Any time I walk into a bookstore, it’s like visiting old friends I see familiar titles, familiar authors, new books in series I love. There’s something special about walking into a physical space with tall shelves and book after book aligned–at least, there is for me. The experience is very different from the best online search.
I can pick a book up based on cover colors or design, the intriguing title and its style, the shape (fat or thin). Some speak to me while others don’t. Cover design itself is an art. How can the outside of a book suggest the inside in a way causing me to pick up the book and read the back cover copy.
I start there. Does the story sound like one I might like to read? If so, maybe it goes into my basket. Or maybe I dip into the book, choosing a random page, to see whether I like the author’s (or character’s) voice.
The process is different than online. Think Amazon, where I might pick by genre and recency, maybe search a particular author or keywords. That’s a targeted and more efficient path, but I miss the unexpeced discoveries of a book I would like that’s out of my ordinary reading picks.
Bookstores are some of my favorite places. What are some of yours?