Had a great crowd on a cold but beautiful afternoon at the famous Misty Valley Bookstore in Chester, Vt. Great questions, great conversation. Wonderful store. Is this kind of store doomed by e-books and bigness in the Corporate Nation? Hard to say. Bookstores have not really yet had a chance to change or absorb the impact of new publishing. In Vermont, where community thrives and bigness is kept at bay, it’s hard to imagine that this kind of bookstore will not find a role to play.
But nobody knows. I supposed it depends on whether and how they change. That’s the challenge for creative people and all kinds of people. This country is changing rapidly and technology seems to be powering much of that change. I brought my Iphone to record a sense of the bookstore just before the reading. Also primitive. My new flip video phone, an inexpensive and versatile phone, will be arriving shortly. I am thinking a lot about videos and how to use them.
Below, I turned the Iphone on just before I was introduced: