Do you keep track of your books?

Yesterday I was in a used bookstore and they had several Library of America books in good shape, ranging from $8 to $12. I wanted to pick up several of them, but a few of the books were by authors that had multiple volumes in the series. A couple of them I knew I didn't have, but a couple of books I wasn't sure if I had them or not (due to forgetfulness and a family member "borrowing" and not returning one). I was wishing I had a list or database of some sort to check against, so I was wondering if anyone kept track of their books for just such a situation. It seems like overkill, but I'm not always going to be able to text my boys to send me pictures of the bookcase so I could see if I already had a certain book.

I thought I wouldn't need such a list for too many books or series, but after buying a used history book to replace one I thought I had culled (and had not), I'm wondering if I need to include more in such a database/list. So do any of you keep such a list for your books? And if so, how do you do it?

Thanks! Oh, by the way, here's the first picture my son sent me to make sure he had the right bookcase. I'll need to take better pictures of the bookcases on our landing and post them after I rearrange them to fit the latest acquisitions. They came about totally by accident, but I dearly love them.

May 3rd: California Bookstore Day

California Bookstore Day, May 3, 2014

Hopefully there's a store near you…

California Bookstore Day is a statewide party on May 3, 2014 as big and varied as the state itself. It’s more than 90 stores in more than 80 zip codes putting their bells on and throwing out the welcome mat. Think Record Store Day, but for book nerds.

Each store will have its own party. The headline attraction are the just-for-us books you cannot get on any other day at any other place (click here to find the celebration closest to you). But there will also be readings, and prizes, and things to eat and drink. In some cases there will be famous authors and artists, and people writing live poetry.

Your neighbors will be there, your friends will be there, your kids will be there.

You should definitely be there too.

Yep, we'll all be there!

The Orchard and Page & Palette

I was visiting family this weekend and wanted to solve something that has been bothering me ever since reading A Naked Singularity by Sergio De La Pava. In Chapter 20 Casi travels to Atmore, Alabama to interview his client on death row. Casi stays at an outlandish theme hotel called The Orchard:

My big break came when I saw the giant banana. And I don’t mean to suggest that I knew immediately it was a banana I was looking at when, from a considerable distance, I saw the yellow tumescent structure that menaced the clouds and partially occluded the bottom of the orange sun. While thinking about how an establishment that sells bananas could afford such a structure I remembered that my hotel was called The Orchard and that reference had been made somewhere, maybe a brochure or something, to some kind of cognizable fruit theme. That was enough for me and I accelerated towards the banana. And as I neared the banana I saw it had friends, an apple and a peach at first and later an orange. This was The Orchard and each oversized rooftop fruit represented a different wing of this colossal hotel.
(page 474 of the Xlibris version)

While I’ve been away from the area for quite a while, I wondered if this had been modeled on anything around there. Not aware of anything that size in the area at the time (I don’t believe the casino that stands out like the monolith in 2001 had been built at the time the novel was written), I figured it was part of the gag for the convention of the Society of Egalitarian Reptile Protectors Entitled to New Technology (SERPENT) being held at the hotel. There’s already a lot of literary license going on with the implied existence of a direct flight from New York to south Alabama (yeah, that bugged me too). Maybe the author had another hotel in mind when describing the place. But I still wondered—was there anything like this hotel around Atmore?

Instead of driving an hour to Atmore I stopped at the Page & Palette bookstore in Fairhope. A highly recommended stop if you find yourself on the east side of Mobile Bay (approaching tropical storms are not necessary for enjoyment, although it did add to the atmosphere). Be sure and check their webpage for a schedule of visiting authors. I talked to a few members of the staff who were incredibly helpful and patient for someone asking about such an esoteric fact (but then I’ve been known to bug people over less). No one was familiar with anything like The Orchard in the Atmore area (or anywhere close). My brother was certain that years ago there was a tavern close to Atmore called The Orchard, strategically placed in front of a no-tell motel (he swears he never visited either place). Even if he’s right, I’m still voting on the hotel being part of the SERPENT joke, but I thought I would pass on this information for the fun of it.

Monterey stop

Stevenson House / French House where Robert Louis Stevenson stayed while in Monterey, California
Picture source

Last summer I posted on visiting Robert Louis Stevenson State Park and the memorial commemorating his stay there as detailed in The Silverado Squatters. The hike up to the top of Mt. Saint Helena provides one of the best views I've seen of the surrounding wine country. As I found out then, Stevenson had quite the stay in California. If you find yourself in the Monterey area, you can visit the house he stayed in while waiting for his future wife's divorce to be final. Yeah, it's complicated.

You can read about his stay in the area in his chapter "The Old Pacific Capital" from Across the Plains: With Other Memories and Essays .

The Bay of Monterey has been compared by no less a person than General Sherman to a bent fishing-hook; and the comparison, if less important than the march through Georgia, still shows the eye of a soldier for topography. Santa Cruz sits exposed at the shank; the mouth of the Salinas river is at the middle of the bend; and Monterey itself is cosily ensconced beside the barb. Thus the ancient capital of California faces across the bay, while the Pacific Ocean, though hidden by low hills and forest, bombards her left flank and rear with never-dying surf. In front of the town, the long line of sea-beach trends north and north-west, and then westward to enclose the bay. The waves which lap so quietly about the jetties of Monterey grow louder and larger in the distance; you can see the breakers leaping high and white by day; at night, the outline of the shore is traced in transparent silver by the moonlight and the flying foam; and from all round, even in quiet weather, the distant, thrilling roar of the Pacific hangs over the coast and the adjacent country like smoke above a battle.

Be sure to contact the State Park number ahead of time to find out when tours of the Stevenson House will take place—you'll want to see the inside of the house and the Stevenson exhibits as well as wander the grounds. While in the area, be sure to visit some of the other literary-related places I've mentioned in previous posts. Robinson Jeffers' Tor House, in nearby Carmel, is a favorite of mine. Further down the road is the Henry Miller Memorial Library.

I have not mentioned bookstores much, but I'll begin to correct that here. Within a block of The Stevenson House are two bookstores that require plenty of your time if you like browsing used books. The Old Capitol Books has plenty of full, tall shelves, the high ceilings with fans lend an open air to the place even though you're dwarfed in the stacks. The quality and range of books call for extended browsing. The nearby Carpe Diem Fine Books is quite a different store: believe them when they say they have a "special emphasis on the history and literature of California and the West." There were several beautiful old sets I would love to have, but I'll need to save up for those purchases. Thanks to Cynthia Haven for providing information on this shop.