7) Bookstores Have to admit, I was quite bummed when Borders began closing their doors. There's still Barnes & Noble and a local chain of book stores to fill the need. Yes, need. Not only do I love getting lost in a story, but I love books themselves. I love the paper, the binding, the dust jackets, the typeface. All of it makes me smile. (All of it, except figuring out where else to put them in my house...I ran out of room a Long time ago!)
And yesterday, I came face to face with Borders' demise. Having run out for a frame for a little something I won a bit ago from Mandy, I was at Michael's. I ran to the store next door for some glucosamine & chondroitin treats for my cat (yes, my cat....she's old and life is a whole lot more fun if you can actually move!). And staring at me from across the large parking lot was Borders.
It was still open, I thought for sure it would be gone by now. I've kind of avoided it since it first started liquidating their stock; all of those wonderful books. But, the yellow & red signs blazed the now 50-70% off everything is being sold at during this location's final days.
I tentatively entered the glass doors.
And you know what? It was really sad. I thought at 50-70% off I would get all excited, do a Happy Dance, stock up on presents. But, all I thought as I walked through the now half empty store is how sad it is to see a bookstore closing.
Do you know how sad it was? So sad that I wandered the whole store for an hour, a whole hour, before I picked up a single book to purchase. Quite a few times I thought I would just walk out with nothing. But, eventually, the prices wore me down. And I walked out with several books bought at unbelievably low prices.
But, it was still sad.
Sad to see a favorite place being washed away. Sad to wonder if there will be book stores that we can walk into, wander the aisles, pull out books, look, see, touch, all while deciding what characters we want to bring into our homes or where we might travel to in the words on the pages or the new knowledge we might learn.
Yes, there are still some bookstores left that we can walk into. Yes, there are libraries, which I love too. Yes, there are still lots of places online to get our book fix in.
Yes, I have an appreciation for e-readers and am even interested in one.
But, I'll always have a love for books with paper pages and saying good-bye to one of my favorite escapes was still sad.
And so that we don't have to say good-bye to anymore bookstores in our near future, go visit one near you. Books make rockin' awesome gifts. At least I think so! :>
I'm on the fence about how I feel about big chain book stores vs. small mom n' pop, and paper/bound books vs. e-readers. I love books themselves, and I love the charm of small stores. But I do also think that large chain stores promote reading to the "masses" which is a good thing. And while I enjoy physically reading a book, I often think of 1)space and 2) environment/trees etc. and how a kindle or nook could save the planet one tree at a time! :)
ReplyDeleteOh I'm so with you girlfriend! I love the feel of pages between my fingers and a closing bookstore is sib-n-sniffle worthy, for sure!
ReplyDeleteI was just thinking about this last night, as I cracked open a book I had grabbed from the communal bookshelf in my condo's gym. People leave books they are finished with there for others to take as they see fit. I probably would never have picked up this book if it hadn't just been lying there. It's not one that was really on my radar.
ReplyDeleteAnd so it dawned on me last night, that it's not just the actual, physical books and their paper pages we will miss, but also the ability to pass on a particular copy from one person to another. That is something I absolutely love about books. When I finish with a particularly juicy, girly, frivolous book, I keep it to pass on to my sister-in-law. And when I finish one that I consider "real literature," I hang on to it for my mom or my mother-in-law.
These scenarios just won't happen if we go totally paperless. And that will be a sad, sad day.
That's definitely worth feeling some level of sadness over. I LOVE bookstores. We don't have Borders here... but there was one in the town I grew up in. They actually converted a bowling alley into Borders when I was in high school! I LOVED that place. I spent a ton of time in there. While I'm not anxious to ever go back to that town (for completely OTHER reasons) I am bummed that, if I ever do, Borders won't be there.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I "get" the e-reader draw... I LOVE the feel of paper in my hands.
I love books and always will no matter that we have e-readers or not.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats holding a hard or soft cover book in your hands as you read and escape into new worlds.
Sad.
I totally agree with you. I like the concept of ereaders, but I'm scared they will be the demise of actual books. I love books.
ReplyDeleteWe love to go to bookstores! My husband and I used to go on dates at Barnes and Noble. It was great to nestle down in a overstuffed chair with a stack of books.
ReplyDeleteMe too, I love bookstores. I used to spend hours, really hours in them when I was living in Europe or in the States. Unfortunately we don't have them where I live now. Sigh. And my reading stopped too. Sigh again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking this post for Sunday Funday buddy! I really love your point of view... and share your bummed outedness over lossing a bookstore. I LOVE book stores.
ReplyDeleteMmmm hmm. I am SO your sister in the love for a real, honest to goodness, hold it in your hand and flip the pages BOOK! E-readers, sorry, but you just don't have the same charm. Great share Karen!
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