I am both an optimist and the ultimate book lover. I do not believe the physical bookshop will follow the path of the extinct dodo. It will survive and be around somehow or another.
The public libraries here are doing a fine job of encouraging our young, especially to pick up the habit of reading a book, whether online, on a device like Kindle or the iPad tablet or an actual book borrowed from the public library.
In fact, in the last year or so, the main library (NLB) in Victoria Street has been a hive of activities – from book readings to exhibitions – the like of which I’ve not seen ever before. The huge complex is crowded on weekends. The children and family are being exposed to activities that could only lead to curiosity to find out more from the books at their disposal. Real books they could borrow and flip the pages to enjoy and discover.
And so we hark back to the halcyon years.
Boomers know these good old years.
Going to the library was an enjoyable experience and a journey of discovery in itself.
For the kampong boy, the whole idea of spending time in Bras Basah Road and Stamford Road was exciting.
Along Bras Basah Road, the second-hand bookshops were part of this ecosystem of books, books and books. Mostly textbooks but also fascinating magazines of all sorts. You could spend the whole day at the shops themselves.
Then you crossed into Waterloo Street.
School boy’s dream here.
Mee goreng, Indian rojak and ice kacang and ice balls laced with colourful syrup.
The whole ecosystem in Bras Basah Road and Waterloo Street made going to the library a highlight of most schoolboys’ activities.
And we have not started talking about the Jack Chia MPH bookshop at Stamford Road, just next to the famous old red house national library. And Borders in Liat Towers.
Singapore is not yet a book desert. Kinokuniya is still fighting to survive.
It will be a big shame if it wilts. A modern city of six million people without a bookshop is ridiculous.
Tan Bah Bah is a former senior leader writer with The Straits Times. He was also managing editor of a magazine publishing company