She Is Too Fond Of Books ... » Spotlight on Bookstores

Spotlight on Bookstores: Cellar Stories and others in Providence, RI

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:56:09 +0000

photo credit: Jamie Casertano

Welcome to this week’s Spotlight on Bookstores! Taylor M. Polites shares a bit about the bookish treasures to be found in Providence, Rhode Island. From a well-known indie to university bookstores, private and public libraries, “America’s Renaissance City” has a wealth of interesting and unusual places to scout for books. Best of all (selfishly), it’s just over an hour from me; I plan to go on a book treasure hunt this summer, using Taylor’s essay as a map!

A few weeks ago I introduced you to the author of this post – Taylor M. Polites’s novel The Rebel Wife (from Simon & Schuster) is hitting bookstore shelves this week! This novel, set in Reconstruction Alabama, center on Augusta “Gus” Branson is a young widow whose quest for freedom turns into a race for her life. Taylor was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the basis for The Rebel Wife’s fictional town of Albion, and has been researching this novel since he was a teen. I can only imagine his delight when he uncovered the treasure he did at Cellar Stories – Providence, indeed!

To read more, visit Taylor M. Polites’ blog, follow him on twitter (@taylormpolites), and “like” him on Facebook.

Providence Athenaeum

I moved to Providence, Rhode Island about a year ago. For a city of its relatively modest size, it has an incredible level of culture. Part of that culture is a great appreciation for books. There is a great independent bookstore, Books on the Square. There was a Borders at the mall, but that is gone now. There are several colleges and universities that have bookstores, including the wonderful Brown University Bookstore. There are some of the oldest, most historic and beautiful libraries I have ever had the privilege of working in: my all-time favorite, the Providence Athenaeum, founded in 1753 and housed in an 1838 building, it is one of the oldest private libraries in the country and yet a warm and welcoming center of community. The Providence Public Library is in a beautiful late 19^th century building that sums up all the faded glory of Providence perfectly. The beautiful marble Hay library at Brown University and also the fantastic open stacks of the Rockefeller Library have become havens for me. The Rhode Island School of Design library is housed in the old Rhode Island Hospital Trust building, whose massive marble-columned, barrel-vaulted lobby has become a spectacular reading room. And in addition to these are a few used bookstores, which brings me to my special focus.

In the heart of downtown, along a quiet side-street and up a flight of concrete stairs, is Cellar Stories Books.Yes, Cellar Stories, but on the second floor. While many bookstores have turned to selling toys and gifts, cards and paper items, or installed coffee shops, wine bars or event spaces, Cellar Stories is very simply what it is — a used bookstore. When you enter, the owner is probably sitting on the stool on your right, surrounded by stacks and stacks of books, paging through them, considering them. And before you, tall stacks of unfinished wood going virtually to the ceiling filled with books. When the shelves are filled, the books are stacked on top of the books on the shelves, or in rolling carts, or in piles on the floor or whatever free surface presents itself. You can ask the woman behind the counter about a title and she will narrow her eyes and look up to the ceiling and turn down a corner of her mouth, then take you to the two or three different sections where your book might be. But it’s not about getting what you came for at Cellar Stories, it’s about finding what you didn’t expect.

Cellar Stories interior

I was wandering the aisles the last time I was there when I looked down on the floor and on top of a stack of books about two feet high was A Fool’s Errand by Albion W. Tourgée. Tourgée was a Union man who fought in the Civil War, moved to North Carolina and served in the government during Reconstruction and was himself a victim of threats and violence by the Ku Klux Klan. He wrote a great (sensational) historical book called The Invisible Empire about Klan activities in the South during the 1870’s (something he had personal experience with). To find his novel based on those experiences sitting on the floor of Cellar Stories as if it was waiting for me, a book that has not been in print for many years and that I had never seen before although I had looked for it, that is what I love about this place. For a writer of Southern fiction focusing on Reconstruction, it was a little gift from the literature gods. Thank you, Cellar Stories!

Spotlight on Bookstores: Hammond’s Books in St. Louis

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:00:21 +0000

author Heather Huffman

Welcome to Wednesday on She Is Too Fond of Books! We’ve got a fun Spotlight on Bookstores post that will get you through the mid-week doldrums. Here, author Heather Huffman shares her story of Hammonds Books in St. Louis, Missouri … home to used, rare, collectible, and out-of-print books, accented with beautiful chandeliers and classical music playing in the background.

Heather Huffman writes romantic suspense with strong female leads who refuse to lose hope, and sees her books as a way to not only entertain, but to raise awareness of the realities of modern day slavery. She shares the passion of her resilient heroines to make a difference, and so dedicates both her time and a portion of her book royalties to organizations that fight against human trafficking.

Heather was born and spent her early childhood in Florida, but now calls the beautiful state of Missouri home. Her greatest joy, aside from writing, is to hit the road with her three boys for adventures unknown. She is the author of Throwaway, Ties that Bind, Jailbird, Suddenly a Spy and Ring of Fire. You can find out more about her writing and charitable work on www.heatherhuffman.net.

