best lines and borders

so this is it - my final final word on Borders.
it has to be final, because as of today, the doors are locked.
i checked in on the neighborhood store a few times during the going-out-of-business sale, just to take mental snapshots as the stock thinned and the prices dropped. i was thrilled to see the YA section was among the first to sell out, even before the steepest price cuts. and i've been happy, too, to see more cars parked outside of the nearby Indie and to see my favorite local Indie store as crowded as ever.
but every time i walked into Borders and saw the dark cafe, i wondered about the people who used to fill the tables - especially the ladies who got together every weekend to play Mahjong.

finally, this weekend, i spotted those ladies. our neighborhood grocery store is an experiment in luxury. it has a wine bar, cafes and even a book nook with tall dark shelves and ladders and cozy tables. step into the book nook, and you don't even know you're in a grocery store. AND - step into the book nook on a Saturday afternoon, and that's where you'll find my ladies, crowded around one of those tables playing Mahjong. i knew they'd find a place to play, but it did my heart good to see they still play in a place where they are surrounded by books.

time marches on and all that.

now for a round of "best lines."
warning! foul language ahead! ...well, really just one naughty word, and i didn't even write it, for once!

this line is from a book i just finished, Bill Carter's The War for Late Night (When Leno went early and television went crazy):

But the "People of Earth" letter - the manifesto, as NBC came to call it - changed the tone. This wasn't just Conan saying no; it was Conan saying no, and you're wrong, and, by the way, go fuck yourselves.

these lines are from a book i'm reading now, Slice of Cherry by Dia Reeves:

Kit was elder, after all, and as hardheaded as a statue - once she set herself on a path, dynamite couldn't blow her off it.

and

"Trying to understand Daddy is like trying to nail jelly to a tree."

i have a feeling i'll have some more "best lines" from Slice of Cherry by the time i'm done.

celebrating our independents

the sign is up. it's all official and stuff:

wait, what?? i don't blog for a week and a half, and when i come back, i'm STILL talking about Borders?
well, no, not exactly. i'm actually making up for my "woe-is-Borders" post with a "but, YAHOO! look who's THRIVING!" post.

i pitched this story about independent Phoenix bookstore, Changing Hands, and i think our reporter, Tyler, did a nice job with it.



a couple of weeks ago, i pulled a book off a shelf at Changing Hands and realized it was a signed copy. looking around the YA section a little more, i saw many signed copies, tucked away like secrets to be discovered by lucky readers.

just today, i found a book i've been looking for forever at CH. (i am allergic to ordering things online.) this book is sold out everywhere, but because CH is an independent that both sells AND BUYS books, there was a copy on the shelf marked "used." so i got a perfect-condition hardcover for half price!

these are both things i could never find at my Borders, and they were both worth the 40-minute trip to CH.

so, instead of lamenting the loss of Borders, today i am celebrating the success of independents and counting my blessings that i live in a city that has several. :D

DOOM!!

...at least, you would think it was doomsday, the way all the media yesterday blamed Borders' bankruptcy on digital publishing.

generally, i avoid the e-pub talk, because i am still forming my opinions.

some days i think,
"meh. so we all go digital. it happened to musicians, and they survived. sure, i no longer have stacks of pretty CD cases with covers to admire or books of lyrics to read, but honestly - i probably buy a lot more music now than i did when i had to get in my car and go somewhere to buy it. a LOT more."

other days i think,
"Nooooooooooooo!! Don't take my beautiful books!!" Then I gather up a pile of beaten-up old books from my shelves and smell them and pet them and cuddle with them... okay, not really - that you know of anyway - but you get the idea.

i do love books, but i am prepared to embrace the day (possibly in my lifetime) when 90% of books are read on computer screens. i'm ready.

but i am NOT ready to lose my bookstores!
when i first heard Borders might start closing stores, i thought it was a bummer, but i didn't think it would impact me personally. i live in a big city. surely our stores are performing well.
and i only flinched a little yesterday when i heard seven of the eleven stores in my city would be among those shut down. it wasn't until i saw MY Borders was on the list that i gasped.

now, that feels real.
suddenly, it's not just another bookstore.
it's the place i haul my laptop when i need to get out of the house and be surrounded by other people sipping coffee and staring at their computers. it's the place that makes those little sandwiches i love. it's the place that puts the YA section right in the heart of the store, like it's the most important section of all. it's the place of familiar faces behind the counters, of customers who are also my neighbors and of ladies who play Mahjong in the coffee shop at lunch time.
it's MY bookstore, and it matters to me.

i comforted myself with thoughts of, "well, now i'll just spend more time at my favorite indie bookstore" (even though it's a 40-minute drive away) and "i'll get to know the layout at B&N" (even though the closest one is a 20-minute drive away).

but guess what? not every customer will do that.
my TV station covered the story of Borders yesterday, and we sent our crew to MY Borders and had them interview customers, and you know what they said in almost every single interview?
they all said some variation of,
-well, i guess we'll shop online for books.
or:
-too bad, but we can always download to our Nook.
and:
-time to get a Kindle!

in a city the size of Phoenix, in a neighborhood practically in the dead-center of that city - people expect convenience. they balk at the idea of driving 20 or 40 minutes just to buy something that should be as easily accessible as a BOOK.

so while i don't know how much of Borders' demise is directly related to the growth of e-books, i do think closing its stores will push some customers INTO e-books. and that has the potential to draw more readers away from other, still thriving, bookstores. it's a cycle, feeding off itself. readers will still read. they'll just find another way to access their stories. and they'll get their coffee and play their Mahjong somewhere else.

in the end, only book lovers (and by that, i mean those of us who love the feel of a slim paper page between our fingers and the weight of a hardcover in our hands) - only BOOK lovers will chain themselves to the doors of bookstores and cry, "DOOM!"

and that is a doomsday i hope i never see.