"If books were dead, then there were certainly enough people around willing to pick up the scraps. And at any price it seemed. Where were they weeks ago?

But yesterday things apparently had calmed down. I stopped by in the afternoon and there was more than enough parking to be had. Inside the store, the crowd was down to the casual shopper wandering the aisles, the frenzy given way to a bit more discrimination.

I noticed that the cafe was dark and the coffee bar had closed down so that the focus would be only on buying books – no lounging. It was odd to see it empty, the furniture pushed to the corner, chairs piled atop each other, like an abandoned dance hall."

Read the rest at View From the Ledge.