A friend from my high school days sent me a link about sixteen
book stores you have to see before you die from www.buzzfeed.com This link should take you there.
These stores are all over the world: Buenos Aires, Holland, Belgium, Slovakia… Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to all of them? Not only would you get to see the world, you’d get to browse through magnificent looking stores packed with jewels: In Paris you could read Shakespeare seated on an old leather chair closeted by books, or climb a red staircase in a golden room crammed with fiction and non-fiction in Portugal. You could plop on a bean bag chair in Brazil and pull your favorite title from crisp white shelves or relax on a cobalt blue sofa with a cup of tea perusing a book of Frida Kahlo’s paintings in Mexico, or find your favorite Austin or Dickens in the stacks on a balcony in London while the sun pours through the Palladium windows.
These stores are all over the world: Buenos Aires, Holland, Belgium, Slovakia… Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to all of them? Not only would you get to see the world, you’d get to browse through magnificent looking stores packed with jewels: In Paris you could read Shakespeare seated on an old leather chair closeted by books, or climb a red staircase in a golden room crammed with fiction and non-fiction in Portugal. You could plop on a bean bag chair in Brazil and pull your favorite title from crisp white shelves or relax on a cobalt blue sofa with a cup of tea perusing a book of Frida Kahlo’s paintings in Mexico, or find your favorite Austin or Dickens in the stacks on a balcony in London while the sun pours through the Palladium windows.
Book stores are gems, and I’m always sad when I see another
one close. Yes, many more people are holding e-readers rather than real books,
but no matter how cool your Kindle cover might be, it does not match the feel
of a real book in your hands. You can’t dog-ear a page on an e-reader. You can’t
spill coffee on the page and have that stain bring back memories when you pick
that book up again years later. Sure, I know you can type notes in the borders,
but that’s not the same as pulling a book of poetry from a dusty shelf and
finding an inscription in your father’s handwriting, a love note to your mother
from a time before you were even a twinkle in his eye.
I haven’t succumbed to an e-reader yet, but I, also, was one
of the last to buy a microwave (years ago) and now I wouldn’t be without one,
so you never know. But, I will always have my books. They’re my friends. I like
the feel of them in my hands. I like the way they line up in my bookcase, some
straight and tall like soldiers in formation, some reclining, some resting on
their sides, and some tumbling down from the sheer weight of them. And I adore browsing
through book stores, discovering new titles, poring over classics and finding
that gem I must have. So, if you’re
going to one of the sixteen on the buzzfeed list, let me know. I might just
pack a bag and join you!
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