The BookThing Blog

Sorting books sounds simple. It is anything but, and some times books get shelved where they shouldn't be, to our annoyance and sometimes to our amusement.

We have a great group of volunteers who mean well, but sometimes shelve outside of their comfort zone or just make mistakes.

I realize that Apple is a religion to some people, but The Mac Bible doesn't belong in Christianity. And just because The Best of the Onion has an onion on the cover doesn't mean it should be shelved in Cooking and not in Humor. 

And speaking of humor, when books on the Donner Party are in cooking, I am hoping someone just has a sick sense of humor!

Shakespeare tends to create all kinds of trouble. "Romeo and Juliet" is romantic (somewhat) but that does not mean that it can get shelved in Romance with the Harlequin or Silhouette romance novels. Nor should a Shakespearean comedy, like "The Taming of the Shrew,"  be on the shelf next to George Carlin or Chris Rock. 

I could go on to mention why "The Silence of the Lambs" belongs in Fiction and not Zoology or why "Hannibal" does not belong in Cooking(!) but you get the idea.

Usually winter is the beginning of the slow time of year for drop offs. We have bumps around the holidays, with people cleaning their houses for incoming relatives, but as a rule the colder the weather the fewer books that come in. But this year the word has spread and more books are coming in and going out across the board. This is the first year we have been advertising and that is the only thing I can attribute the increase to. We have started advertising on public radio, in community newsletters, and the City Paper. The best advertising is still free - word of mouth. So tell everyone you know, text them, call them, email them, and talk their ears off. The Book Thing is now on Facebook and Twitter so spread the word: Free Books.

In case anyone was wondering, I do not have a patent on giving away books.

The Book Thing has been experiencing a wave of "dissertation dumps.

Remember to search the web and shop on Amazon through our site. Bookmark it.

The hot summer weather has books showing up here in droves . It seems the schools are sweating books.

Yes, we will be open this weekend (July 2 and 3). We are open EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 9-6. This includes blizzards, Christmas, my birthday, your birthday, nuclear war, locusts, and Groundhog Day.

The Book Thing has officially entered the 21^st century. After prolonged discussion we have concluded that the Internet is not, I repeat, not a fad. The question, now, is what to do with it. How do we blend moveable type - 16^th century technology - with today’s?

The Book Thing doesn’t want your money. Despite the strongly held belief of many of our regulars and volunteers, books are not a necessity of life. If you want to give money to a nonprofit give it to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen or free clinic.