My Kind of Bookstore

I love bookstores, I feel at home seeing all of the books on the shelf, all kinds of information stored in the shelves. But at the same time I feel a bit uncomfortable because all the books are pristine, the books that aren't are the display books which have been leafed through, and looked at. But they are the books that don't get bought, and the pristine books beckon me to open their pages, but I feel guilty in making a sellable book into a non-sellable book just by looking through it. Many bookstores, probably first was Barnes and Noble have reading couches, and encourage you to stay and look at the books, but very few people do it, I think because of this sellable to non-sellable factor.

Another thing I love about books is used books, especially those with markings. I love that these books have a history in themselves, the person who read the book has put themselves into the book, and they have also been influenced by the ideas contained in the pages. Probably because I have such a great attachment to the books I read, and I assume that everyone else does too.

So what if bookstores were a mix, between library and bookstore. If you could open a book, and sit and read the whole book through, crack the spine, mark the pages and not feel guilty, but then buy a clean pristine copy of the book if you liked as well. There would be two parts then to my bookstore, not physically separate, but in concept, every book in the store would be accompanied by a readers edition. One you could sit with in the store and absorb. There would be cozy corners to sit in, coffee and tea to drink right there while you read. You could and would actually be encouraged to interact with the book, change it physically. Some might say if people can read the book in the store they won't buy it, but I think if you get the opportunity to change and be changed by a book you are more likely to buy it, because it has become a part of you.

I would love to have such a store, not just to create this new kind of environment, but to have the books that get read. Because the owner of the store would also be the owner of these most precious editions which hold the history of all their readers.