With the announcement of Borders book store planning to close their remaining 399 stores throughout the country soon, it saddens me.
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
Borders filed for bankruptcy in February and closed a number of stores including one in South Austin I loved to browse in when I had a chance. I usually came home with a book or two from the sale section. Of course there is still Barnes and Noble book stores and many private ones, but the big box ones where you could go and sit all day if you wanted to and have a snack while you were there, are almost gone.
The industry is trying to adapt to a new generation of readers who would rather browse on an electronic book or tablet computer than turn the pages of a paper book. Electronic books can be used on an i-pod, I-Phone, PC, or any computer with a special adapter. As the demand for physical books continue to decline the demand for physical book stores will continue to decline, much to my dismay.
Browsing book stores is a hobby of mine I have had about all my life, I guess, and will continue as long as I can find a way to get to one. There are several used book stores here and I visit one and usually find a book I don’t already have. Hastings book store here in San Marcos sells new books, used books, DVD’s, C-D’s and other things, maybe even e-Books, too, I don’t know. I love to go there and recently I bought three books for 25 cents each and the regular selling price of the three amounted to over $70. Sad isn’t it?
Someone said that although book stores have not gone the way of the dinosaurs, it is just a matter of time. But people who read a lot are not just going to suddenly read less just because 400 stores closed.
I have well over 100 books in my library. Most of my books are history books or about the wars the United States has been involved in from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War, but I don’t have much on that one or the War of 1812, either. Guess that’s what I’ll have to start looking for. I also have a number of historical books on America and on different parts of the world, books on newspapers, biographies of presidents, authors and newspaper men. A number of my books are on monuments and sculptures throughout the world. One of my favorite books is The New York Times from 1851 to 2008 containing 54,267 front pages. Since I am also a railroad buff, I have several books on railroads.
I sold seven bookcases when we moved from Gallatin 10 years ago and donated a number of books to the Daviess County Library. Since we moved to Texas I couldn’t resist buying more books so we have purchased three more bookcases to put in our crowded apartment. We have a lovely library in San Marcos and I’ve donated a few books there when my shelves were filled, but I still like to have my own books. Our former librarian, Ina Naylor, used to scold me for not reading books from the county library because she liked to buy the kind of books I liked too.
Of course some of my book shelves have scrapbooks on them, but I think I told you about them before. I don’t buy many magazines now as people here share their magazines with others in our clubhouse library but I still get the National Geographic magazine which I fell in love with when a child and I borrowed a neighbor’s magazine. It’s an annual gift from daughter, Cindy.