Cookbooks, Books, and Bookstores

Our local Borders bookstore is closed and it makes me sad.  The cause of death, many experts say, is the internet.  Paper and ink have been taken over by Kindles and iPads.  Sort of like the equivalent of 45’s in a juke box taken over by CD’s.  Yes, the world moves on and progresses, but I never want to lose the feel of a book in my hands.  Sure, it’s heavier, maybe more expensive, and takes up more space.  But what would the world be without actual books, or libraries to house them?  I shiver to think.

Reading on paper seems fundamental and somehow more grandiose than an electronic format.  Remember how exciting it used to be to receive the new books in school classrooms?  Either they were brand new and you were the first to write your name in it, or you looked immediately to see who used the book before you.  It’s like when I buy used cookbooks at book sales.  I love seeing the former owners name on the first page, and sometimes even an inscription of “Happy Birthday,” or “I chose this cookbook just for you,”  and even cooking notes written on the margins. You won’t get that personalization on an electronic device.  I know that one can find millions of recipes on the internet, but when you print out the recipe, there are no spatters on the computer paper that tells you someone made that recipe over and over. 

All this being said, yes – I have an iPad, and I couldn’t be writing this blog without my computer, but there will still be nothing like what I used to do with my girls when they were little- curling up in a chair and opening up my volumes of Mother Goose and fairy tales.  Somehow, cuddling with the girls and a cold, hard, flat thing doesn’t cut it.  There is nothing like a real book.  Borders may have died, but it won’t kill the love of books.