Today, I went to the town Library ’cause they were having a book sale there, and I walked out with several books that costed me around $8.00 in total so they gave me a good deal. Two of those books were Stephen King books, “Salem’s Lot”, and the baseball book about the Red Sox, “Faithful”. So I just added two more books to my Stephen King collection. So that means I have two more left to go to complete his entire body of work. The two books of Stephen King’s collection I need left are, “Cujo”, and “Danse Macabre”. Those two books are extremely hard to find.

I don’t really understand this. Why are Stephen King books especially the original editions of his classic books so difficult to find when they shouldn’t be? How come you don’t see original editions of famous novels of any author in new bookstores these days? I have a few ideas of how this maybe…

• The book industry is dying – I remember in the old days of new bookstores you can easily find original editions of your favorite books just about anywhere — this is how it used to be in the early 90’s. Now the classic novels you want to own original editions from any author — whether it will be Stephen King, Clive Barker, Dean Koonts, Peter Straub, Tom Clancy, Anne Rice, etc. — you can’t find those in the new bookstores. If you wanted to find those books from your favorite authors, the older novels, you have to buy them in paperback or digitally. The book industry started to tank even before the digital age.  If you want to find the original classic editions the only places you’ll find those are either online, used bookshops yard/garage sales, and library book sales.  Since new bookstores don’t sell the classic original editions anymore, that’s how they spreaded across the country and that’s why they are so rare and hard to find today. The older Stephen King books are so rare. I just got lucky finding them at the used bookshops, library book sales or whatever. Getting most of Stephen King’s books didn’t happen over night. It took me years to collect them all ’cause he has too many in his bibliography.
  
• The digital age of books is part of the reason – Again, the Nook, Kindle, Ipad, etc. That could be the big reason why nobody cares to buy books on hardcover/paperback anymore.
• Nobody’s interested in reading those popular authors anymore – In this day and age of books, nobody’s interested in reading Stephen King, Barker, Koonts, Anne Rice, Clancy or John Grisham anymore. Today, kids just want to read stuff like Harry Potter, Twilight, and the 50 Shades of Grey books. That could be the big reason why they don’t sell the original editions of those classic authors at new bookstores anymore. King is still a best selling author but his popularity and recognition kind of tanked. Probably because Stephen King hasn’t put out a good book in the last 10 years with the exception of “Under the Dome” which was his best book in a decade. Seriously, check out “Under the Dome”. Even if that book was pretty long, it’s a real page turner and will keep you hooked ’til the end.
• Nobody no longer cares how special hardcover books are – The reason there’s a lot of used book shops and library book sales all over the country is that people still have a passion of book collecting. Collecting hardcover and original editions of rare books. People have that addiction. Why? Because actual books can last a lifetime and they can be very valuable. That’s why people stick with paperback or those digital gadget e-readers. They don’t understand how special hardcover books really are. They just don’t care. They’re like, “Why have these annoying hardcovers with the cover jackets when you can read the book digitally?”. That’s the thing, you know. Hardcover books do matter. They were big in the old days ’cause there was no such thing as internet or technology. When you collect hardcover books — the original editions — you not only keep them just for the sake of reading. You keep them as a special collector’s item ’cause you can betcha they will be very valuable down the road. That’s what people are missing. How valuable books can be. That’s why they mistakenly think, “Ah, this is nothing, lets get rid of them.”. Books are very special for a lot of reasons. I thought I explained that before?

So you get the idea and I’m sure you understand my feelings on the book industry. The book industry is crumbling.

As for those other books I bought today at the Library book sale, I’ll list them: Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot”, Stephen King “Faithful”, Christopher Reeve autobiography “Still Me”, Steve Jobs (biography by Walter Isaacs), “President Kennedy” by Richard Reeves, a book about the Civil War, a Richard Nixon biography, and two Barack Obama books “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope”. I know I’m anti-Obama but I’ve been wanting to read those two books just out of curiosity. Most of these books are hardcover except for the Obama books, they’re paperbacks.

As you guys probably noticed, I’ve been doing so much reading on history and politics. See? I’m not freakin’ kidding that I’ve been studying my ass off on this stuff. I’m sure you can probably tell by the way I’ve been talking about politics and government online… so there… yeah, I know my shit and think I’m doing a good enough job proving it.

Kev