We'll Miss the Book Shops When They're Gone
Farewell to The Loft
This is on Facebook today:
Sad to announce that The Loft Bookshop will be closing its doors in mid May. It's been quite a year. Thanks to each and every one of you for all of your support and encouragement. As of today we'll be running a 50% OFF clearance sale until doors close. Come say hi.
Yes, it is very sad indeed. I love eBooks,
I love the ability to download something new and wonderful late at night, or when I'm off travelling. I carry an entire library in my pocket. I find the paragraphs I've underlined in seconds; I can search an entire book for important keywords. My aging eyes rejoice at fonts that are willing to meet them halfway. My groaning bookshelves have sent me letters of gratitude. All of this is quite wonderful, but while I much prefer electronic text, I just don't have the same success rate for discovering great books online as I get when wandering around a bookshop.
There's nothing like hopping from Romance to Politics to Cookery, scanning the covers, snorting at blurbs...
You see, the thing is, for me personally, I don't know what I want to read until I find it. The internet seems to be set up to help you buy what you're looking for if you already know what it is. Want something similar to Harry Potter? We have a list for you. Urgently need the latest Ian McDonald -- and who doesn't! -- we'll mail you as soon as it's up for pre-order...
All very nice. But when I don't know what I want, I find myself scanning endless lists in the Amazon kindle store. 27,000 fantasy books, 25,000 SF books, almost all of which are vomit to me*. Page, after page, after page of crap. And maybe I don't even want SF. I don't know what I want.
In a bookshop, my stone-age eyes are trained not to see the stuff I don't like and to pick out beautiful surprises like Barbara Ehrenreich's Blood Rites.
There are few experiences more relaxing and rewarding than drifting around well-stocked shelves or chatting with staff as knowledgeable and friendly as those in The Gutter Bookshop in Dublin. And yet, here I am, killing them with kindles. I make myself sick and I'll really miss civilization when it's gone.
Honorable Mention
Lucky me. My only horror story of last year, The Drowner, got itself an honorable mention from super-ed Ellen Datlow in her Best Horror of the Year Volume 4. It's always a great privilege to be included in her list.
If you haven't read The Drowner in Albedo 1, you can listen to it as one of three stories podcast by the magnificent Pseudopod here.
Tweet
Give 10
*It's all a matter of very personal taste. Such is life.
This is on Facebook today:
Sad to announce that The Loft Bookshop will be closing its doors in mid May. It's been quite a year. Thanks to each and every one of you for all of your support and encouragement. As of today we'll be running a 50% OFF clearance sale until doors close. Come say hi.
Yes, it is very sad indeed. I love eBooks,
I love the ability to download something new and wonderful late at night, or when I'm off travelling. I carry an entire library in my pocket. I find the paragraphs I've underlined in seconds; I can search an entire book for important keywords. My aging eyes rejoice at fonts that are willing to meet them halfway. My groaning bookshelves have sent me letters of gratitude. All of this is quite wonderful, but while I much prefer electronic text, I just don't have the same success rate for discovering great books online as I get when wandering around a bookshop.
There's nothing like hopping from Romance to Politics to Cookery, scanning the covers, snorting at blurbs...
You see, the thing is, for me personally, I don't know what I want to read until I find it. The internet seems to be set up to help you buy what you're looking for if you already know what it is. Want something similar to Harry Potter? We have a list for you. Urgently need the latest Ian McDonald -- and who doesn't! -- we'll mail you as soon as it's up for pre-order...
All very nice. But when I don't know what I want, I find myself scanning endless lists in the Amazon kindle store. 27,000 fantasy books, 25,000 SF books, almost all of which are vomit to me*. Page, after page, after page of crap. And maybe I don't even want SF. I don't know what I want.
In a bookshop, my stone-age eyes are trained not to see the stuff I don't like and to pick out beautiful surprises like Barbara Ehrenreich's Blood Rites.
There are few experiences more relaxing and rewarding than drifting around well-stocked shelves or chatting with staff as knowledgeable and friendly as those in The Gutter Bookshop in Dublin. And yet, here I am, killing them with kindles. I make myself sick and I'll really miss civilization when it's gone.
Honorable Mention
Lucky me. My only horror story of last year, The Drowner, got itself an honorable mention from super-ed Ellen Datlow in her Best Horror of the Year Volume 4. It's always a great privilege to be included in her list.
If you haven't read The Drowner in Albedo 1, you can listen to it as one of three stories podcast by the magnificent Pseudopod here.
Tweet
Give 10
*It's all a matter of very personal taste. Such is life.
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