Celebrating, once again, our wonderful independent bookstores!

I apologize in advance for coming back to a theme I have written about several times before: the importance of supporting independent bookstores. It is just that I feel so strongly about this, and that these stores are endangered by the pandemic. As I have written about a couple of times, most recently on 12/23/20 when I wrote about realizing how many memoirs I had ordered, I have been ordering books online from independent bookstores since the beginning of the pandemic. Pre-pandemic, I either went in person to those same stores, or borrowed books from the library (and donated -- and still donate -- regularly to the Friends of the Library in my town). So I am spending more money than ever on brand new books, but I believe it is more than worth it to give myself this gift during the stay-at-home months, as well as to contribute to the survival and health of these oh-so-important stores. In a recent San Francisco Chronicle article, “Indie Book Shops Have Nurtured Us. It’s Our Turn: We can save them all this winter if we just give them our business,” by Peter Hartlaub (12/20/20), local writers and readers speak of how important these local, well-loved institutions are in our communities. The author tells of writers who sign hundreds of their books especially for their favorite local bookstores, and who ask their readers to buy from independent bookstores; schools that have begun ordering from these independent bookstores; the many customers who attend Zoom readings and other events; and customers and neighbors who have been buying from the stores, and/or making donations. Several writers recall falling in love with books when they were taken regularly to certain bookstores as children. Some speak of the personal attention given, and the deep knowledge of the people who work there. One writer mentions that she often runs into other writers in her favorite local bookstore, intensifying the feeling of community. As the writer Stephen Pastis is quoted in the article: “If you’re not supporting the local bookstores, you will rue the day that bookstore closes. Those people care about the community. They’re another essential part of it.” The reporter reminds us that we can either order from our favorite local bookstores, “or adopt a new one using Indiebound.org, which has a bookstore finder on its home page.” An added pleasure of this article, for me, is that the bookstore featured in the piece, the famous Green Apple, is one I have been going to (or now occasionally ordering deliveries from) since I first arrived in San Francisco, lo these many years ago, and rented an apartment six blocks away from it. I, like many many others, would be devastated if this, or any other of our favorite bookstores, had to close for lack of support from the community of readers. So let’s all keep patronizing these beloved and essential institutions; long live our local independent bookstores!