Sadface
I’ve been in a cranky funk for a couple of weeks and I think I know what is wrong.
It’s Border’s. I’m grieving.
I love books, and I love bookstores, and now I live in a city where there isn’t a decent bookstore. I live in a nation where the count of great bookstores fits on both hands.
I desperately want Mitch Kaplan of Miami’s iconic Books and Books to franchise, but I think he’s going to have to clone himself.
I keep having fantasies about opening a book store, but I know, with my head, that it’s an unlikely investment, although my heart keeps telling me otherwise.
I know that online bookselling is the wave of the future, but the serendipity of walking into a great bookstore and browsing and finding a fantastic read is, and always has been, the single greatest joy of my adulthood and now it’s gone.
Dance with the Reaper 
Have you tried Barnes & Noble or Mardel’s?
I admit I like to order from Amazon because I usually know what I want.
I have never had the time to sit and browse a book, and even though I guess I could now, it is not instilled in me but I feel your pain.
The giant mothership Half Price Books on Northwest Highway. So powerfully alluring that we call it Half Price Drugs.
Dear Elizabeth, Please come see your neighbor here and browse through our bookshelves.
We are still looking for a shelf of the right size for the gardening books, but we already have quite a collection to browse. And bring the children to browse the toys, games and Indian books.–Friday after school would be a good time, but come before that if you need to and want to, even if I’m not at home by chance.
Neigh bor js
I miss Olsen’s in DC – locally-owned chain where I always stumbled upon something wonderful. I miss Borders’ Cafe. Our B&N lacks atmosphere and all the coffehouses have music on the weekend so there’s no place to just hang out for a while on Saturday night when Steve’s at work.
Fortunately, we have lots of used bookstores now. There weren’t any good bookstores in Harrisburg when I moved here but times have changed.