Between the shelves

Today is World Book Day. Jonathan deBurca Butler paid a visit to one of our busiest bookshops to see what people are reading these days, and how.

PEOPLE seem to heave a sigh of relief when they walk through the swinging doors of Eason’s on O’Connell Street in Dublin. For a moment the hustle and bustle of the city’s main thoroughfare is left behind and this bookshop, like so many around the world, becomes something of a serene sanctuary. In ways, perhaps, the shop is a mirror of the very item it is trying to sell. Is there any better refuge than inside a book?

Dubliner Jim Galligan grew up close to the city centre. He has spent hours of his life in Dublin’s bookshops and is a regular at Eason’s.

“If I was in town I’d come in,” he says, holding two paperbacks. “I’ve always done that since I was young. This place is here before me, I won’t be telling you how long that is, though.”

Jim says that he has always had books around the house and that any genre, fact or fiction, is fine by him. But why does he like books at all?

“You get into other people’s lives,” he says thoughtfully. “You can live in the book, the good ones, you know? It’s like seeing a film as far as I’m concerned.”

Julie Bradley from Palmerstown in Dublin has worked for Eason’s for 36 years. Having started out on the shop floor she has worked her way up to the position of book manager and, like many of the staff here, she is part of the fabric of Eason’s. Julie has just finished Daisy Waugh’s Last Dance with Valentino and is moving on to The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue.

“I wouldn’t be the fastest reader,” she explains. “I like to take my time, but if I haven’t got a book on the go I feel lost. There’s a comfort in it. My book is on my bedside table and I know whatever has gone on during the day I can lose myself in that for a little while. And for me, that’s what reading is about. Cut off. Get involved. And get absorbed. They get ten out of ten from me anyway.”

The problem is, however, that while the content may be getting ten out of ten, the medium itself isn’t. At least not from everybody. The book, as we know it, is under threat. Last year online book store Amazon.com reported it was selling 115 downloadable e-books for every 100 paperbacks. In America e-books account for nearly 14% of the adult fiction market, according to the Association of American Publishers. And while the e-reading phenomenon has yet to catch fire here, bookstores are having to adapt.

“We have a new e-zone project here,” says book manager Sheena Boyle. “We’re offering e-readers and our online store sells e-books too. It’s part of the future and it goes hand in hand with the physical book now. We’ve sold them to all ages really.”

Although she sees the convenience of the e-reader, the Kerry native is only thinking about getting one herself.

“I’m considering it but I don’t think it will take away my love of the physical book,” she says. “It’s terrific for travelling; it’s a bit like the iPod in that you don’t have to make a choice. You can bring a whole load of stuff with you. But I suppose the physical book is just something I’ve grown up with and I could never see it not being part of my life. There are a fair amount of books around my house. I think a house would be missing out without books in them.”

Aoife Walshe, 19, from Bayside, North Dublin is leafing through a book from the popular GRR Martin series Game of Thrones.

“I read in my spare time and I’m studying Arts in UCD, so I have to do a lot of reading for that,” she explains. “I don’t have an e-reader, but my friend has a Kindle and it looks like it’s really handy to carry around. But I like having books as well; I like the way they feel, actually having them. It might be different for people who use e-books from the start, but for me from a young age having read books, especially hardbacks, that’s the way it feels it should be.”

Ricard and Marit Westerberg from Sweden are visiting Ireland for a week. They say that the same e-reader versus hardcopy debate is not something that is to the fore in Swedish society.

“I’m a bit conservative so I like books,” says Ricard. “I like it. It’s relaxing just to have a book and sit by yourself.”

“I was surprised to see those e-readers here,” says Marit, pointing towards the e-zone nearby. “We don’t have them in the book stores in Sweden. It’s funny to actually see them in a book store.”

Downstairs in the Children’s department 6-year-old Jake McCabe from Crumlin is getting to grips with a large, colourful book called Don’t Be a Bully Billy. He appears to have taken a shine to it.

“He’s being a bully,” says the senior infant. “I like the big colours. That’s all.”

Jake’s mother, Anne-Marie, said she has bought quite a few books for her son and is always encouraging him to read. Interestingly, the idea of using e-readers has yet to be introduced in his school, but with the news this week that just over 50 schools have already made the switch to digital, it’s likely that Jake will be studying for his Leaving Certificate via some sort of e-reader.

For shop manager Derek Eason, the biggest challenge facing his shop is customer loyalty. “The key thing is to retain the customers within the Eason’s brand.”

Eason’s remains optimistic.

“This building was actually bombed in 1916,” he says. “We did a lot of archive work last year when we celebrated our 125th anniversary and unearthed loads of information, including letters to the staff apologising for the disruption. We survived that disruption and if we can get through 1916, I think we can get through this.”

Highlights of world book day for children

This is the 15th annual World Book Day. The event focuses on the promotion of reading for children. Here is a selection of events for the day.

Dublin authors Dr Jean Flitcroft, author of The Cryptid Files, and Katerine Farmar, author of The Nightmare Club will be in Eason O’Connell Street, Dublin, at 11am; suitable for children aged nine and over.

Judi Curtin (inset), author of the Alice series, will be visiting Belgooly National School, Co Cork, and will then be reading and chatting to the children at Kinsale Bookshop, Cork at 3.30pm. All welcome.

Alan Nolan is a comic writer, graphic designer and co-creator of the horror series Sancho. He will be at the Nenagh Arts Centre, Town Hall, Banba Square, Nenagh, Co Tipperary. Booking: 067-34400

Dublin-based illustrator Chris Judge, whose books include The Lonely Beast and The Great Explorer, will be reading in Eason, Galway, 11am and 12pm; suitable for kids aged six and over.