Two extremes

When it comes to buyers of books, there are two extremes, and Deborah Meyler shows us both in her novel The Bookstore.

At one extreme is Mitchell van Leuven, who manages to be both the protagonist's love interest and the novel's villain at the same time. This being a novel that celebrates books, one should not be surprised that Mitchell has little use for books or bookstores. "Why do people still buy books?" he asks at one point. "They just take up space."

Today even people who read books may share this attitude. The public library has books to lend. If one must buy one, it can easily be discarded after one has finished with it. But you can so easily read or listen to books on various electronic devices, why buy printed copies in the first place? As Mitchell says, they just take up space?

At the other extreme, just a few pages later, Meyler gives us an elderly woman who, because of declining health, must sell her books before moving into a much smaller residence. Parting with them may be more painful for her than whatever physical condition she has. "They are all my life," she tells those who come to haul away her library. "These books are all my life."

Most people, of course, fall somewhere between these extremes. They may buy a few books, but very few. They may buy them, then get rid of them after reading them. Or get rid of them after realizing they will never finish them. They may keep a few that have sentimental value, such as a favorite children's book. They may keep some just to accent their living room, to give houseguests a positive impression. If they even have a bookshelf in their homes, it is likely filled mostly with something other than books.

There is no question where Meyler falls in this spectrum. It has to be the same extreme where we find the elderly woman. You'll find me there as well.