Of bookshops

In the US, e-books account for about 20 per cent of total book sales, while in Britain the proportion of e-book sales is about 16 per cent. I am also mindful that old books, which have been out of print for years, such as David Ireland's extraordinary The Glass Canoe, may now be reissued in digital form. So instead of burying books, e-books will raise up old works to the light again.

Books form a part of the great web of meaning we spin for ourselves. They can bind us to a chair for hours as we launch ourselves on a voyage that may consume us for the rest of our lives. Such is the power of the Word. A book is not a sound bite. It can't be hurried. Books are a tangible resisting force against the perpetually vanishing present. It doesn't require much technology except light.

To make sense of our emotional lives, we need to dip inwards to work through the content of our feelings. There is no greater guide and companion on this journey than a favourite book, whose well thumbed pages helps to make sense of the story of our lives.

Most of the characteristics we associate with mature discourse are expressed through the Word and books. Exposition requires the ability to think conceptually, deductively and sequentially. It says 'stop – and think'. In a world of KPIs, downsizing, offshoring, TV cooking shows, a book requires only one thing – your full attention.

In the country township of Myponga, south of Adelaide there is a weekend market in an old cheese factory. For many years a husband and wife team in their late 60s, have sat amongst their piles of used books drinking tea from a thermos.

I always buy a book, not out of charity, but to get that special affirmation from the old man who simply nods and says "Good book". I tested him once on the plotline of Gravity's Rainbow and he ran circles around me. Now whenever he sees me now he calls out, "Here comes the Pynchon expert!" Bless him.

National Bookshop Day is every day. Do yourself or a loved one a favour – buy a book.

My favourite bookshops:

• Readings (Carlton), Hill of Content, The Paperback Bookshop, Melbourne
• Avant Garden, Daylesford, Victoria
• Glebe Books, Better Read than Dead and Berkelouw's (Paddington), Sydney
• Riverbend and Avid Reader, Brisbane
• Imprints, Adelaide and the Whistling Fish, Robe, South Australia