Bookstores are one of my favourite places, next to libraries. As a reader, I love to browse. Skim back cover copy. Read a few first pages. I end up wishing I had a) the room to store more books at home and b) a lot more money. One of the best times on my summer vacation was discovering a wonderful bookstore in a small town in Michigan that was filled with the kinds of books I enjoy reading.
At the same time, bookstores often scare the writing side of me. There are so many great looking books there. I always feel like my own novel will never be that clever, that intriguing or that pretty. I have to remember not to compare my unpublished work to work that has already been edited a zillion times, with the benefit of the expertise of editors and agents.
Do you like visiting bookstores or do you avoid them to get past the scariness?
I would like to sell my house and take up residence in a bookstore :) But because that would be plain freaky, I hang out in my local bookstore instead. I don't want to be scared of my dreams. I want to breathe them in until I they are a familiar scent. Bookstores are perfect for that :)
ReplyDeleteBookstores are very comforting to me. They're like home. I love having all those books around me, like kindred spirits.
ReplyDeleteI look at this from the other side of the coin--my books can become that clever or intriguing if I learn from all those clever/intriguing books out there. I find that encouraging.
I love bookstores.
ReplyDeleteNothing about bookstores scares me. I could spend hours in them, especially used book stores. If anything I dream about something of mine taking up residence on one of the shelves.
ReplyDeleteI love bookstores! And we instilled the love into our kids early on--they remember how on trips we always made the book store one of our places to "visit"! They hold out such promise for wonderful treasures :-)
ReplyDeleteI love bookstores! The one up the street from my house --- all the salespeople know me (they sometimes slip me free stuff -- shh!). Ha.
ReplyDeleteBookstores rejuvenate me and inspire me. I love being around books. It makes me feel that anything is possible with an idea.
It's cool how everyone feels so inspired and comforted by bookstores.
ReplyDeleteKenda, my daughters love bookstores too, and sometimes it's hard to drag them away. Except now my 11 year old doesn't like to go in to browse, just wants to buy!
Karen, you're so lucky to have a bookstore so close! When I lived in Brooklyn, my apartment was right around the corner from a bookstore and I visited frequently. Sigh. Now the closest one is a big box store and I have to drive to it.