Island Life: I Know We Are All Sick Of Zoom But Also It’s Actually Kind Of Great

Before we moved to Orcas Island, we lived in Portland, Oregon.

Portland is famous (and rightfully so) for many things–Portlandia, roses, coffee, bicycles, beer, hipsters, hipster coffee, hipster beer–but one of the most important things for me about Portland was Powell’s Bookstore.

Well, bookstores, actually; in addition to the giant mother ship downtown (oh my goodness what a store!), there was a Powell’s in our neighborhood (the “home and garden” store, though it had a decent genre section), and, um, I’m sure there were a few other branches, but–

–but OUR Powell’s, the one with the BIGGEST genre collection, the one where all OUR folks had their events and readings and book launches and all, was out in Beaverton.

I went to so many author events in Beaverton. I even had one or two there myself!

It was always a bit of a bummer that Beaverton was so far from where we lived in Southeast–it could take two or more hours to get there at rush hour, crossing the river and all of downtown–but we did it. Getting home was much quicker, especially if we went out for drinks after the event.

The most crowded event I ever attended in Beaverton was for Jenny Lawson, “The Bloggess.” Jenny writes a very popular (and hilariously funny) blog, which I had been reading devotedly for years, and I was so excited to get to see her in person. I went with a couple of friends; we knew it would be crowded–seemed like everyone we knew was planning to go–so we went extra early…but not early enough, not nearly early enough. We couldn’t even get into the store. We had to stand out in the mall, peering through the doorway over the heads of all the lucky people who were inside the store sitting in chairs, and all the also-lucky people standing inside around all the chairs, crammed against the bookshelves and walls, straining to see.

I could only hear about every third word Jenny Lawson said. I could hardly make out her face. But it seemed like most of the audience was having a lot of fun.

At least I bought a copy of her book…though I didn’t stand in the absurd line to get it signed.

I’m still on the Powell’s mailing list, so I never stopped getting notices for author events, even though they are even farther out of reach to me here than they were from Southeast Portland. (I could probably make an evening reading in Beaverton if I took the very first ferry of the day, and if Seattle traffic wasn’t terrible, but…nah, who am I kidding? Seattle traffic is always terrible.) I do like to see what books are coming out, who’s doing what; sometimes I even know the authors. That’s fun.

Fast-forward to the current times…Jenny Lawson has a new book out!

And once again she’s going on book tour…but all book tours are virtual now! So I signed up as soon as I got the notice, sent in my money for the book, and waited for the appointed day.

This time, I got to sit in the comfort of my own office, at my own computer, with my own glass of wine (that I hadn’t paid nine dollars for at that spiffy bar across the street from the bookstore). The Zoom event started–and there was Jenny, sitting in the comfort of her own home! I could see her face, her expression, hear every word she said. It was marvelous, fun and funny and, oddly, intimate.

She couldn’t see me, of course, or any of the other hundreds or thousands of Zoomers who had signed up for the event. I don’t know what that’s like for the author, to only see the interviewer and the host; but for the audience, at least for me, I found it delightful. Zoom meetings, and even Zoom family visits or Zoom Happy Hours with friends, can be a little exhausting, with all that continuous eye contact and having to stay right there. But this? It was just a pleasure.

A few months ago, a possibly even more popular (and certainly more reclusive) blogger-with-a-book, Allie Brosh (of Hyperbole and a Half) did one of these Powell’s Zoom events. And you bet I was there, with my glass of wine and comfortable setup. Allie did her interview/reading from a blanket fort in her living room! It was the BEST. (And her new book is hilarious too.)

I don’t mean to imply that I don’t miss bookstores. I do, badly. There is a magic that happens in bookstores–I have discovered more favorites just by wandering through aisles and aisles, at Powell’s and many other bookstores, letting something catch my eye, taking a chance on something new. I want to get back to the days of just dropping into a bookstore for one thing and leaving with a dozen. Or even checking out who has signed “the wall” at downtown Powell’s.

But I do kinda hope that bookstores consider continuing to have virtual author events…for those of us who have moved to remote islands, or even just can’t face driving across a jam-packed city at rush hour.

After all, just because I moved away doesn’t mean I don’t still read books.