Reasons for Hope (Precipice Part II)

I read a few interesting articles that have helped tamper down my rising pessimism about how Americans coexist with novels and the written word.

One spoke about the various styles of either independent book-place or roving book-market/library that exist in the greater Los Angeles area.

I say "independent book-place" instead of "bookstore" because in nearly all of the cases featured in the article, the establishment did not start out as a bookstore, but eventually made it to something that resembles a bookstore.

One was a bar that serves literary-themed cocktails. The owner bought $300 worth of used books to line the shelves and found a market of people who want to come in, have a drink, read, and possibly purchase a book.

One was a salon in a Latin area of East LA (aka East LA). The owner's son asked his mother if it was okay that he set up some interesting books of poetry and fiction written by some of the folks in the neighborhood, writers who couldn't get attention elsewhere. A tiny section of books pooped up in between hair-care products and brushes. That was in the early '90s.

What amounted to the neighborhood's first independent bookstore was created, and it has grown ever since, taking over half the space.

Another pop-up bookstore is a skate-shop in Highland Park. It tends to have more independent punk magazines than books, but it does have some, and was created to showcase some of the skaters' own writing talents. Some of the magazines are really independent. One mentioned specifically is called "Legal Trouble" and it's compiled by a local skater and artist. It's a collection sourced from Wikipedia of legal battles of celebrities.

The randomness of the LA independent bookstore could be found in one of the more surprising locations: the Sepulveda West Car Wash. How cool is it that as you wait for the car to come out the other side of the automated wash room you could peruse a sizable taste of local poets, essayists, philosophers, and fiction writers?

Also featured in the article was FLOW---the Feminist Library on Wheels. Founded by Jenn Witte and Dawn Finley, FLOW has grown so much in popularity that the donations have needed to be housed in the Women's Center for Creative Work, located in a neighborhood I'm unfamiliar with called Frogtown.

In other heartening American's-are-okay-with-books news, since the election (and only through late January), Amazon has reported that they'd sold 47,000 copies of Orwell's 1984, and the paperback copywright holder has ordered a 75,000 copy reprint, which is considered large for a "classic."

Sales are up an estimated 9,500%.