The State of the Bookstore Address

Today was my day off, and I went to the local Barnes & Noble Cafe to crank out a few hundred words.

Roughly a third of the bookstore had actual books. There's now a huge toy section where movies and music section used to be. The cafe, gifts and calendars make up the rest of the store. I still go for inspiration when I write, to look at copies of so many books I've read, so many I want to read, and so many I'll never have time to read in the probable fifty years I have left on this planet.

I know this is a big box store, but frankly, there's only a Half-Priced Books and a little used bookstore left in our neighborhood.  Even Target and Wal-mart are cutting down their book sections. When I stopped at CVS to pick up prescriptions on the way home, their book rack, which was halved at the beginnng of the year, is being eliminated. The handful of books left were on clearance at 50% off.

Several folks have accused me of being anti-print. That's hardly the case. Looking at the loss of volumes on store shelves saddens me.

Logically, I know current publishing business practices cannot be sustained, and things must change. But paper books were my first friends, and I mourn their loss.