Categories: Lifestyle

10 Reasons Why Bookstores Are Magical Places

Many people nowadays think that bookstores are dying businesses, but luckily, that’s not true. Bookstores are currently booming despite the popular use of Kindles, Nooks, and other electronic reading devices. Sure, ebooks are convenient for travel and such, but book lovers everywhere can agree that nothing beats visiting an actual, brick and mortar bookstore. Being surrounded by infinite shelves of books, new or used, brings about a wonderful feeling of having so much knowledge at your fingertips, but that’s not the only appeal. Here are 10 reasons why bookstores are magical places.

1. The quiet atmosphere

You can be sure that stepping into a bookstore will always have a quiet calm to it. Sometimes there is soft classical music playing or small chatter but it’s the perfect atmosphere to look around at all the different titles and maybe sit down with one for a while.

2. The staircases and ladders

Luckily, there are many old bookstores around that have two floors and have those beautiful spiral staircases that we don’t see too often anymore. Even those that don’t have one, usually have a movable ladder or two for those hard to reach books. If this doesn’t make you feel like you’ve entered a magical place, you probably aren’t a book lover.

3. Books and coffee go hand and hand

As if books alone weren’t a great enough gift, many bookstores now have cafes in them too. What’s better than sipping a hot cup of coffee or tea while contemplating which books you will be taking home with you and which one you will start to read now?

4. The comfy seating

Another reason bookstores are magical places is that there are always plenty of comfortable sitting options for people who instantly get lost in their books and want to sit around for a while reading. Bonus points if you find a nice hiding nook with enough bookcases around you so no one will bother you!

5. Meeting other book lovers

Since many people generally go to bookstores to seek out new books and enjoy the quiet, it’s not the typical place for socializing right? Wrong! It’s a great place to have intellectual conversations and meet other book lovers. Keep a lookout to see what books people choose and ask them what interests them about it. I guarantee you will run into each other more than once and it can turn into a great friendship!

6. The creativity

Bookstore owners are just as imaginative as their book-loving customers. Many will find amazing ways to create designs and sculptures using only books. Just look at this magical wall of books!

7. That feeling as though you’re entering a new world

Entering a bookstore is like entering thousands of new worlds. Will you pick up a book about a horrifying murder or enter a romance story about a passionate love triangle? Will you be brought tears by the turn of the last page or will you leave with a new sense of purpose in life? The possibilities are simply endless!

8. Halls of books

Walking through halls of books will give you this mystical feeling of slipping on the shoes of other people with different perspectives on life. You will be tempted to spread out your arms and glide your fingertips over the spines of the books as you walk. This is the particular allure of a used bookstore since many of the books will have been passed down and read by other people before you, so you feel this invisible connection with them.

9. All the different genres

You know how everyone is always telling you to jump outside of your comfort zone and try something new and wild? Well, it most certainly doesn’t have to be bungee jumping! The magical thing about bookstores is that the books are all categorized so you can just go from one section to another to look for genres you already love, and genres you have never tried but are curious about. You’ll find that there are so many options at your disposal!

10. You will want to stay for hours

Once you do find that perfect book after all of your searchings, you might start to look for more from that same author. Or you might settle down with it and read for an hour or two and before you know it, the bookstore is closing. All you can do now is buy the book and wait until you finish it to come back. But coming back tomorrow sounds good too!