My Life as a Bookworm

By: Stephanie S. Smith, blog editor

As a work-at-home freelancer, I spend a lot of time haunting bookstores.  Barnes and Noble, the little independent shop on the corner, Borders, the local Christian bookstore with overstuffed chairs, the city library.  And if they serve coffee, all the better.

Last Saturday my husband kidnapped me by taking me to the nearest bookstore and forcing me to pick out a book to buy--which turns out, in my mind, to be an A-rate date.  We browsed the shelves, brought our selections to the cafe where we read on tall bistro stools, and then amused ourselves people-watching.

Random observations of a bookstore...

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An elderly man holds up a book so his wife walking up the table can read the cover. With a million dollar grin, he shows it to her: How to Retire in Europe. I am charmed and jealous :)

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There seems to be a new trend of "re-writing" old classics, some of which I am sorry to say I cannot take seriously.  Not when Anna Karenina is suddenly a cyborg, or Jo March from Little Women romps through the night as a werewolf. I kid you not: Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters promises "romance, heartbreak, and tentacled mayhem" from its back cover.

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Speaking of monsters...vampirism has launched an epidemic in the Young Adult section, with every other book cover featuring a surly-looking, red-lipped youth retreating into shadows.

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A few weeks ago I visited Panera to be greeted by a new policy: only 30 minute free wi-fi intervals during their "peak period". Meanwhile, Starbucks is putting out little notices on their tables saying, "We no offer free wi-fi!" Barnes and Noble has now followed suit. Back at Panera this week, the new policy has gone out the window. Thank goodness.

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At libraries, people respect the silence.  At bookstores, people talk on their cell phones, laugh loudly, order cappucinnos and even read books aloud sitting in the middle of the stacks. Why is that?