BOOKLOVERS
What’s your relationship with books, since the arrival of personal computers? If you’re like me, that paradigm shift involved a lot of catch-up… and frustration, trying to troubleshoot inexplicable problems. And the trend isn’t going away anytime soon.
Well, if you would like to revive your love of sitting down with a physical book, I have a suggestion of a great place to explore for old favourite books. And the price is right, at maybe 20% or less of the cost of a new book, not to mention the additional cost of delivery of your new purchase.
On the North Shore, there’s currently only one used-books store. A decade ago there were ony two, but only one has forged forward and continues to operate through the pandemic. Health officials are telling us not to go out, if we don’t need to. Many of us are attending Zoom calls to talk to and see our family and friends, attending online meetings and working from home, online. With all the time spent online, we need to get away from the computer screen or TV. Sure, getting exercise is very important, but with shorter days, that still leaves the question of what to do in the evening, when the kids are in bed. Remember, for high-quality sleep, we need to get away from screens two hours before bedtime.
Meet Dalyce, who owns and runs Booklovers, a used-book shop at 175 East 3rd Street, just west of St.Georges Ave. She bought the shop, including books, from Duncan, the previous owner, in 2008. At that time, he had twice as many books as he could reasonable display. Maybe he got carried away wishing to save books from the fire, but it overwhelmed him and Dalyce arrived to save him, when he was looking for a buyer.
Dalyce was more than a saviour for Duncan and his books. Since childhood, she’s has spend many hours in used bookshops, when there were more of them around. Even her ex-husband was hesitant to join her or wait for her, when she would “just drop in to pick up a book”, because he felt it would mean an hour or more ‘wasted on old books’. Do you ever think that you’d like to re-read an old classic or find some great novel you remember reading, to see if it has the same appeal. I have one: ShÅgun, a massive, 1200-page, historical novel about Japan, written by James Clavell in 1975. I read it twice and thought I had saved it, but somewhere along the line it disappeared. I recently found a hardcover of The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough (1977), which I saw as a miniseries on TV, in 1983.
Dalyce admits that she’s a huge Stephen King fan and loves fiction. But the non-fiction books in her store come and go faster, so you need to visit often with your To-look-for list. Be prepared to enjoy a quiet, peaceful, healthful visit, and to buy a book that you’ll look forward to reading, before going to sleep.
Fiona