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An afternoon in a bookstore is an afternoon well spent

11:39 PM Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The two chain bookstores at the Upper Valley Mall are closing early next year. And with them may go a cultural nicety.

Walden Books and B. Dalton lack the personality of a good privately held bookstore, the kind with a store cat, overpriced coffee and quirky clerks who could steer you to some interesting reads.

But they do perform the basic test of a bookstore — you can buy books there.

A city the size of Springfield ought to have a place you can go and browse the latest books and find some time-tested treasures.

At least to people of a certain age, a bookstore is one of the signs of civilization.

The Internet and virtual stores like Amazon may make that an antique viewpoint.

Let’s hope not.

It’s not altogether a Luddite impulse to think that a physical book pulled from a physical shelf in a physical store is as good as it gets when you’re in the mood to read.

Downloading a book with Amazon’s newfangled Kindle is quick, cheap and soulless. You just punch in your order on the book-size device and it’s there to read on a white screen a few minutes later. No dust jacket cover to judge, no pages to turn, no paper cuts.

Amazon and its Kindle have their charms. Barnes & Noble, which owns B. Dalton, is marketing its own Kindle-like electronic reader called a Nook to cannibalize its paper book business. I won’t say they aren’t at least convenient.

But an afternoon spent wandering a really good bookstore is always an afternoon well spent.

The mall says it is trying to get another bookstore chain interested.

Maybe Wittenberg will expand its bookstore and open it to the wider community. (Please, more books and fewer Wittenberg sweatshirts and coffee mugs.)

Maybe some bibliophile with a cat and an expresso machine will see a business opportunity.

A lot of valuable things get tossed overboard in the name of progress.

As someone who has watched the Internet hollow out my newspaper industry, I know we can’t bring back old business models or expect marginal businesses to keep going despite common sense.

Maybe we’re just left to mourn one more piece of the past that can’t make it through to the future.

I drive an older car, probably because I spend too much on things like books.

If someone has a plan to give Springfield a good bookstore, I’d be happy to drive my clunker over and drop off some cash. The cat is optional.

Keeping me poor would be a good sign that civilization is alive and well here.

Tom Hawkins is editorial page editor of the Springfield News-Sun. E-mail him at thawkins@coxohio.com.

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I would like to congratulate the American people. They are the most compassionate, caring, & generous people on the planet, bar none. With our ecomony, loss of jobs & hard times they are going through right now, still they give. Whenever a call for help comes, Americans respond with such compassion & generosity, it overwhelms me. I am so proud to be an American & so thankful that I live in America. People around the world may not understand us, but they cannot question our hearts.

Edith Connell
5:35 PM, 1/21/2010

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Yes, book stores are unfortunately becoming well spent...

Seven
5:49 PM, 11/27/2009

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I would like to see more parrots (only legal ones though) in bookstores. Maybe ones trained to repeat literary quotes of famous authors.

BookCozy
4:54 PM, 11/24/2009

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I like to see puddy cats in book stores. Bookstores will always be around somewhere because of their inspiring atmosphere. Springfield's had a used bookstore for decades. I sure hope it stays.

Haven
4:46 PM, 11/24/2009

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...or you can request a free catalog from their website edwardrhamilton.com

the'Need'2read
10:46 AM, 11/19/2009

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