Bookstore magic

The magic of bookstores is disappearing. Yesterday, Borders filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced that it would be closing more than 200 stores. Although the bankruptcy and store closings have been on the horizon for some time, I’m surprised by the feelings of loss I’m experiencing.

As a child, any place where I could be surrounded by books felt magical. It started with trips to the local library when I was a little girl. The library was the most wonderful place in my small town. The librarians smiled indulgently as I dragged big bags of books in and out of the library throughout my childhood and young-adult years, determined to read my way through that library.

Then I “graduated” to bookstores. First it was Waldenbooks at the nearby mall. Although the store was smaller than my library, it had the newest books and I didn’t have to wait until someone else was done before I could look at them or read them. Waldenbooks also carried books of a more ... um... earthy nature ... that the well-meaning, elderly-widow librarians in my hometown library would never have allowed on the shelves.  

Bookstores offered me complete reading freedom, limited only by my time or my pocketbook, and I went into every one that I came across. Then, book superstores appeared. I had never envisioned anything like Borders or Barnes & Noble. It had never occurred to me that someday I would be able to shop in what seemed like a book farm--endless acres of books as far as the eye could see. (It definitely never occurred to me that I would be allowed to drink coffee while I handled new books! After all, I was well-drilled in book etiquette by those hometown librarians.) And while I dearly appreciated what independent bookstores had to offer, the sheer number of books available in a Borders or Barnes & Noble almost brought me to my knees in grateful thanks.  

So when I heard that Borders was closing 30 percent of its bookstores, I really felt sad. It’s another harbinger of changes to come. We’ve watched hundreds of independent bookstores close; now one of the big chains is faltering. Digital book downloads are rapidly increasing and digital readers are flying off the shelves. But having millions of digital books available to download is nothing like being surrounded by the magic of thousands of books. I think what makes me saddest of all is that if these trends continue, future generations will never experience the magical "bookstore feeling" that I treasure to this day.

Maybe I’m just panicking unnecessarily. What do you think? Are bookstores going to be a thing of the past?

Comments

Want to leave a comment? Login or register for an account to join our online community!
 
 
AvidReader&Writer wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Thu, Feb 17 2011 8:34 PM

As a child I was just like you I was always in a bookstore or library. When I go into  Barnes & Noble now, I get a certain feeling of magic and to be surrounded by so many great authors. I definitely understand what you mean about the feel of a bookstore. I hope that future generations will experience a bookstore. I have an e-reader and I do enjoy it a lot when I'm traveling. I could never give up the feel of holding a book. To open a book is priceless to me.  

 
 
 
Martha Lundin wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Fri, Feb 18 2011 2:31 PM

AvidReader&Writer ~

Thank you for your comment. I haven't used an e-reader yet, but I can see the advantages of having one for traveling! I just hope that we can continue to enjoy the sensory experience of choosing physical books in a library or bookstore.

Martha

 
 
 
mother's happy child wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Sat, Feb 19 2011 8:13 PM

Hi Martha and AvidReader&Writer,

I love books - I always have.  I took time out this evening just to count the books on my bookshelves - I stopped after reaching 300. Over the last couple of years I've averaged reading approximately 20 books a year.  That may not seem like a lot of books to read to some, but to me, it's a vast improvement over previous years.  

My book topics range from Charlie Browns 'cyclopedia (Funk and Wagnalls, Inc.), The Family Treasury of Children's Stories, Richard Bach, Shakti Gawain, Poems That Touch the Heart, Joyce Carol Oats, Steven Covey, Lee and Bob Woodward, Parker, Kellerman, Friedman, Brown, Sparks, Cornwell, Lessing, Miller's Antique Price Guide, The Grammar Lady as well as the Writers Market and just about everything in between.  Most of my books I purchased from the local franchise bookstore.

My point being that I like to feel a book in my hands. When it's a new book from a bookstore, its almost like an aphrodisiac - an excitement - I get to smell the newness of the outside of the whole book before I even open the first page.  Then I slowly run my fingers along the outside covers, across the top, side and bottom edges of the pages, all smooth and new and waiting to be handled.  After I'm done inhaling the freshness of the outside jacket, I open to the first page and gently start the process all over again. I have a sense of ownership now - this is my book!  

You can not do that with an e-reader. I sincerely hope the bookstores - local and/or franchise - will stay in business for as long as I'm alive. I too hope future generations experience the "magical bookstore feeling."  

Mother's Happy Child

 
 
 
AvidReader&Writer wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Mon, Feb 21 2011 2:44 PM

Hi Mother's Happy Child

I could not have said it any better! I get the same excitement when I open a book. I went to a book store today and I was like a kid in a candy store. I do have an e-reader but I find myself with more books then before my e-reader. I also did a book count 213. It will continue to grow. On my e-reader I have 79 books but I only use it for travel nothing more. Bookstores truly have a magical feeling.

