Tons of books Liveblog.

I've got over 20 big boxes of books sitting in the hallway.

So what I'm going to do today is have a running blog about stocking books -- it will probably take all day, so you can come back at the end of the day to see how it all ended up.

I'm guessing about 600 books.  Which is a lot considering each of my shelves only holds about 25 books.  So I'll need 24 shelves just for the new books.

I probably have about half that many shelves available, and even then only if I move things around.

But I always find a way.  (If a few of the books have to go into storage for a week or two, that's OK.)

A third of the books are "premium" books, and they'll go out first.  Then the rest of the books are just my thinking something looked interesting -- but no hurry to sell because I got a deal on them.

I also ordered a whole bunch of greeting cards, many of them with a Christmas theme, so I'm going to put in a new card rack -- somewhere --- I'm not sure where the hell I can fit it.

Anyway, I love the challenge -- and I love looking at all the new books.

Like one big Christmas!

LIVE-BLOG.

 11:00:  Got to work and the lock on the door isn't working.  Wrestled with it until it opened.  Not an auspicious start.  (Apparently, much of downtown was superglued recently -- first I'd heard of it.)

Ran downstairs to see if I had an extra and appropriate card rack,and sure enough found one.  Surprisingly, I think I may have found the last square foot of space in the store where it would fit..  Have to clean it -- it's been gathering dust in the basement.  It had a bunch of promotional postcards in it -- which are kind of cool actually, so I need to open a box so I can store them.

Box #1.  Dune, right there on top, 2 copies.  A Moveable Feast, Hemingway; Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy; Lord of the Flies,  William Golding.  A copy of Fun Home, one of the best graphic novels I've ever read -- no, it is the best I've ever read.  Use of Weapons, Iain M. Banks (I'm planning carry all the "Culture" novels, one of the best S.F. space operas ever.)  The City, the City, China Mieville (dammit, a duplicate -- how does that happen?);   Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft.  A Meeting in Corvallis, S.M. Stirling, The Change series.  (An example of a popular series that I personally  just couldn't get into.)

One new title, Where'd You Go, Bernadette -- put it on the "New Arrivals" rack.

First and smallest box of books fit right in, heh.

I have a couple of storage spaces behind the counter, so I'm consolidating the extra's I already have into one space, and using the other one for the new arrivals.  If I can't figure out quickly where to put a book, I'll just store it until I can figure it out.

Meanwhile, I'm going to do some necessary paperwork before I open my first box of books.  Back later.

11:30.  Checked out the invoices.  About 20% of the new books were put on backorder, which is about average.  Got pretty much 100% of discount books.  So 660 altogether.

Actual number of books ordered:  720.

Box #2:  Going to open the biggest book I got, with hopes that there are some calendars there.  Never know how calendars are going to sell -- it seems like some years they do, and some years they don't.  Have pretty much sold out this year so far.  I think it's because I got an earlier start.

Nope, no calendars.  A few big honking books.  Joseph Goldyne, an art book.  Lumen Picturae, a "drawing art manual.", and Captain Easy, Complete Sunday Newspapers.(I can't resist art books, apparently, though they rarely sell.) 

I'm taking this one box at a time, then breaking down the box.  If it takes all day, that's just fine.

Meanwhile, I again am going to take a break to do some store work.

1:30:  Back to open another box.  Been dealing with those pesky customers...

Box #3:  Wonderstruck, Selznick, sequel to Invention of Hugo Cabret;  Initiate Brother, Sean Russel, (purchased on someone's rave.); Walking Dead Compendium 2; Where the Wild Things Are (hope this copy doesn't get destroyed like the last one...); The Two Towers and Return of the King (always like to have a hardcover set); The Fault in Our Stars, Green; On the Road, Kerouac; The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway; Cannery Row, Steinback; Good Omens and Stardust and American Gods, Gaiman; Cat's Cradle, Vonnegut; Graceling and Bitterblue, Cashore; Goliath, Westerfeld; Glamorama,Ellis; Lemony Snicket, #3, 5, 11. (Try to carry whole series.)

Vonnegut, Gaiman, Steinbeck, Kerouac, Hemingway, all authors I'm trying to carry a full selection...

Box #4:  The Prophet, Gibran; Sandman Slim, Kadrey (customer rave); The Last Colony, Scalzi; Childhood's End and Rendezvous with Rama, Clarke; Catch-22, Heller; Boneshaker, Priest; Illustrated Man, Bradbury; Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis; Ranger's Apprentice, #2 and 5; Power of One, Courtenay; Shantaram, Roberts; The Tao of Pooh, Hoff; Incarceron, Fisher; The Gunslinger, King; Strip and Vanishing Act, Thomas Perry (my favorite mystery writer);  Catching Fire, Collins; Ashen Winter, Mullin; Eye of the World, Jordan; Bring up the Bodies, Mantel.

