Barnes and Noble. If you love books, or just reading in general, that's the place to go. These stores are usually pretty big, loaded with shelves upon shelves of books, the sections and genres all labeled. People mill about, most looking through the titles on the shelves, occasionally reading the back to see if that will spark their interest further. To a reader, a Barnes and Noble is like a cavern full of wonders to be discovered. There's even a small café where you can sit and enjoy a nice beverage as you dive into your newest novel or start studying hard for your next final. As amazing as one of these places is, it definitely has a few pitfalls too.

I could literally spend hours, probably even an entire day, at a Barnes and Noble. As an avid reader, I love going through the books there, just seeing all of the different works. I got a gift card for Christmas and I just had to put it to use. Our trip to Barnes and Noble was impromptu so I didn't have as much time as I would have hoped for or could have used.

My dad said to me, "Take your time." That was the wrong choice of words and I'm sure he knew that after about an hour had gone by and I hadn't strayed very far from the section and row he'd left me in. Knowing I could easily spend all day there I surrendered and we left, only one book in hand. We did have other plans for the day.

It is a great thing that I could spend so much time there but at the same time, it's a curse. Considering that the nearest bookstore even close to being on a Barnes and Noble level is a few hours drive away from me. Finding the time to actually go and look through the books, let alone dedicate a whole day to it is very hard to do. Unfortunately when I do get to the cities where these bookstores are I have other, sadly more important things to do. (One of them being to visit Hot Topic, of course.)

The other issue is simply money. I wish very much that paperback books were cheaper. As a college student, I don't quite have the funds to be buying several twenty dollar books from a bookstore. My heart constantly tells me yes but my bank account says no. (Especially after aforementioned trip to Hot Topic.) Buying digital copies of the books is cheaper but no matter what it is never the same as having an actual hard copy.

Hard copy books are dying out. Not at such a fast rate but it's an undeniable fact. The creation of E-Books and things like that are driving up the competition. Despite all of this I will try my best to keep printed books alive and well. Besides, an author can't sign your Kindle.