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?
Ahh, that's a beautiful reflection. There is something so incarnational and therefore real about books and going to bookstores to shop, to look around and perhaps find treasures. It's always enjoyable to go to McKay's, which has such a huge number of books and all types of media, just about. It usually takes at least few hours to really appreciate the place and make some good finds. Places like that oughtn't be rushed through; though, since it's well organized, people could probably find what they're looking for relatively quickly.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, we stopped at McKay's for a few hours and the children were given a discretional spending limit of something like $5-10. Added to the delight of looking was the delight (not without a certain weight) at the possibility of bringing home something beautiful from that abundance.
I've been there several times since, and it remains the first bookstore that comes to mind when thinking of places shop in person for books and media.