Far From The Madding Crowd

I know this one isn’t in India but is it a sign of things to come? Murder Ink, the first (and oldest) independent mystery bookstore, will shut its doors on its Upper West Side location in New York City on December 31, as will its younger sister store, Ivy’s Books and Curiosities.

For the full story, read this article. The owner of the bookstore says he saw the inevitable end coming when people started selling box-loads of books their parents once owned. People simply no longer read. This particular bookstore was a landmark in New York City but there’s only so much you can earn just by being famous.

With the advent of swanky bookstores and online booksellers, are those good old booksellers that sell those simply-hard-to-get masterpieces doomed? The way things have changed on Kolkata’s famed College Street, one cannot but fear the worst.