Recently I relocated to Barcelona, a beautiful city full of history, style and culture that has attracted internationals, like myself. There is a contentedness being here, having one foot in the present, stepping into the future with modern technology and it’s accessories (iPhones, social media, map apps and the like) and one foot still in the past, being surrounded by multi-millennia of history between the culture, architecture, location. Now this can be applied anywhere in the western world, not solely Barcelona. The magic with being in many European cities, however, is knowing the many generations were here before in the same streets and possibly buildings that are still in existence today. It is a train of thought I have regularly and very much enjoy.
Now how does this topic lead into the title of this blog post? Well, while exploring Barcelona, I have come across a fairly common establishment: bookstores. I see both bookstores selling new books but also stores solely selling used books. And even more exciting, there are a fair number of customers frequenting these locations and making purchases (I being one of them earlier today). Growing up, I loved going to Barnes and Noble, getting to pick out my next few reads or even collecting the upcoming school year’s assignments. It was a core part of my childhood I will always cherish. Then in the last decade or so, hearing how these huge department bookstores, which had a significant hand in the closure of the adjacent mom-and-pop establishments, where they themselves were closing their doors. I, like many, had to accept that this was perhaps an end of an era. Books were now going digital, and there was no apparent need for physical editions…
…until now. The pandemic initiated a reset of the societal glorification of materialism, where the culture of idolizing celebrities and brands burst as the everyday person genuinely struggled to survive in isolation. Celebrities peacocked their out-of-touch demonstrations on social media, crying from one of their many multi-million dollar homes. Yes, they are human beings like the rest and have every right to feel afraid of the unknown, to express sadness and worry, but there is a time and place. The celebrity culture, and in fact influencer culture, imploded; the pedestal society had them on being grabbed out from under them. Relatability wasn’t there any more and the flashiness portrayed on the internet wasn’t appealing or for many, even financially accessible.
Which is where this desire to return to the pre-influencer era started. Taking a step back from the constant feed of social media and frequent notifications from technology is becoming more and more common. People are resorting now to activities and past times of generations prior, like reading a physical book that hasn’t been possibly been tainted with AI. Which is why I am happy to see so many of these little bookstores not only filled with books, but with people. It makes me excited to still be able to enjoy a piece of my childhood that, for a minute, I thought would be erased from society however is still very much alive and breathing.