I love this New Yorker post on bookstores. But it is a love speckled with the mildew of guilt. Before we go there, let’s sigh at the beauty.
The post includes drawings of favorite bookstores of New York, along with little narratives about each store.
Here is my favorite one:
Wouldn’t that be awesome to be in a bookstore, browsing a shelf of your favorite author, and then discovering that author standing right next to you?
You might notice that some of these paintings include dates, sort of like tombstone dates. Gulp. (Cue uncomfortable sweating.)
Then you get to the last photo and the line, “This second time, there was no happy ending.”
(I reach for the tissue box that is just to the left of my iPad.)
I cannot remember the last time I purchased a hard copy book. The hard copy books I have read in the last 12 months have all been gifts or loaners.
Buying and reading books on a tablet device is so convenient. Most books are readily available (unless published by Hachette). The prices are affordable enough to feed a reading habit like mine. I can carry one small item in a purse that stores multiple books for a week’s vacation.
Here’s the guilt. I know that this convenience comes at a cost that we don’t often see.
Besides the social costs of losing independent bookstores and squeezing small publishers, I think there is a family cost as well.
When I read a hard copy book, my children see me reading a book. After I’m done, the book goes on the shelf. “Model the way” is a leadership behavior that also applies to raising a family. I want my children to be readers, and I want them to see me reading. I want them to be curious about the books on our shelves.
Does all this mean I will give up my e-books? No. I won’t volunteer to pay double or more for hard copy books. Also, we don’t have the space.
However, I might just wander over to our neighborhood bookstore this weekend and pick up a novel to read at the beach.
Do you prefer reading books or e-readers? Do you have any guilt about that choice, or is that just me?