Cherokee Street in South St. Louis delivers original and unique experiences to visitors, lined with unconventional businesses that radiate a creative vibe as you walk down the street. I’ve always had a special appreciation for this little-known St. Louis treasure and have even featured it as a setting in two of my novels. One shop in particular, however, has truly won my heart as both a novelist and avid reader - Hammonds Books.

When I first entered Hammonds, my initial impression was that I couldn’t afford to be there. The first book I picked up reinforced that feeling. It was The Tempest of the Heart by Mary Agatha Gray, and it was $75. But it was also from 1911, and I was captivated from the first page.

Despite my initial sticker shock, there was something about the floor-to-ceiling shelves upon shelves of books that drew me in. Even the stairs were lined with books. Any wall space not covered with literature was adorned with eclectic and charming prints. Pavarotti piped through the speakers. A sign offered coffee, but I couldn’t fathom fettering my hands with anything other than books.

Hammonds Books is an homage to the written word, and I soon found myself so lost in books that I forgot I couldn’t afford to be there. While there were treasures from every decade waiting to be explored, I found I only had eyes for the oldest of tomes, written when language was still lyrical, when words were something to be rolled leisurely off the tongue, not spit out in haste. Happily, I also found books I could afford – one treasure from the 1800s and one from 1905!

More than my purchase of that day, it became apparent I’d found a new guilty pleasure, a refuge. There was no slavery to fight in that little store, only words to immerse myself in. It was the kind of place that made me wish I had a home with its own library. The kind of library that would have a corner to tuck myself away in and lots of old books to line the shelves. Until I have that fantasy home, I will content myself to roam the aisles of Hammonds Books and dream.

Thank you for sharing your guilty pleasure, Heather! I believe you have plenty of company in that favorite pastime

Readers, I want to share one more fun fact about Heather. Take a look at that book cover for Jailbird at the top of the page; now read this tidbit, from her website: “Not only did I take the picture for the Jailbird cover, but I used my own feet when we couldn’t coordinate schedules with the photographer and the intended model. I think my neighbors were questioning my sanity, watching me snap pictures of my feet after dragging them through the mud to dirty them up!” Who ever said being a published author was all glamour!?

Spotlight on Bookstore: Cannon Beach Book Company in Cannon Beach, Oregon

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:00:36 +0000

I’m so pleased to welcome Tess Hardwick to She Is Too Fond of Books today! Tess is a novelist and playwright with a BFA in Drama from the University of Southern California. In 2000 she wrote her first full-length play, My Lady’s Hand, which subsequently won the 2001 first place prize for new work at the Burien Theatre. Her first novel, Riversong, was published by Booktrope in April 2011 and became the #1 Bestselling Nook Book in October.

Like her main character in Riversong, Tess is from a small town in Southern Oregon. She currently lives in Snoqualmie, Washington with her husband, two small daughters and a teenage stepson. She is inspired daily by the view of the Cascade Mountains from her home office window. Find more at www.tesshardwick.com, on Tess Hardwick on twitter, and on Facebook.

Tess is shining her Spotlight on Cannon Beach Book Company, which she calls – simply and affectionately – “the bookstore.” It’s so nice to read that her children feel as welcome and “at home” there as she does, and that Tess can travel back to Cannon Beach in her memories simply by reading a book she purchased there, or by using the bookstore’s bookmark to mark her place in her current read.

I discovered my favorite small bookstore, Cannon Beach Book Company, fifteen years ago, while vacationing in Cannon Beach, a popular beachside tourist retreat for Seattle and Portland residents. Situated between Tillamook and Astoria, the town of Cannon Beach is the ultimate Oregon beach experience, resplendent with taffy, ice cream, and kite shops, next to a long stretch of sandy beach overlooking the famous Haystack Rock. For the past eleven Augusts, my husband and I spend one week there, hoping for good weather, but packing in layers, as we do here in the northwest. As a writer that week has become my muse. Each time the waves crash onto the beach and the breeze brings salty air into my lungs there is an emptying, like I imagine people find during meditation, until I expand into inspiration.

And then, there is my other vocation. I am a reader. The first day we’re in Cannon Beach, I often sneak away to what we regular visitors call, the bookstore, but its proper name is the Cannon Beach Book Company. One of my favorite places in the world, it’s nestled in the middle of downtown Cannon Beach, a gentle haven for book lovers, smelling of new paper and book covers, and full of like-minded people, all readers, milling about, leafing through books or chatting quietly about favorite reads to their companions or asking the staff questions. Sometimes, captured by an opening paragraph, they remain standing, reading page after page of a book they will soon purchase and read long into the summer night, or in the light of the afternoon, feet buried in sand, the roar of waves hitting jagged rocks in the near distance.

