reading – Page 4 – The View From Sari's World

I haven’t posted a Sunday rant in quite a while. Truth be told, it’s been a couple of years. Many of my followers probably don’t even know that this type of post used to be a weekly event. I titled my Sunday posts, “Sunday wrap up” or “Sunday Rant”, depending on the topic and my mood. I’d look at the past week’s news and give my thoughts, or I’d post about something that really ticked me off. I stopped posting these not because my dear Readers didn’t like them, but because I notice as I age, I don’t give much energy to negativity: in myself, or world events. I hope this means I’ll be a laid-back old lady who wears funny hats, not a bitter old woman who always wears a frown.

As much as I like to think I can usually roll with the punches or at least just sigh softly when annoyed, today is not one of those days. Today, I feel it necessary to rant.

My weekend mood did not start out like this. I had high hopes for a very blissful, quiet weekend. It’s been raining off and on for the last few days and the weekend forecast called the same. There is nothing I like more than a rainy weekend cuddled up on the couch with a book. As a reader, I’m sure you can relate, and as a reader you probably have a specific book in mind when you plan for this kind of weekend getaway. I usually do.

My son gave me a Barns and Noble gift card for Mother’s Day. I was so thrilled with the idea of ordering books off my wish list that I jumped online that very night. I picked out the second book of The Science of Discworld series and Doctor Who: The Shakespeare Notebook. Imagine, all four of my favorite subjects: science, the Discworld, Shakespeare, and Doctor Who, mashed together and available for my rainy weekend enjoyment.

I would need this distraction after my long workweek. One of my co-workers went on holiday and it was up to me to do both of our jobs, including dealing with the public, and forgoing my lunch breaks as no one offered to back me up. On top of this I was just beginning to learn a new software system only to find out that what we had was outdated. The new system was loaded up and it fell to me to learn it from scratch; no one else had a clue how to use it. By Friday I was mentally exhausted and looked forward to doing nothing more than moving from the bed to the couch. But, there was a problem. The books I had ordered from Barns and Noble hadn’t shown up yet. Mind you, the depository is only 11 miles from my house. Where the hell were my books?

A few years ago this wouldn’t have been an issue. I remember wondering if Barns and Noble had some how hacked into my computer because I’d come home a day after placing an order to find a box waiting for me. Sometimes I’d receive my books having ordered them the night before! Surely they shouldn’t be taking five days to go 11 miles.

Friday morning I got online to track my order. Perhaps my books had to come from a different depository, one across the country? Nope, as you can see from the screen shot, (taken this morning with updated information) the books originated in Reno but for some inexplicable reason, went from there to California and back again in one day! It took another whole day to get from Reno to Carson City, which are only a few miles apart. Let that sink in. It took less than 24 hours to get from one state to another and back again, yet took longer to travel interstate. On top of this cluster, the books were originally shipped UPS, yet on day two they were given to the US Postal Service for delivery. Okay, I thought, don’t get upset, as of Friday morning Reno has my books. With luck I’ll have them Saturday. No worries. In all honesty, I had a few things I had to do Saturday morning anyway.

I got up early Saturday and spent the morning working on a side job in between washing and folding laundry. Surly by the time I was done my books would have arrived and I could disappear from this world into Terry Pratchett’s. With luck, I’d be visiting Shakespeare with Doctor Who on Sunday. But no, it was not to be. When I checked the mail I was surprised to see a small package, but not my books.

The small package contained a plastic cover for my new iPhone. I ordered this on Mother’s Day around the same time I ordered my books. I didn’t expect to see the cover for at least two weeks, given that I ordered it from an Amazon 3^rd party vendor who said their shipments take up to two weeks. Not only did it arrive early, it came all the way from Florida! For those of you who are not familiar with the U.S., Florida is about as far from Nevada as it gets. It is on the far side of the East Coast, while I sit just four hours away from the Pacific Ocean. By this time I was livid.

I expressed my displeasure with B&N via Twitter. To their credit they responded rather quickly with a request that I send them my order number so that they could look into the issue. The next response was baffling. They told me, “It shipped on the 13^th, and would take 3 working days to get to me. I should see it on the 18^th”. I am not good at math, but if the 13^th counts as the first shipping day, wouldn’t the 15^th be the third? And, since the Post Office is open on Saturdays, making it a workday for them, wouldn’t the 16^th count if the 13^th didn’t? There was no response to my question. As far as they are concerned this is a non-issue. Well, I have news for you Barns and Noble; I am going to make this a non-issue by never ordering from your online store again. If you don’t what I want in stock, I will order from Amazon, even if I have to order from a third party vendor. They at least know how to ship a proper package.

