As a book lover, I love bookstores. Bookstores are usually my little pieces of heaven that I look forward to at the end of the week. I might not be buying books as much and as often as I'd like, but a stop at a bookstore is crucial for me. It's like a pick me up, wind down and come to my senses, especially after a long week. It's a way to re-energize and quietly think about whatever it is that I might want to think about, find out about and well, experience about. I love second hand bookstores, or local book stores. There are memories in second hand books that is a gem to an aspiring writer like myself. The notes written in margins, thoughts of a stranger, speculating about what kind of a person who might have held this book in their times and their ultimate reason for leaving that book behind.
Local bookstores usually carry books that you can't find easily in chain bookstores. The editions that aren't sold in such bookstores, or the novels and such that has been written, however is not in popular demand, so you have to go up to the front desk and see if they will order that book in for you. The books that all great literature lovers love, however they cannot be found anywhere among the tons of badly written books of our modern times. After all, they sell more than real literature, books that make us think, ponder our relationships among each other and to the societies we live in. They make us feel things we have never felt before, recognize feelings we never thought that existed with in and to analytically think about bigger issues in the world, the times we live in, where the world was once and where the world is going. After all, sometimes these might paint a bleak, pessimistic and rather too complex ideals, characters and plot in which we rather settle down with a dumbed down version of humanity, where the only thing we need to significantly hold to our heart is the love of a teenager. It's easier.
Regardless, it's great to find such treasures in our local bookstores, with it's charming atmosphere, witty slogan and the owner that attends to his shop and can give you recommendations on his own taste and knowledge of the literature industry rather than just what is selling most and what has just been recently released.
However, there are particular things Barnes&Noble is suited for and I love them for it. I don't want the diminishing income and important of local bookstores, but I can't also help my heart from falling in love with different aspects of Barnes&Noble.
1)Their membership program is very useful. If you purchase more than 5 books a year this is definitely worth the money to invest in. In the lowest and most basic reason, you end up not paying the tax of a book due to it's 10% discount. Usually, there are other additional savings available, especially during their sales. Who doesn't want cheaper books? With the membership, when you order your books online, not only do you get those books cheaper than their online prices, you also do not pay the shipping price. How awesome is that? Not paying the shipping definitely saves a lot of money in the long run. With the money saved from shipping, you can actually buy other books with.
2) Their books are available online. I love ordering books online, it's easier for me to get my books delivered to my door (not because I am lazy, but the Barnes&Noble closest to me isn't really in my way and being reliant on public transportation, going all the way out of my home just to buy a book isn't always feasible) and books are almost always cheaper online in Barnes&Noble than they are in their store. Who doesn't want to pay less for a book? At the end that will get me more books rather than one.
2a) Their Marketplace. This means you can buy even cheaper never used or even used books from their online stores. This means they do buybacks and this helps to continue to circulate books in the market rather than throw them out.
2b) You can create an account, link your membership number to your user ID and keep a virtual list/library of your books. You can review them, and books purchased with your membership can be added literally by a click. You can also add any other book you have in your library at home. It's great for people on the run and do not like to ereaders. You can access them nearly anywhere and always see which books you want to buy next. Although the My Library could be altered in a more efficient way, it's a great idea.
3) Their classics are excellent. They're the books we're all supposed to read (you might not like them, but if you do love books and are thinking of having a career in the literary industry, they are the books you should read) and they usually come with great introductions, footnotes, inspiration to other works, along with some great discussion questions and other sections. Their prices are always excellent. You could buy many of the classics for under ten dollars. The books you would have had to pay twice, sometimes three or four times more for just one. With fifty bucks, you could many so many of their books (at the very least 5, if not more). Some of the books contain two shorter novels and a number of short-stories. Some of them are a novel and a large number of short-stories included in their addition. No matter, they are well worth the money.
P.S. about two or three times a year (especially during Christmas time and summer time) they have Buy 2, get 3rd free Classics sale. It is an amazing deal, one I advise you do not miss.
4) High School/College study aids: While many of these kind of study aids, test preps, college planners, best college lists, how to apply for..., class aids are available at a number of different stores and through numerous online websites. However, none are as thorough as Barnes&Noble as far as I can tell. Whether you decide to go into their store or browse around their online site, Barnes&Noble is sure to offer you a great source for college prep and studying. I love their Sparknotes collection, I must own at least a 1/3 of their all published books. I own from anything like How to Write: a short-story, poetry, essay, research paper, to Short-Stories 101, Literature101, Political Science 101, American Government 101, Philosophy 101, American History 101, Women's Literature 101 to review of the classics such as Hemingway's, Shakespeare's or Tolstoy's stories that has tremendously helped me in preparation to my classes.
Hate it or love it, there are many great qualities of Barnes&Noble. It's good to take advantage of such opportunities.
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