Those bookstores you trek to in unfamiliar cities

When I go to a strange city, apart from taking taxis and looking for delicious food, the only thing that allows me to travel around the city is bookstores. Bookstores are, to a large extent, responsible for the soul of a city. The temperament of a bookstore also determines the temperament of a city to a certain extent.

In recent years, with the development of e-commerce, it has become very convenient to buy many books online. However, when I go to a strange city, I still search for specialty bookstores, either independent or niche, very stubbornly. I want to go shopping, not to buy anything. I usually wander around the various corners of the bookstore, and occasionally I will be surprised and find a good book that I like. It's quite inconvenient to carry a big and thick book, so I just write down my name and go back to buy online. Most of the time, I just buy one or two small and thin books, stamp them with the bookstore's seal, and occasionally buy a few postcards from the bookstore. Send postcards to friends and family. If time allows, I might buy a cup of coffee, sit down and read a book. Physical bookstores need support. As someone who still likes to read, I will do my best. Search bookstores, take a taxi to hang out, buy a book, drink a cup of coffee, and complete these usual procedures, it seems that you have completed the ritual in your heart.

I remember that year I went to Nanjing to watch Li Yuchun's concert. After getting off the plane, I took a taxi with my friends to the Pioneer Bookstore in Wutai Mountain. It was a bookstore converted from an air-raid shelter. "Strangers from the Earth" stood out clearly. The platform is made up of more than 1,000 books. What I like most are the famous poems written by world-famous poets carved on the walls and pillars of the 100-meter art gallery. Each poem explains life, love and laughter. Sometimes I think that being able to immerse myself in the world of poetry is both joy and luxury. I am glad that I have spent so much time immersed in pleasure, and I always feel a small sense of happiness when I think of the many beautiful things and luxuries I have received as a result. That time, because I was a little pressed for time, I was in a hurry and only bought a few yellowed leather notebooks that I had not finished writing yet.

Another year of concert, Shanghai. Another friend took a taxi with me to find the bookstore. I remember that I took a book called "The Beauty of Bookstores" and searched according to the pictures. The car drove halfway through Shanghai, and the bookstore actually moved. It's been so long that I can't remember exactly which bookstore I was looking for. The bookstore whose name was in that book, unexpectedly, ceased to exist the next year. It can be seen that it is not easy for physical bookstores to survive, and it is no longer possible to maintain the normal operation of a bookstore just by selling books. Therefore, we see that many bookstores adopt a composite business model. Electronic products, creative products, education and training, coffee, and even cinemas are all used to help solve the difficulties of bookstore operations. Many independent bookstore operators rely on Other side jobs come to support bookstores.

Bookstores carry more functions, penetrate into many details of our lives, and affect our lifestyle.

I have to go to the concert every year, and I have to visit the bookstore every year.

Another year in Guangzhou, I also went to the United Bookstore in Guangzhou during a break from watching a concert. I had never seen Fang Suo in those years, so I was a little surprised when I saw the United Bookstore. That should be The first bookstore to feel the aesthetic space. I remember that I thought the corner of the stairs was amazing, and I took a lot of photos. Everything I looked at felt novel, at least it was a fresh visual experience. I don’t remember what I bought later. There must have been a book.

In addition to watching concerts, when I go to a strange city, I will always keep this little hobby of visiting bookstores.

I participated in a training program at Hohai University in Nanjing last year, and I took the time to go to the Pioneer Yihe Library on Yihe Road near the school. Yihe Road is surrounded by buildings in the style of the Republic of China. It is the most densely built area of ??the Republic of China in Nanjing, with bronze walls and towering green trees. The library is at the junction of six roads, full of magical charm. The arc-shaped fully transparent glass wall design brings a strong visual impact and integrates with the Republican-style architecture outside the wall. Other cities may have street gardens, but Nanjing has created a unique street bookstore that cannot be copied. The Yihe Bookstore continues and retains the general style of the Pioneer Bookstore. The small bookstore has a bookstore, cafe, and creative museum. My colleagues who went with me were very happy that I found such an elegant place for them to read and relax. At my suggestion, they all picked up pens and wrote a postcard to their children, looking for a long-lost face-to-face encounter. In the following days of training, when I ran every morning, I would always run near the library, see the glass wall of the bookstore, then turn around and run back.

5. Suzhou Eslite Bookstore

My initial expectations for Eslite Bookstore came from the copywriting queen Li Xin frequently wrote for it, so that later some friends went there When they go to Taiwan, the gifts I ask them to bring are books from Eslite Bookstore. Therefore, when I went to Suzhou with my friends in July this year, my goal was to visit Subo and Eslite Bookstore. After leaving Subo, we took a taxi to the Eslite Bookstore in the New Development Zone as usual. This is the first time in my memory that I dragged my suitcase to a bookstore. In order to facilitate my pilgrimage, my friend chose to sit at the door and read the books I brought with me and look after my suitcase. I just wandered around, jumping up and down to browse Suzhou Eslite from upstairs to downstairs, and then from downstairs to upstairs.

Compared with other bookstores, Suzhou Eslite is huge. Other bookstores, even if they are comprehensively operated, have not formed independent commercial entities. It only has one, two, three, four or five floors at most, and Suzhou Eslite is like a large commercial complex supported by a bookstore, an aesthetic life museum for humanistic reading and creative exploration. It is said that there are self-owned apartment buildings next to it. for sale. It is no longer a simple bookstore, but a commercial entity that affects and drives urban cultural life. Books are only a small part of this commercial body.

What impressed me most was not only the ceremonial steps marked with the year, but also the introduction of a live kitchen, a real kitchen. Maybe food and books can bring warmth to people.

In Suzhou Eslite, I also bought two small books. One is "Love·Token" and the other is "Looking for Taste" by Wang Zengqi.

6. Guilin Blade Bookstore

Blade Bookstore is a bookstore I have only visited in Guilin in the past two days. The bookstore is located next to the Sheraton Hotel on the Li River. It is small and the store is not eye-catching. . But when I walked in, I found that Blade is a unique bookstore. It is a small but beautiful bookstore. The store is only two to three hundred square meters, and has all kinds of books, focusing on literature and art. All the elements that can be seen in ordinary bookstores, including records, postcards, creative peripherals, and Guilin-specific peripheral products, can be found here. Because I am currently practicing Su Shi's "Han Shi Tie", I picked up a book called "Looking for Su Dongcheng in the Forbidden City" and read it with great interest. The best thing is that I bought a pocket book, "Suiyuan Food List" which is slightly larger than my mobile phone.

Some people may think that this kind of behavior is very artistic, and some people may think that this way is very pretentious, but I know that I just simply like this way.

I can’t explain why I have to go through so much trouble to find a bookstore. Maybe I subconsciously feel that only in this way can I be connected with a city and have a unique memory with the city. Or maybe, like when I was young and went abroad When I was studying, I always went back to my hometown when I encountered something unhappy. I didn’t say anything to anyone. In fact, I had nothing to talk about. When I returned to my hometown, I felt at ease. Those bookstores I trekked to were probably my hometown.