GUITAR DAD

I usually read everything I can get my hands on. Books, magazines, newspapers. Even the brochures and pitch letters I receive in the mail.
 
One of my simple pleasures is dropping by the big bookstores to browse the magazine racks. And one of the most convenient locations is the giant Books-A-Million not far from my office, whose magazine display seems to stretch for miles. I probably stop by there once every couple of weeks to leaf through my favorite titles in travel, music, business, tech and so on.
 
So imagine my surprise yesterday when I arrived to find the place shuttered, empty, a ghost town. Another victim of the recession or the trend toward online book-buying.
 
There is no other big bookstore anywhere close to my office, so perusing a wide spectrum of periodicals over lunch is pretty much out of the question now.
 
I guess I'm partly to blame. I rarely bought anything there. It just served as a nice, comfortable place to burn 15 or 20 minutes.