I’ve been known to disappear into the bookstore for hours, without consciousness, like a book lover’s blackout, only to emerge with bags of books, mostly novels. Some I decide on because of the recommendation by the bookstore’s knowledgeable staff, and others because I open that first page and read that first sentence and always, inevitably, if the writing is crafted in a certain way, I get chills or goose bumps, and I’m done. I’ve decided. This is a book for me. As all readers will tell you, it only takes that first sentence to draw you into story. And we are lost.

Readers agree, too, there is nothing better than an afternoon spent prowling through stacks and shelves of books, knowing that within the pages, depending on the book one chooses, looms an unknown world of new friends and enemies, or a humorous escape, sometimes an adventure, maybe an epic love story, and perhaps, best of all, illumination and understanding of our own lives. All these riches are within those crisp pages in the lines of words crafted by great writers. At Cannon Beach Book Company, there is a book, or in my case, books, for all of us.

These days, my daughters, eight and five, are book lovers too, and when we amble into the store, before hands become sticky from ice-cream and taffy, they go straight to the children’s section in the back corner, and sit cross-legged, thumbing through treasures, persuading me to purchase many more books than I have budget for. They take after me that way.

For months after my annual trip, I read the books I’ve purchased, using the bookmark from Cannon Beach Book Company, often fingering the logo, remembering my time there, knowing I’m merely marking days until I can return once again and become lost amongst the stacks.

Spotlight on Bookstores: The Book Shop in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:16:47 +0000

Another week, another wonderful Spotlight on Bookstores guest post! Linda Teitel wrote this piece; she’s the author of the middle-grade novel Angus MacMouse Brings Down the House (Bloomsbury 2010). Angus is a mouse who holds the key to a successful opera company – culture, humor, and a crowd-pleasing ‘moral to the story’ = fun!

When she’s not writing (or sharing her work via school and library visits), Linda teaches at a preschool; she also enjoys spending time outdoors and on the water of the North Shore. You can read more about Linda Teitel on her blog, lindateitel.blogspot.com.

I’m especially pleased that this essay spotlights a bookshop that’s within driving distance for me – yes, another warm-weather field trip! Linda supplied one of the exterior photos; the snow-covered yard and interior shot are from The Book Shop’s website.

She also shared a few interesting facts about Beverly Farms, a seaside town north of Boston:

John Updike lived in Beverly Farms during the latter part of his life
In 1907 Beverly Hills, CA. was named after Beverly Farms because it was famous for President Taft vacationing there!

The Book Shop
40 West Street (Route 127)
Beverly Farms, Massachusetts
978-927-2122
www.realbookshop.com

If you are like me, you delight in finding a wonderful, unique bookshop with character and charm. Whether you stumble upon it by chance, or you hear about it from a friend, it’s always a special moment when you first walk through the door, your senses tingling with anticipation. I promise, you won’t be disappointed when you visit The Book Shop in Beverly Farms.

If you’re not familiar with the North Shore, Beverly Farms is the easternmost section of Beverly, about twenty miles north of Boston. You can even take the Commuter Rail there (the Rockport Line), hop off the train, and be just a few steps from The Book Shop and a number of other delightful small shops and eclectic eateries.

As you come into the village by car (on Route 127) The Book Shop is easy to spot–– it will be either the first establishment you see, or the last, depending on the direction you’re traveling. The building itself couldn’t be more inviting because it is actually a house. So, when you walk in the door, you immediately sense the intimate atmosphere, and the friendly staff makes you feel right at home. As you wander from room to room, each one seems more enticing than the last, with a surprisingly large selection of books, including many that have been handpicked to suit local interests and tastes. The cozy room upstairs for children’s books is (of course!) my favorite.

The children's section of The Book Shop

A visit to The Book Shop is invariably an enjoyable, relaxing experience and I always leave with a smile on my face and a bag tucked under my arm. Like the big stores, they offer 20% off the New York Times hardcover best sellers. But sometimes my bag doesn’t contain a book–– often it’s a beautiful card or a special little gift (wrapped for free, of course).Since its beginning in 1968, The Book Shop has been deeply committed to local schools (about a dozen of them!) and the community. The staff works tirelessly on book fairs and other fundraisers that help support school libraries and reading programs.

On a personal note, I have been overwhelmed by the support and enthusiasm of the owner and her wonderful staff. When I first introduced myself as a new author, I was touched by how excited everyone was for me. And whenever I have needed help or advice for an event they have been right there, with everything I needed. With their expertise I know that I never have to worry, and everything will go smoothly.

The Book Shop is everything you might hope for in a charming village setting, where the shops and businesses take pride in quality, individuality, and excellent service, not only to townsfolk, but also to the many travelers that find their way to this delightful seaside community. I hope you can visit soon!

