“She was helping people become whoever they were going to be. Because when you read a book as a child it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading does.”
–Kathleen Kelly, character played by Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail, speaking of her mother, who ran a bookstore
Tales of the Marvelous 
The movie also made the point that you don’t get that level of caring in a mega-bookstore, or, for that matter, when you buy books through amazon.com for your kindle reader.
Very true! There’s no human element at all when you buy an ebook online.