My favorite Twilight Zone episode is one with Burgess Meredith titled “Time Enough at Last,” in which he plays a henpecked husband who just wants to find time to read. Remember it?
Well, it appears that book reading is becoming less popular among the younger generations (X and Y), and independent bookstores, even in highly literate places like Seattle, are having a hard time competing for attention with the big chains, and, of course, with Amazon and other online bookstores. An article in the Seattle Times Book Section comments that “running a bookstore has always been an occupation for dreamers.” Very true. I’d love to own a bookstore, but it would be more for my own pleasure than to make money. The bookstore owner in the article (his bookstore was closing after two decades) says, “I’d like to have one copy of everything in existence.” Gotta agree.
I buy books online, but I also frequent bookstores. There is nothing better on a Friday night after dinner to wander through a bookstore checking out the bargain books and finding a new gem that I’ve been waiting for in paperback. And, I confess, I love the look and the smell of books. And I’m not alone, a Zogby survey in May found that 82% of readers prefer to curl up with a book. How can you get emotionally involved with Kindle?
How many books do you buy a year? Do you buy them online or at a bookstore? Do you prefer printed books or online ones?
译文:
婴儿潮后没有读者了吗？
我最爱读的杂志Twilight Zone里有一段关于伯格斯.莫拉狄斯在电影Time Enough at Last的情节，在电影里面他饰演一个惧怕妻子，总想找时间来看书的丈夫。想起了吗？
遗憾的是，现在越来越少的年轻一代（X一代和Y一代）会读书了。那些私人书店，甚至西雅图这些文盲率极低的地区也难及亚马逊和其他网上书店的高关注度。《西雅图时代书城》中的一篇文章评论道“经营书店常常是梦想家的职业。”说的非常正确。我想拥有一间书店，可是它给我带来更多的是快乐，而不是金钱。文章里的店主（书店在20年后关闭了）说道：“我希望有一本涵盖世间一切的书。”我也是。
我会在网上购书，也常常光顾书店。在某个周五晚上，饭后散步经过一间书店，进去淘一下平价书，发现了我一直期待的平装版，那时再也没有什么比这个享受了。我承认，我爱书，我爱书的味道。而且不单是我一个人觉得这样，Zogby5月份公布的一份调查发现有82％的读者喜欢蜷曲而卧着看书。而你又怎么会对着Kindle阅读器发狂？
你一年买多少书呢？在网上买还是在书店里呢？你喜欢纸质的还是网上书籍？