A business in agreement with Dul is Kibbitznest Books, Brews & Blarney on Clybourn in Sheffield Neighbors, which strives to be unplugged and WiFi free. The cafe, bar, bookstore, and venue has five typewriters provided by Kibbitznest, Inc., the nonprofit associated with the business, although only one typewriter is currently in working order and available to use by customers. Annie Kostiner founded both the nonprofit and business aspects of Kibbitznest (the for-profit cafe is now run by Paige Hoffman).

In the best of times, the margins at a bookstore are paper thin — traditionally, a successful shop hopes to make 2 percent in profits — but operating during a pandemic is even more expensive.

Like many other stores, Vroman’s is hosting online events to promote new books, which can attract attendees from all over the country but generally bring in almost no money.

Take Vroman's Bookstore, a 126-year-old institution in Pasadena, Calif. It has more than 200 employees, 20,000 square feet of space and the rent to go along with it. In a normal year, it hosts anywhere from 300 to 400 events, bringing in authors for readings and signings, along with customers who buy books and maybe a glass of wine from the bar. But none of that is happening this year.

The main thing that dissuaded him, he says, is that “I wouldn’t want to sell a book to a philistine, which is what every bookseller has to do.”

most college bookstores under-order as a matter of policy.

The main thing that dissuaded him, he says, is that “I wouldn’t want to sell a book to a philistine, which is what every bookseller has to do.”

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But now I’m wondering if the disappearance of those community book sanctuaries and the salons and discussions they promoted isn’t yet another factor in creating a citizenry that can’t tell fact from fiction, the truth from a lie.