Yesterday I did tasks and then ran away from home. I went exploring down roads I know and then went further. I found some hidden parks in the hills, covered in the remaining bright colors of the season’s rain. I will need to go back to investigate soon.
Before I went exploring I went to the last local remaining bookstore, part of a chain, complete with coffee and magazines and places to sit. There is a children’s section, music section, audio books, crime and SciFi fiction, manga, and novels old and new. Of course, there is history and politics and travel and nature and art and crafts. Lots of stuff.
I haven’t been in a bookstore for awhile. I tend to head to the local library, and that in itself is a wonderful resource, and ours is especially nice. However, what does a bookstore have that a library does not? A bunch of new books recently published. It’s a feast for the brain and the eye – wandering around and looking at notes posted on the shelves with thoughts from staff and buyers about them, spying colorful titles or interesting titles.
With the onslaught of online buying, the bookstore is facing extinction, whether national chains or locally owned. Libraries are also being challenged with some US states authorizing the persecution and prosecution of librarians who allow books deemed unfit by a few for the delicate eyes and ears of children to be purchased or checked out. School libraries face the same issue.
Nothing like censorship to ruin good things. Some places have also had to ban the Bible, which is funny and ironic, because most of the censoring is being pursued by the religious right. I am surprised that bookstores aren’t being boycotted and persecuted, too. Or Amazon.
So, back to bookstores. I had forgotten how wonderful it is to just wander and look, and think, and consider what is currently out there. Bookstores are a valuable community resource and should be supported. It’s a blessing to live near one as well as to have libraries – cherish them while you can as they could disappear in your lifetime.
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
I miss bookstores. I know some still exist, but in this digital age I am now able to not own books yet still read them, thanks to apps. Books are take lots of space, and are heavy and hard to move. I don’t miss owning them.
Like you, I don’t miss owning a lot of books – but some books are best in print, such as art books. The Kindle has made owning novels and fun reads easy. Going to the bookstore showed me a couple or so books that piqued my interest and I had never seen nor heard of them online. One I ordered as a digital read and the another I bought as a realio 3D book!
Sites like Alibris let you shop on-line AND support a bookstore (somewhere.)
Good point – I have used their services! Thanks for the reminder, Laura Kate.