Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

Why I value books

I never appreciated Borders till the one in my town went out of business. They were having a book sale as they went out of business. I went in and got a few things and a lady working there said, " This is so sad." There was another Borders in this town that also went out of business and the building just sits there deserted. There is also a

Barnes and Noble and there is a rumor that that might go out of business. I can't say I ever had a preference between the two, but I attend a writer's group every other Wed.
night at Barnes and Noble, and I'd hate to see it close because that's where we'd meet.
The one thing I don't like about Barnes and noble is they blare music over their
loudspeakers, and we all usually find it difficult to concentrate on our writing with the
music. When I go to a record store it is different, because i'm going to look at music. But

one time a Barnes and Noble worker brought us all little cappucino drinks, and I thought
that was very nice of him. He probably doeesn't work there anymore, as his free drinks
weren't good for business. But I also like to go to Barnes and Noble and sketch people
while they are reading a book, having a cup of tea, or look at the multitude of magazines
for inspiration. One time I was in there and a friend said, " I have been in here for two
hours, I have to get out of here!" Another time, I ran into a friend there, and he bought
me a cup of coffee and we sat down and discussed art. I rarely purchase stuff, one reason being my apartment has limited space, but I hope that E-books and the internet
don't destroy books. On the one hand,I am divided on the issue; I realize they have to cut
down trees to make paper, and I do believe in protecting the environment. But can't we just plant more trees? A book is a special thing, and an e-book seems rather cold and modern. It's kind of like how records used to be so cool because they were big and they had a lot of space, and you could just sit and look at the album art and be amazed, even if you didn't like the music. Then Cds came along, and they're not even that interesting anymore. I was in a record store today and a man came in and said, " I've downloaded all my CDS to my computer, do you know what I can do with my CDS?" Seemed like a silly question. What if his computer crashes? We all know we want to save space, and not all of us have mansions to collect a million things. but whatever happened to holding on to something for sentimental value? Is one man's trash another man's treasure?
I'll leave you on this note; A man from my printmaking class brought in a book from a garage sale he went to. They were going to throw it out. It was a print book that some person dedicated to his family in the year 1927. That to me makes it a valuable book. And I refuse to let modern times cheapen the value of the written word, information, and the human spirit.

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