Bookstores Come and Go

I didn't keep up with the news and merrily hopped out to one of my favorite utilitarian (and slightly academic) bookstores in Bellevue- University Book Store. To my horror, the store was shuttered. After 30 years in operation at this location! 😱 It closed two and half months ago, and is currently seeking a smaller space Eastside.

There's a Barnes and Noble that's a five-minute walk away. Better than nothing I suppose. I should be one to talk. I don't even buy many books in hard copies anymore. I'm buying a whole lot more digital books, like in the ratio of 95% to 5% hard copies. There's no better storage solution than the cloud. Borrowing books from the library is always in vogue. However, my dilemma arises when I want to own the book to read at will. And I want loads of books. Haizzzz. Now I buy e-books exclusively on Amazon's Kindle platform.

The irony. Or maybe not, since this is where Amazon is founded and headquartered. Just a few blocks down at the swanky Bellevue Square, Amazon Books is opening a physical store this fall. Had to stop and take a photo. The shop's hoarding is up while renovations go on inside, and they're hiring. At least they put easy information on the boards for fun reading.

Stared at the list of 'frequently looked up words in Kindle Books set in Seattle and Eastside'. Ha! It's the books I'm interested in. Well, I've only read two! I shall go find out about the rest. There is one book on this list of which I gave up a quarter way through because I really disliked the plot, the narrative style and the entire concept of it—that will be E.L. James' 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. Riiiight.

Then something occurred to me. People actually turn on the wifi while reading? While internet access on a Kindle is convenient, its processor is so darned slow that I never bother to link and surf. It also saps the battery. I mostly read with the wifi turned off. Wifi is enabled when I need to buy books and sync stuff across devices. With wifi mostly disabled, and in sleep mode half the time, my Kindle battery lasts almost eight days on one charge with say, two hours of reading a day.