Finally, Someone Says It
While one can understand an attack on Waterstone's for its dull, one-size-fits-all stores, Amazon is the most exciting bookshop in the world. It's Willy Wonka's Book Factory, Disneyland for bibliophiles. Those who want a return to the days of the small independents are the real fantasy merchants.Look, I'm genuinely sorry for the owners of independent bookstores, and for those readers lucky enough to live near a really good one who are now watching it flounder because of Amazon and big box bookstores, but the fact is that for most readers (and I'm including, and probably concentrating on, English readers in non-English speaking countries), independents are not a bookish mecca. If you're like me, your local bookstore is understocked and overpriced, and its selection rarely deviates from whatever thriller is at the top of the bestseller lists this week. Science fiction and fantasy? Forget it, unless your tastes run to Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks. And, of course, everything's available at a markup of 50-100% of the cover price.
To put it simply, here are a few books I never would have read if it hadn't been for Amazon.
Comments
On the other hand, I like to browse. I like the possibility of random discoveries. Last week I went into my local used bookstore for a quick look (quick meaning less than an hour in this context). Almost straight away, on the rack of recent arrivals I saw something I had never heard of, but it looked good. It looked interesting. It was £8.50 I bought it. Later, having read it, and seeking some details to post a review on LiveJournal I checked Amazon. They had a copy at £34.00.
I like Amazon, I use it too much, but I love my local store.
But, the last time I spent an hour in a bookstore was in Bangkok, in a branch of a Japanese chain called Kinokuniya. When I walk into an Israeli bookstore, I know within five minutes whether there's anything there of interest or (which is more likely) whether all they've got is stuff I've already seen.
Cheers from Balt.
HH
Then again, there are some things I'll only ever be able to get from Amazon. And guilt is no substitute for a business plan.
SRP, you're right that a good used bookstore is better than any other kind (short, of course, of a really good library). I've found one in Haifa that I'm quite fond of, and Hagay pointed me towards a very nice one in Tel Aviv, but of course the selection depends on what other English readers have brought into the country, which usually means that, once again, SFF readers get gipped (on the other hand, it can be quite amusing to see the journeys some of these books have made. I once bought a copy of Virginia Woolf's Three Guineas that had been printed in London, sold in South Africa, brought to Israel by a previous owner and then sold to me).
Still, you've inspired me. To the used bookstore I go!
Yes, my book purchases are severely constrained by my financial considerations. Unfortunately, I find most libraries are also very hit-or-miss with SFF.
That particular trip to the used bookstore was exceptional. I usually find nice things, but they aren't generally the titles I was looking for. This was an unusual occasion in which I walked in and said, "I wonder if they have... oh, look, they do. What about... oh, they have that, too." Normally used bookstores don't deal in instant gratification like that.
Us book maniacs have a right to know!!!
Cheers:
HH
Baltimore
Red-Emma's
Post a Comment