borders bookstores

I don't go to bookstores very often. If I do it'll be those budget outlet ones where you can get big books full of pictures e.g. Reuters photography, 100 Greatest Pieces of Pop Art etc etc for less than £10.

Recently, I found use for the huge Borders Oxford Circus, where I met my friend, grabbed loads of Rough Guide books for the whole of South America, sat down for a coffee and worked out where we wanted to go for a holiday. Nice job. Struggling to think of more use cases for Borders in my life at the moment.

One thing that was cool is the products they have in Borders stores right next to the counter. They are an odd mix of books, unusable gadgetry, and 'novelty gift' (a euphemism for the worst side of consumerism tat). Here are some things I found interesting:


tiny little books of quotes, etc - I would enjoy reading these, but I feel uneasy paying for a book of e.g. Oscar Wilde quotes when I am sure that a google search would yield them all quicker than you could read them. I think these little books just need a little more innovation in the content and covers, packaging etc to get them to be more meaningful/standout-ish.



game-pens - can't think of anything interesting or even moderately witty to say about game pens. They are cute though.



I really liked the tiny Sushi box, with mini-mat, mini-bowl-thing, mini-chopsticks, and instruction book. Just cute - good for a desk. I approve of this kind of nonsense, I guess, because of the craft/learning aspect of it.