To All the Bookstores I've Loved Before
When I was a kid, my favorite store in the mall closest to our house was a Waldenbooks. When I say "closest to our house" this particular mall was still roughly 30 minutes away, but in those days it was the mall that everyone went to. There are more than a few things I loved about country living. Lack of proximity to bookstores was not one of them. I loved that Waldenbooks. It was a small store and you could see all the way to the back looking through the glass front. It was filled with books, as you would expect. The counter was on the left side, with a wall of new releases and magazines behind it. My favorite section--the young adult and middle grade section--was at the back. The trip that I remember most was July 21, 2007. A week before my birthday. The release day for Deathly Hallows. I'd pre-ordered it long before, not wanting to risk going into the bookstore and it not being there. I needed that book. My mom didn't understand the draw of a midnight releas...