What Makes A Good Bookstore?

The definition of what makes a bookstore is always changing. It used to be the vintage atmosphere of an old store with books lining each wall, a maze constructed by novels many have never even heard of. A charming environment where books find their forever homes.

In recent decades though, bookstores have become much more than that. They’ve become the crisp, clean walls of an Indigo, and the digital, seemingly endless webpages of the BookOutlet website. Amazon even has a significant amount of books!

The definition of what makes a good bookstore is always changing. My goal for today is to look at a few factors that can provide insight into a possible answer. Will buying books from Amazon be our future? Will indie book stores steal the spotlight? What will Indigo become?

PHOTO BY ASHLEY BYRD ON UNSPLASH

Environment

There’s no better feeling than finding an awesome book in a bookstore and being able to take a seat and read it. What makes this better is being in an amazing environment. When somebody buys a book online, they can always choose their own reading location, but that just isn’t on the same level as being inside an actual bookstore.

Indigo, before they decided to rebrand, fit this category well. Store color schemes had warmer tones, and there was more wooden furniture. It felt like home! Now, Indigo stores have colder colors and the decor is much fancier. It’s not as welcoming. Indie bookstores, on the other hand, are well known for their warmer and cozier environments. As somebody who has worked retail, I can say confidently that customers almost always prefer this kind of environment. 

Employee Interactions

On the topic of working retail, I can also safely say that the happiest customers are those who have had a great experience with store employees. Stores like Indigo and indie bookstores always have amazing, talkative employees who are genuinely passionate about books. 

Online stores like Amazon and BookOutlet? Not so much. You’re simply met with a website and there’s no genuine human interaction if you have any questions.

Price

Price, regardless of what a person is purchasing, is always a very important factor. Everybody wants a good deal! From my experience, the best prices for books are at indie bookstores or on websites like Amazon and BookOutlet. Additionally, when it comes to indie bookstores, shoppers also get to know that their money is going towards a small business, rather than a corporation!

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Indigo on the other hand isn’t exactly well known for low prices. There’s the occasional good deal on a paperback, but even then that isn’t always the case: and hardcovers cost even more, going for at least $30 each. When somebody shops at Indigo, every purchase is almost always an expensive one. It’s also supporting a big corporation, rather than a small local business like most indie bookstores!

So…. Which Kind Of Bookstore Is The Best?

With the question of what makes a good bookstore answered, I think it’s necessary to highlight which kind of bookstore is the best. Thus, based on the answer, it’s safe to say that indie bookstores are the best kind because of the fact that their attributes align the most with the categories discussed.

According to this article by the Washington Post, “ninety-two percent of small businesses say they have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus,” which just puts into perspective the difficulties that small businesses like indie bookstores face. Small businesses are always at a disadvantage due to chain stores and large corporations like Amazon, Walmart, and even Indigo. 

Now more than ever, it’s incredibly important that everybody supports small businesses: and in regards to bookstores, this means that it’s vital for everybody to show indie bookstores their support. After all, they are the best kind of bookstore!

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Emily Aalders

Emily Aalders is a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. When she’s not writing, Emily can be found reading and spending all of her money on overpriced coffee. After she graduates from Algonquin College, Emily hopes to be an author.

This Is How You Lose The Time War: A Review

Science. History. Snarky letters. Rivalry. Romance. Time travel. If any of these are of interest to a reader, then This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone would be a great read. 

Full of complex and descriptive imagery, this collaborative book tells the story of Red and Blue, two agents on separate sides of a war raging on through time and space. Traveling back and forth through various historical time periods and events, Red and Blue exchange carefully placed and creatively sent letters to each other. It is beautifully written and a great example of how a book can benefit from heavily descriptive writing.

Many books require dialogue to work properly. But This Is How You Lose The Time War does not have much dialogue—unless you count the letters between Red and Blue. Normally, something like this could affect the success of a book. However, this issue isn’t present here: the letters written in this story provide the perfect amount of character interaction. Spoken words aren’t necessary! 

“THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR” BY AMAL EL-MOHTAR AND MAX GLADSTONE, PUBLISHED BY SIMON & SCHUSTER.

Due to this fact, El-Mohtar and Gladstone’s collaboration is heavily descriptive and follows a very repetitive pattern: Red or Blue work on a mission for their respective sides of the war. Along the way, they find a letter integrated intricately into their surroundings. They read it, and so on. In the beginning, I was concerned that I would grow bored of such a repetitive pattern, however, as soon as I began reading Red and Blue’s witty letters to one another I became invested. 

Character-driven books, in my opinion, are always at risk of being boring. This book is very much an exception to that risk—the events between letters are intriguing and are full of historical easter eggs. As someone very interested in history, this became an opportunity for me to guess what time period Red and Blue were in as they received one another’s letters.

The letters themselves were also something super exciting to look forward to—watching Red and Blue’s witty rivalry was so much fun, and watching their connection with one another change with each letter was also something that kept my undivided attention.

I wouldn’t change much of this book if I could. The writing is perfect, the characters are great, and it’s such an amazing read. Something I’ve noticed from their Goodreads reviews however is that the historic and scientific descriptions could get confusing at times, which could possibly take away from the story. While I think some amount of this is necessary, I definitely agree that it felt excessive at times and that more clarity would be beneficial to the book.

My overall thoughts:

This book ripped my heart out, threw it against a wall, and then put it back inside my chest. But I am not complaining: that’s how amazing this book is. Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone truly created a masterpiece that I, an avid science fiction avoider, cannot get out of my head. It’s sapphic, it’s romantic, it’s the Mona Lisa of writing. So incredibly well told and unforgettable. 