Spotlight on Bookstores: The Village Bookstore in Littleton, New Hampshire

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:00:17 +0000

The Village Bookstore

Rose MacDowell’s The Lost Book of Mala R. was published a few months ago by Random House / Bantam. The novel brings to light an intriguing period of American history with thorough research and rich detail. In it, a teenage American gypsy in the 1940s predicts the future of three troubled women in present day California. When these women stumble across the journal in a yard sale, their lives are forever changed, and a compelling mystery evolves.

In this Spotlight on Bookstores post, Rose MacDowell writes about a special bookstore in New Hampshire’s White Mountain area. Rose writes about the main street of Littleton (literally, Main Street), conjuring up images of Norman Rockwell paintings and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The town sounds fantastic – with its emphasis on local culture and creativity — it’s about 2 1/2 hours from me; I’m planning a spring/summer weekend getaway!

Here’s what Rose has to say:

inside The Village Bookstore

If there was ever a quintessential New England bookstore, The Village Bookstore in Littleton, New Hampshireis it. The setting – on Main Street in a picturesque small town, complete with winding river, white-steepled church, and historic brick buildings – is only the beginning of this sprawling store’s charm. Inside are tall wooden stacks crowded with unusual books from publishers like Moose Country Press and Hobblebush Books, which focus on local history and storytellers. In addition to the usual bestsellers and book club favorites, there are dozens of books of obscure White Mountain lore, stories about the region’s settlers and explorers, CDs by local musicians, and guides to every hiking trail and ski slope in the Northeast. The children’s section is a riot of picture books and toys, with colorful mobiles hanging from the ceiling. It’s no wonder the floor is usually scattered with cross-legged kids.

League of NH Craftsmen Gallery in Littleton

One story down from the bookstore is The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, a gallery filled with jewelry, pottery, crafts, and photography, all made by local artists. This helps make The Village Bookstore feel like an artistic hub, where all things local and creative have a home. Shop upstairs for books, toys, and music, downstairs for folk art and hard-turned wooden bowls. I love coming here a few snowy days before Christmas to browse, read, and look for gifts. Outside, the trees and buildings are strung with white lights, while inside, the store is brightly-lit and smells of wool sweaters and hot chocolate. The Village Bookstore is everything I love about New England, New Hampshire, and the White Mountains: a unique, small-town experience you can’t find anywhere else.

To read more of the author’s writing, please visit Rose MacDowell’s website where you can read an excerpt of The Lost Book of Mala R. She loves to hear from her readers, and enjoys meeting with book groups – in person if possible, or via web, Skype, or conference/phone.

Spotlight on Bookstores: Two in Boulder, Colorado

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:00:45 +0000

Today, Barry Burnett joins us with a “two-fer” – a delightful Spotlight on Bookstores post that looks at two special bookstores inBoulder, Colorado!

Barry is the author of How to Live Forever (A Very Fictional Guide), that features David Black, a young family doctor whose solo practice (and marriage) are falling apart. David’s best friend, Oz, comes up with a get-rich scheme to offer the secrets of longevity – at a price – to the people of their town. How to Live Forever is a “comedy with heart” set in “exotic New-Age mecca of Boulder.”

What a happy coincidence! The two bookshops that Barry Burnett spotlights in this essay are also set in Boulder; read on and learn the Boulderite definitions of “low-stress crowded” and “non-frou-frou latte.”

And then, check out Barry Burnett’s website and the Facebook fan page for How to Live Forever.

Boulder still has a good-sized handful of indie bookstores, and the Boulder Book Store is both the friendly elephant and most-thriving survivor of the current crop.

The place rocks on the weekends — a solid oak-lined late-Victorian retail palace that’s usually crowded (Boulder low-stress crowded; this isn’t NYC’s Strand), with genuinely interested staff and a labyrinthine basement of quiet low-ceilinged rooms like Travel Books, where you can sit and peruse and decide if you really want to backpack a high-end paperback on Backpacking in Bhutan through Bhutan. Or the old ballroom they expanded into upstairs, a wonderful small venue for mid-list talks, or the giant conference table hidden near Spirituality, or an unapologetic section on body-and-heart Sexuality.

Somehow the original owner has kept it up, transitioning from Ginsberg readings to affluent post-new-agers, managing to pay the rent on historic Pearl Street Mall and getting list price for new books. Part of that may be pure economic smarts, like deciding early to sell near-perfect used books mixed with those new ones, and part that it’s a Place to Be (or Go To) on the weekend. But I think the largest chunk is simple charm, the kind derived from recognizing quality and holding on to it, whether architecture or staff or an ambience that has lasted nearly forty years and isn’t fading.

Let me also put in a plug for a very cool (I’m so not-cool to say that) small bookstore a few blocks down, the Trident. Another and perhaps truer node on the Boulder/Buddhist/Beat axis, it occupies an old Western storefront connected to the coffee shop of the same name, and is packed with a thoughtful collection of gently used and new nonfiction, fiction, poetry, metaphysics, and a few tables of well-priced art overstocks. The fiction is timeless and has a somewhat serious air, but then, that’s Literature for you. That said, I found a copy of The Pirates! In An Adventure With Napoleon!, an excellent comic read from Gideon Defoe. Yes, yes, it was on the kids’ shelves, but I liked it and I’m a fully mature adult human being so that was obviously an error.

