books

Thank you for posting this, I had no idea. Seems like maybe it might be a good day to garner some inspiration from these gifts.

According to a Publisher's Weekly article about National Bookstore Day, 10% of independent bookstores is 200. That means that there are only 2,000 independent bookstores left in this country. While I love browsing through the science fiction and computer book sections of Barnes & Noble, and love the discounts at Amazon as well, it saddens me that between the two of them and the pulp fiction section at Wal-Mart so much damage has been done to the independent bookstore industry in this country.

I think we should all go to an independent bookstore today and see if there's something there that really grabs us and makes us want to buy it. If so, pony up the dollars, and support your local bookseller. I don't want that number to drop from 2K to a pathetic 1K across the country. We're already down to a paltry average of 40 independent bookstores per state, and most of those are probably in California and Washington.

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Support my very favorite local bookstore by checking out Anthology bookstore on 4th street here in Loveland! That is also where the coffee tree is located, and boasts the best coffee in town. They have a huge used section, will exchange your old books for credit, they donate to charity the books they cant use AND you can order anything new through them. I really want to see their business do well!

"Without freedom, no art; art lives only on the restraints it imposes on itself, and dies of all others."
— Albert Camus

Well . . . I swung by Reader's Cove, in the shopping center that also houses Guitar Center near Lemay and Harmony. I picked up a copy of some random Robin Hobb book, because a friend of a friend said something about Hobb writing "intelligent" fantasy a yearish ago, whatever that means. I think there's a write-in scheduled at Reader's Cove and/or its attached coffee shop this month.

I wasn't the world's largest fan of Reader's Cove when it first opened, because its selection was pretty uninteresting, and when they eliminated the RPG section it got even less interesting, but they've since added a crapload of used books to their shelves -- many of which are at least somewhat interesting. It's much more attractive to me now, which is nice, because it's an easy walk from where I live.

all original text licensed OWL [ http://owl.apotheon.org ]

There are quite a few really good indie bookstores around here. I agree Anthology in Loveland is my favorite, and they've really spruced it up over the past year. Loveland also has Book Haven (but you can't get their stickers off the books!). Then Fort Collins has Old Firehouse Books (used to be a Book Rack), and Book Lovers by the Barnes and Noble, and Reader's Cove down on Harmony.

If there's only 2,000 left in the country, surely we're hoarding more than our fair share. :)

I wonder if that count includes what I consider "borderline" indie bookstores, like Probasco's Wigs and Bibles, or City Newsstand that has some books but mostly magazines, or non-chain Christian bookstores, or comic or gaming shops that also carry some books.

Actually, I've been thinking about it, and I suspect that 2000 number is probably just based on the number of American Booksellers Association bookstores, rather than being a truly comprehensive number. I don't actually know whether any of the independent bookstores in Fort Collins are ABA members at all. Perhaps things aren't as dire as it at first seemed.

Still, as much as I like Amazon's discounts and Barnes & Noble's selection of physical books I can actually touch before buying, I also like having independent, locally owned bookstores around, and they are somewhat endangered even if not as much as I feared when I arrived at that 2K number.

all original text licensed OWL [ http://owl.apotheon.org ]