I am still always surprised with how much hope and promise going into a bookstore fills me with – even one that will soon be non-existent. We took a trip over to the soon to be closed Borders last weekend. The “going out of business” signs cluttered the ceilings and fixtures with a forlorn air as shoppers rushed to scoop up great deals – the line longer than I’ve seen at either Borders or Barnes and Noble in a long time. The saddest thing I realized about this trip was that I absolutely contributed it. I actually was making a list of books that I want to read (which I think topped at least 10 books that day) – but I was making that list to go home and purchase on my Kindle.
To be fair, the major reason for this was I still have textbook trade-in cash left on my Amazon account and was too broke to buy regular books to at the moment. I was actually pretty slow to get on the kindle bandwagon. I thought – no these are my books, I want to be able to hold them in my hands when I read! Smell them, bend the pages. Just as I was slow to jump on the iPod wagon. Who needs one of those, I thought. Ha, Ha!
But just as I did with the iPod, I do truly love my kindle. I love not having to hold it open when I’m reading in bed. I love that my cover has a built in light that feeds off of the kindle’s battery. I love that I can have multiple books on it and that the screen looks like an actual book.
But I also will always still love books…just as CDs will always have a fond place in my heart. Memories of stacked CDs cluttering the dining room table as my dad prepared his radio shows will always be a treasured memory and hold a soft spot for me. As will browsing through bookstores – with all the hope and promise of finding a new story to love.
And while after attending so many writers conferences and events over the last few years as well as doing publishing internships – I have had the “e-books vs regular books” “indie bookstores vs. chain bookstores vs. Amazon” conversation more times than I care to count – the truth of the matter is: Times are a changing. Embrace the ebooks or don’t. But the reality is that the way that we read is going to change and evolve quicker than we can imagine – and that’s exciting, scary and bittersweet all at the same time.
So goodbye Borders. Hello new chapter.
Aww I'm gonna miss Borders. But that's the wave of the future, unfortunately. I'm guilty of it, too. I think, though, that there are some books that are difficult to buy as e-books. I didn't buy any ebooks for my classes because it's just so much harder to annotate in the Kindle... so I sucked it up and payed more for the hard copy. (Plus, I want to look like a complete nerd when I have those sorts of books on my shelves! ha ha!)
ReplyDelete