Transplanted Life
Monday, October 25, 2004
 
Aw, man
Just noticed today that Wordsworth books in Harvard Square was closing after Sunday, and then looked at their website and saw that they were in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. I feel bad about that, since it's a Bad Thing when local stores go belly-up. Not only have I bought my last few books from a Borders or Barnes & Noble, but I didn't even notice things had gotten bad for Wordsworth until I saw that sign today. Sure, I'd kind of noticed that some of the upstairs space had been rented to other stores, but this also means that I hadn't been in there enough recently to notice that there was no new stock coming in.

This won't leave the area bereft of bookstores - the Harvard Book Store will still be just a few blocks away, and the Pandemonium Sci-fi/Fantasy bookstore doesn't look to be going anywhere - but it's more than a bit of a bummer. I liked Wordsworth; in my previous life browsing through there was how I found out that Ben Elton and Hugh Laurie had written books, and they had a good computer books section, too. And even if their sci-fi/fantasy section often seemed to be nothing but a gazillion different editions of Lord of the Rings, that's what the local specialty store is for.

I almost felt bad about picking something up from what inventory they had left. It's never a cool feeling to be a vulture, but 35% off is 35% off. The lady at the counter looked seriously pissed the whole time; I wonder if she's one of the proprieters who has been there 28 years and is now watching people pick over her life's work. Which will probably have a Barnes & Noble move in within two months or something similarly galling.

I'm going to miss that place.

-Martina
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Note: This blog is a work of fantasy; all characters are either ficticious or used ficticiously. The author may be contacted at JaySeaver@comcast.net