THIS CHRISTMAS season I’ve visited many bookstores, as I usually do while looking for gifts. In the big B&N off Union Square I see many non-book items for sale. No so many years ago this would have bothered me. Why is a bookstore wasting space on non-books items? Today, I find I don’t mind at all. I’m old enough to remember when Macy’s and other large department stores had a book section. Today Macy’s does not concern itself with selling books and it seems that all bookstores are now selling games, knickknacks, t-shirts, mugs, boxes of chocolates, and e-book readers. And you know something – it’s all good. It doesn’t even matter if this sort of variety store business model will allow them to keep their doors open or not.  Of course if e-books and Amazon or Google do take over the book market, as the business media keeps reporting, and Borders and B&N eventually go out of the paper book selling business, that still leaves billions of paper books out there that are not just going to disappear overnight, and since people still like to browse in a store-like environment I believe that there will be a return of small, independent bookstores – much like the Strand in NYC– filled with honest-to-God used books and even print-on-demand presses in the store. This will be a return to old days when people that love paper books ran bookstores. And after e-books do take over, I think the day will come when shelves filled of paper books will be seen as adding a classy status to the home.

I expect that a lot of e-book readers, and e-books, will be sold this Christmas. But I know that a house filled of books is a peaceful place to be. May your home be fill of books. And all this is my way of saying “Have a happy holiday” to all our readers.

(Image: Cover art by Ed “Emsh” Emshwiller from Infinity X Two ; Emsh painted his wife Carol holding their daughter Eve into the background of the picture)