Bookstores: Exciting or Scary?

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 I have to remember not to compare my unpublished work to work that has already been edited a zillion times, with the benefit of the expertise of editors and agents.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?