Fading Relics...
Fading Relics.
Crystal Lancaster
As I sit here literally in the middle of one of the United States' last franchises of bookstores, I wonder.
How much longer will these walls stand, and how much more will the internet, the ultimate nemesis of bookstores and printed books everywhere, (without much effort really), continue to take from an author's fantasy? Or at least, this author's fantasy? (Did she just call herself an author? Excuse me. Writer.)
How can a pressed stack of pieces of paper, transformed by the colorful or colorless cover of a crisp, unruffled miniature masterpiece compete with a sleek, lightweight, backlit, "I only have to scroll through one screen" ("and don't have to bother flipping-through-a-hundred-pages") electronic device? Well, in my opinion, it can't.
The simple pleasure of holding in my hand this bundle of wondrous wordkeepers, the glee in breathing in the new (or old) paper pages, that brief moment a reader can almost relate to a blind person as he or she runs his or her hand along the textured cover, twice over with their thumb...how can an "e" book compare?
Oh, you kids and your technology today! Nothing will ever compare to a printed book. Nothing can compete with the mystical, if not magical feeling of slowly pacing up and down the aisles of mahogany-colored bookshelves, holding your breath as the gods unveil to you your next fantastic discovery. Carefully eyeing and admiring the stacks of novels printed especially for you. Or if not for you, then, for the person standing next to you. You know, the one that wants to shove you over because you're standing in their way, and all they want to do is snatch the book in front of you, but they can't because you're in the way.
I myself can remember the days I'd wander along the aisles, stopping at all the books that caught my eye. Hurriedly turning to the back cover to ravenously scan over the words that form a detailed or vague summary--either way, I knew every book was a gamble. Hit or miss, I guess.
As I type these light, hope-driven words, I am weighed down by the possibility that people of the future may not find the value in a printed book. Convenience is so appealing and right at their fingertips. You wanna read Stephen King's latest novel? With a few swift strokes of the keyboard, you can purchase a digital copy and be reading it now. Technology seems to be replacing more simplistic items in a busy parent's daily routine, such as turning on a “Learn Your ABC’s with Elmo” video for your kids instead of reading them a Sesame Street book, or handing them your SmartPhone and let them YouTube away…
However, during my 9-month "stead" at Barnes and Noble in the Irvine Spectrum, I learned something. If anyone is going to save the book publishing industry, it is going to be: kids. I can't tell you how many children's books I rang up customer after customer. Parents spent big bucks on those colorful pages of wonder, mystery, and adventure. Not only were picture books the craze, but books for young readers and young adult readers, too. Harry Potter, The Land of Stories series, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Junie B. Jones, The Magic Tree House, oh, and the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus series. Kids went nuts when they knew the latest Percy Jackson book was going to be released. (I love that Greek mythology hasn’t lost its appeal.)
The enthusiasm I saw in these kids' eyes, coming up to me as I organized one of many very cluttered bookshelves in the children's department, asking me, "Do you guys have the 7th one yet?? Do you know when you'll have it??" Their parents would even gently nudge them to approach me so they could pre-order a book. It gave me hope that books in print might not be dead after all. So get this, not only are our children our hope for the future of the Earth, they're our hope for the future of real live bookstores, too! Or so, I hope!
And...bringing it back to my point at hand, I don't find anything wrong with E-books. I was only teasing. They're slim and convenient. I get it. And they probably don't take away from the enjoyment or pleasure of reading the book. I guess I prefer the old-fashioned way. Online newspaper articles, online books, online magazines...internet, do you really have to make everything so dang accessible? Of course you do.
My only hope, is that my own book will hit the bookshelves long before they tear down the houses in which they reign.
They took away my beloved Crown, Super Crown and then the Barnes and Noble at the Cerritos Towne Center at certain points in my childhood. Dare they try and take away the rest?
A printed book and the store in which it is sold will always hold tremendous value to me. Each store reminds me of the fanciful times I spent turning page after page in numerous books during one of my weekly visits with my father and brother to Crown or Barnes and Noble when we were younger. Each book seems to reflect simpler times, when perusing a novel’s pages served as a popular form of leisure and delight. It detaches us from technology and allows our imaginations to form the imagery, the characters’ voices...the magic.
Ever turn the page while reading a really good book? It is a feeling like none other. You feel so eager to continue on--to see what else the story holds. It is a race to the finish line, though you never want the story to end. Call me old-fashioned, but the joy and suspense in turning each and every page of a book can never be topped. I only hope there’s enough of us who feel the same way.