I walked into the book store today, and I almost cried.

I’m usually in and out of book stores at least once a month, but I hadn’t been since before Christmas. (Charles gave me seven books for Christmas, and one of them was Under the Dome, so I was stocked up for a while.) Imagine my shock when I went into Barnes and Noble today and found that they have removed a huge section of bookshelves, where the best sellers and general fiction used to be. In their place I found the new ‘Nook’ section of the store. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the new area for e-readers, complete with three testing tables, is as large as the entire Apple store down the street.

I don’t have a problem with the technology, and I’m sure I’ll give in eventually, but when I go to the book store, I want to see books. I want to hear pages turning in books. I want to smell the fresh paper-and-binding smell of books. (With just a hint of brewing coffee in the background.) And if I’m going to buy something at the book store, it’s going to be a book.

I don’t know if there were people who felt a strong emotional connection with compact discs. If there were, did they die a little inside every time a music store closed in the mall, or every month when the CD section at Best Buy shrunk until it all but disappeared, only to be replaced with iTunes gift cards? I love music, and I certainly don’t miss carrying a case of CDs around. But this was a sad day for me, because the dramatic changes in the publishing industry just walked up and slapped me in the face. I did die a little inside, and the stroll down this path is only the beginning.

Just think, one day my sons will be telling their children, “When I was little, we had these things called books. We read them every night, and each one held its own story, and we kept them on shelves in our rooms. When the power went out and we couldn’t use the television or video games or Internet, we could always entertain ourselves with books.”

Music for this week: Looking forward to hearing all of Adele’s new album!