The infinite pleasures of the finite.

It's really sad that my soul-easing moments now seem to be happening in corporate behemoth stores, but hey, that's the state of our culture.

Over the past weekend Mr. CR and I visited our "local" Barnes and Noble; he had a gift card and I just had a jones to look at books.* Once we got inside we went our separate ways, as per usual, with Mr. CR peeling off for science fiction, fantasy, and magazines, and me pausing briefly at the new nonfiction tables before heading directly upstairs to the sale and used book section. So there I stood, looking over their selection of used books (I happened to be in the fiction and literature section, where they actually had some neat old used books and biographies of literary types). And as I was quite happily looking the shelves over, the Elvis Presley song "Can't Help Falling in Love" came on the radio, and I had a little moment of pure happiness.**

Yes, the Internet has everything. You need never look away from the Internet again and there will always be something to look at. But there is such pleasure in looking at a finite shelf of books; I had almost forgotten it. When you look at a shelf of books, particularly when it's nonfiction, it gives you the feeling that you might actually be able to read and know something about a subject. You read a book, you read a shelf of books, you might actually get somewhere. The Internet? You've never going to hit the end of that shelf, and you're going to feel like you're never going to know anything about everything, particularly as lots of other people out there know way more about everything you're interested in than you ever will.

So yes, I had a little moment of bliss in the belly of the corporate beast. That'll happen.

*You know, different books than the ones piled on our shelves and stacked on our tables and floor.

**In other "doing my soul good" news, my email interview with author Stacy Horn was posted this morning over at the Reader's Advisor Online blog; part 2 will run tomorrow. Please do check it out--not just because I love Stacy Horn and think you should too, but because she's got some really interesting things to say about books and author promotions.

Comments

[Sarah]

Hah! I entirely get the * comment. It's like "I'm just looking" . . .

[Tripp]

Even though I live in Powells country and visit the store frequently, I still like to spend time in B&N and Borders. As you describe, they are pleasant places to while away the time amongst books.

Growing up in a town with few good book stores, I was thrilled when the two big guys finally came to town. Now when I visit home, I have a place to check out books.

[nancy]

I believe that this is what is called "a busman's holiday" where you spend time on days off looking over or using the institution that you usually work on or in.
I do the bookstore crawl whenever I'm in the city (live in a small town with no bookstores).
Heard the horrible news that McNally Robinson ( the Canadian one, not the New York one) is closing up shop in a couple of locations, but thankfully not in Saskatoon where I "just look".
Nancy
(from Saskatchewan, not that that really matters when you're a book person)

[Ruthiella]

I hope I don't have a fetish or anything, but I love looking at books, holding them, reading the back cover etc. in book stores and libraries. I also love looking at other people's book shelves (or piles on the floor as the case may be), even if I have looked at them a million times before.

When my sister house/dog sits for me, she almost always reads one of my books, even if she brings her own book for the duration. We exchange booklists at the end of each year and it is always fun for me to find out what that book it was that she picked up and if she liked it or not,

[Citizen Reader]

Sarah,
I thought you might like that.

Tripp,
Well, I should really go downtown and visit the last independent bookstore in my area, but as I'm rarely spending big bucks I look at Barnes and Noble. Although I figure they're all part of the same problem, it's just easier to hate Wal-Mart than it is to hate B&N and Borders. It's unnatural to hate any bookstores.

[Citizen Reader]

Nancy from Saskatchewan,
Being from Canada is only going to gain you points here at Citizen Reader. :)
I freely admit that book shopping is the only kind of shopping I can stand, and for the most part, I do try to visit bookstores and even libraries when I travel. To some extent I feel like I may not have that much longer to ogle and fondle books in such settings (as we are in the ebook revolution), so I like to take advantage.
I hope your Saskatchewan McNally Robinson stays in business for a long time to come!

Ruthiella,
Well, if it IS a fetish, it's a fetish I share. I LOVE the idea of the exchanged booklists and will be talking to my sister about that.

And, I'm a total snoop about other people's bookshelves. I don't waste time with their medicine cabinets.