(bonzai) doing a little reading through my beloved powell's

DO: shop powell's.

i love powell's in portland. i do. they have the best bookstore i've ever been in. multiple floors of catalogued books - including their used books. friendly staff who, from what i remember, actually know about books. and whom, by the way, created a union within powell's without any murders or buyouts or weird mergers. (hey stodgy has its shades). plus the fact that it's in one of the prettiest cities in the country, i think, well all this keeps me supporting powell's way out in portland, and tout it as the strongest independent and fair alternative to the onlinebookmonster i know of.

and though you can apparently buy the oxford unabridged online for about a buck i guess from the bookhulk, i bite as much bullet as i can bite and shop powell's whenever i get a chance.

they usually have a pretty great selection, and since they're a real bookstore, they give a fuck enough about literature and non-fiction to highlight great authors, make sound staff recommendations and have real people at a real address you can ask advice or questions to over the phone.

as for my experience with them - everything i've ever ordered from powell's has come in exactly the condition it boasted, sometimes better. they wrap carefully and efficiently, don't over or understuff their boxes, so their shipments are always functional and presentable, and as in few boxes as possible. (there's nothing worse than getting a mass market in a box big enough for a carton of paper).

my books has always come on time, never later than a day on a snail mail delivery date estimate.

so they get all 10 of my thumbs up.... :-) except...

DON'T: ever order a mini-book

...so i'm gonna' take this one for the powell's team and read the Miniature fucking Minibook of James Wright's The Branch Will Not Break in the size 2.5 font that Wesleyan thought would be ... cute? a nice impulse item? a fucking stocking stuffer? i don't know. but i ordered it, and the label "mini-book" must have been in mini-type someplace, cause i didn't see it. but i'll read it....

...and ruin my eyesight, powell's just for you. 'cause you and me, baby ... we're right here (i'm giving you my mini-eye to mini-eye). i got you. oh wait, i have to find the book ...oh yes, there it is... under my bobby sock.

DO: check 'em out.

to browse and shop so that part of the proceeds go to the powell's union, choose the browser through powell's union or if you're a lazy bastard or otherwise amoral scab you can just go to their regular site at powell's.

and remember - keep an eye out for minibooks. bad. bad news.