Civics, Third Places
“People feel differently about their bookstore than they do about their grocery store or electronics store.”

The Elliott Bay Book Company is an independently owned bookstore founded by Walter Carr in 1973. Located in the heart of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood, The Elliott Bay Book Company is a full service bookstore, home to over 150,000 titles, set on cedar shelves in a multi-level, inviting unique atmosphere. Image by Steve Walser via CC

"We all know of food deserts: landscapes where there’s no access to fresh produce, just a Taco Bell or two. Less fretted over are the book barrens.

"It is now possible to visit many places in our great democracy and not come anywhere close to a bookstore. (Public libraries are hanging in there — for now — though younger people overwhelmingly experience them through smartphones.)

"Of course, along with bulk orders of Folgers and Cottonelle, one can order many exciting titles to be delivered cheaply — overnight even! — from this amazing online entity named for a river in South America. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. …

"Grossly inadequate, asserts Evan Friss, a historian and husband to a former clerk at Manhattan’s Three Lives, in 'The Bookshop,' a spirited defense of this important, odd and odds-defying American retail category."

Book Review: Browsing Is a Pleasure in This History of the Bookstore