The Bookstore
The picture has nothing to do with the post. Just doesn't my uncle look like Viggo Mortenson in Eastern Promises? (Yes, the Great Slide Project of 2009 continues.)
So yesterday I went to the bookstore.
I bought . . .
--Present for Oldest Daughter
--Present for father (he doesn't read my blog, so I can tell you it's the entire Ken Burns Jazz series on DVD)
--Presents (three) for Significant Other. Since I am sure he has dyslexia, this involves books on tape
--Presents for Baby Girl
--Present for Oldest Son
I LUSTED after at least ten books and one movie for me. I refrained.
The bookstore was packed.
As I posted on Facebook today, books are like crack to me.
And here's my thought . . .
In the era of everyone declaring books are going to be extinct one day and the era of e-books . . . there are SOME people who are always, and I mean forever, going to lust after that specific experience. A bookstore, for people like me, is never, and I mean NEVER EVER going to be about dashing in and buying one book. Though I knew I have ONE book to buy, I dropped a boatload of Christmas cash. I COULD have walked right to the literature section and bought the ONE book and been done with it. But I can't. Aisles of crack cause me to wander and lose track of time. A bookstore isn't ABOUT single purchases for me. It's about reading back covers of new releases and wandering the science and math aisle (sadly, did not get to do that). It's about looking at covers. And opening coffee tables books. It's about mentally making a list of books I covet.
Will I ever have an e-reader? I think so. What would I put on it? Classics. Big thick science books I can annotate. Research stuff. Some faves. Newspapers or magazines, maybe. Stuff I don't want to schlep when I go to the doctor's office and have to wait--ta da, I could turn on an e-reader. I wouldn't have to bring a whole SECOND bag on vacation to lug my books. I would never worry about not having reading material with me.
Will I ever STOP having my experience of yesterday? Nope. They are two entirely different entities. One is an experience. The other is convenience.
Thoughts? And are people like me the MAJORITY? The minority?
Discuss.
:-)
30 comments:
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, partly becuz I expect to get some sort of e-reader in 2010 (I'm hoping for an Apple tablet, should they actually make one; the rumors are strong). That said, I wonder if we're doing a bit of a disservice to our culture with the possible elimination of book stores. Granted, I don't know if Borders & B&N, et al., will go under. But they might have to significantly downsize in order to stay in existence if everyone's default is to buy an e-book via Amazon, BN.com or the iTunes store. Or they're going to have to emphasize the uniqueness of the experience of wandering aisles of books and coming across unexpected buys. Or not, consider what happened to record stores.
Oh my. I have to STAY AWAY from book stores when I am out now--I already did my shopping. And many, many books are sitting wrapped under the tree. But there are books that I feel like I NEED right now. Not as gifts for other people--for me.
Sometimes it is enough to just BE in the book store. To browse and think and see and read a bit. But right now, in shopping frenzy, I don't think I could resist buying those books if I walked into a store.
And, I know I'll have an e-reader at some point, but nothing will replace physical books and physical book stores for me.
Mark:
I don't have the same experience in a library . . . it's just different, so yeah . . . I would hate to see less bricks and mortar stores.
E
Heather:
I avoid bookstores when I am low on cash. They're just dangerous to me.
E
I hate to acknowledge the demise of bookstores, for my dream has always been to see my debut novel on an actual bookstore shelf. Alas, it'll be a tragic day if e-readers replace paper books and their stores. :(
Ebooks will overtake print books, probably sooner than most people think. But print books will never go away. Did you know that production of vinyl records is on the rise? As long as people like us want books, there will be books.
But bookstores?
I'm with Stephen ... the cold-eyed realist in me asks, "When was the last time you went to a CD store?" In fact, the other day, my wife was in a book store that used to have a large music section. She called, flabbergasted, to say, "There are NO CDs here anymore. The whole music section is now DVDs."
I like book stores, too. Love them, actually, and spent many wonderful hours in my local book store as a kid. But they don't call capitalism the system of "creative destruction" for nothing. My bet is that book stores will become rare species, and if large retailers like B&N want to survive, they'll have to even further change their product mix away from print books.
Kath:
There was a face-out Magickepers . . . have to admit, that is more exciting than an e-book. :-)
Stephen:
I have my dad's old Philco and sometimes still play old jazz on it.
Oh no, not you, too! ;-) My Facebook update was not prompted by your post, I swear. Or the blog I just wrote, LOL.
I would mourn the loss of bookstores, but I am allergic to paper. Well, those teensy-tiny little bugs that live on the paper in books. So I'm done with paper books, even though I love them. I am willing to have multiple asthma attacks to sit in the bookstore once a week, but I can't handle more than that.
But the bookstore is a magical place. It's as close to spiritual rapture as I get. It turns on my heart, mind, body, and soul. I've had mini-orgasms just walking through the front doors of a new bookstore.
If I'm ever rich, I'd build a five-story bookstore with some massive air cleaner so I can spend every day there, and I'd live in a big penthouse suite on the fifth floor. I've worked this out in detail.
