March 14, 2011

I want your opinion today.

Last month most book lovers noted the bankruptcy filing by Borders, one of the nation’s largest book store chains. They closed about 200 stores, or 30% of their locations. We keep hearing that bookstores are heading in the same dismal direction as video rental stores or record stores.

Does It Matter?

Over the weekend I read a thought-provoking  article called “The Marketplace of Ideas: Why Bookstores Matter.” It was one man’s answer to the very real possibility that physical bookstores may become a thing of the past with the advent of Amazon, e-readers, and deep discounted books at Wal-Mart.

After quoting several businessmen and business writers on the inevitable demise of the brick-and-mortar bookstores, he talked about why bookstores were critical to him as a reader and a writer–and to our communities.

The whole article is worth reading, but here are a few things he said:

• Being in a bookstore helps me to think. I find that my mind makes connections between authors and books and ideas as I walk along the shelves and look at the tables. When I get a case of writer’s block, I head for a bookstore. The experience of walking among the books is curative.
• Printed books are physical objects that cry out to be handled even before they are read. The physicality of the book is important to the experience of the book itself. The arrangement and order of the words is supreme, but the appearance of the book and the feel of the book in the hand are also part of the reading experience.
•  The loss of the bookstore will mean more than lost opportunities to sell books, however. For the last two centuries and more, bookstores and bookstalls have been centers for the dissemination of culture and ideas. Books are about ideas, and bookstores offer a rare context for meeting other people interested in ideas.

Your Opinion

Is there a “magic in bookstores” for you? How do you feel about bookstores, both the chains and local book shops that are more intimate? Was there a bookstore somewhere in your past that holds great memories for you?

If physical bookstores disappeared–as many are saying they will–what would that mean to you?

Please leave a comment.

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