Turn the Page

For someone like me who reads constantly and lives with the quiet hope that someday I'll be able to write something that could see the light of day in the publishing world, it's been a rough week. If you haven't heard, Borders is closing. Not just the local one, but all of them.

The local one of course hits me the hardest. This is the store where I waited in line for the last three Harry Potter books; where I have probably done 50% of my Christmas shopping in the past eight or nine years; where I have discovered so many different books and authors just from having the chance to browse the shelves at my leisure. This was the store that provided me with my favorite gift cards.

Let's face it: This is happening for two big reasons that are kind of related. First of all, the economy isn't great, and for too many people buying books when you have the public library available isn't going to be a priority. And pair that up with the rise of the eReaders in the past few years and, I hate to say it, but it really seems like this is one more step in print books losing their cultural relevance, much like CDs and DVDs have in the past five years. I don't think actual print books will ever disappear -- there's just too much power in the tangible feel of a book in your hands, and anyone who doesn't get that... I can't help you.

I'm not saying that eReaders are worthless. I downloaded a Nick Hornby book onto my iPhone last summer just because I wanted to use the feature, and even though I had to turn a page every 14 seconds, the story (or at least one of the two stories) was compelling enough to keep me involved. What matters in the end is the content of what you read anyway. And there is an argument to be made that a huge traditional bookstore like Borders going under could possibly open up the publishing industry; after all, a digital download is a LOT less expensive to produce.

I ordered quite a few books from Amazon back before Borders opened up in my neighborhood. It looks like I might be returning to that option, if not possibly taking the step into an eReader sometime soon. But for now, I still have a month or two of liquidation to look forward to.

And I'm stocking up.