Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Bookstoores–An endagered species

The internet, with all its advantages, is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, it is a treasure trove of information. Any topic under the sun is available to the user. You can find any data on any subject you need, as well as assisting you in shopping, sending and receiving e-mails… you don’t even have to leave your home to avail yourself of its many services.
On the  other hand, many people have suffered through hackers’ illegal activities, the loss of privacy, I.D. theft, and people presuming to be someone they are not, resulting in heartbreak and even worse.
Although I use the internet on a daily basis, my biggest fear is the possibility of it being the cause of bookstores closing across the nation. They have fallen victim to ebooks, Kindle, Amazon, and other ways of ordering books electronically. No longer will bookstores be the place to browse, thumb through a book before buying it, plus all the other amenities the bookstores have to offer. Bookstore owners don’t just sell books, they sell the joy of reading. I feel like I’m on hallowed ground when I’m in a bookstore or library.
I don’t remember when my love of reading took root. I do remember dog-earing every book in the library in high school. Fictional characters became my companions, from Mark Twain to Agatha Christie and yes, even Erskine Caldwell whose then salacious “God’s Little Acre” and “Tobacco Road” would have been banned by my mother had she known I was reading them—–(I hid them under my mattress.) Reading fiction was an escape to other places, other cultures, and enhanced my yearning for more. I still have a novel I failed to return to the school library, dated 1945. Wonder how much the fine comes to.
I love the ambience of a bookstore, of being surrounded by fellow book lovers, millions of words by authors I have yet to discover. And it pains me to see so many of them closing because of the internet. I say this in the wake of one of my favorites having to close its doors.  It will never be replaced by ordering a book on the internet,  hitting “send” and waiting for the book to be delivered to my door. It takes away the thrill of discovery of a new author, of old authors I haven’t read, subjects I have never explored.
It is my fear that other large bookstores will suffer the “domino effect” of closing down, until all we have left are small independent bookstore owners who only sell a limited supply of books. If this happens it will be a sad loss where there will be no winners.
It will be the end of an era, where the joy of a Saturday afternoon browsing in a bookstore, the smell of a new book, the crackling of page-turning and the delight of exploring the book covers on the shelves will only be a distant memory. And more’s the pity.

Cheesy Squash Casserole
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
6 medium yellow summer squash, thinly sliced
1 large Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar
1/2 cup sour cream
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 sleeve crackers, crushed medium to fine (recommended: Ritz)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease  a 2-quart casserole dish.
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the squash, onion, and butter  until soft. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the Parmesan, Cheddar, and sour cream. Add salt and pepper, to taste.
Place in the prepared casserole dish and sprinkle the cracker crumbs evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly.
6 to 8 servings.