Do you miss going to bookstores?

[crossi]

I used to go to bookstores at least twice a week to browse for new releases. Since getting my e-reader and the closing of several of the stores I used to go to that has stopped and I miss it.

[drofgnal]

There is a Barnes and Noble close to where I work. A friend and I would go once a week or so and have a cup of coffee and browse new releases. I'd still do it if it weren't for CoVid and the fact we all work from home now. I haven't done it in a while now. Amazon's website is hard to browse for new releases as the good ones are all mixed in with books with 'billionaire' in the title or a picture of a cowboy or scottish highlander on the cover. Sometimes I now use Barnes and Noble's website for browsing new books, much better than doing it on Amazon's site. Goodreads helps too.

[DiapDealer]

Not at all. I had to drive a long way to get to a bookstore that had a quality selection to browse. I'll take book-shopping from my own armchair any day of the week. The coffee's better, the commute's a breeze, the selection is better--not to mention the much more lax dress code.

[maddz]

I miss second-hand bookstores because you never know what gems you will find, but unless it's a specialist genre bookstore, I don't miss the wall-to-wall chick lit or best sellers. I find that general bookstores usually have minimal genre fiction and that tends to be new titles with little if any backlist. Even a specialist store often doesn't have the breadth I can find online.

Besides, now I've moved to a smallish market town, getting to bookstores is a pain.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by crossi

I used to go to bookstores at least twice a week to browse for new releases. Since getting my e-reader and the closing of several of the stores I used to go to that has stopped and I miss it.

I do. Before the local stores were, for all intents and purposes, run out of business by the mall book stores and B&N, I used to go to them all the time. Locally owned used book stores as well. Probably three or four times a week when I was young in Ventura, California. I probably drove up to Bart's Books in Ojai an average of two times a week. Later I went to B. Dalton, Pickwick and others in the malls (and later still, B&N, Borders and Hastings -- which was also a video and music store, and Half Price Books, used (as well as 75% Off book stores for remainders). When I was in college I worked for a paperback book and magazine distributor. So I was around books a lot when I was younger.

[chongjasmine]

I do miss bookstores. There used to be many bookstores in Singapore. That is hardly the case, anymore.

[gmw]

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.

[JSWolf]

I used to spend some good time in bookstores browsing and buying.

[Dr. Drib]

In this country, you're damn right I do!

Everything's in a foreign language!

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'll take book-shopping from my own armchair any day of the week. The coffee's better, the commute's a breeze, the selection is better--not to mention the much more lax dress code.

Ditto. As to the used books, I've never been a fan. I wanted my paper books new, clean and shiny, and I generally like modern books better than older ones.

So no, I don't miss it at all. It was a chore for me.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Ditto. As to the used books, I've never been a fan. I wanted my paper books new, clean and shiny, and I generally like modern books better than older ones.

So no, I don't miss it at all. It was a chore for me.

I liked mass market paperbacks. I don't like trade paperbacks.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I liked mass market paperbacks. I don't like trade paperbacks.

Me too, but I liked them new. An used mmpb often looked and felt pretty horrible. And I hated that old book smell they had. Ugh.

[Critteranne]

No -- because I still go (masked up). I try to go to the local Barnes & Noble once a week. It's my one "escape" that isn't a grocery store or drugstore. For some books, I don't mind reading the paper copy as long as the print is decent.

I miss some nice used bookstores that closed in recent (or semi-recent) years. Those are great places to find books that aren't available in Kindle editions. Not to mention books with vintage cover art. You can't find much George Ziel in the Kindle store.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Me too, but I liked them new. An used mmpb often looked and felt pretty horrible. And I hated that old book smell they had. Ugh.

I don't mind the old book smell -- unless it came from a house that apparently had a chain-smoking incontinent cat.


In some cases, I prefer a battered mass market paperback because 1) it's the only way I'll get an affordable copy of some books and 2) it's often easier to turn the pages once they've been read.

[ps67]

Yes I miss going to bookstores. Now I seldom go to bookstores while before of my conversion to digital (and many other more personal events) I used to go to a bookshop almost each n a weekend.

And now, because of COVID I can't go anywhere (until I will be negative to the test).