While nothing sounds better to an ardent reader than spending some quality alone time sitting in a cozy chair, wrapped in blankets, sipping a cup of tea, and reading a book, finding your next favorite read should not be done in the same place. It may be tempting to fall into the ease of online shopping and being able to order the next ten books off your ‘to be read’ list without leaving your house and putting on real clothes but don’t. Those physical bookstores that are scattered throughout your town offer special treasures that those online markets can’t provide.

1. There are shelves and shelves of novels, waiting for you to pick them up

Don’t pretend that while you’re staring at your screen, browsing only one title at a time, you aren’t daydreaming about running your fingers down the spines of mystery novels and old antique history books. Sure, part of what makes you read that book is the enticing synopsis typed on the back but isn’t it also the feel of the pages in your fingertips. The weight of the pages in your grip. That smell as you flip through the pages, trying to catch little snippets of the story.

2. While in stores, you can take a test read of a few pages...or of a chapter...or the first half

Isn’t that what they put the comfy chairs in there for? We all know that sometimes, even if the synopsis seems intriguing, the author’s writing style and you just don’t click. In that cute little bookshop, you’re free to peruse as many pages as you want. If you’re one of those people that loves reading the last line of the book before you begin, you can do that. You can read a chapter in the middle. You can read page 236. No one is there to judge. We are all commencing our first date with our new prospects.

3. You don’t have to know what you’re looking for...let it find you

If you’re looking online for your next book, more than likely, you have to know what you’re looking for, otherwise, you’ll be opening tap after tap to determine if the synopsis is as good as the cover made it look. The great thing about bookshops, especially the privately-owned ones, is that they tend to have shelves dedicated to displaying ‘the staff’s favorite picks,’ ‘what to read this holiday season,’ or ‘those classics that you should read,’ that help you to discover titles that you would have never come across on your own merit. This was destiny.

4. What’s better than being surrounded by people that love the same thing you do? Books!

When you step inside a bookstore, you’re stepping into the meeting ground of the reader community. These are people that share your same obsession with piled high bookshelves and rainy days made for reading. We aren’t afraid to tell you that the book your holding and debating on whether to get was AMAZING and you should buy it immediately.

5. All and all, they’re just fun, cute places to visit and spend a few hours. Or a whole day. I mean, have you seen the size of Powell’s?

Don't you just want to drop what you're doing right now and venture to one of these places? I know I do. Who knows what treasures of literature they hold?.