It’s never a mistake to buy a book

A few people wandered through the portals of the Known World today, on this cold, cloudy Wednesday.

One fellow commented that “It’s never a mistake to buy a book”.

I asked him (Geoff) if I could quote him, and I knew that I had the topic for my long-overdue blog.

When budgets are tight, bills are pending, and the costs of living are accelerating, it’s hard to justify spending the minuscule amount of discretionary spending left over on books. They don’t nourish your tummies, heat your house or pay the kids’ camp fees.

But you know where I’m heading here. Books nourish your minds.

They help you transcend the mundanities, complexities and financial imperatives of everyday life. They transport you to the humid Caribbean, the snow-clad Himalayas, the murky slippery cobblestones of Victorian London.

If you’re reading this, you know this.

That’s why little independent bookshops like mine manage to keep their doors open. It’s why they choose to keep their doors open. Partly this is so that people like you – ardent reader/booklover – who are reading this, can come into my shop and engage with me and the books I’ve carefully curated and shelved here for you to browse amongst.

That’s why I do this.

Believe it or not. It’s the truth. I’ve had more meaningful, engaging, stimulating conversations in this shop than most people have over an entire working career. That’s why I do it. That, and the books, the ideas they ignite, the beauty of these fragile human artifacts, the worlds they embody.

It’s important, this fragile stuff.

The books themselves, the bricks-and-mortar edifices that contain them, the small retailers – the tiny Samuels – fighting tooth and claw against the gigantic Amazonian monoliths who want to turn our worlds – and us, ourselves – into thoughtless consumers of tat that will suffocate our worlds, stifle our imaginations, homogenise us with their algorithms.

If you value a world of choice, of difference, a world that celebrates diversity, creativity, independent thought, I implore you to support your local independent bookshops.

The world as you know it – the Known World – depends on your passionate support.