Diving for pearls

[Oblio]

I was stranded yesterday and spent some time in a local bookstore (Books a Million). While I waited for my dear wife and daughter to rescue me I perused the Christian section looking for Orthodox content (other than Bibles of course ;) ). Wading through all the fluff and endtimes sillyness I finally found two, one was FMG's small hardback on Icons (I forgot the name), and the other of all things The Way of the Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way. The latter was published by Samalha (?) books and was hiding amongst books on Budhism and other Eastern pagan religions. I moved it to a more accessable (visually and theologically) area for the benefit of our local population :)

Next time you are bored in a bookstore, try this, it's fun :)

[The Prokeimenon!]

I found "Orthodoxy & the Religion of the Future" by Fr. Seraphim Rose at a Borders in Madison, Wisconsin :clap:

My wife and I found "On the Christian Sacraments" by St. Cyrill at a used bookstore in Seattle, WA. :clap:

It's also fun because you get to see what every other Religion is reading. It's one of those funny/sad/strange/huh? feelings to see what's out there in the Religious world.

Moses

[Matrona]

I've found myself wishing at times that major-chain bookstores would carry more Orthodox books, but think about it--at the moment, there isn't any more than six million of us in this whole country, and probably less than that. So the market for books on Orthodoxy is pretty weak. If the big bookstores started carrying Orthodox books, it would radically affect our monasteries (which often sell books to support themselves), Orthodox bookstores, and publishers (St. Vlad's, Conciliar Press, etc). The publishers would publish more, but not as many books would be bought directly from them. And monasteries and bookstores that don't have the wherewithal to publish for themselves would probably suffer, wouldn't they?

[Oblio]

Interesting point, but it sure would be nice for those who live far away from a monastery/church bookstore :( to have a source. There are always icons and candles and incense to support them that probably won't be seen in Borders for awhile.

[ufonium2]

Recycled Books in Denton, TX divides religious books into Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox!! They had several Orthodox books, mostly the standard ones, but I was pretty impressed. I got my Orthodox Study Bible at a used book store in Knoxville, TN, and also a book of writings of the ECFs. They lumped all religious books together, though, so I had to wade through a lot of "Left Behind" and "God wants you to be rich and happy" books to find them.

[Matrona]

Interesting point, but it sure would be nice for those who live far away from a monastery/church bookstore :( to have a source. There are always icons and candles and incense to support them that probably won't be seen in Borders for awhile.
That's true, but I hardly ever get to go to a monastery or a church bookstore, and I have lots of books. I use mail order--I've probably bought two hundred dollars worth of stuff from Conciliar Press alone.

[Oblio]

Sometimes I like to actually peruse the books first before I buy them. If it is something like Conciliar, Regina, STS et. al. presses, they will get a sale even if you buy it from a non-Orthodox entity. Don't get me wrong, I love to support the Church when I can and if there was a Orthodox bookstore within an hour I would be much much poorer :)

[Matrona]

Sometimes I like to actually peruse the books first before I buy them. If it is something like Conciliar, Regina, STS et. al. presses, they will get a sale even if you buy it from a non-Orthodox entity. Don't get me wrong, I love to support the Church when I can and if there was a Orthodox bookstore within an hour I would be much much poorer :)
I do pretty well with just getting recommendations from others, and sometimes borrowing a book to read it before I buy it. I probably would have never bought Father Arseny if I hadn't borrowed it from Nouna first.

Amazon sometimes has pictures of the inside of books so you can look at it before you buy it.

[Moros]

I've found myself wishing at times that major-chain bookstores would carry more Orthodox books, but think about it--at the moment, there isn't any more than six million of us in this whole country, and probably less than that. So the market for books on Orthodoxy is pretty weak.

Less than half of that are Jews, and I dare say that any bookstore you venture in to will be flooded with books on them.

[Oblio]

Less than half of that are Jews, and I dare say that any bookstore you venture in to will be flooded with books on them.


That's a good point, there was two whole shelves on Judaism at the store I was at. I would say that even here in the South there are quite a bit more Jews than Orthodox. My guess would be at least 100:1 ratio.

[The Prokeimenon!]

I found the "pilgrim" books at a used bookstore in Atlantic, Iowa (hotbed of Protestantism) and have found actually some pretty good stuff at Borders, surprising stuff - like "Anthology of Prayer" by St. Theophan the Recluse and "An Eastern Christian Encyclopedia" and different volumes of "The Philokalia". I agree that it is very fun diving for pearls! :clap:

Katherine