09 June 2010

Ode to the Bookstore

I'm a homebody at heart, so I love to putter around in my house.


But my second favourite place to be is in a bookstore.  When I walk through the doors of Chapters, I instantly feel a calm, excited and engaged, all at the same time.  I can't wait to walk the aisles, browsing the covers, flipping through pages and reading the backs.  I always have a huge piles of 'wants' in my arms that I end up having to narrow down due to budget.  I love the big chairs to sit and browse.  I love the fact that I can smell Starbucks while I look around (double love!!) and I even love all the charming, overpriced housewares they post at the front of the store to entice me.

Now don't jump all over me, the big box book store is not the only place I buy my reads.  For the most part, I pick up used paperbacks at Value Village.  They often have a killer selection and they range from .99 - 3.99 each.  Plus when you buy 4, you get one free!

For new releases I just CAN'T' LIVE WITHOUT, I go to Superstore where bestsellers are always 25% off.  And I love to browse used book shops when I am on vacation.  I loved supporting McNally Robinson until sadly, they closed shop at Polo Park.

Above is my spring collection of books I am either currently reading or waiting in the wings, compiled from purchases at all of the above.  Yes, I'm a hopeless lover of self-help books and women's lit.  What a girly-girl.  Plus I'm always flipping through a mag, so I added my latest read.

What's on your summer reading list? I'd love to add to my pile...

Written with love,
Lenore

9 comments:

  1. ok...we may be long lost sisters or something...becuase this is how I feel about Chapters too....I try to support Mcnally....but just don't get the same feeling when I go there. I love that you have a guide to blogging in that pile....and can I borrow the summer people book?

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  2. Great collection, I read the Smart Couples Finish Rich book- also Perfect Match.

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  3. yes, I see that issue of house and home....I am a huge magazine addict. LOVE them. I have too many of them but I really do enjoy each and every one. I just started reading eat praylove. gotta read it before the movie comes out.

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  4. i want to re-read the bell jar & huckleberry finn, and discover some good non fiction on modern politics.

    :)

    xo Alison

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  5. ME TOO.

    In fact, I'm having a major crisis here because I'm through all the books that I packed and now I need to decide on some more - keeping in mind that I need to fly home with them. I know... I need real problems :)

    Lots of yours are on my 'future read' list. Best Friends Forever, Perfect Match, and Sleeping Arrangements were all pretty good reads.

    Just finished the new Emily Giffin. If that's not on your pile already, it should be. Also read the newest Sophie Kinsella - I liked it more than some of her others, and it was a fun brainless read. Still Alice was another recent favourite. In terms of magazines, I have a soft spot in my heart for Real Simple, Clean Eating, and Dwell.

    Happy reading!

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  6. Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Have you read it? Hot diggity damn I love that book.

    McNally @ Grant Park is still open! That's my favorite haunt. I was just there today and resisted the overwhelming urge to buy the new Christopher Hitchens biography..

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  7. Love the pic, I was totally thinking about doing this!! I'm so uncomfortable in life if I don't have a stack of books waiting to be read.

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  8. Thanks for all the reading recommendations!

    Shauna - once I'm done Summer People you can surely borrow!

    I know McNally is still around at Grant but it's just not the same...bad I know. :(

    Lindsay - the new Emily Giffin IS on my wishlist but it's still in hardcover and that's a Lenore no-no.

    XO
    Lenore

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  9. The bookstore is my second favorite place as well. I get all that tingle of excitement whenever I'm there. But also this sense of anxiety, like there are so many books in the world, so many I want to read, and in that moment instead of looking at books I should be reading them! Trips to the store are always have calming and half anxiety-provoking, cause the knowledge that I wil never read all the books I want to just kills me!

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Thanks so much for stopping by, I love reading all your comments! If you have a specific question, please email me at lhume1@mts.net. XO Lenore