Bulletin No. 1, 2015

Literacy Culture on and beyond Campus  9  comfortable, without the dirty, messy, dark and uninviting chaos of old-style used bookstores. Besides books, it also sells consignment items of local artists. In bookstores that sell new books, new arrivals and bestsellers are displayed on feature tables at prominent spots. Used bookstores are different. Their owners display and promote books to readers according to their interest. These bookstores have their own characters. When Timing Bookstore first opened, it arranged books by the colour of their spines rather than their content. The intent was to change reading habits, but the bookstore received criticism for ignoring the contents. Now most of the books have been rearranged by subject. Un l i ke b i g book s to r e cha i ns , many independent bookstores are run not merely for profit, but in pursuit of certain ideals. Some devote themselves to social issues, some serve as a community or cultural hub. The Timing team has an ‘experiment group’ responsible for the ideas of reading experiments. For instance, ‘Blind Date’ wherein a book is wrapped with only a sentence from it written on the cover. The exercise is meant to enable people and books to meet by chance and create oppor tunities for reading something unexpected. ‘Suspended Books’ invites people to buy a book for the next visitor; ‘Small Podium’ allows people to meet regularly to share their knowledge; ‘Flash Mob Poem Reading’, co-organized with ToloPoem, features live music and readings of poems about food in the College’s communal dining hall. These experiments greatly enrich the possibility of reading and set Timing apart from other bookstores. Perhaps starting a bookstore itself is an experiment that explores the significance and value of a brick-and-mortar used book s t o r e i n t he ag e when on l i ne bookstores and e-books are making big inroads into the publication market. Lee Tsz-ming Lee Ting-hin