We Need Bookstores
L. C. Atencio’s works are available at major book retailers such as Books-A-Million, Waterstones, Hudson, Island Market, CNN Newsstand, Ink, The Market: Choose Healthy/Travel Well, Hudson Booksellers, Gallery Eppley, Toronto Island Market, Hudson News, and City Market News. In addition, his works are also available at thousands of small, independent bookstores across the United States of America, like McNally Jackson: Independent Booksellers, Malaprop’s: Bookstore/Café, Powell’s Books, Quail Ridge Books, Left Bank Books, Parnassus Books, The Concord Bookshop, Scuppernong Books: Independent Booksellers, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Auntie’s Bookstore, and Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia, USA. You can also find his works at AbeBooks, Bookshop, Amazon, Alibris, eBay, and others.
Leandro Atencio
L. C. Atencio Studios
November 6, 2017
We Need Bookstores
Every single one of us has a story that has touched us, whether a story told to us by a family member, a fictional story we read (or listened to), or a story that came to us in any other way. The fact remains that some stories are so special to us that sometimes the story gets written down and published, appearing before us at the bookstore. As a society, we don’t always feel the need for the story or the book, but there are often times, at least at one point in a person’s life, when a book from a bookstore has had a significant effect on a person’s life, sometimes so great that such a book has saved the person (emotionally, spiritually, or intellectually, anyway).
I shop in all kinds of bookstores, from the major retailers like Walmart and Target to huge booksellers like Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million, but I also shop at small, independently owned bookstores, like Writer’s Block Bookstore in Winter Park, Florida. I love browsing the “Banned Books” section and looking around the whole bookstore, not knowing if a book will catch my attention enough to make me buy it. As great as shopping in person is, when the weather isn’t good or I’m not feeling well, I like to buy books online, notably audiobooks and ebooks. I love the fast convenience of an ebook and love the experience of listening to an audiobook while I’m doing laundry, but also while I’m doodling and painting. What people don’t necessarily recognize is that when we buy books from bookstores, we are directly supporting our community.
Any bookstore you buy from is staffed with great people. If you have ever shopped at a local bookstore long enough, then I’m sure you’ll agree with me that booksellers are some of the best people on the planet. They don’t care to talk with you for as long as you need, especially as they answer your questions and give you great book recommendations. Booksellers are literally the cool people you knew back in school who would know the latest trends and have great taste in literature (although often times also in music, cinema, and art).
When you buy books at the bookstore, not only are you directly supporting the bookstore’s staff financially (so these great people can make a living), but you are participating in a culture that thrives on knowledge, sympathy, empathy, and emotional maturity, all of which help our society, particularly with maintaining good mental health, which is very important, especially for us artists.
Bookstores are also great places to connect with other readers, as well as with authors, enriching our lives with great experiences and important knowledge that can be beneficial in one way or another.
The beauty of bookstores is that they are filled with dreams. Your dreams. My dreams. Available for us to read and experience. This access didn’t actually come easily. Hardworking bookstore workers have stocked the shelves, carried the boxes, and organized and ordered all of these dreams masterfully to provide us with an experience that can be meaningful and special. Help me in protecting bookstores by preserving their importance, not only by our actions but also by how we regard them — with the respect and the high esteem they deserve.