That's good reading

Good, a magazine/website/event nexus that is about being socially responsible and green without getting too preachy, has launched a book blog (via).

So far, the blog, Signatures, has used books to look at contemporary issues -- Barack Obama through the lens of Walt Whitman, books of the Great Depression and the light they might shed on the current moment. In a post from mid-October, blogger Anne Trubek considers a new kind of socially responsible book buying: supporting literary fiction.

Since so few people buy literary fiction, a few copies go a long way. Your purchases could help keep an author writing and a press publishing. Many laud the virtues of buying books from independent bookstores, and I’m all for that. I focus, however, on what I buy, not where I buy it — I may order novels from amazon.com, but I favor those published by independent presses or written by lesser-known authors (regardless of publisher). Each time you buy a book this way, you help preserve literary diversity.

She recommends five independent presses: Algonquin, Graywolf, MacAdam/Cage, Soft Skull and Unbridled Books. A good start, for sure (although there are many more independent presses out there).

One commentor recommends another means of socially responsible book buying: making online purchases from Better World Books. The online bookseller ships its books to the U.S. for free, and every order is "shipped carbon-neutral" with offsets from CarbonFund.org. Better World Books also, through a network of universities and libraries, helps turn donations into funding for international literacy programs. Pretty good.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo credit: Ed Yourdon via Flickr

Comments

[booklover]

Better World Books is 99% hype. It's all about making a couple of guys very, very wealthy while throwing a few crumbs to charities. BWB is going a long way toward totally destroying independent booksellers, who can't compete with an organization which doesn't have to pay for its stock.

Amazon is busily building a bookselling monopoly. They epitomize the corporate approach. Buy books from Amazon and you'll ultimately limit your choices as to where you can buy books. That's what monopolies do. They totally destroy the competition. They annihilate independents, and force small presses to accept their terms. Do your homework on this stuff before you make recommendations, unless you're content to perpetuate the sorry status quo. Or haven't you noticed corporations sucking the life out of the country.

Buying from independent booksellers keeps people who know and love books employed. Most independent booksellers make modest livings but they're doing something that truly matters to them - that they truly love. Independent booksellers can answer questions about the "products" they sell. They can talk books. What a concept. They can remember the name of a favorite author you've forgotten. They'll help you find that book whose title you can't recall. They're the people who live next door to you or operate the little shop down the block.

It has to start somewhere. Buy locally or buy from independents. Otherwise 'change' and 'hope' will just be empty words for all of us. Think before you spend your dollars - who and what are you supporting. It takes real thought not to get totally caught up in all the slogans and hype about the next best thing. Think. Be discerning. And give a damn.