Reading, we're told, is fundamental. Since the era of printed books began almost 600 years ago, booksellers and their stores followed on the heels of scribes and their shopfronts. Now, we live in an era when digital information is vended wirelessly and light-only copies of books appear on the screens of our various devices from desktop computers, tablets, and phones. The latest in reading pleasure is "reading on a cloud" where you never have to possess the material, it just passes in front of your eyes, stored somewhere out there in the heavens.
Struggling to remain part of the literary landscape is the independent bookstore, that quirky entity run by some curmudgeonly moth-eaten guy, or operated by a practicing wiccan, or manned by a barefoot glasses-wearing vague resembler of a human being, all of whom know everything there is to know about the mystery genre, or sci-fi and fantasy, or can put his or her finger on that rare out-of-print edition no one else can.
The standardized mall-based general purveyor of books is a dinosaur, rapidly becoming extinct. Almost without exception, the only bookstores that survive in America now are those special independent ones, tucked into what once was a 1950s era motel, or a made over orphanage, or a re-purposed other relic of a bygone age, the full service gas station. But one chain of nationwide bookstores that try to emulate the neighborhood feel of the cozy community book shop remains.
The question then is -- For how long will they continue? Do we measure in years, decades, or only a matter of months the rapid decline into oblivion of the tree book seller? Realistically, it's probably more a matter of when than if the disappearance of such businesses will occur.
Then all we will be left with is our memories of that corner store, its wide and low windows dressed with enticing displays of the latest hardbacks wearing their colorful covers. No more will we know the concentrated power of inhaled new and old book fumes, that rarified combination of ink, acid-free paper, glue, wood, and when used books are the primary stock-in-trade, the scent of decomposing processed wood pulp, dust, and musty mildewed leather. e-Books are odorless; reading devices smell only of sterile plastic, when new, and the barest link to the past our noses can recognize is the aroma of a well tanned hide that protects our Kindles from the slings and arrows of the 21st C. environment.
But, for all this, here and there, scattered to the winds by the storms of a changing technology, remain a few representatives of the by-going era -- the independent bookstore.
I am fortunate to live near one of the best of those in the world. Books & Books, owned by Mitchell Kaplan, who founded and directs the annual Miami Book Fair International, of which I wrote a series of diaries about my encounters with authors there. Mitch is tall, thin, doe-eyed, possesses a head of curly, now graying (am I really that old?) hair, and a bright smile buried somewhere in a full beard. His voice is low, moderately husky, and warm. His memory for his customer's tastes is prodigious. His business acumen is unsurpassed among book retailers. What was once a straightforward books only business now has expanded to include coffee shops and restaurants on the premises. He is doing everything in his power to keep physical books available to the consumer. It just may be, that Books & Books is one of the last still successful largish independent bookstores that exist.
For years, I have loved dropping in Books & Books that long occupied a smallish Spanish style building on the corner of Aragon Ave. in Coral Gables. Small rooms led one into the other, a narrow staircase wound to the second floor where antique and rare books could be found, along with the massive picture and art books, ungracefully termed, "coffee table books." The second story wooden floor creaked alarmingly when you walked from table to shelves, browsing the evening away. Below, in a book lined room, authors came and went several nights a week, giving readings, autographing copies of their latest work, sometimes to a handful of attendees, other times to SRO crowds. [Tonight, as you on the East Coast read this, Michael Ondaatje will be talking about his new book, The Cat's Table.] Then a branch was opened on Lincoln Rd. in Miami Beach. Another at Miami International Airport. Now I see, Books & Books has gone international, with a store having opened in the Caribbean on Grand Cayman. And in other nooks and crannies around SoFla.
The once tiny, old-fashioned book shop I grew old with is now a regional chain, but still fiercely and proudly independent. The staff still knows its customer, personally, and remains on the look-out for what our interests are. They make recommendations to us that once were delivered by a telephone call but are now viewable online. Books & Books has undeniably changed from what I fondly remember; it is shedding its past business model about as rapidly as my memory of the original fades. But I love it still and cherish the knowledge that there remains a there there where I can go to touch, chat, inhale, and brush up against a fellow browser as we squeeze past one another in a book packed corner.
I suspect that many of you have favorite independent bookstores that you patronize. Or, sadly, you may have only memories of one. Even rarer, you may know of a new independent bookstore opening in your area such as the Maple Street Book Shop in New Orleans that just opened two new branches. Whatever the case, please tell me about your favorite independent bookstore either from your past or present, your best memories of it, and what you most enjoy about going there.
Salon put together a slide show of "America's Beloved Independent Bookstores." See if yours is among them!
'Tis the Season
Because it's That Time of Year, you may be wondering what's the best book I can buy for Uncle Ned or, on the other hand, someone you really like. To help you out, Publisher's Weekly has just listed its selections for the Best Books of 2011, and I have to say, they're great choices!
So, take a look and see if one of these isn't exactly what you know your special gift list recipient wants.
Readers & Book Lovers Series Schedule
DAY |
TIME (EST/EDT) |
Series Name |
Editor(s) |
SUN |
3:00 PM (intermittent) |
The Magic Theater |
ArkDem14 |
SUN |
6:00 PM |
Young Reader's Pavilion |
The Book Bear |
SUN |
9:30 PM |
SciFi/Fantasy Book Club |
quarkstomper |
MON |
7:00 PM |
Monday Murder Mystery |
Susan from 29 |
TUE |
8:00 PM |
Readers & Book Lovers Newsletter |
Limelite |
WED |
7:30 AM |
WAYR? |
plf515 |
WED |
8:00 PM |
Bookflurries: Bookchat |
cfk |
THU |
2:00 PM (bi-weekly) |
eReaders & Book Lovers Club |
Limelite |
THU |
8:00 PM |
Write On! |
SensibleShoes |
FRI |
9:00 AM |
Books That Changed My Life |
etbnc, aravir |
FRI |
10:00 PM (first of month) |
Monthly Bookposts |
AdmiralNaismith |
SAT |
9:00 PM |
Books So Bad They're Good |
Ellid |
Other than that, nothing's happening.