Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Let's Hear It for Locally Owned Bookstores!!
I absolutely don't understand why people are buying those horble e-reader things. Borders is gone, Barnes & Noble is going. Are the people who own stock in these places so hungry for profit that they'll kill bookstores to make it?? Or are people so old and feeble they can't carry a big book? (Fine...read a small one on the bus or metro.) Dear, locally owned Kramerbooks & After Words is still here and still on its feet (I hope). I'm going to patronize their cafe more often. When I worked at the Mt. Vernon General, it did not have a liquor license. The owner said he didn't want one because he couldn't stand drunks. But he also said that a restaurant makes its money selling liquor, not food. (This was shortly before they went out of business.) Maybe Kramerbooks is thriving because of its cafe (which has a liquor license)? People go there to buy books, eat, and drink, in that order. I'm going to start buying books there every week. And I'm going to eat there once a week, too--the food is GREAT! And have a shot of Auld Frothingslosh. Sounds like a recipe for happiness to me! I will never get too old to carry my own book and read it. That's what backpacks are for.
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Works for me!!! Border's is the only bookstore left here and it makes me angry! I still prefer REAL books and don't need no stinkin' kindle or whatever! I'm a Luddite and damned proud!
ReplyDeletePeople I know who LOVE books are raving about the new Kindle. I'm not convinced myself . . . I love books and don't know if I can change.
ReplyDeleteTimes are changing - independent record stores are going fast. Magazines are folding quickly, I fear we are going to lose the dear book store soon too. Will libraries be next?
Kay: Who knew wanting to read actual books would make us Luddites?? Pisses me off that people can't see the value of a bookstore. They are magical places for me, and I love them all.
ReplyDeletePeggy: We've been sold a bill of goods. Libraries are ALREADY going (shorter hours, fewer days), and our US politicians are even threatening to close public schools! Do you think people like this care one whit about the # of trees saved by going digital? (one of the arguments trotted out.) All they care about is making money with the least cost--and effort--involved. What gets me is that by far the majority of people reading those things on the metro are OLD LADIES. Granted some of them are painfully afflicted with arthritis and find the e-reader's light weight a blessing. I say, if a book is too heavy to carry, take a magazine! They're cheaper and the content is fresher.
They serve Auld Frothingslosh? Really? Pour me a double.
ReplyDeleteI have never used an e book reader and probably never will. I can't afford to buy books and anyway I have no storage room. I go on my bike to the Public Library (or in my car if its raining, don't want to get the books wet) and take a couple of books out every couple of weeks.
Shammy: Sigh...I know I'm sounding very JUDGMENTAL and INTOLERANT and all (very Mary Ellenish, actually). So I think I will switch my focus to my great love of the physical book. Maybe I'll even go back to making them myself. Be that as it may, I have acquired a NEW BOOK today, and it's of course from Kramerbooks. It cost a little more than I can usually spend, so there was no food or drink consumed--not even a wee jar of Auld Frothingslosh! Maybe I'll go downstairs and have the last shot left in my private stock! If you were here, I'd give it to you, though, and pour myself a slug of cheap gin.
ReplyDeleteFrom afar, let's raise our glasses to books and all the joy they've brought us!!
Here's two cents from the family public librarian: I still love "real" books, but I also love my Nook. So nice to know I can take a pile of books on my upcoming trip to Europe and won't have to pack a lot of extra weight! There's room in my heart for both kinds. p.s. my library loans e-books, too. For free. --The D.N.
ReplyDeleteDN: why would you want to take a pile of BOOKS to europe??!! in case you get bored??? you could save even more airfare and luggage fees by taking a photo of dan and leaving the real mccoy (mcgowan) at home...?
ReplyDeletetake a notebook and good pen and a camera. record all your impressions and questions and important data. when you get to your room at night, you'll be too tired to READ, but you'll bring back priceless memories.
XE: Because you have to sit on a plane there and back for a very long time. I always need a buffet of stuff to read, so a Nook is a great way to pack one!
ReplyDeleteI love books -- real and electronic, so have at me! When I retired and set up my home office, I had limited book space. So I kept the beloved books that I've read more than once, and will probably read again, and gave the rest to Goodwill. I also have a Nook and it's loaded with public domain classics, familiar and not so familiar, that I found on Project Gutenberg. I also regularly borrow e-books from the DC Public Library, which has a great collection. I too load up my Nook when I go on a trip, and I tuck it in my camera backpack so I can go with just carry-ons. I love the feel of a book in my hands, but I also like reading my Nook in bed on a cold night where I only have to press the button right where I'm holding it so I won't let the heat out from under the covers by moving my arm to turn a page! The height of laziness maybe, but now I've got it all ways, and I like it like that.
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