Because I like both cereal and alliteration, I still call it the Credit Crunch, even though it has since ballooned into a Global Economic Crisis, or a Meltdown, and even the government calls it a Recession (which is sort of like a “Blip“, but only deeper). And I can afford to be so flippant, because I had no investments to lose, and I own no house to be devalued, and as the standards I’m accustomed to are decidedly modest, my lifestyle will be maintained. Though I may be wrong in assuming video rentals and having friends over for spaghetti and $10 bottles of wine even counted as a lifestyle in the first place.
It is not so much having nothing to lose, which would be to devalue the myriad things I do possess– friends at all, $10, pasta, an apartment whose kitchen
is a tiny kind of heaven. But these are infallible things as the world economies crumble, making our choices seem even sensible than usual.
Perhaps the world is a saner place? Family of the man trampled in the WalMart shopping rampage would probably disagree, but maybe it just has yet to trickle down all the way. Because while consumers have become apparently more cautious, and buying big screen TVs has become a less attractive prospect, it happened that during the snowmageddon blizzard last Friday morning, I had the great pleasure of walking off a deserted street into an independent bookstore and finding it absolutely rammed.
For the cautious consumer at Christmas time, can there be a better financial choice than buying a book? Bringing guaranteed appreciation, for there is no book so loved as an old one. No batteries required, no assembly demanded, and a book will most likely get through Christmas Day without being broken (unless you count the spine). A well-chosen book won’t meet its obsolescence for many years, and will wear reasonably well with use. Any minor physical problems can usually be prepared with a bit of tape.
And then there’s the question of where your money goes– I don’t know about you, but shopping bags stuffed with books is consumerism to feel good about. Particularly if those (reusable) bags are from your local independent bookseller, if you’ve purchased books by Canadian authors, and those published by independent Canadian publishers in particular. In these harsh economic times, ours is to spend but spend wisely, and book buying is an investment whose ripple effect is undeniably positive.
So, how to decide which books to buy? Fortunately for you, dear shopper, you’ve got a plethora of recommendations at your disposal, and you’ll shop easily knowing that, unlike most retail outlets, a bookstore has something for everyone. For those who love fiction and non, for babies and centenarians, popular books and literary books, and quite literally everything from a-z.