Yes, I am aware this is a first-world problem and yes, I am aware this is not much of a problem at all. But given that other bookstores are trying to compete with Amazon, you would think that B&N would do everything in their power to ensure “expedited” (their words not mine) shipping. I know they can do it because they used to offer better service than Amazon. Thinking about carbon footprints of these two books makes me ill. And, I would at least expect a better response from the company who is only 11 miles from my house.

Thanks for letting me rant. Now, back to wearing funny hats.

While we Shakespeare geeks celebrated his birthday yesterday, the reading world celebrated World Book Day. For several years now, the host, National Book Tokens stresses the importance of sharing books with children by dedicating a day to books. World Book Day is an event designed to remind parents and teachers the importance of raising children who read. There is never anything wrong with that.

When I see mentions of World Book Day, I am reminded of the hours I spent at bookstores with my son. I was one of those parents who started my child down the reading path at an early age. I can recall taking Alex to his first bookstore for reading time when he was only two. If memories serves, we came home with The Very Hungry Caterpillar .

By the age of nine, Alex was bored of children’s books. I took him to our local bookstore to see what was available for his reading level. This was right before Amazon became the leading source for books. Even if Amazon and the Internet were available to me I wouldn’t have known where to start.

The store owner was an older woman who was childless but never the less well acquainted to what kids liked. She pulled a large book down and said this was something the kids loved. She struggled to keep it in stock. She thought Alex might enjoy it based on the feedback she got from other children. I thought it might be too advanced for him, and far too long. But he sat down in a corner and started reading. A few pages in, he looked up and whispered, “Mom, I want this book”. Alex had fallen under the spell of Harry Potter.

All of this are just memories now. Alex is now 23 and doesn’t need me to take him to bookstores anymore. Besides, even if I wanted to, I can’t. Carson City Nevada, population 55,552 doesn’t have a bookstore. The closest one, Barns and Noble is over 30 miles away. What a sad comment on our society.

So what does this do to our reading society at large? Does it make a difference that we are forced to shop online or plan a day to travel to the next town over? Is the decline in the number of bookstores in America affecting reading?

There is a definite decline in reading in America. While reports and findings differ, one thing can be agreed upon; the number of kids who read is declining. One report suggests that social media and video games are to blame. Teenagers are more apt to spend time on their smart phones and computers, engaging with each other, sharing YouTube videos, and of course, playing the latest game. It sounds like common sense to say that these distractions are reason enough to avoid reading, but common sense also tells us that historically we’ve always had distractions. Going to the beach with my friends was a favorite pastime for me as a teen, but this didn’t dampen my love of reading. So if it isn’t distractions, what is it? If it’s not social media and technology, could we look to parents as the possible answer?

One of the fallouts of the decline of bookstores can be found in the old saying, “out of sight, out of mind”. When there are no local bookstores (sadly this is becoming the norm in towns across America) parents tend to forget about books. This fact has become painfully clear to me in the complaints I hear from my co-workers.

I don’t know what to get Karen for her birthday. What about a book? My grandson is turning five, what should I get him? What about a book? My daughter broke her leg and is home bored. What should I do? May I suggest giving her a book? At this point I’m like the Lorax, but instead of jumping up and down yelling, “I will speak for the trees?” I am trying to speak for books. And the looks and responses I get are chilling and have a lot to say about the decline of the bookstores over the last decade. Parents have lost interest in sharing books with their kids. One said dismissively, “Oh if she wants a book she can go to her school library”. Another told me since we lost our bookstore, it never occurred to her to buy books as gifts. Have parents forgotten it is their job to foster a love of books in their children?

I can’t blame some of the parents. Without a bookstore it is hard to figure out what a child would like. Hell, sometimes it’s hard for me to figure out what’s out there, and I make a point of trying. Yes the Internet if full of recommendations, yet with all the noise it’s hard to find something worth reading. I miss the quiet bookstore aisle in which one can get lost for hours. Picking up a book beats reading an Amazon review hands down. Having a knowledgeable bookstore clerk was a gift. Don’t know what t read? Ask a live person for a recommendation. Chances are you’d walk out with three new titles.

Once it was so easy to think, “I’ll just pop into the store to see what’s new”. Now we have to sift through reviews, click bait, and scroll through pages just to find a book. Who, besides avid readers has time for this? No wonder parents have forgotten all about books. For many, not only are bookstores gone, so is the desire to read. And this, it seems is being past down to our children. No wonder they turn to other avenues of entertainment. To the kids, there is no other choice.

None of this proves the decline of bookstores is the true reason teens are not reading like they used to. But given that more and more parents are forgetting about books, it certainly is a contributing factor.

Decline in Reading in the US http://connection.ebscohost.com/literature/literacy/decline-reading-us

Why aren’t teens reading like they used to? http://www.npr.org/2014/05/12/311111701/why-arent-teens-reading-like-they-used-to

Tag: reading

The Sunday Rant is back

The Decline of American bookstores Who will speak for the books?

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