Skip to main content

100 Things To Do In Holland Before You Die: #84 - Get Lost In A Book At Reader's World

This entry is where the whole inspiration behind "Tulip City Dispatch Does The 100 Things To Do In Holland Before You Die," came from.  Since I started this blog in 2019, I've spent an inordinate amount of time at secondhand stores, bookstores, antique stores, and the library trying to find books on local history and culture. I've got a pretty good pulse on what's out there, and the types of books on the market right now.  There are a few specific authors who have written many books on local history, of which, I own several.

100 Things To Do came across my dashboard sometime in 2023; I don't remember if it was a targeted ad on Instagram or a post or what.  I do remember that I became aware of the book through Instagram, but details aren't important here.  Point is, I was oot and aboot on a Saturday (hitting up the aforementioned thrift stores and antique stores), when I happened to duck into the Barnes & Noble in Holland and walked to the "Local Interest" section.  I saw 100 Things To Do, and got STOKED!  I picked it up and began flipping through the pages as I walked to the register.  I opened to page 114 (entry #84, the one I'm writing about) and a lightbulb went off - why was I buying a local interest book from a nationwide chain, when I know several other local bookstores that could very easily use my purchase better?

I set the book back on the shelf at B&N, got in my car, and drove to Downtown Holland, to Reader's World.  They've got their Local Interest/Michigan Authors section immediately to the right when you walk in the door, and New Releases on a table in the center of the entryway.  100 Things To Do was situated on that New Releases table, front and center.  So, I bought it and immediately walked down the street to Our Brewing Company and began highlighting, dog-earing pages, and making notes in the margins.  I contacted the author on Instagram and got her blessing to share my experiences with the things to do in her book.  I was feeling uninspired about writing at that time, so I thought "Great, I've got a year's worth of content here!"

I became aware of Reader's World in 2007 or thereabouts, in my peak Board Life era - Reader's World was one of the only bookstores in Michigan that sold Concrete Wave magazine.  As the issues were released quarterly, I was able to swing by Holland during school breaks to pick up the latest issue.  As I was there, I'd also pick up a few odd books throughout the years.  But, Reader's World has been a staple of my Downtown Holland experience for almost 18 years now - holy cow!

In addition to the crew at Reader's World, I'd like to throw a shout-out to Bluestocking Bookstore on Holland's north side.  While they weren't specifically mentioned in 100 Things To Do, they're good people - I've made several book purchases there, history related and otherwise.  I have yet to stop at The Next Chapter, but hey, they're located pretty much here.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Eddie Bentz Bank Robbery

Prohibition is one of the most storied periods in American history. Urban myths and legends abound nationwide, with tales of folk heroes like Al Capone, Babyface Nelson, and John Dillinger. Tall tales are woven around organized crime, wild bootleggers, underground saloons, and well-dressed gangsters. There's something uniquely American about the DIY ethos of taking matters into your own hands, making illegal alcohol, and selling it through clandestine channels; stickin' it to the man like those in the illegal alcohol industry did. These stories are immortalized in movies like The Road To Perdition and Public Enemies, as well as TV series like HBO's Boardwalk Empire and, well, PBS's Prohibition. Many lakeshore towns in Western Michigan have tales of organized crime and bootlegging. Easy access to Lake Michigan meant that bootleggers had easy access to boat routes, safely out of reach of authorities. Booze was funneled in from Canada, then taken by boat to cities all aro...
Post a Comment
Read more

XFinity Sucks. Or, Why I'm Excited For Holland BPW Fiber To Come Through Our Neighborhood

 The whole thing started in October - we hit the data cap for our XFinity plan in 2 or 3 days. I didn't know we had a data cap on our XFinity plan, so I was befuddled. Problem is, you can't just call XFinity, you must escalate your ticket up their chain of command: Start with their AI chatbot, escalate to a human typing on the other end of the chatroom, get transferred to an AI phone operator, escalate that to any number of human phone operators. Somewhere in that initial escalation, they discovered that we weren't on an actual plan from them, and the services we had weren't even offered by them anymore - our account had slipped through the cracks. Their "solution" to the massive data leak was to give sell us the premium tier service with no data cap...which didn't actually solve anything, it just passed the buck down the road. By October 6 or 7, we had blown through another terrabyte of data, so I reached out to Customer Service agai...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Cedar Swamp Village

Holland has only been a settled city for a little over 170 years. But, it's got a dense, unique history. I took an interest in local history during my college years at Northern Michigan University, and was able to take that interest back home after graduation. Recently, I began researching for this blog, and hanging out at the library, poring through the Local History section. I found an old, forboding looking book, entitled Memorials Of The Grand River Valley, flipped open to a seemingly random page, and read the passage "The Indian village, near the southeastern limits of the city,w as also a prominent landing-place. The log-houses, built by the Indians, were of great service to the newly arrived immigrants; and, as it appears, there never has been any trouble between the Red man and the Dutchman." This piqued my interest, as I live near the southeastern limits of Holland. Was there an Indian village in my own neighborhood that history forgot? Memorials ad...
Post a Comment
Read more