#1 It Begins!

So here I am—my first day as a blogger. For a long time I’ve been wanting to write about books and my personal experiences of them—and also about bookselling. Not surprisingly, those experiences often involve the city where I live (Chicago) and the bookstore where I work (Women & Children First).

Why now? Two reasons. First, after four years at Women & Children First, I’m taking on new responsibilities involving events planning and publicity, which means I’ll be more involved with the authors who read at the store and the publishers who send them to us. The second is time. I’m taking some time off this fall from my other career as a freelance editor. I feel very lucky to have this kind of flexibility and very much want to do something worthwhile with the time off I’ve given myself. My goals are modest. Besides this blog, catching up on my reading is a big part of it—which creates a nexus of time for reading and then writing about great books. (In addition, in this blog I will inevitably be sharing the experience of working in a bookstore and my thoughts about the publishing industry in general—which in one way or another I've been part of since 1985.)

One of the first things I did was put the word out that I was starting a blog and needed a name for it. I got so many wonderful suggestions—I hated picking just one! So, if there’s anyone out there about to start a book blog, here are some of the terrific suggestions I received from my creative and supportive friends, coworkers, and fellow book group members: Books First, Booklynn, Inside of a Dog, Between the Pages, Shelf Life, Shelf Interest, From the Shelves, and Digital Thoughts from an Analog World.

I hope you like my choice! (Thank you, Doug!)

To close, I’ll mention one book I’m “reading” now. (I’m always “reading” at least one audio book. I’m a real fan. I only listen to unabridged recordings, and, yes, to me they “count” as books read.) Right now I’m listening to Bill Bryson’s book At Home, which is fascinating. The book’s blurb focuses on Bryson’s own house, but his house is really just the jumping-off point. He explores everything from why we live in houses at all to how the names for the various rooms evolved over time. I have a bit of an Anglophile bent (which adds to the pleasure), but he explores the history of things American, too, including Mount Vernon and Monticello. It’s also just a big, fun mash-up of history, sociology, architecture and interior design, natural history, and many other disciplines, all pulled together into a single story of the houses (and by extension, the cities and towns and countries) we live in. Bryson himself is the reader of the audio recording, and he’s terrific. I especially love how droll he is reading his own humorous writing.

Do any of you have a favorite Bill Bryson book? I think At Home is my new favorite, but at one point in my life I had aspired to through-hike the Appalachian Trail, so A Walk in the Woods will always have a special place in my heart!

Lynn
Women & Children First
Chicago