Of many good things about the Trident, the best may be that you can wander in at 6:30 on a snowy winter morning, cross into the bookstore to snag a book, try to talk the barista into walking back and ringing it up for you, and, successful or not (there is a nice hanging rack of magazines to fall back on), take your non-frou-frou latte plus your reading matter of choice and get hyperthermic next to an actual wood stove, which has got to be only public one in Boulder and please don’t tell the High Commissioner of Air Quality.

Try that at Borders! Oh… It is? Then at the bookstore chain whose name must not be spoken.

What do you think, readers? Imagine reading next to a wood stove in a bookstore – that could be one of David Black’s tips in How to Live Forever (it works for me!)

Spotlight on Bookstores: In memoriam Dutton’s Brentwood Bookstore in Los Angeles/Brentwood

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:00:13 +0000

A big Too Fond of Books‘ welcome to Anna Lefler, author of the humorous The CHICKtionary: From A-Line to Z-Snap, the Words Every Woman Should Know. These are more than 450 words and phrases that should be incorporated into our vocabularies, including:

Aberzombie: Derived from the name of the popular clothing stores, Aberzombie refers to any of the nation of plaid shirt-and-tank-top-wearing undead that can be seen staggering through the food courts of malls across America.
Bandeau: From the French word meaning “there’s no way that’s staying up,” this is a type of woman’s top that consists of a strip of fabric encircling the chest at breast level and remaining aloft through snugness and prayers.

How can you not grin at those two teasers? Read more about Ann Lefler and The CHICKtionary, visit her website and follow her on twitter.

Today, Anna is writing about a favorite bookstore that closed in the Spring of 2008. These “in memoriam” posts are just as poignant as those which laud the bookstores we can still visit. And please do visit your local independent bookstore (if there’s one near you), or seek them out when traveling!

Dutton’s Brentwood – Gone But Not Forgotten

Dutton’s is closed. Even though it’s been three years now, I still can’t believe it. For years, Dutton’s was our “neighborhood” bookstore, with all the lovely, quirky qualities the term implies. Located on a bustling boulevard of gleaming, high-end boutiques in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, Dutton’s was a steadfastly non-glam – and magical – retreat for book lovers of all ages.

I won’t attempt to recount the history of the store, other than to say that it was founded in 1961, back when Don Draper was still trying to figure out the emotional appeal of a carousel projector. In the intervening decades, Dutton’s retained the atmosphere of a store grounded in a previous time while carrying an absolutely current inventory – an impressive feat.

Occupying the ground floor of an unassuming building on tony San Vicente Boulevard, Dutton’s felt like a bookstore, even smelled like one. Everything about it was organic, from the accumulation of handwritten notes around the cash registers to the manner in which the store seemed to ooze from one disjointed ground-floor suite into another (after a brief walk across the groovy mid-century courtyard).

In addition to the many hours spent wandering through the aisles, following one stream of thought into another as my finger traced the lengths of shelves (the original “Google surfing” experience, perhaps?), my memories of Dutton’s reside at the intersection of literature and community.

The first that come to mind are the evenings spent working the gift wrap table at our preschool’s “Evening at Dutton’s” – an annual fundraising event generously hosted by the store. All of the merchandise rooms would be filled to bursting as the crowds spilled out into the courtyard, clutching hot coffee against the chilly night air and chattering about how many books they had bought, and how wonderful it was to have real social interaction rather than the hurried hellos of drop-off and pickup time. The conversations would continue long past sales time as parents carried bags of books to their cars, gathering in clusters in the parking lot before finally waving goodbye and driving home.

And then, of course, there were the readings. As an aspiring author, Dutton’s readings were especially enticing to me. Again, the store’s charming courtyard was the focus, with attendees scattered among the benches and patio umbrellas. Coupled with the enthusiastic crowds and the bright, sunny weather that accompanied every Dutton’s reading I ever attended, these events captured a specific Los Angeles literary vibe that I have never experienced. Maybe someday, I sometimes dared to think as I stood in the audience.

Of course, every bookstore is fantastic in its own way and offers a uniquely flavored experience; Dutton’s just happened to be that special place in my neighborhood. When the store finally closed its doors for the last time as a result of insurmountable financial challenges caused by the potential redevelopment of its location, my neighborhood – as well as a much larger slice of the community – lost an irreplaceable institution.

In my opinion, every neighborhood should have a bookstore. And, if the folks who live in that neighborhood are very, very lucky…it will be as special as Dutton’s Brentwood.

Thanks, Anna, for telling us about Dutton’s Brentwood – I hope we see a turnaround and that the neighborhood gains another wonderful indie – it really is an important piece of the community!

