Book Convos with Carol Doane

Saturday, April 24, is Independent Bookstore Day. We’re lucky to have numerous indie bookstores in the Portland area – this year The Oregonian|OregonLive.com visited 16 independent bookstores in the Portland suburbs, from Gresham to Hillsboro to Oregon City to McMinnville. To learn about what makes each of them tick. Look for the OregonLive guide to suburban Portland bookstores at  oregonlive.com/books .   Content source: OregonLive.com Photo:  Ashley Byrd on Unsplash You may also enjoy,  How I got here and why it matters by Carol Doane .

Book sales went up by 8% in 2020. Guess we were cooped up in the house enough to drive us to read, and stir crazy enough to drive MORE of us to read, or as a recent study says, “engage” with books. An article on OregonLive.com highlighted the 2020 survey done by Portland State University that challenged our assumptions about who uses books and how books are used. Noting that, “Data just about reading ignores a large portion of the things people do with books.” What DO people do with books? The Immersive Media & Books Study surveyed 4,314 people who had “engaged with” at least one book during 2020, and provides new insight on what people do with books. The study defines “engage” as buying, borrowing, reading, giving or subscribing to all or part of a physical, digital or audio book. That's a pretty broad definition, but it certainly covers the territory. The conclusions of the study were as most would assume and, in some instances, a surprise. Books are more than entertainment. 

360 Convos with Carol Doane:  I left the grocery store with enough bags threaded on my arm that I should have kept the grocery cart, but I didn’t want the indecision of leaving the cart next to the car or being a good citizen and pushing it back to the store. I managed to wrestle the key in my pocket to open the trunk and set the bags inside, realizing that the clerk had inserted a refrigerated item in each plastic bag, so I’d have to unload everything once I got home, instead of leaving a few things for later. Leaving a few things for later seemed to be my... Read the full article using the link above. Source: NAMI Writing Project NAMI SWWA Creative Writing for Wellness Fridays, 12:00 – 1:30 PM PST www.namiswwa.org/swwawriting You may also enjoy,  How I got here and why it matters by Carol Doane .