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I, too, am a member of the ebook master race. As a passionate and frequent reader, I'm awed by the revolution in portability, quality, availability provided by ebooks. ...but I can also afford them. When I was a kid, I spent every day in the local bookstore sitting on the floor, reading everything I could get my hands on. (Ironically, this was only possible at the larger bookstores and chains; the smaller indie types for which everyone waxes nostalgic would never allow it, though I hardly blame them.) My mom shares my love of literature, and bought every book I ever requested, but she could never have afforded a tenth of the in-store books I devoured. Starbucks and ebooks are huge improvements from paper warehouses, but I wonder what would happen if I were born today and paper book stores vanished from the world. Libraries don't necessarily fill the same niche, in terms of the quality of both the branches and their clientele. The public library where I grew up was in a dangerous area, filled with junkies and surrounded by gangsters, and I just wouldn't have had the same opportunities to read unmolested as I did at bookstores. Though now that I'm re-investigating public libraries, I've been nothing but impressed by their quality. Outside of rough neighborhoods and the constant threat of closure, public libraries may be the best possible opportunities for modern kids. |