The Magic is Gone

[errantember]

I recently visited spottedvasa in Portland, and one of the major features was a trip to Powell's Books, the worlds largest independent bookstore. Powell's has multiple locations in Portland, but the biggest one takes up an entire city block, and is at least three (I think four) floors high, and is clearly a bibliophile's wet dream. Or so I thought.

Now, I wasn't necessarily at my most together and alert while visiting Powell's, and I definitely feel like I want to go back again when I have more time and energy. But I realized something during that visit that's been creeping up on me for a long time,which is this:

Bookstores aren't magical to me anymore.

Although this is a massive change for me, it's one that's snuck up on me over the years, and it took going to somewhere like Powell's to really fully realize it.

I've always been an avid reader, have out-read most of my friends, and have learned far more from books I've learned myself than I have either from formal education or real life-experience. Trips to Waldenbooks to get lost in the sci-fi and fantasy section were a major highlight of my youth. Half-Price books later took on the magic as a place where I never knew what I would find, but where I knew I would pay less for it.

Half of the original price, in fact!

It was at Half-Price that I first noticed the reduced level of romance. It used to be be one of my favorite hang-outs. It's still the place I'd pick if I could only go one place to meet new people. Somewhere along the line, though, the connection between bookstores and the presence of books in my life has been severed, and I doubt it's a reversible phenomenon.

Stay tuned for more navel-gazing regarding this massive life change.

Comments

[austingoddess.livejournal.com]

I can relate. I used to be a voracious reader. Lots of sci-fi/fantasy/horror until about age 25, then lots of non-fiction since then.
But the love has largely died. I don't enjoy sitting around for hours with a book very often anymore. I'm more of a mind to *do* things. Think about practical stuff that needs to be done. Make plans, share opinions and information, dream. I think it's the same phenomenon as a TV...I just don't like losing my lifespan to entertainment so much.
Except for gaming, but I'm actively participating in that, so it's different. :)

[errantember.livejournal.com]

Although it's true that I'm more interested in doing things now than I used to be, I'm not really any less enthusiastic about books. I'm just less enthusiastic about bookstores, because bookstores aren't where books come from for me anymore. I get them at the library, from a friend, or I order them online. It's like a lot of the rest of the retail world...it's like some kind of alternate ghost-reality.

[kadairk.livejournal.com]

I still find the magic in bookstores, as well as in libraries. The sheer number of books puts me at ease, and the way that I look for books makes places like Half Price Books and libraries amazing. I look for books by going to a section I'm interested in, and shelf reading. Big bookstores don't work as well for me for this, because they have only the "popular" stuff. But a place like HPB (or most any independent booksellar, though there aren't really any of those in the areas I frequent) ... this is the way to find amazing, unique books that speak to me. But even if I don't find anything, a trip to HPB (or the library) is never wasted, just because being around those books is so good for me.

I hope the magic will come back for you. :)