This debate is tiring me, like I just said on Natasha's comment on FB. Why does it have to be either? To me, e-books are an OPPORTUNITY, not an exchange. I'll have an ereader at some point in the next couple of years, I have no doubt. The idea of reading in bed with no light on (for my poor sleeping husband) is way appealing. But I also have a wall full of books behind me, which will continue to grow. I love books, all books. Hell, I love reading. To me, books are the physical symbol of reading. But I've read some of my favorite stuff in electronic format and I didn't love it any less.
Lurker:
Ahhh . . . BUT . . . yes, I would comb through Tower records for stuff, but music stores were never really an experiential experience. You could possibly listen to a few tunes on headsets . . . or a sampling, but to me, that's different from a bookstore where any book can be touched, opened, read even. Because most of us never wanted to shell out $15 for a CD we ended up hating, I think few people would go BROWSE a CD store . . . you would go, pick through bargain bins, and then seek out the new x or y release. I think it's a little different.
THAT SAID, I do think the fact that B&N also has games, coffee, food, movies, a kids' section, a manga section . . . it's more stuff to make me linger there and more products than only books. We'll see how they morph.
I hear you, sort of, but I think that the browsing population is a minority I (in answer to your original question). In other words, I don't think there's enough print browsers out there to keep the print industry intact, in its current form. Besides, you can browse e-books, too, the same as you currently browse songs on iTunes by playing clips. The free first chapter, I think, will become a pretty major thing.
You know, I don't even like my own position in this question. But I just don't see any other possible avenue. People who have bet against advancing technology are almost always on the wrong side of history. So I guess I disagree, too, with Starbucks. It is pretty much either or. I don't expect my 4-year-old will grow up in a world dominated by print technology.
Digital books are a disruptive technology, in the same way that automobiles were a disruptive technology. Lots of people loved their horses and hated the new devil wagons, and some people still keep horses for nostalgia's sake, but they are not mass transportation. I haven't seen anything to convince me yet that books aren't the horses of our era.
As for B&N, they originally diversified away from books as a way to bolster sagging revenue. If they can build a retail mix around READING as opposed to BOOKS, perhaps they will remain successful.
I'm with you about bookstores. I usually have a list of books I'm looking for, and sadly over 1/2 are NOT to be found in a brick and mortar store, but end up with three to five extra books.
I finally pried open my wallet and bought the hardcover of THE LAST OLYMPIAN--it was 20% off--and wrapped it for me, from me and lovingly placed it under the tree. :-)
Many of the middle grade books I bought my daughter I'll probably read before she does. And I did pick up a new author because 1) Kristin Nelson has pimped her client on her blog, 2)it was faced out, 3) here writing voice was FANTASTIC and really, really appealed to me.
The book was SOULLESS by Gail Carriger.
I'd like an e-reader, but even when I do, I know I'll want printed books, too. (At first I typed "real" books. lol I guess that shows what I think about them.)
If I bought an ebook and loved it, I know I'd go out and buy the print book, too. My favorite shopping is browsing in a bookstore. Better than shoes or chocolate
Let's not forget, speaking of "modern technology," that the rise of texting, emailing and voicemails, has begun the destruction of communication in live settings. Not to be the Debbie Downer of modern tech, but I've noticed that face to face communicating is turning into an art form practiced by few.
This is why I cringe when people bring the gloom and doom that comes with the loss of book stores (and I think I'm being "Debbie Downer?"). Electronic this, that and the other thing are taking away the simple pleasures that used to be an unconscious and necessary function of humanity.
I hope people like you are the majority, because I'm like you and I don't want to have to give up my books.
I love my Kindle, but it never makes me cappuccino.
I've converted to e books, mostly because it made my house so much neater. There used to be books everywhere. Plus, I'd buy books for the future, forget I bought them, and they'd be buried under a pile somewhere. Now I can scan my Kindle and see what's new on the menu. It's pretty handy.
I look bookstores - I find them incredibly inspiring. At some point I will probably get an e-reader, but there will always be some books I have to have in print. There is something about the texture of the page and the smell of a brand new book.
I love book stores -- the sights and sounds and smells of them -- and I have stacks of books around the house waiting to be read -- almost in every room. Yet, I covet an e-reader. I love the idea of everything I want to reader in one place -- but I also think I'd want physical books that were special to me so I could hold them, run my hands over the covers, fan the pages and if I'm lucky - have it signed by the author. That's the best in my book. HA!
magolla:
I love gifting books, too.
E
Natasha:
If I hit a lottery, I would have a massive library and live in it. :-)
Starbucks:
I don't consider it an either/or, though I do believe bookstores will dwindle. I wonder if at that point, indies will surge and make some sort of comeback.
E
Edie:
I think I would have both, too. I don't know. If I get an e-reader . . . and I presume at some point I will, I guess I will have to see.
kath:
I see it both helping and hurting . . . I have made so many amazing friends via technology. But it also enables me to be even more of a hermit.
E
FF:
:-)
Robin:
A kindle that made coffee would be amazing. LOL!
Andine:
I am with you. Also, I like some classics, like The Little Prince . . . it wouldn't be the same on the Kindle.
Amy:
I, too, like the idea of fitting a library in something I can carry with me.
I used to like going into a bookstore. I probably still would. But I haven't been in one in years. Between ordering books online, and reading ebooks, I gradually stopped going. It's not because I found the online experience better, just more compatible with my whims and poor memory.
Of course I could have just made a note in my PDA - that's supposed to be what they're for ;-)
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