Okay, I’m a girl. I love to shop. Guilty. I love new things. I love how I feel in new things. I love enjoying the excitement of something new. It’s why everyone loves babies. They’re so NEW!
But, alas, the novelty wears off of everything. As much as I love to shop, there’s nothing I love buying more than books. And more than just buying them randomly, I love buying books from people who read. I miss “mom and pop” bookshops in which the owners have read every book on the shelf. They recommend where to find the gems among the coal. I can map my life by the “mom and pop” book shops that have fed my habit over the years. Cleveland, Cincinatti, Boston, New York, Washington, Antwerp, London, Philadelphia.
And I have found that if I am chatty enough, I can find the book lovers in any bookshop. In the Philadelphia airport, there is a lady in the bookshop between terminals A&B who recommends great books. In Chicago O’hare, where I am sitting right now, there is a bookshop by Gate B11 where a guy named Mike has turned me on to some of my alltime favorites. They feed my habit.
They may be burried in big name, mega bookstores, but the book lovers are out there. Dealing words like crack to the reading addicts. Gotta go take a hit off my latest purchase…
Nice blog, Melissa. I can relate to the post, as one book lover to another. It’s a guy kind of thing, too. I’m starting Philip Roth’s Exit Ghost, after having finished his last novel, Everyman. Astounding writer. The good thing about a new book, as opposed to a new baby, is that you can put it down without hearing it cry, and it doesn’t poop all over the place. And browsing nice little bookstores sure beats perusing Baby Gap!