Saturday, July 8, 2017

Books Acquired, Manners Lost

We were at McKay’s in Gainesville, Virginia, enjoying the atmosphere among the stacks of secondhand books with a swirl of all sorts of people devouring a common passion. Ava and d headed toward the kid’s section where they hit a motherlode of ‘Junie B. Jones’ which has totally enamored our daughter. Me, being in an essay and memoir frame of mind, I bought Roger Ebert’s Life Itself, E.L. Doctorow’s Creationists, Sloane Crosley’s How Did You Get This Number, and Facing Unpleasant Facts by George Orwell. I read so many fictional books as a freelancer that I find myself more and more in the non-fiction section for entertainment.

Small observation: it used to be when someone passed in front of you in an aisle there would be a polite, “Excuse me.” That was the norm … or at least it’s how I seem to remember it. Look, I’m not someone who longs for the good old days. I know people are people and remain largely unchanged, but I don’t believe I’m mistaken that common courtesies in libraries and bookstores were the standard and only occasionally would someone fail to live up to it. Agree? Disagree?

7 comments:

Todd Mason said...

McKay's moved? Not surprising, given I haven't been to the old store in 20+ years.

Anonymous said...

Well done on the book haul, and I'm afraid I have to agree wth you, manners do seem to have slipped but I'm afraid in more than just bookshops. Fortunately those with manners intact still outnumber those who are a bit forgetful.

David Cranmer said...

Todd, The McKay's I first went to was in Knoxville. Quick internet check shows they have expanded.

Alan, I hope you are right. But manners was losing yesterday though.

David Nemeth said...

The post where David Cranmer admits he's old. ;-)

David Cranmer said...

Ha! Get off my lawn, Nemeth!

Prashant C. Trikannad said...

I'm going to read some George Orwell. I have been reading about "1984" ever since Trump came to power. I have not read E.L. Doctorow.

G. B. Miller said...

I definitely find manners to be lacking these days. Not so much in the stores, but more in the streets (pedestrian and driver).

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