E-Books v.s.  Independent Bookstores

On a long drive home yesterday, I happened upon an interesting radio debate on Q: Do we need bookstores now that we have e-books?

There were good arguments on both sides. Danny Bahoy from Slate said very fussily "NO," while independent bookstore owner Kathleen Edwards sniffed "ABSOLUTELY. "

Kathleen brought up several interesting points:

• She has a highly skilled staff of authors and editors (shows how much the writing game pays,eh? That these talented people moonlight at a bookstore?)
• Her staff really cares about ordering what people  who visit her two stores like; each store has different clientele so carries very different books.
• Bookstores are social gathering places.

Hmmm. Obviously, I have not been going to the right bookstores. The now defunct Borders (which I loved though I realize was not an independent store)  had none of these qualities.  Also, I'm a solitary person -- as I'd guess most people who love to read a lot tend to be -- so the social gatherings at bookstores really has no appeal to me. And I would loathe the kind of hovering attention Kathleen seems to think is so important to bookstore visitors.

However, I LOVE bookstores. I love the smell of new books in bookstores. I love to touch the new books, open them, and buy the ones that grab me. And I don't  experience anything even close to that on Amazon.  So I was surprised Kathleen missed mentioning the immersive  books,books, books tactile experience independent bookstores offer.

Danny Bahoy brought up the convenience of buying an e-book late at night when you need something to read. OK. I've done that.  And it is nice. But there's not an even remotely attractive immersive experience in that for me. I spend way too much time on my computer as it is  (yep, I read e-books from my computer -- there ARE apps for that), so  spending more time with it isn't really appealing to me.

And Danny didn't mention the issue cheapskates like me run into: it's hard to find a good book for 99 cents late at night when you are foggy-brained. So I've bought some books that fall VERY short of the "good" standard. And I hate spending even 99 cents for nothing.

Whether we need independent bookstores in an age of e-books is an interesting issue that will likely be debated for some time. However, as long as power outages from hurricanes, tropical storms, ice storms, heat waves, and earthquakes  continue to plague us,  I'm more than OK with having lots of "dead tree" outlets to visit.

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