Book shopping, digging through the stacks, picking out one, turning over to survey, opening to scan and smell, moving on... is as physical and aspirational an occupation as working the dirt of a garden.
December last year I and my youngest daughter went to a bookstore while shopping for presents. Wandering the stacks and browsing books I realized that book shopping (not necessarily buying, certainly not just ordering online) was what had been missing from my Christmas preparations. I then felt on some level emotionally ready for Christmas to come: the physicality of bookshopping had been fulfilled.
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When we moved to this small town there was a bookstore in the mall. A chain bookstore opened up with an espresso bar. Then within a short time both bookstores closed. There have been a couple of attempts at running used bookstores in town, but they have gone away also.
Now "local bookstore" means somewhere over an hour away.
Local physical stores of interest (by which I mean lots of used books):
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Confession: Although physical bookstores are so much delight to to explore, I enjoy the convenience of online book shopping also.
Online sellers:
Amazon of course...
AbeBooks the eclectic side of the Amazon Organism
BookShop.org is new to me. It seems to be benevolent but only things in the Ingram catalog are available for sale.
Powell's I include somewhat nostalgically.
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Do you have any favorite bookstores or book shopping memories?
