Book Lust

I'm sitting in the cafe area of a new Barnes & Noble bookstore. I am happy as a clam, whatever that means. Bookstores and libraries, any room full of books, are some of the best places in the world, as far as I'm concerned. I used to be in a bookstore every week, two at the most. Sometime I made purchases, occasionally I totally lost control and bought as many books as I could carry, which caused me heart palpitations at the checkout. Those blowouts remind me of how very grateful I am that bookstores don't have shopping carts. I'm actually here with a writer friend. A few weeks ago we started meeting at our library to write for a couple of hours. But the library is closed today, so we're trying out B&N as an alternate location. After working, we reward ourselves with lunch out. We've found it works well to kick-start our writing week. The nicest part is that we reward ourselves, regardless of how much writing we get done. But bookstores have been disappearing--the small town ones, the one-topic ones, and many of the chains. When I'm traveling and run across an independent bookstore, I always stop in and buy a book or two to help them stay in business. I know it's a drop in the bucket, but it's a great reason to buy books. I miss knowing what's "out there" book-wise. Browsing a bookstore, especially one with the space to put an assortment of books out on display tables, gives me a good idea of what's new. Looking for something on the shelves is okay if I know what I want, but it's not an easy way to browse. I do some on-line reading and check out a magazine dedicated to new titles, but somehow those books don't stick with me the way seeing them "in person" does. I just took a short break to wander around and get the feel of this new store. It's not actually new, just relocated, but it looks and feels new. Thirty minutes later I dashed back to my computer, feeling a bit guilty about taking so much time off. Okay, I didn't feel guilty. It felt good to be wandering the shelves again. I didn't pick up any books to buy that time around, but I might grab something on my way out. The library's safer. It really is.