Yesterday, while still being one with the couch after a stretch of the flu, I heard Fresh Air on NPR. Ms. Gross interviewed Ann Patchett about her new book of essays, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. What struck me was what Ms. Patchett had to say about independent bookstores:
Terry Gross: So even though you have a bookstore now, do you ever buy your books online?
Ann Patchett: Right. Well we can order it for you. You know, it’s not that I think no one should order books online... there are a lot of little towns that don’t have bookstores or you might not enjoy going to the bookstore and I think that that’s fine, too. Buy books online. But i think that what’s important is that if you value a book store -- if that’s something you want in your community -- if you want to take your children to story hour, if you want to meet the authors who are coming through town, if you want to get together for a book club at a book store or you want to come in and talk to the smart booksellers, if you want to have that experience of a book store then it is up to you -- it is your responsibility to buy your book in the bookstore and that’s what keeps the bookstore there. And that’s true for any little independent business. You can’t go in to the little gardening store and talk to them about pesticides and when do you plant and what kind of tools do you need and use their time for an hour and their intelligence and then go to Lowe’s and buy your plants for less. THAT you CANNOT do. So that’s my message.
No comments:
Post a Comment