This Spotlight on Bookstores post is part of Anna’s blog tour with TLC Book Tours; please visit these other stops on her tour:

Monday, November 14th: Life in Review
Tuesday, November 15th: Amused by Books
Thursday, November 17th: Reviews from the Heart
Friday, November 18th: Chick Lit Reviews
Monday, November 21st: I Am A Reader, Not A Writer – Author Q&A
Wednesday, November 23rd: The Betty and Boo Chronicles
Friday, November 25th: Melody & Words
Monday, November 28th: Silver and Grace
Thursday, December 1st: Chick Lit is Not Dead
Friday, December 2nd: Overstuffed
Friday, December 2nd: Silver and Grace – author guest post
Monday, December 5th: A Musing Reviews
Tuesday, December 6th: Peeking Between the Pages
Wednesday, December 7th: Peeking Between the Pages – guest post
Thursday, December 8th: Sara’s Organized Chaos
Friday, December 9th: 2 Kids and Tired
Monday, December 12th: Write Meg!
Tuesday, December 13th: Suko’s Notebook
Thursday, December 15th: Life… with Books
Friday, December 16th: Colloquium – guest post
Monday, December 19th: A Chick Who Reads

Spotlight on Bookstores: Black & Read in Arvada, Colorado

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:00:59 +0000

Today’s Spotlight on Bookstores post is written by Erin Blakemore, author of The Heroine’s Bookshelf: Life Lessons, from Jane Austen to Laura Ingalls Wilder . I reviewed The Heroine’s Bookshelf when it was first out in hardcover a year ago, and said:

This delightful little book is part biography, part memoir, part a visit with old friends (the female authors and their literary heroines we’ve loved – Jane Austen with Elizabeth Bennet, Louisa May Alcott with Jo March, Harper Lee with Scout Finch), and part inspiration. … The Heroine’s Bookshelf is an appropriate gift for sisters, girlfriends, mothers, and aunts – those women who you’ve lent you their favorite books over the years.

Yes, of course you can click over for my full review, and know that The Heroine’s Bookshelf is now out in paperback (that’s the paperback cover, to the left), making it an even more appealing (economical) gift this season.

You can find Erin Blakemore on twitter at @heroineBook, “like” The Heroine’s Bookshelf on Facebook, and read her blog (The Heroine’s Bookshelf, natch). Erin has organized a readalong of Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God; online discussion began just this week, so you have time to catch up and jump in!

In this post Erin isn’t writing about Jo March, Scout Finch, or other literary heroines and their strengths; she’s sharing the “joy of dusty discovery” she finds at Black & Read:

If left to my own devices, I’d probably let the books around me crumble into well-loved piles of dust. I love the puff of comfortable pulp when I open my old favorites, the occasional left-behind speck of food, a note in the margin that makes me scratch my head or smile at where I left myself. It is, therefore, no surprise that I love Black and Read.

On first glance, Black and Read is a hot mess. It shocks me that it can exist at all. Tucked in a mostly-vacant mini-mall, it’s half record store, half used book emporium with a heavy focus on Magic: The Gathering tomes (of all things). Walk in the east door and you will more often than not encounter a pile of mouldering, dusty, unsorted books twice your own size. The windows are grimy with old tape and dilapidated concert posters. The owners give every indication of being very cranky. Do not let these things discourage you. Head into the aisles, and leave your watch behind. You’ll be browsing for a while.

While my boyfriend digs through record crates on the other side, I dive into the world of 95-year-old bibliographies, art catalogs, pulpy romance novels, and classics with fairy-thin frontispieces and venerable illustrations. I am surrounded by the smell of books doing their thing. I blow dust off of some. Others have not yet been categorized. I am pleased to find old favorites among the innumerable spines, books I thought nobody else ever owned. Mint condition volumes sit among the old-fashioned tomes. Little handmade signs point to obscure subjects I never knew I longed to discover. The carpet in the children’s section has been worn away by little feet.

There are several inevitabilities about Black and Read. I will always sneeze at least once. I will always walk out with something I never knew I wanted or needed. And I will always, at some point in my browsing, find myself sitting on the floor, my back pressed against a wall of books, wrapped up in the joy of dusty discovery.

Gesundheit, Erin! Those sneezes are a small price to pay for the “joy of dusty discovery” you find at Black & Read!

Spotlight on Bookstores: Hole in the Wall Bookstore in Wall, South Dakota

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 10:00:19 +0000

This week’s Spotlight on Bookstores is written by Ann Weisgarber, author of The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, called an “unforgettable novel about love and loyalty, homeland and belonging.”

The novel is now available in paperback, the cover of which you see here.

For more information about the author and The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, or to arrange a Skype visit to your book group, please visit Ann Weisgarber’s website.

Today Ann writes about a unique bookstore - I’ve never traveled to this part of the West, but Ann’s description of the Hole in the Wall Bookstore (and all of Wall, South Dakota), make me realize that I’ve missed an important part of America. Here’s another place I’d like to visit one day, who’s ready for a road trip – cowboy boots required!?

