B3THANY READS

Have you ever started a book, got a few chapters in, and then decided to put it down? There are many, many reasons for doing this. Maybe you're too busy with work, maybe you're not in the mood for ______ right now, or maybe you simply don't like it. But have you ever put down a book because it's affecting your mental health? I recently had to stop reading The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe for this exact reason. The Librarian of Auschwitz has been on my TBR for quite some time, and lock down seemed to be the perfect time to get some reading done - it's one of those books I've been meaning to read but never got round to it. Back in 2018 I read The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris and found it heartbreaking, don't get me wrong, but also enjoyed learning more about that period in history. So, when I got Iturbe's book from my bookshelf last week, I thought I was ready to read it. Turns out, I was wrong. Lock down is not a

Recently, Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller , said: what we see in the charts now is a glimpse into a world without bookshops. This got me thinking. What impact will COVID19 have on the publishing industry long term? Shopping culture At the moment, gone are the days you could make a day of strolling around your favourite bookshop, carefully choosing what to buy. This is what I have been missing most recently, just being able to go into town and mill about for a while. Instead, Amazon's sales have increased by a staggering 27% in the first quarter of 2020 alone. It's not like Amazon wasn't a retail giant before corona, but Jeff Bezos has certainly asserted his dominance now. Everyone has been forced to temporarily change their shopping habits, but this raises the question of will shopping culture ever return to what it once was? Will people choose convenience over experience more than they already do? Bestsellers Especially for the first few weeks of lock down