Book Shopping......
So I braved the mall this morning. Well, the outside of the mall. There's a Barnes & Noble there and to me...a bookstore is just irresistible. Sure, shopping online is way easier and I do love the idea of my mailman, staggering up to my porch under a sagging load of books to deliver them into my waiting hands.
But sometimes, I just don't wanna wait!
Not too many years ago, I had to actually go INSIDE the mall. To the Waldens/Borders. I really liked that bookstore. I could find my way up and down the aisles blindfolded--(although what would be the point since I wouldn't be able to read any of the books).
But then Barnes&Noble started cropping up everywhere. They offered couches and chairs and more books than even I could read in a lifetime--and they offered lattes. Lattes and donuts (baked, not fried, Starbucks knows how to treat their women customers).
So I was sucked into the big bookstore. The killer of the independents. I became a sheep, stumbling up and down their escalators. Wandering the music department. Seduced by the tantalizing scents of steaming milk. Tempted by the gorgeous stationery. Eager to buy the elegant pens and journals. The magazine racks called to me, whispering of adventure and romance.
The kiosks shone like tiny stars dropped at my feet, silently urging me to explore their depths. To find new authors and rediscover old friends. And so today, I joined hundreds of others in Barnes & Noble. I bought a latte and a book and a pen and a new journal though the old one isn't full yet. I found two magazines I had to have and bought a CD of Celtic Woman. I bought children's books for CHOC, the children's hospital. I reconsidered, needing more than one book and went back upstairs to explore not only romance, but mystery and scifi. I found more I had to have, of course, because books are my addiction.
And by this time next week, I'll be heading back. Because this addiction will never end.
posted by Maureen Child @ 1:37 PM
11 Comments:
At 8:52 PM,
Lacey Devlin said…
Wow! What I wouldn't give for a chair or a couch in our bookstores! Instead there's a interesting balancing act with books in one arm propped up against your thigh while you try to wrestle another off the shelves in a teeny aisle... I'm quite happy to become a sheep if there are couches for the sheep to sit on ;)
At 10:53 AM,
Maureen Child said…
Oh, Lacey.......the couches are very sheep worthy. and the little tables. Or the chairs tucked into nooks.
I admit it. I was seduced by comfort!
At 10:25 PM,
Pat said…
Are you kidding? What's not to like? I was just at a Border's today. I found a book I was looking for, and then, because it was a warm day, I hooked up with a cold brewed vanilla latte. I don't know what it is about those places, but you just don't want to leave.
At 1:22 AM,
Lacey Devlin said…
Well I'm moving in ;) I'll rent shelf space or something...
At 8:05 AM,
Unknown said…
See, I'm so totally opposed to couches and lattes in the book store without some rules. I saw a man reading a book in the coffee shop, cracked the spine even and then put it back on the shelf before he left. The book was unsellable after that. Who's to say he won't come back daily, read the rest and never pay for the darn book! I think there should be sensors in them. Lord knows, I'm all for reading and coffee but pay for it first.
At 11:11 AM,
Maureen Child said…
Oh, Pat, I'm so there with you. I always said I could live in a bookstore if I had access to ice tea and a bathroom!
Ta da!! someone was listening!
At 11:11 AM,
Maureen Child said…
Lacey, save a spot for me!
At 11:12 AM,
Maureen Child said…
AMy, spoken like a true writer!! I'm with you on the paying for it first thing...but lots of people treat B&N like a library!
The other day, I was talking on my cell to my daughter and some guy came up and said, "Take it outside, lady"......I told him we weren't in a library. =)
Lovely.
At 12:25 PM,
Pat said…
Oh that's funny. I work in a library, and for the LONGEST time no one said anything to the people who were shouting into their cell phones! Finally, the librarians got some spine, and started telling the loud mouths to talk on their phones outside.
At 1:07 PM,
Maureen Child said…
LOLOL Pat! See, in a library, I'm quiet!! In a retail store, I think, jeeez guy, go to a library if you want to read in peace!
At 3:30 PM,
Anonymous said…
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