Of paper and vinyl

Sorry to bang on about books, but what with the psycho-geography of the Kilburn High Road (a.k.a. the Main Artery of Kilburnia) getting utterly ripped up this week in the wake of the bookshop's closure, I find the topic is still foremost in my mind. Sorry, also, to be lazy and simply copy out someone else's words, but they are quite touching - and they purport to come from, of all people, Zadie Smith's mum, Yvonne.

"The closure of The Kilburn Bookshop is indeed the saddest of news. It is true that I used to take daughter Zadie and sons Ben and Luke there on an almost weekly basis. All three have a massive love of books and I sure that The Kilburn Book Shop was a massive inspiration. The shops owner positively encouraged small children to sit on the floor and leaf through the books rather like they were in a library. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than standing and looking and shelvings of books. Browsing in a bookshop and purchasing new books is just a great thrill. Bookshops do not have distractions. They have books, so no danger of me coming out with some horribly expensive item that I really don't need. Frankly I don't really care how cheap books are on the internet. I prefer to go into my local bookshop and look, leaf through and buy what I want. I and all my children, friends, neighbours are keeping everything cross that the sister shop, The Willesden books shop does not go the same way. I am positive that bookshops will return to our high streets once this recession is over."

God, I hope she's right about that prediction. Someone else in the Telegraph comments section compared paper books (i.e. not i-books or blogs or whatever hi-tech faffery is hip) to vinyl records. They meant this in a gloomy end-is-nigh way, but to me it's a heartening thought, in its way. Vinyl is, to my ears, the best sound bar none and I'm absolutely bloody jubilant that I can't take it for a jog or use it for a ringtone.

On that note, I've added a blog to my 'Go see!' list: 17 Seconds is my brother-in-law's blog. He likes vinyl so much, I'm always braced for the news that their flat has finally collapsed into the flat below, under the weight of all those records.