"What is the dream of book lovers everywhere? To visit the perfect book store, one that stocks only the best of books, where 'best' is defined by the guarantee of a transformative experience via the magical linking of words into sentences into paragraphs into chapters into BOOKS. A place where tables display not the latest products of publishers and marketers but instead the trustworthy choices of other book lovers. A place with couches to sit on, a place with long opening hours and a welcoming staff, a place where customers spend as much time as they want browsing or reading. A place where only good books are sold and no bad choices can be made.... The function of a bookstore is to match lover and loved to ensure the perfect date. The purpose of the bookseller is to provide what we addicts need, and a good bookseller recommends the best stuff to satisfy our love for books."
--Nina Sankovitch, in her Huffington Post review of A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé.
Funny you should write that, as the Internet is providing exactly that which you describe--lots of independent publishers and authors reaching more readers than they ever could in a bookstore. Real readers recommending titles to other real readers, not just people who read one NY Times bestseller over the summer.
ReplyDeleteBut Frankie would never have put couches in for people to read ("That's what libraries are for") and when people stood for hours in the stacks reading, he and Lil would send us down there to straighten things out nearby and gently harass them to leave, so we could find where they had hidden the book they were reading so no one would buy it on them, remember?
Book publishing is a business. It's READING that's the art and the joy. And that you can do anytime, anywhere, anyhow--it's the words that count; the words that create that island of escape and fire the imagination. A nice bookstore is great and fun. But don't focus on the frosting and forget the cake underneath holding it up.
Hia
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to pop by and say thank you so so much for your lovely blog comment on my blog. It is so lovely to know that people are out there reading and enjoying what i blog about. Sometimes I wonder why I do it and then comments like yours make it all worthwhile.
L x