I would recommend this to anybody who is willing to become emotionally invested in a book. This Is How You Lose The Time War is definitely not an easy read, but there is no doubt in my mind that it is certainly worth every word. 

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Emily Aalders

Emily Aalders is a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. When she’s not writing, Emily can be found reading and spending all of her money on overpriced coffee. After she graduates from Algonquin College, Emily hopes to be an author.

The Struggle Of A Writing Slump

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In my previous blog post, I wrote about getting out of reading slumps. For me, reading slumps are easy to avoid: not much work goes into reading. However, recently I have been struggling with a new literary issue: a writing slump. No matter what I type, the words on my screen stare back at me with an emptiness I don’t believe expresses my true potential as a writer. My writing slump isn’t an inability to type words on my laptop: it’s about the depth of what I say, about the literary choices I make. And I hope I’m not the only one who feels like this sometimes. 

“THE PROJECT” BY COURTNEY SUMMERS, PUBLISHED BY WEDNESDAY BOOKS

Luckily I’ve been able to narrow it down to one main reason, which is good because knowing the cause of a problem makes finding the solution so much easier. The reason is actually reading! Whenever I read a really good book, I always end up comparing whatever I’m working on at the time to what I’ve read. The Project by Courtney Summers (here’s the link to the book’s Goodreads page!) is what I have read most recently. It’s an absolutely amazing book about cults, and everything is pieced perfectly together like a puzzle. The plot is thorough and complex, yet it all works perfectly together without leaving any plot holes behind. The writing itself is also so well done: it’s as if every individual word was picked out carefully and deliberately. Each “and” seems like it was chosen for a reason beyond the word’s actual purpose. 

I could say this for dozens of other books. Every book on my shelf, probably. There is always something I’m comparing my writing to, which takes away the motivation to actually write. And even though deep down I know that every writer is different, it doesn’t stop the struggle to meaningfully put words on a page. The only method I’ve found to be helpful is avoiding reading altogether, and though that can help temporarily, I doubt I’d survive the process of writing an entire novel without reading at some point. For now, my only solution has been to push through the struggle. It gets words on a page, but it definitely takes away from the fun that I usually have when writing. 

Now, has writing this article pulled me out of my writing slump? Not really. But maybe it can serve as a reflection on the issue at hand and make figuring it out easier than it would have been if I hadn’t taken the time to think about it. Perhaps other writers who are reading this post have found it beneficial to curing their own writing slump. Whatever happens, at least I know one thing: I need to stop getting stuck in slumps. 

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Emily Aalders

Emily Aalders is a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. When she’s not writing, Emily can be found reading and spending all of her money on overpriced coffee. After she graduates from Algonquin College, Emily hopes to be an author.

How To Get Out Of A Reading Slump

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No reader enjoys being stuck in a reading slump: it’s not fun getting stared down by your bookshelf, unread books taunting you and your lack of motivation to read. There’s nothing better than reading a great book! Luckily, there are a variety of ways to end a reading slump that don’t include endlessly staring at an unopened book.

1: Go shopping for a new book

Purchasing a new book is great for reigniting your love for reading. It changes things up on your bookshelf and introduces you to new stories. Additionally, if going to a mainstream bookstore doesn’t work, sometimes going to a thrift store can help. Because thrift stores thrive on donations, the selection for items (including books!) is random and much different than a store that chooses its items carefully. You never know what you’ll find, and if you’re used to mainstream bookstores, it’ll definitely be a change of scenery and will have much more variety. Regardless, purchasing a new book to read is a great way to get out of your reading slump and enjoy a new book.

2: Read your favourite book again

If you’re the kind of person who likes to read a book more than once, this suggestion may help. All you need to do is grab your favourite book and read! If you have multiple favourites or even no favourites at all, try just reading a book you haven’t read in a while. Even if you don’t finish the book you choose, this is a great way to get your mind back into the reading groove: you’ll hopefully be reminded of why you love reading so much in the first place! Familiarity helps make things easier, especially in regards to a reading slump.

3: Write about reading

This idea is slightly different from the others. If you’ve tried your best but still can’t find the motivation to read something, try writing about it instead. You could write about why you think you’re in a reading slump, how you got out of a previous reading slump, what kind of book you want to read or literally anything else! Writing is a great way to switch things up while still incorporating words into what you’re doing. Even just reading over what you’ve written can help refresh your mind and remind you of how much you love to read! If you don’t want to write about reading, and instead think a writing prompt would help, a great place to find writing prompts is here!

4: When all else fails

If you’ve tried everything and still can’t get out of your reading slump, then it’s time for a method that may not be fun, but will get you back into reading. Sort of like being given assigned reading, all you have to do for this one is to choose a book and decide on how much you want to read in one sitting. Ten pages? One chapter? As long as you read something, then that’s all that matters. Try to set a daily goal that’s simple and not difficult to accomplish. Even if it’s not enjoyable, this will make sure that you’re still reading! The goal with this one is for you to eventually pass your reading goal without even realizing it, thus getting back into a reading groove! 

For those who love to read, a book slump is the worst. Hopefully at least one of these four techniques are useful and somewhat helpful in getting you out of your reading slump!

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Emily Aalders

Emily Aalders is a Professional Writing student at Algonquin College. When she’s not writing, Emily can be found reading and spending all of her money on overpriced coffee. After she graduates from Algonquin College, Emily hopes to be an author.