipping through the channels… ummmm…. what is all this?  I thought I’d be sucked in by the Game Show network, but they were just playing endless episodes of Match Game and The Newlywed Game. Blagh…  I flipped through 400 channels, then switched off and read my book.

So the question of the day… how much do you really watch, or enjoy, on your cable?  How much do you pay?

On a basic search, the Basic cable package (no HBO etc, no crazy extra sports channels, and after an initial 3 month deal): $67.44

What could I get for that?

BENNY & SHRIMP ($14)

THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL SOCIETY ($14)

SOMETHING MISSING ($14)

ICELANDER ($13)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO ($7.99)

Total = $59.99 (I’m claiming vacation to not calculate the tax.)

Worth it?

Hell, yeah.

So, round-trip the fast ferry from Martha’s Vineyard to New Bedford: $70

Books coming with me:

THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by Patrick Ness (9.99), THE ASK AND THE ANSWER by Patrick Ness (18.99), THERE ONCE LIVED A WOMAN WHO TRIED TO KILL HER NEIGHBOR’S BABY: SCARY FAIRY TALES by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (15.00). $44 so far.

OK, and here’s where this game breaks down a tiny bit: see, as I order the children’s books for my bookstore, I get free books in advance of their publication, so I’m listing my other three books I’m bringing: OUT OF MY MIND by Sharon Draper (out in March 2010), DARK LIFE by Kat Falls (out in May 2010) and THE LAST SUMMER OF THE DEATH WARRIORS by Francisco Stork (out in March 2010), but since I’m not paying for them, I shouldn’t really let them count for the game.

But here’s the neat thing, we’ve got a program where we give these advanced copies to kids in exchange for reviews, so when I’m done with these books, kids in our town can get them for free as well.  And most indie bookstores I know have a similar program, so find your local indie, and you can benefit from the same perks we get!

Or maybe I’m just really ready for that vacation, my brain is fried, and I don’t want to do any more math.

See you in America when I step off that ferry!

Sigh.  $24.99

For those of us who always loved setting a kid down with crayons in order to get some momentary quiet time?  I wonder who exactly buys this (aunts and grandmas, naturally).

But for those of us who like some good old-fashioned, quiet scribbling: I highly recommend DOODLES AT DINNER and DOODLES AT LUNCH.

Both are pads of tear-off sheets that act as placemats, covered withgreat inspiration for doodling.  Perfect to keep in the car, so you’ll always be ready to go for restaurant stops.

Each are $10.99, so you can have both (and peaceful dining) for $23.36.

So we’re going to go through the list for this year, one day at a time, and wonder whether maybe those kids ought to be getting books instead…

First up:

The Mind Flex:  Apparently, this is a crazy thing that you attach to your head, it measures your brainwaves in order to make a ball float. 

(Sounds to me like one of those things that in my house would have been  big splash on Christmas morning, played with for 2 days, then forgotten about… but maybe that’s just me.)

It’s being billed as something that can strengthen your concentration and increase your mental acuity.  Hmmmm… what else does that?

Cost: $99.99 (and that’s a pretty low price… some places it’s closer to $150)

It’s recommended for ages 8 +, so here’s my thoughts on $99.99 worth of mind-flexing, concentration-building awesomeness for ages 8 and up.

WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead,

A WRINKLE IN TIME by Madeleine L’Engle,

A SWIFTLY TILTING PLANET by Madeleine L’Engle,

THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY by Siobhan Dowd,

THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH by Norton Juster,

CHASING VERMEER by Blue Balliett,

THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY by Trenton Lee Stewart,

FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E FRANKWEILER by EL Konigsburg,

HOLES by Louis Sachar,

GREGOR THE OVERLANDER by Suzanne Collins and

WHERE’S WALDO WONDER BOOK by Martin Handford.

Grand total: $97.13, guaranteed to increase your mental acuity.

Here’s my proposal:

If we give to every single one of those people a copy of:

HEALING WITH WHOLE FOODS by Paul Pitchford: $35

NATURAL HEALING WISDOM HEALING & KNOW-HOW by Amy Rost: $19.95

HOW NOT TO DIE by Jan Garavaglia: $15

That would be $69.95 per person…. a total of $21,252,533,568.

That’d still leave us with $2,478,747,466,432 of that $2.5 trillion.  And if we could get a tenth of those people to actually read the books?  I bet we’d end up with money left over.

So not all fast food,  just McDonald’s, and this is an average.  Let’s see how that stacks up against books.  If I had that $613 to spend at the Bunch of Grapes today, I could walk away with:

Eat This Not That, The Lacuna, The Help, Guess Again, The Night Before Christmas (the really pretty cut paper one from Candlewick), A Long Way Gone, Crime & Punishment (the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation), Maisie Dobbs, Await Your Reply, White on White: Churches of Rural New England, The Secret of the Old Clock, Assassination Vacation, Waddle, Alphabet (by Matthew Van Fleet), Goodnight Gorilla, Alice in Wonderland (the gorgeous illustrated hardcover one we’ve got), World War Z, Tentacles, The Big One, True Compass, Something Missing, all 7 books in the Harry Potter series and a big old lined Moleskin notebook to write down all my new treasures.

My total (including Mass. sales tax): $611.52

I did not scrimp here… only two books less than $10 (the Nancy Drew and Goodnight Gorilla), I included quite a few hardcovers, even one beautiful coffee table book for $85.  And I probably could have gotten a couple more if I participated in the frequent buyer program.

Is that worth skipping McDonald’s?

How about for one meal?  The last time I went to McDonald’s I spent about $7.50 on an extra value something or other.  With that, I could have bought Fahrenheit 451, and gotten a book that changed the way I thought when I first read it in high school.

Large popcorn, large soda & junior mints: $12

Movie Night: $44

Bright Star: $14

Julie and Julia: $7.99

Where the Wild Things Are: $8.95

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: $6.99

4 Books that will be read and re-read, take days to finish instead of 90 minutes, that can then be passed on to friends and family: $37.93

After yet another experience of a customer saying that books are too expensive, after watching the Amazon/Walmart pricing wars, I decided we need some perspective.

Books cost $7.99, $15, maybe $30 for a hardcover, one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever seen is $85.

Books make me

Laugh.

Love.

Live.

Books have changed who I am.

What is that worth?