My Borders shut down recently. I know, let the depression sink in for a moment. if you aren't sad it's because you hate me and want to see me suffer. As you may have guessed, I've spent many of the past few days searching endlessly for a new place from which to read, drink coffee and avoid writing, while drinking coffee.
My search was essentially a huge failure. I got into my car feeling very gung-ho, and got as far as about two blocks away before I came upon a Starbucks and gave up immediately. I mean, they do have coffee, tables and internet. That's like my three basic needs right there. I can deal without having books to browse--or at least I can bring my own.
Imagine my surprise upon entering said Starbucks discovering that they are planning a remodel (were, it started today.) So even the place I didn't want to go to in the first place is shutting down. I'd call it bum luck but I see the common factor--me. I was about to embark on another epic quest of block-traveling import when my mother suggested "Books-A-Million" to me. Yeah, she said, it's right down the street.
I don't know if you know this but--I grew up in Books-A-Million. I used to ask to go there everyday after school. I was very serious about this store. It had Joe Muggs coffee (Frozen cappuccino? Yes, please.) and a copious amount of comics not to mention an entire section of Star Wars books which were kind of my thing.
Then, in what would become the story of my life, the store shut down. That is to say, became Full Sail University. Shortly after that I (my mother) discovered Borders and life was good again, or so I thought. I--in my beautiful ignorance--did not realize that companies aren't necessarily permanent, no matter how much love and attention you give them.
Not until my reemergence into the beautiful world that is Books-A-Million did I realize what I had been missing. First off--the frozen cappuccino? It tastes like childhood. They have a humor section that is easily four bookcases long and a comic/sci-fi section that stretches into eternity, into the beautiful light of fake knowledge and imaginary galactic lore. I have found my happy place, and it is a terrifyingly corporate bookstore. My inner hipster is crying, but as I still have pants that go down to my very non-flip flop shoes, I figure I can get away with it.
It even has a "last chance" section with books costing 1, 2 and 3 dollars. Where you can find such killer titles as "Elegy Beach." A book that is said to be "hauntingly elegiac." It doesn't exactly make me want to read it--but if that's the kind of review I can be expecting, you can be expecting me, right here, every other day.
Plus the store is pretty much devoid of people my age--maybe I'll get some work done.
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