Wall, South Dakota, population 800 or thereabout. Home of Wall Drug Store where travelers have stopped since the 1930’s for free glasses of ice water. Billboard ads along I-90 lure tourists to stop and see the animated T-Rex, pan for fossils, and visit the train station. The drug store is one of America’s great icons. So, too, is Hole in the Wall Bookstore, right in the heart of Wall Drug.

I love this bookstore. A mountain man stands by the front door. The wood floors creak, and old black and white photographs decorate the walls. A ladder runs up close to the ceiling where books are stored. Tourists, before heading on to Mt. Rushmore, roam the aisles. What I love most, though, is the incredible selection of western-based books.

I spent hours in this bookstore while I did research for Rachel DuPree. I had a four-week writing residency at nearby Badlands National Park and a few times a week, I made the half-hour trip to Hole in the Wall. There, I scooped up books about women in the West. I bought books about the Dakota Sioux tribes, buffalo soldiers, and cookbooks with recipes for homesteaders. There was cowboy poetry, and books about outlaws and ladies of the night. I found books about African-American homesteaders and miners. There were Willa Cather’s novels, Louis L’Amour’s westerns, and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series.

It was far more than a free glass of ice cold water on a hot summer day. It was manna from heaven.

It still is. I stopped in a few weeks ago while I was in the area for the South Dakota Festival of Books. The floors still creak, and the mountain man is still by the front door. Tourists from France were drawn to the section about George Custer and the Black Hills. A little girl sat on the floor reading about dinosaurs. I bought several books and if I hadn’t been flying back home to Texas, I would have bought a suitcase worth.

Hole in the Wall Bookstore, you are a dear friend to those of us who love the West. May you continue to thrive!

Thanks, Ann, for sharing your thoughts on – and the photos of – this unique bookstore!

This Spotlight on Bookstores post is part of Ann’s blog tour with TLC Book Tours; please visit these other stops on her tour:

Tuesday, November 1st: nomadreader
Wednesday, November 2nd: Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, November 3rd: Linus’s Blanket - author Q&A
Monday, November 7th: A Bookish Libraria
Tuesday, November 8th: Man of La Book
Thursday, November 10th: Unabridged Chick
Monday, November 14th: Book Dilettante
Tuesday, November 15th: Book Chatter
Thursday, November 17th: Book Club Classics
Friday, November 18th: Historical Tapestry - guest post
Monday, November 21st: Raging Bibliomania
Tuesday, November 22nd: The Brain Lair
Wednesday, November 23rd: Broken Teepee
Friday, November 25th: Historical Tapestry
Monday, November 28th: A Bookworm’s World
Tuesday, November 29th: My Bookshelf
Wednesday, November 30th: Elle Lit.
Thursday, December 1st: Melody & Words
Monday, December 5th: Book Snob
Wednesday, December 7th: Life in Review
Thursday, December 8th: The 3 R’s Blog

Spotlight on Bookstores: New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton, Mass.

sheistoofondofbooks — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:00:02 +0000

This week’s Spotlight on Bookstores post is written by Joan Leegant, author of two novels, the most recent is Wherever You Go,which was published by WW Norton and Company in July of this year. Wherever You Go tells the story of three Americans in Israel, whose lives are “caught in the grip of a volatile and uncompromising faith.” Through these characters, Leegant looks at both sides of Jewish extremism (positive and negative), and its consequences on Israel’s modern democratic state.

It looks like and intense thought-provoking read, with much to be discussed and churned over and over. You can read an excerpt of Wherever You Go here, and check out this page on Joan Leegant’s web site … you’re sure to see some reviewer names that you recognize.

She writes about two bookshops here – the first is an “in memoriam” for the defunct Reading International in Harvard Square; I visited this store regularly about 20 years after Joan did, and had the same wonderful experiences. When discussing the second shop, New England Mobile Book Fair, Joan shares a fun personal story about a bookseller who let her in on a secret. I’m looking forward to visiting Book Fair and picking up a copy of Wherever You Go!

Independent bookstores, like no-name coffee places, inspire a great deal of loyalty, especially these days when that loyalty is beginning to morph into nostalgia because the particular brick-and-mortar store has disappeared. I live outside Boston now, but when I first arrived in Cambridge from the New York suburbs in the fall of 1968 to begin college at Harvard (we women knew it as Radcliffe in those days, but that’s another story), I thought I’d died and gone to bookstore heaven. As recently as 2005, the Cambridge Office of Tourism claimed that Cambridge had the world’s largest number of bookstores per capita—and I can believe it, even though some of those stores are now gone.

