An open book…
“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read. “ ~Attributed to Groucho Marx
It’s been ages since I had the time to enter an old-fashioned bookstore. I had to go to the city the other day to have repairs run on my specs and because I was in the city, I decided to visit my two favourite bookstores. One is a café/bookstore and I spent a long time sifting through the coffee-table titles. One called The Treehouse Book.
At $75.00, a present for someone for Christmas. Another on Maria Island by Tom Dunbabin.
But best of all… and not printed and bound… the café’s selection of macaroons of which I made a selection: caramel and chocolate and which I bought to take home so that they could partner a cup of tea whilst I read my kindle!
Then to my other favourite bookstore where I picked up an order: Mary Hoffman’s David. 
And wandered around secretly listing titles to purchase on their wonderful wine and cheese shopping night pre-Christmas. I talked to the staff… those same staff who gave my own books the centre flag position and who sold such a memorable amount of titles when they were released in print. To be frank, I look forward to seeing the print version of A Thousand Glass Flowers on their shelves.
Then I came home and switched on the Kindle and went browsing:
Autumn Duchess by Lucinda Brant. 
Gallia Invicta by SJA Turney, Torbrek by Lexi Revellian. Georgiana Darcy’s Diary by Anna Elliott.
Too many titles to list but all in all a bookish kind of time.
I’m not going to get into an argument about which is better: bricks and mortar or e-shops. After all, I’m an author whose novels are sold in both. Suffice to say that the other day I had fun in different sorts of bookstores. Maybe that’s the thing you see: there’s room for them all.
I love to have a book in one hand and my pencil in the other (though I not always use it) . Though I’ve read e-books I still feel uncomfortable while doing it. I haven’t got a kindle reader and read on my laptop so maybe it is time to get one and see…
I always visit bookstores when I’m in Rome (or in any big city) but I also like visiting online big book shops .
So you see, I agree with you: there’s room for them all!
Have a nice Sunday
MG
I used to use that Groucho quote as my email signature. Love it. Do you believe I don’t have a Kindle yet? I know. All my favorite author-people are indies, and I can only read their books on my laptop, which is totally not the same experience. I like to read in a comfy chair with my feet up. And some of my closest friends work in bookstores. So I’m torn.
I don’t know if you sent me your email address and I lost it. It’s a strong possiblity. My life has been in turmoil all month. Just finished teaching at a fantastic but exhausting writers conference and came home to an email from my publisher that the ebook of Food of Love is going live today or tomorrow. Yikes. Sure would like to sit in that big red chair of yours.
If you still want me, could you send me your questions to annerallen.allen@gmail.com sometime? Your interviews are always so great. Really, really appreciate the offer.