Small Annoyances and Great Mercies
Reading the blogmeister at The Literarium is occasionally a painful temptation to envy or some such sin. Apparently Ms. Morawski lives in a part of the country in which literacy is both alive and prized. I am dubious about my own part of the world sometimes. Other than the huge chain bookstores there are relatively few resources for the avid reader.
I used to live in Columbus, Ohio, and near the condominiums we occupied there was a huge supermarket of used books called "Half-Price Books." And indeed, most of the books were available for half of the cover price. In the region of the world I presently live (dominated by one large mouse) I have yet to see a used book store of any size whatsoever. Moreover, I have yet to see very many small boutique bookstores. Yes, I know the huge chains do tend to drive them into the ground--one of the strongest arguments for distributivism I am aware of.
I long for the times I could traverse a few parking lots and wind up at an emporium where I could get perhaps fifteen or twenty books for less than ten dollars. A place where people brought treasures they no longer treasured and I profited from them. More--a place I could take the cartload of books that were unwise purchases for a variety of reasons. I could really do with ready accessiblity to such resources again.
However, the price is far too high. Here I sit between beaches--within ready reach of hundreds of miles of shore on both the east and west coasts. A relatively easy drive from Sanibel Island. A quick hop to Canaveral National Seashore and the wonder of Merritt Island in general. So I have traded easy and inexpensive literacy for the glories of the ocean. Not, overall, a bad trade. I just sometimes wish I could have both.