an ode to the independent bookshop

I have been loving staying at home during this coronavirus era. As much as I love traveling, I am a complete homebody in my normal, day-to-day life. However, one of the things I do really, really miss is the inherent soul-soothing that happens at bookstores. I love spending an weekend afternoon or slow evening just browsing, curious about a bookshop owner's tastes. And I am always vacillating between the guilt of buying another book to add to my bookshelves currently full of excellent choices, and the sobriety of just jotting down a title to remember for later. Here's to holding out hope for the small corner bookstore to make it through this difficulty.

They Were Meant to Be the Season’s Big Books. Then the Virus Struck.
With stores temporarily shut down and other industry disruptions, some of the most anticipated titles of the spring are being pushed back to later in the year.

“Bookstores are shuttered, everyone right now is worried about their health and their livelihoods, there’s so much anxiety,” said the writer Laila Lalami, whose new nonfiction book, “Conditional Citizens,” was scheduled to come out from Pantheon in April, but has been moved to the fall. “It makes sense to postpone it until there’s a bit more clarity, until we know what’s going to happen.” [...]

Artists in every field, from musicians, dancers and opera singers to actors and television writers, have seen their livelihoods and income disrupted, or in some cases evaporated, as theaters, comedy clubs and studios have closed in the face of the epidemic. In some ways, the publishing industry is better positioned than many other businesses to weather the impact of the coronavirus. Books are in a way an ideal medium for this moment: Reading is a solitary act, and people who are sheltering in place may turn to books for escape, solace and connection. [...]

Though online sales might provide a temporary lifeline, many in the industry are worried about the lingering loss to the literary world as festivals and book fairs and author readings disappear for the foreseeable future.

Ms. Lalami, who, like many writers, had to cancel her planned appearances for March and April, said she fears the lost sense of community resulting from the pandemic as much as the economic toll for booksellers and authors.

“Right now my worry is really about books and book culture,” she said. “When it comes to something like bookstores as a space of cultural togetherness, there’s no online replacement for that. That’s something that worries me as a reader as much as a writer.”

 

  

via {ny times}