Day 114b-- Borders Books and the want of soup

Where's my soup, Borders Books?  

I miss Borders Books like crazy, especially since the weather is changing and there's no place I'd rather be on an overcast afternoon than Borders.  This week I've encountered the first real pang of its closing; not being able to find a soup cookbook.

Why not just go to Barnes and Noble or an indie store or Amazon.com?  For starters, I've never really liked B&N for a few different reasons, such as the rudeness of employees, never enough chairs, not a big enough discount for members, and piss-poor table layouts.  When I'm in a B&N I'm very much reminded that I'm in a business--like a hardware store or something.  Plus I've been reprimanded a few times at B&N for sitting in the aisles.  Maybe I just haven't found a Barnes I really like yet.

Indie stores are iffy.  Small ones make me feel uncomfortable because I'm being watched thoroughly by the owner and I can't hang out there for hours on end.  Bigger ones are quite nice.  They usually pay a lot of attention to decor and vibe of their store, as well as presentation of their books.  Like last night I was at an indie store who displayed Einstein biographies next to Einstein's Dreams (a fiction novel), next to Edgar Allen Poe books and Halloween decorations.  Think about it, Einstein and Poe make an interesting pairing, no?  Unfortunately indies usually sell at full price--which is good for the store and authors but bad for poor recent grads like me.  I don't pay anything full price if I can help it.

Amazon is rather good.  I love their suggestions display next to the book I'm currently reading.  I wouldn't have thought to check out Outside 25: the 25 best stories from Outside Magazine if it hadn't been suggested for Into the Wild readers.  And with Amazon I can easily search books and get immediate reviews and sneak previews, not to mention used book prices.  The only problem is soup.

As I said, I want a soup cookbook.  I want it hardback, a picture for every recipe, only 50 or less recipes so I actually make an effort to make them all, and the right size to be able to stand upright leaning against the wall when I'm cooking on the stove.

If I went to Barnes and Noble I'm sure I would find such a cookbook but in their store I would feel like I'm buying autoparts or something similarly unfeeling.  I have searched for it at indies, but their selections are very small.  Amazon has been really great and I've narrowed it down to two books, but while I see the first few pages of a book, I don't know if there are pictures throughout the whole book, or how heavy the book is, or how sturdy it is for being left open while cooking, ect.  If Borders was still around I'd have a whole shelf dedicated to cookbooks and I could take more sweet time looking at each one, and paying 30% off my purchase.

There have been plenty of articles of what Borders closing means as a whole and maybe in a different post I'll go more indepth with my own drop of an opinion.  But for now, let me say this.  It's a perfect September day and instead of walking around a bookshop looking for a cookbook and the latest Poets and Writers, I'm sitting at home in front of a computer trying to predict what a whole book looks like from a 6 page preview off Amazon. It's just not the same, you know?

Then again, I'll be buying it used off Borders.com (still in business) so maybe not all is lost just yet.