Bringing the Sexy Back.
Yesterday I posted a wall-o-text about books & bookselling, and I know a lot of you [the comics folks] could care less about retail and the rest of you [the retail folks] could give a rat’s ass about my philosopical musings on the future of print in the larger context of the present and continued transmission of culture, and that even if you like the bullshit philosophical musings you honestly would prefer I not drink so much, so the points made could be more clearly, and concisely, expressed.
I fully admit my shortcomings. Among other things, I like web traffic for this poor blog. Kinda an attention whore that way.
So in an effort to both increase traffic and direct even more of you to the original essay, while making it more accessible, let me take a single, favourite assertion from yesterday’s post and expand on it, briefly, today:
Bookstores may be grossly inefficient compared to e-books and web sites and all that crap, but sex is also grossly inefficient if the only goal you consider is insemination. Sometimes inefficiencies are a good thing. Sometimes they have a value, even an economic value, well beyond what is most expedient or cost-effective.
Yes, if all you want is a book, you can log onto a web site, spend less than 3 minutes, order exactly what you want, wait the pre-determined time period, and soon you will be surprised with a tiny packet of joy, delivered to you via the offices of professionals who specialize in that sort of thing.
Seems ideal, right? let me replace one word
Yes, if all you want is a baby, you can log in, spend less than three minutes in the process to effect that end, wait the pre-determined time period, and soon you will be surprised with a tiny packet of joy, delivered to you via the offices of professionals who specialize in that sort of thing.
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Obviously, there are occasional inefficiencies in any process that have little to do with the end result but that we engage in anyway.
One can drink absinthe without a louche and flaming sugar cubes and all of that, but the process is often the point of consumption. One can buy a burger without making reservations, meeting before-hand for drinks and conversation with friends, ordering the appetizer, and later dessert, and much later coffee or port while lounging with said friends in the restaurant’s bar. One can see the Mona Lisa without looking at a single other painting in the Louvre, or visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris and Shakespeare & Co. or walking the banks of the Seine under lamplight and moonlight arm in arm with a smiling, laughing companion.
One can engage in the process of insemination without courtship, chaste hand-holding; the uncertain, halting, almost orgasmic first kiss; shared special memories of that night or this place; the arguments, the breakups, the forgiveness, the make-up sex; without foreplay and caresses and knowing that if I blow just so behind your ear I can feel the shudder at the base of your spine through my hand placed just at the top of the curve of your ass, and long sweaty nights and slow, leisurely sunday mornings and that quickie on the floor right before we go to your college-BFF’s wedding. Or the Valentine’s day right after our first anniversary. Or breakfast in bed on your birthday that ended up with me meeting the pizza guy wearing only a sheet because neither of us could be bothered to cook (or even get out of bed) all day and by 4pm we were starving.
Indeed, if one focuses only on the goal, there are many, enjoyable parts of the process that might be missed. And occasionally the process is a lot of fun in it’s own right, and the eventual goal might be a bit of a let-down, or undesired, or impossible to begin with.
Yes, one can easily buy a book online. Click, click, click: we’re done.
Bookstores aren’t about the quick sale of a book [though we’re up for a quickie if that’s all you have time for]
Bookstores are about inefficiency and the grand glorious meandering search, falling in love, and those rapturous perfect moments of book discovery — after a relationship that has lasted for years, a partnership you’re comfortable with, an easy familiarity that you fall into whenever you walk through the door. Those ‘perfect’ book moments may only come once a month, or once a week, if that’s all you can make time for. They can come as often as once a day [or multiple times a day] though it’ll take more of your time and quite a bit more effort on our part, as booksellers.
yes, Amazon and other web sites will satisfy that book jones in scant seconds — coldly, mechanically, and without the personal touch a patient, knowledgeable lover bookseller can provide.
Some days you know exactly what you want. And we’ll humbly provide that.
But we’re also open, ready, and willing to take you by the hand any other day of the week, and walk down those tempting aisles and through the grubby stacks packed from one end to the other with sexy, sexy books. Whether you only want to watch browse, or maybe just dip a toe into ocean of pleasures that books can provide, we’re here for you. And when you’re ready to take the plunge, we’ll be right by your side.
Yes. Bookstores are inefficient. So is really enjoying a meal, or talking to and meeting with friends in person, or travelling the world to see the major cities and centres of culture with your own eyes. So is sex.
Inefficiencies are Great. Love ‘em.
And I hope bookselling remains inefficient for centuries to come.
