Random Fridays: Bookstores

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Hello, everyone! I'm back to doing Random Fridays on my own blog, as you can see! Today is also the 4th day of Camp NaNoWriMo. It's going great, though I still need to get my wordcount in for today. I'm planning on a long afternoon of writing. Anyway, onto today's Random Friday topic: Bookstores!

I don't frequent bookstores as much as some people do. That's mostly because many of the nearby bookstores have closed, and of those remaining, not many can be counted on to have the books I want in store. Most of my book shopping now is done online. (Or at book sales. I love book sales.) However, while I love the feeling of finally getting that package I've been impatiently awaiting, there's something special about actually going to the store and searching for the title I want.

All the same, I rarely pass up an opportunity to stop in a bookstore, whether or not I can actually by anything. It's fun to look through the shelves, see which of my favorites are in stock, and try to find new books to look into later. Occasionally I'll have the pleasant surprise of discovering a new book has been released in a series I enjoy.

Most of my bookstore experience is with big-name stores: Borders, Books-A-Million, and Barnes and Noble. Barnes and Noble in particular is where I buy most of my new books, since I get a gift card for that store every year for my birthday. When I was younger, I did the summer reading programs at Barnes and Noble and Borders, and got several good books from those programs. (My favorite was The Ruins of Gorlan, which I got from the Borders reading program the year before I grew out of it.) And I love the big bookstores for the same reason I love big libraries: there's nothing quite like being completely surrounded by thousands of books.

I do like small bookstores too though, even if I haven't had much experience with them. From what I know of them, they feel cozier, less overwhelming. At one point, one of my dream careers was owning my own independent bookstore- specifically, one specializing in either young adult and middle grade fiction or fantasy in general. (This may or may not have been influenced by The Berinfell Prophecies- I'll let you draw your own conclusions there. But I did want to name the bookshop "Ye Olde Book Shoppe".) By now, I've given up on the idea, but independent bookstores are still awesome. I rather wish I had the opportunity to go to them more.

What about you? What's your favorite bookstore? Do you have any special memories involving bookstores? Please tell me in the comments, or write your own Random Fridays post about them!
Thanks for reading!
-Sarah (Leilani Sunblade)       

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