Avid Reader & Writer

 
 
 
jb92804 wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Tue, Feb 22 2011 12:41 PM

    Bookstores and libraries are magical places. Go to a bookstore or library and just sit and look at all of the books that are surrounding you. It gives me the feeling of an explorer in a never seen before land. Countless adventures waiting on the shelves. Being able to see the many books around me and be able to touch them makes the stories come alive in my imagination even before I've taken the book off the shelf.

    I have been thinking about getting an e-reader for a while. I have looked at them and there is no doubt it would be handy to have one thousand books on one handy little electronic device. That is one of the biggest problems with e-readers, they are electronic devices. A book is pretty much a maintenance free device. A book doesn't need software updates, batteries, WiFi or 3G, you just pick it up and read it. I look forward to having a few hours of solitude from the technology that I'm surrounded by everyday. It's nice just to turn off the phone, computer, TV, and sit and read a good lowtech book.

 
 
 
Sweetie-Pie wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Wed, Feb 23 2011 12:20 PM

I wouldn't want book-stores to go out of style.  I agree with all of you about the power of a new book; the thrill of just going into a book store and browsing all those books!  As for e-books, I too can see the value for traveling but I still want the feel of the book in my hand; therefore I have yet to get a Kindle or other e-book.

 
 
 
Martha Lundin wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Wed, Feb 23 2011 1:09 PM

I'm glad to see that there are people who still value libraries, bookstores and actual books. I guess it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that we need to make sure we're using our purchasing power in bookstores and using the library, too!

 
 
 
Sweetjessy wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Tue, Mar 8 2011 8:59 AM

My mother introduced me to book ownership at a young age with my first Nancy Drew (The Ghost of Blackwood Hall).  I was hooked.  The heft of an unread book in my hands, the crispness of pages yet unturned, the adventures within.  I will never buy a Kindle, Nook or any other electronic reader.  Must everything be immediate, electronic and battery operated?  When everything is at your fingertips RIGHT NOW, the sweetness of anticipation is lost.  I will always go to bookstores and I will always buy books.  That's a promise to myself.

 
 
 
Martha Lundin wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Tue, Mar 8 2011 5:13 PM

Hi, Sweetjessy! Nancy Drew was one of my childhood favorites, too -- the first series I ever read. My mother gave me two or three Nancy Drew books she had as a child in the late 1930s/early 1940s. From then on, I haunted both the library and Waldenbooks to find the Nancy Drews I hadn't read yet. I think I fell in love with bookstores, book series, and mysteries all at the same time! I doubt that would have happened if I had been downloading Nancy Drew books to my electronic reader. Thanks for your comment.

 
 
 
MrsFish wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Wed, Mar 9 2011 11:36 AM

I, too, am saddened that Borders is closing a lot of its stores.  I get excited just seeing signs for Borders or Barnes & Noble.

I really hope bookstores won't be a thing of the past.  I really hope the digital reader fad is just that and people will realize there is nothign like cracking open a brand new book (or even a used one for that matter).  I stare at a computer screen all day, the last thing I want to do when I read my favorite books is read them on a silly screen!

 
 
 
artGypsy wrote re: Bookstore magic
on Thu, Mar 17 2011 2:09 PM

As a reader I prefer to be able to read without electricity. To handle a book and even write in it because it is mine, because I bought it at a bookstore I spent hours in, is never going to be replaced by an object that you keep having to put money into (via buying electricity).

Will literacy again become something only a person of financial means can afford to own?

Also I find that I actually buy more books from having the bookstore experience, by walking around and touching them, than I do online. Online I do not explore outside of the original reason I went to find reading material.

So I actually spend more money in a bookstore than I ever will digitally, just by adding the element of touch to the experience.

 
Copyright © 2010 Kalmbach Publishing Co.
Powered by Community Server (Commercial Edition), by Telligent Systems
Subscriber & Member Login
E-mail:
Password:
Remember me
Welcome to WriterMag.com!
Free Newsletter
Get our free newsletter
Search our Community
in
Syndication
Recent Posts
http://cs.writermag.com/wrtcs/blogs/staff_blog/archive/2011/02/17/bookstore-magic.aspx
cs.writermag.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2013-20
135440
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:H2RL6SDKWOGXBRUJYMNI2RIU3CJMCV7X
<urn:uuid:a38032f3-767b-405b-99a4-47147d94d6c6>
2013-05-23T15:59:55Z
173.226.48.77
sha1:HF5RNYVBDCA3H4UG3XXJZBHDFCCWIMSJ
<urn:uuid:37b751ec-25ea-4f6f-bb8d-ef15dd5b7316>
http://cs.writermag.com/wrtcs/blogs/staff_blog/archive/2011/02/17/bookstore-magic.aspx
response
<urn:uuid:288ffa26-9b2d-41fa-906e-cde4ad54a5da>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-60-113-184.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2013-20
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for Spring 2013
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf