Bibliophile

From the vault (something i wanted to post but never quite did)

In 2012 I had decided to read less. It worked for the most part. I finished 16 books as opposed to the usual 22-24 per year. Although that part of my reading addiction I was able to handle, it didn't stop me from finding other ways to bring books into my life. Like a growing art book collection or a place I stumbled upon admiring photos on facebook. (See photos I took below)

I was so intrigued by the photos of book related installations that I had to see them for myself, a check out desk made of books, books in the form of a wave, books forming tunnels, frames, typewriters spewing out pages that spread through the air and across the ceiling, sculptures of an altar of Los Angeles on rollerskates, etc.

This place which was once a downtown bank that stood empty since the 60s is now a bookstore, the Last Bookstore, a mecca for bibliophiles like myself. It isn't that it is filled to the rafters with used books, but there are open mike nights, book signings, readings, bands, djs. What i noticed about this place was that it is a community and not a shopping experience. They even closed the place on a Saturday to hold a wedding.

So when they sent out the call for volunteers, I jumped at the chance to spend more time there sorting out their dollar book section they call the labyrinth. At first this section was only based on size, no sections just a vast sea of books to pick through. I have to admit that the first time i went up there I just put my head in my hands and turned around and left. When I ended my volunteer stint a couple weeks ago (too much going on, bringing home my 9 to 5 job on the weekends, dating, desire to do some traveling) we had arranged the labyrinth into 30 some sections. I was in charge of weekly organization of foreign language, asian books and literature, business and cookbooks. The place changed a lot since I started including a section based on color that everyone commented on and took picture by. Hiding in the how to learn French books you don't know how many times I heard "hey do you need a blue book" people think they are so clever.

Why is philosophy so popular?

I managed to pull a few books home for myself at a nice volunteer discount.

As brick and mortar shops a quickly disappearing I am glad places like this still exist. I want these places to still exist. Plus they have a yarn shop upstairs.