for the love of book glue
I keep hearing that paper books and brick and mortar stores are going the way of the dinosaur. If this is true, I don't believe it's because of us readers.
I stopped by a little Mom and Pop bookstore yesterday in my daughter's college town. That place was jam-packed full of books, and the isles were full of happy readers, not sitting around drinking coffee either, but actually browsing the shelves and buying books. I found Robin McKinley books that I haven't been able to find even at Barnes & Noble. I found the latest YA releases. I found old classics and current bestsellers. And this in a fraction of the space allowed the big chain stores.
I don't believe e-books are a bad thing, but I don't believe they have to replace tree-books. And I don't believe Amazon has to replace the old fashioned bookstore. I think consumers enjoy browsing the real wood shelves, pulling books down and flipping through the pages, and getting high from all that glue.
There were glue-happy old ladies in that store talking about their love of paper books; how they take notes as they read so they can remember what they want to talk about at their next book club meeting. There was a group of teenagers, boys and girls, holed up in front of the YA section, oohing and awing over the books they were passing around. They were strangers to me, but when my daughter and I couldn't decide whether to buy a certain book, one of the teens spoke up and assured us she'd read it, as well as all the others in the series, and that it was really good. Then we discussed a bunch of other books, including "Holes" by Louis Sachar. She said she'd read it about ten times, and convinced me that I need to read it too.
There was a pack of little kids in there too, their eyes big as they tried to decide on just one. They are the future readers and writers, so it did my heart good to see them so excited.
It seems to me that more people are reading now than ever before. I don't believe they want paper books to go away, and I don't believe the bookstores have to die. We, the people, have the power to keep them alive. But we have to exercise that power. We have to spend our money in stores like this one.
My daughter and I came out of there with three new books and a job between us. Daughter told the owners she's an English major looking for a job for the school year, and that she's always wanted to work in a bookstore. They hired her on the spot.
I stopped by a little Mom and Pop bookstore yesterday in my daughter's college town. That place was jam-packed full of books, and the isles were full of happy readers, not sitting around drinking coffee either, but actually browsing the shelves and buying books. I found Robin McKinley books that I haven't been able to find even at Barnes & Noble. I found the latest YA releases. I found old classics and current bestsellers. And this in a fraction of the space allowed the big chain stores.
I don't believe e-books are a bad thing, but I don't believe they have to replace tree-books. And I don't believe Amazon has to replace the old fashioned bookstore. I think consumers enjoy browsing the real wood shelves, pulling books down and flipping through the pages, and getting high from all that glue.
There were glue-happy old ladies in that store talking about their love of paper books; how they take notes as they read so they can remember what they want to talk about at their next book club meeting. There was a group of teenagers, boys and girls, holed up in front of the YA section, oohing and awing over the books they were passing around. They were strangers to me, but when my daughter and I couldn't decide whether to buy a certain book, one of the teens spoke up and assured us she'd read it, as well as all the others in the series, and that it was really good. Then we discussed a bunch of other books, including "Holes" by Louis Sachar. She said she'd read it about ten times, and convinced me that I need to read it too.
There was a pack of little kids in there too, their eyes big as they tried to decide on just one. They are the future readers and writers, so it did my heart good to see them so excited.
It seems to me that more people are reading now than ever before. I don't believe they want paper books to go away, and I don't believe the bookstores have to die. We, the people, have the power to keep them alive. But we have to exercise that power. We have to spend our money in stores like this one.
My daughter and I came out of there with three new books and a job between us. Daughter told the owners she's an English major looking for a job for the school year, and that she's always wanted to work in a bookstore. They hired her on the spot.