I have never been much of a new-release person (except for a small handful of authors), but I did enjoy being an explorer in certain bookshops. Few new-book bookshops manage to get the feeling right (there was one from 20-odd years ago that I still think of very fondly, in Lane Cove, Sydney), but I've known several second-hand bookshops where you had to leave a trail of twine or breadcrumbs to help you find your way back out. There was this sense of searching for hidden treasures, of total immersion, that I do miss. Though some libraries can come close, the better libraries are too well organised and spaced out to give that same feeling.
So I do still go shopping in bookshops - sometimes. There are still some things I want in paper and that's enough of an excuse.
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