borders schadenfreude

i'm sorry to hear that borders bookstores are closing.

the first borders i went to was the one at chestnut and broad in philly.  it was during my senior year in college, and a group of us were presenting research at the eastern psychological association.  our prof told us about the store there, and a few of us visited that store.  entering the doors, it was like stepping into wonderland.  if memory serves me, i got prozac nation by elizabeth wurtzel, girl by blake nelson and love, loss and what i wore by ilene beckerman.

a few years ago a borders opened at a mall north of where i live, and occasionally i'd spend a mom's day running up to pick up the british knitting magazines i liked.  walden books was under the border's umbrella and i spent many a shopping trip picking up books and magazines from the time i could read.

i'm sick that walden's will be closing at my mall.  often i'd dash in there to pick up a book or magazine, so i could wile away time waiting at the movies.  it was so easy to pick up a book for the boy, checking out new knitting magazines or what was on the sale racks.

i hate admitting that i played a tiny part in the chain's demise.  how many of us buy from amazon?  raising my hand here.  all my harry potter and jennifer weiner books came from amazon.  i bought knitting books there becos the selection at my local store wasn't the greatest.  the real reason i bought from amazon was becos the books were often cheaper, and i didn't have to pay shipping either.

i worry about the demise of paper books.  we don't have an e-reader and while i do have an e-books app on my phone and iPod, and hubby has it on his iPad, i really have no desire to read from a kindle or a nook.  i love the feel of the paper, the smell of the book, secretly tearing a tiny bit of the page corner if there is a misprint on the page (i'm strange, i know).  the day they stop printing books will be a day that i cry, wail and gnash my teeth.

there's no loss without some gain.  or rather, schadenfreude:



i got these knitting books.  i got a couple books and wooden puzzles for the kiddos for their upcoming birthdays and christmas.  and i got just about every book roald dahl wrote, in addition to a wrinkle in time.  i would have looked for more (fiction) books for me (becos i have a wishlist of books the length of my arm) but my book bag was hella heavy and i just couldn't be bothered to poke around the stacks.

farewell borders.  thank you for sparking my imagination, and my children's too.