Hi Rachel Udin,
I so totally agree. The experience of browsing, the accidental gems — I loved bookstores! It's definitely not worth trying that at Amazon; the lists are too huge and the search ordering is way too unwieldy.
But can I give a little plug here for GoodReads? Increasingly I go there for the random, the off-kilter and the unexpected. Other people's reviews can be a great way to find unusual gems. I've only just started getting involved so don't have many friends on my list (which limits how many lists and reviews I see), but it was a fantastic eye-opener to realise I could look in 'fantasy of manners' (what a great subgenre) and look for the best reviewed books before going across to Amazon and sampling their front pages. I bought several books that way this week; all were more-or-less random finds based on a little bit of poking around. In some ways it was better than the old fashioned bookstore because I could see what other readers thought. It's really worth getting into if you can be bothered setting yourself up there (it's slow to start, but once you've inputted your favourite books and rated them, things start to roll).
Happy hunting!
Julie
Going around on Goodreads doesn't quite have the same feel as a bookstore, for me. There isn't the overwhelming smell of books. You can't just open a book to read author notes for the sake of it, you can't flip to the middle at random and see if you'd like the plot. It kinda feels impersonal still. I really never cared what other people thought of a book, I cared more of what I thought of it. Plus I had bookstore games that you can only play in a bookstore. ^^; I know that sounds weird.
Bookstore games included...
-Making bets on which books would be well-stocked in the fantasy and science fiction section. (Does that compare to the online bookstores?)
-Betting where a particular book is stocked.
-Guessing if they've combined a certain section of books. (Like is the women's lit in the general fiction section?)
- Reading author notes and then comparing them to writing books that the same author has written to see if they are giving the same consistent advice.
- Comparing author notes over time. Has the author changed their mind over time?
- Comparing first paragraphs of all of the new books to see what the editors liked.
- What new fangled genre has a bookshelf dedicated to it?
- Comparing the blurb and the first paragraph with the last chapter to see if I can guess how the writer wrote their book. - Then reading the author notes to see if they say. ^^; (Yeah, I know)
- Have Romance covers gotten past Fabio yet? Haha.
- What's in the children's section? Wow, that's made it into children's?
- YA fantasy--tell my fortune for in ten years.
- Then I'd go over to the magazine section to see what editors thought was the next wave of books. (Sadly, magazines also aren't as well-stocked anymore as many have gone out of business, so I can't play many of those games either). I'd check if I knew any of the authors, the genres that were doing well, what kind of stories were being told, see if I could read a few, and then do raw counts like, how many had girls/women as lead characters. How many were science fiction v. fantasy. How many magazines available were of a particular genre. Were there any magazines on a particular topic? Which magazines I knew were and weren't stocked. How many editors were male v. female? and so on.
I used bookstores mainly for market research, which is a bit harder to do online.... because you are often *directed* towards books, but you can't directly see, well, Terry Pratchett has 4 books of one book, versus this new author over here, so he must be more popular at the moment. You can get best seller lists, but that just tells what's popular, rather than what the sellers think are better bets. Not all best sellers are well-stocked in a bookstore and the bookstore tells a fair amount about the psychology of the *current* publishing industry as they are the end product.
Accidental finds in a bookstore is a bit more satisfying, not only for the tactile, but for the proud moment, you found it yourself and like it based on your own opinion. Plus the slight rush about not being sure if the book is good or not, but you sure are willing to try and discover, rather than be told that it is good by group census.
Libraries also seem to be deficient on books as well. The best I had were university libraries, but even growing up, I couldn't find certain books I was looking for. I usually take trips to the bookstore to see what's selling, what's considered important, etc. (I'd buy 100 dollars worth of books at a time and then read them all) But I love libraries too. I'll mainly hang out in the non-fiction section.
Possibly a sign of the times, Seun. In Mississippi, the Barnes and Noble cut their inventory by more than half to make way for Miss St. Univ. hoodies and cowbells.
My Barnes and Nobles too. (The one I can get to) cut their selection to sure bets in their Science Fiction and Fantasy section. What was 2 good bookcases (front and back) got turned into one (front and back) with the science fiction and fantasy section combined (they used to be separate). The romance and other genre fiction took a hit too. The children's section kinda grew a bit, though, from what I see and they dedicated a huge amount of space to DVDs, CDs, blu-rays, etc. The fiction books are being choked. They got moved at least 3 times in the last year and have shrunk every time. This is a 3 level "book"store, so it's not lacking for space. First floor is all DVD and such. The second floor is mostly all non-fiction. The third floor shares with non-fiction, children's YA and the rest of the genres. They have yet *more* DVDs and CDs on that floor too. (which is sad. Poor, poor fiction) They simply aren't stocking it.
It's shrinking... the fiction section in the B&N. And what's stocked at books that are ancient good bets rather than edgy new reads that the publishers have begged in. The used-to-be well-stocked new releases went from a full shelf to one shelf. I don't begrudge older authors, but I've read most of that stuff already...