Clarke, Bradbury, Perry, Jordan; again try to carry most of the books.  If I list one book of a series, it usually means I carry the whole series.

I'll be back...

2:30:  Day half over, and I've only done 4 boxes out of 21.  I'm going to at least try to do the premium books today

Box 5:  Frazetta Sketchbook; Children of Dune, Herbert;  Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor and Walking Dead: Road to Woodbury;  Kirkman; The Annotated Lovecraft; The Diamond Age, Stephenson; Hearts of Stone and Steam, Mayer; Brave New World, Huxley; Dork Diaries 5;Cities of the Plain, McCarthy; Night of the Living Trekkies; Dark Place, Gillian Flynn; 11/22/63, Stephen King; City of Fallen Angels, Clare;Allegiant and Divergent, Roth; Titan, John Varley; Daisy-Head Mayzie; Diary Palahniuk; Dead Until Dark, Harris; Norwegian Wood and Kafka on the Shore, Murakami; Tears of the Sun, Stirling; (2) Zombie Survival Guide, Brooks; Clash of Kings, Martin (hdc).

Box 6:  The Cuckoo's Calling, by somebody named Galbraith; The Casual Vacancy, Rowling;  The Dream Thieves, Stiefvater; Matter, Iain M. Banks; The Goldfinch, Tartt (One of my rare timely bestsellers.); The Paris Wife, McLain; Pulp, Buckowski; Beautiful Ruins, Walter; (3) Ender's Game, Card; Sword of the Lady, Stirling; Deepness in the Sky, Vinge; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (hdc); Old Man's War, Scalzi; The Magician's Nephew, Lewis; When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris; Iron Council, Mieville; 1984, Orwell; Young Miles, Bujold (the Vorkosigan series, great stuff.); Foundation, Asimov;

Box 7:  Opened one of the discount boxes, because I'm still looking for calendars....Wow.  The whole box was one book -- The Art and Spirit of Paris, I and II.  Originally a 250.00 book.  I like getting these outrageously big books and then selling them much cheaper.  In this case, 100.00.  Honestly, a pretty silly thing to do...

Box 8:  Two more outrageous books.  Wonders of the Indian Wilderness (originally 185.00, selling for 100.00.) and The Horse (150.00/100.00)  What the hell was I thinking?

3:30;  I have to break off and do my weekly orders.  I'll be back.

4:30:  I think I underestimated how long this would take.  Not a good night to stay late, you know.

Box 9:  Necronomicon, Best of Lovecraft; Sacre Bleu, Moore; Eldest, Paolini; Cryptonomicon, Stephenson; Red Mars and Blue Mars, Robinson; Sophie's Choice, Styron; Neverwhere, Gaiman; The Dragon Reborn and The Shadow Rising, Jordan; Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky; Geek Love, Dunn; Odd and the Frost Giants and Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman; High King of Montival, Stirling; Kraken, Mieville; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fir, Rowling; Insurgent, Roth; Dork Diaries 1; The Stranger, Camus; The Blue Girl, De Lint; Bloody Crown of Conan

Box 10:  Game of Thrones (hdc); Consider Phlebas, Banks; The Hobbit, Tolkien; Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut; Doctor Sleep, King; Martian Chronicles, Bradbury; Infinite Jest, Wallace; City of Ashes, Clare; Wonder, Palacio; The Sneetches, Seuss; The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Chbosky; Un lun Dun; Mieville; Snow Crash, Stephenson; 

Box 11:  A River Runs Through It, Maclean; East of Eden, Steinbeck; Tales of Beedle the Bard, Rowling; How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You; The Dain Curse, Hammett; Animal Farm, Orwell; Invisible Monsters and Snuff, Palahniuk; All Quiet on the Western Front, Remarque; The Doors of Perception, Huxley;  The Bone People, Hume; The Dharma Bums, Kerouac; The Stand, King; Inheritance, Paolini; Cloud Atlas, Mitchell; Living Dead in Dallas; Name of the Wind, Rothfuss;  Crown of Midnight, Maas; The Giving Tree, Silverstein; The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Adams; Miles, Mystery and Mayhem, Bujold;


6:00;  Running out of juice and time.  Only got halfway through.  Also got:  4 Heinlein books; 6 Lee Child books; 5 Terry Pratchett books; 8 Daniel Silva; and 6 Jim Butcher; 4 Pullman. 

That's it.  I'm going home.  There are ghouls and long-legged beasties out there...


.