I Must Be Getting Old...

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Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
I was in a mall this afternoon and decided to go into the bookstore, which I haven't done in years. It was a branch of the same retail chain I used to buy all my SK books when I was in school. I guess the old instincts kicked in and I looked around to see what King books were on display. After making my way through all the "Young Adult" (a term I loathe) sections, I realised two things:

1) There wasn't a dedicated Horror/Supernatural section
2) There wasn't a dedicated Stephen King display.

So I got pissed and walked out. ;;D Man, how much of a snob do you have to be to walk out of a bookstore just cause they don't have a SK shelf?
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
I was in a mall this afternoon and decided to go into the bookstore, which I haven't done in years. It was a branch of the same retail chain I used to buy all my SK books when I was in school. I guess the old instincts kicked in and I looked around to see what King books were on display. After making my way through all the "Young Adult" (a term I loathe) sections, I realised two things:

1) There wasn't a dedicated Horror/Supernatural section
2) There wasn't a dedicated Stephen King display.

So I got pissed and walked out. ;;D Man, how much of a snob do you have to be to walk out of a bookstore just cause they don't have a SK shelf?
....s'ok, we can snob together...I've done the same thing.....
 

danie

I am whatever you say I am.
Feb 26, 2008
9,760
60,662
60
Kentucky
I was in a mall this afternoon and decided to go into the bookstore, which I haven't done in years. It was a branch of the same retail chain I used to buy all my SK books when I was in school. I guess the old instincts kicked in and I looked around to see what King books were on display. After making my way through all the "Young Adult" (a term I loathe) sections, I realised two things:

1) There wasn't a dedicated Horror/Supernatural section
2) There wasn't a dedicated Stephen King display.

So I got pissed and walked out. ;;D Man, how much of a snob do you have to be to walk out of a bookstore just cause they don't have a SK shelf?
Not a snob, just discerning.
 

Pucker

We all have it coming, kid
May 9, 2010
2,906
6,242
62
Two things:

1) I don't think it's snobbery to leave an establishment that doesn't seem to know its business and . . .

2) When I saw the title of this thread, the first thing I thought was:

Well, if you're getting young, let us in on it!

; )
 

Steffen

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2015
2,233
12,800
I''m surprised you even found a bookstore! There aren't many left. Barnes & Noble is about all we have around my way. And I hate them. I much preferred Borders, but alas, they have gone bye-bye :(

Where I live (in the Caribbean) we have two major bookstore chains, but they get by mostly selling textbooks and school supplies. I seldom see youngsters going in there to buy recreational reading material, sadly. Plus, the attendants don't know squat and can't make recommendations. Even I don't enjoy going to the stores any more because of the limited variety. My favourite used bookstore closed a few years ago because the owner said nobody reads any more. I still miss that place. I discovered Joseph Wambaugh, Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon there. It also had great horror story collections. These days, unless I'm buying a "coffee-table" book on art or history, I stick to digital myself.
 

GNTLGNT

The idiot is IN
Jun 15, 2007
87,651
358,754
62
Cambridge, Ohio
Where I live (in the Caribbean) we have two major bookstore chains, but they get by mostly selling textbooks and school supplies. I seldom see youngsters going in there to buy recreational reading material, sadly. Plus, the attendants don't know squat and can't make recommendations. Even I don't enjoy going to the stores any more because of the limited variety. My favourite used bookstore closed a few years ago because the owner said nobody reads any more. I still miss that place. I discovered Joseph Wambaugh, Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon there. It also had great horror story collections. These days, unless I'm buying a "coffee-table" book on art or history, I stick to digital myself.
....how's about books on coffee tables???.....
coffeetable.jpg
 

TheRedQueen

And Crazy Housewife
Dec 3, 2014
1,346
8,164
36
Fernley, NV.
I miss Borders too. I still can't hardly look at the old building where it used to be without tearing up a bit. I spent many happy hours in that store, buried in a book. B & N will suffice, but I prefer the used bookstores now. I tell you what, we all need to get our hands on as many books as we can find. In another ten years, bound books--REAL books--may go the way of the dodo.
 

Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
I have a real problem with the whole "nobody reads anymore" line. According to data last year, book sales across all formats were up year-on-year (drilling down, books experienced a jump in sales, ebook sales flattened and in some genres went into decline - people were buying paper instead of electronic files).
Clearly that doesn't automatically mean that more people are reading, only that more books are being sold. But it does mean that some people read. (And, according to separate data, the number of people in the UK identifying as 'readers for pleasure' was up 7% over the last decade.)
Most sales were through online retailers, however, with most of the offline sales occurring in supermarkets (they outstripped dedicated bookstores, apparently - but then they can offer books as loss leaders).
The funny thing, though, was that most supermarkets also reported a decline in footfall alongside an increase in online ordering for home delivery (and in the UK, the supermarkets at the 'top end' - Waitrose, etc - and at the 'bottom' - Aldi, Lidl - saw sharp rises in profits, while the 'big four' in the middle - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's (not quite as 'top end' as they were), Morrisons - saw theirs slump, to the point where Tesco more or less declared an emergency).

But, back to books, and here at least it's clearly not the case that "no one reads anymore". It's not even the case that kids/people in their 20s don't - some of the latter fell away after Harry Potter and then there's the fact that, in your 20s, you just don't have the time given everything else that's going on (I know I certainly didn't; I kind of kept up the habit but I really only started getting back into books right at the back end of my 20s and into my early 30s) - but a lot of people have stuck with it to whatever degree. As for the kids...actually, it's gaming that seems to be in more danger now. It's not as popular amongst people in their early-mid 20s as it was when I was that age, and the nephews, nieces and their friends can take it or leave it (or just leave it, the older they get). In fact, reading seems to be becoming fairly popular within the 14-19 age group - and with actual books, not ebooks - because it provides some sort of break from constantly being surrounded by screens. (The same age group is also more likely to watch TV at a specific time/at broadcast because they then chat about it via social media, etc. One in the eye for those of my generation and the cohort of 'in-betweenies' who generally think that the idea of broadcast TV is dead, since 'the kids' stream it all on demand at their convenience. Clearly we don't understand them as much as we like to think.)