Book Stores Are My Crack

My friend Jennifer discovered a new bookstore in her hometown. Its now on my list of places to go at some point this year, because, I always need more books. I mean it isn't as if I don't subscribe to 4 Harlequin lines, BOMC2 and visit Walmart, Target and Goodwill frequently!

I have books piling up EVERYWHERE!

I've bought Itso cubes at Target to house some of them and little plastic baskets at the Dollar Store.

It is a sickness.

But I love book stores, even when I'm not buying anything. I love to walk through the shelves, read the blurbs and write down potential future purchases on scraps of paper. I can spend hours in Barnes and Noble or Books-A-Million, just BROWSING! The only thing I might enjoy as much is going to a real music store, the kind that really don't exist much anymore. I think music is probably my next largest obsession, though at the state of the industry I haven't been buying much because there is so much lousy stuff out there. That, of course, means more money for books.

Libraries for some reason don't hold the same power over me. Maybe it is because budget cuts have really affected my local libraries so much that it is hardly worth stopping in. I do have found memories of checking out most of the Jean Plaidy books from Monessen Library, and the ones I didn't read there, I read from John K. Tener Library in Charleroi. I loved getting the calls that a book I was on a waiting list had come in. I can't remember the last time I was in the library. It has to be more than 3 years. It kind of makes me sad that that's the case, but then again it is hard to justify bringing books home when I have a houseful that I need to read.

Books-A-Million has to be my favorite book store now. I have to admit, I miss the smaller stores, but these huge places rock my world so much, especially with their sales and coupons and bargain areas.

I just wish there were more used book stores in my area. When I was younger there was one in an old barn in Ruffsdale that we went to on the weekends. Oh how I loved that place. There was even one in my hometown. Now, nothing. However my hair salon has a book swap shelf, that's very cool. I've found a lot of great reads there. Plus I could drop off a few books for their shelf, therefore spreading the book love all around the universe!

So what stores do you go to for your book fix?

The Future Of Libraries

What is going to happen to libraries as eReaders become more and more the rage? I find this troubling, even though I love that there is now a technology that should keep most books in print forever.

If libraries lend eBooks, then what is the fate of print media or for that matter digital sales. Why would you buy a download for a book when you could borrow it?

Now don't get me wrong. I love technology, but life would be so empty if everything became digital. Music is now on invisible files that you transfer to your iPods. Books are slowly going that way. More digital books were sold after Christmas on Amazon then actual books.

I don't know why, but I find that just a bit depressing.

When did it become unnecessary to have something tangible?

Maybe I'm old fashioned. I love holding books. I love the smell of a book. I love combing the shelves in stores and libraries for something good to read. If all that had to be done by logging on to a website on my computer or on a device of some sort I think just a little bit of the fun in life would go away.