Back in college, I regularly visited five or six, but my favorite was the now vanished Reading International on the corner of Brattle and Church Streets. Often this was with a boy on a Saturday night. Browsing in bookstores was a popular dating activity not only because Harvard students were eggheads; the shops were warm refuges during the punishing New England winter and offered excellent opportunities to suss out the proclivities—intellectual, artistic or otherwise (watch out for the guy who’s checking out the other female patrons instead of the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs) of your dates. We took our, and our dates’, reading habits very seriously. Reading International was the place to do it best. It wasn’t contaminated by frivolous sections devoted to records (vinyl!) or posters, like at the Coop; and I seem to recall the aisles being wider and thus more conducive to hip-to-hip cruising than those at the Harvard Book Store. Plus it was across the street from the Algiers, a coffee house where you could pretend you were expatriates in francophile Beirut instead of college freshmen stressing about your upcoming statistics exam.

Time moves on and so did I, and in the next clump of years bookstores took on the allure of illicitness normally associated with sex shops. I was in law school, and then a practicing lawyer, and the fiction calling to me in book shops became almost forbidden fruit. This is not only because I had little time for so-called recreational reading; though I would not acknowledge this desire until I was almost 40, what I really wanted to do was write, and I don’t mean wills and contracts. I patronized the bookstore in the town where I was living and lawyering but kept the visits short, businesslike, purposeful. Browsing was ok but up to a point. Too long, and I might defect.

photo credit: NEMBF Tom Lingner

By the time I moved to Newton, Massachusetts, where I still live, I was a wife, mother, and ex-lawyer taking low risk and closeted (for me) writing classes in the community. And like the Talmudic saying, When the student is ready, the teacher shall appear, I discovered a bookstore that was once again a bibliophile’s Garden of Eden.

The New England Mobile Book Fair on what was once a run-down industrial thoroughfare called Needham Street—it was the first retail establishment there—inspires the sort of hyperbole I just committed (Garden of Eden!). Its ramshackle 30,000 square foot warehouse holds a vast inventory organized not by topic or popularity but by publisher (its initial customers in the 1950s were librarians who ordered from publishers’ catalogs) and overseen by a devoted staff that knows everything. A seven minute drive from my house, the Book Fair became, once again, a place in which to dwell with books. You could lose yourself in the endless stacks, which smelled not of coffee brewing nearby or seasonal gift merchandise (Christmas candles, Valentine’s candies) but of paper; nobody bothered you or wanted to chat even if they were your friends. Browsing at the Book Fair was serious business. It was like the old days at Reading International without the dates and pretensions. You went there to read: flap copy and back matter and author blurbs until something unexpected struck your fancy, and to thumb through obscure cookbooks and remainders and spend an hour in the little room for poetry. When I had a few hours of babysitting, I went there; when I needed to get out on a Thursday night after my husband got home from work and took over the kids, I went there; when I needed to remind myself of the value of writing fiction, I went there.

photo credit: NEMBF Tom Lingner

And when in 2003 I published my first book, a story collection, the Book Fair came to my launch party and sold books—and ran out. My husband did a run from the Marriot function room to our house where we had two extra cases. They came again in 2010 when I published my first novel.

My sons are grown now. They are not materialistic young men, and it can be a challenge to find a birthday gift. This year, when our younger son turned 24, stumped, I left it to the last minute. He’s a skilled woodworker and boat builder in Seattle who makes furniture and instruments in addition to boats. He loves wood the way a painter loves paint or a jeweler loves silver or, well, a writer loves words. We couldn’t afford a new band saw or any of the other myriad tools he’d want. Then I thought: a book; surely there’s one for him. I went online. I couldn’t buy him a book for hobbyists, or an Idiot’s Guide. He’d be insulted, rightly so. But the books that suited him were all specialty items you had to order weeks in advance from specialty publishers.

photo credit: NEMBF Tom Lingner

With little hope and less time, I went to the Book Fair and found the owner, Jon. I explained my problem; did he have any suggestions? I figured, at worst, I’d buy my son a vegan cookbook, though I knew he cooked—and quite well—by instinct and experimentation. I told myself it’s the thought that counts.

“Let me think for a minute,” Jon said, and disappeared. Ten minutes later he returned with The Soul of a Tree: A Master Woodworker’s Reflections by George Nakashima. I looked at the jacket copy. This was exactly what my son would love. Later, a friend who makes beautiful wood furniture told me Nakashima is world renowned for both his craft and his thoughts on the philosophy of the craft. But how did Jon know about him? With the hundreds of subjects and thousands of books at the Book Fair, how did he know about one written by a woodworker, even a master? Jon shrugged. He just knew. Then he also handed me a gorgeous volume of 50 full-page plates of unusual wood grains. Another score.

I sent both books Fedex, breaking the bank but getting there in time for my son’s birthday. He loved them. But how did I know about Nakashima? he asked me, stunned.

I didn’t, I told him. The bookseller did.

She Is Too Fond Of Books ... » Spotlight on Bookstores

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Spotlight on Bookstores: *The Book Shop* in Beverly Farms, Massachusetts