Sundays That and This.

About the tourism article in the Bulletin this morning. I think most people don't realize that whether sales are up and down have to do with so many connected factors that it's nearly impossible to take one factor out and draw any firm conclusions.

My sales have more to do with the product lines I'm carrying, and their current popularity, than anything else. In fact, for every part of my career except the first few years and the last few years, the economy at large had very little to do with results.

That said -- We ARE a tourism economy, don't kid yourself.

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Instead of finishing the garden jobs I've started, I spent most of yesterday clearing away a whole new space for the garden. I spread a packet of wild flowers and we'll see what happen.

I have a sunburn on the top of my head, under the hair, which I don't remember ever happening before. At least I still have hair on the top of my head -- if there was one thing I always knew, it was that I'd be bald by now and I'm totally surprised I'm not.

Anyway, whenever I garden that intensively, I am itchy and sore and scratchy beyond belief. It took me hours to fall asleep last night -- I dreamed of roots, tangled and entwined.

Speaking of roots, we brought home a couple of curly willow cuttings from out son, Todd, in Portland and I just kind of put them in a tub of water. Weeks later, they've sprouted roots under water. So I'm going to plant them pretty soon, and hope they survive.

I didn't fertilize the plants this year-- I figured I'd do that in August in enough time to hopefully strengthen the roots -- so I better get going on that... I'm also going to make more of an effort to cover plants this winter -- either build up the dirt around them, or use refuse if that's handy.

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Last week, Linda and I went to go see Cowboys and Aliens (Aliens and Cowboys?); but I'd read the time wrong, and we were 10 minutes late. Since I'd just read a review that said the first 5 minutes of the movie were the best, we opted to see Horrible Bosses, instead.

It was O.K. Funny in parts. But I always feel like these kind of movies can be seen on a smaller screen without any loss in viewing. Seems like a waste of money. These gross-out movies seem to be becoming total formula. I'm already tired of them. Going to see Aliens/Cowboys this afternoon.

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I kept finding shelled peanuts in my garden and couldn't for the life of me figure it out. (Sometimes I'm not very smart -- please, no comments.) Finally, Linda pointed out the obvious -- someone is feeding the squirrels. I feel really bad about digging up the poor squirrels winter food....

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I've decided to go heavy on ordering new books for the rest of the year. I keep selling the easy books -- titles like Sometimes a Great Notion, or The Alchemist, or On The Road. Inexcusable not to have them in stock. I have dozens of titles I know have sold and probably will sell again. Maybe hundreds of titles.

Meanwhile, when people ask for titles like "The Help", I always say, "I don't really try to carry the bestsellers." They just look at me like I'm crazy. That's like saying, "I don't carry them because they sell too good..."

But new hardcovers are so expensive I think people SHOULD buy them at a discount whenever possible. It has to be a very special book for me to carry it new hardcover; like Dance with Dragons. Even then, I've only sold a few.

It's when they're affordable, at 15.00 or less, that I'm always surprised the customers don't buy the book new. If a book is worth reading, it's worth buying new; if a book isn't worth reading, it isn't worth buying used. They simply don't believe me when I say they're unlikely to find the book they are looking for in used, and even if they did, it would only save them a few bucks.

I mean, it's possible, but not likely for any particular book. And really, when was the last time you were reading a good book and you EVEN THOUGHT about what it cost you? I'm not talking a 10.00 or 20.00 difference in price, but somewhere between 3.00 to 7.50, usually. Seriously, just buy the damn book and save yourself the time and energy.

I know, because I've had this store for 31 years, and my wife has had a used bookstore for 7 years that goes through hundreds of books a day -- that there are many titles, well-known titles, that simply don't show up used all that often, and when they do, they sell right away. But no one believes me when I say this -- they remember the successes they had finding a used copy, but they don't remember the failures.

So much wasted effort. I have the book right here -- and it's only a few bucks more. I take solace in the fact that it's Instant Karma, they pay the price not me.

Anyway, about the bestsellers. I've started explaining myself by saying -- "I wait to until the bestsellers have some seasoning..." which is true. But really, it's about not carrying 25.00 and 30.00 hardcovers that become impossible to sell once they become tradepaperbacks.

Strangely, there is a category of books that I do have luck selling in hardcover format. Books that people want a permanent library of -- such as Harry Potter and Song of Ice and Fire. I suspect The Hunger Game trilogy will be the same. Probably true of Lord of the Rings and some others. (In fact, I'm going to order a hardcover Hobbit in my next order...) I can actually sell hardcovers of them, despite it seeming like everyone in the world has already bought them.