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Parijat Garg's avatar

I love bookstores too. I've heard of Strand in Bangalore as a magical place. There was a place near Union Square in New York that was incredible as well. There was a basement where there was a crazy collection of second-hand books. What joy.

And you're right about Crossword. There's something magical about a store attendant who knows the books and loves the books. That's just not there at Crossword. This is the same sentiment you find in You've Got Mail. Maybe a little bit of it in Notting Hill.

Above all, I think it is a question of curation. Most chain bookshops today just put up the latest hot titles up front. Sure, there's some value to that. But when you enter a physical bookstore, I guess you're looking for serendipity. In the absence of good ones, I've begun to rely more and more on ChatGPT. Here's a link to a conversation I had with it when trying to find something nice to read:

https://chatgpt.com/share/67d7138f-4404-800e-8d1f-9964e8f71cc0

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