My Bookstore - various authors

Dear Readers,

I am reviewing a book today that I am not sure we will have on our shelves here at Baker.  I am going to encourage management to carry it, but that is their choice not mine.  The only reason we wouldn’t carry it is because of language, but the overall topic of the book is great.

My Bookstore is written by many different authors, 84 to be exact. Some I knew and had read their books and others I had not heard of before.  In either case it did not take away from what the book is about.  It is a very easy concept for a book, short essays of their favorite bookstores.  Some of the stories are about a bookstore from their past and some are about a bookstore that they haunt now, because writers are, first and foremost, readers. 

I have been savoring this book for a few weeks now; I pull it out to read when I just need something quick to read as each story is only a couple pages long.  But I have yet to find a story that didn’t make me want to drive over and see that bookstore.  The stores are from all over America and I kept thinking that it would make a really fun vacation to travel around the country visiting each of these bookstores.   Some are in college towns and some are in neighborhoods where you wouldn’t expect a bookstore to thrive.  But they each bring their own special character to their area and they are all loved by those that shop there.

Now I have to make a confession, I love bookstores.  In fact my husband will tolerate me going into a bookstore when we are on vacation.  He enjoys bookstores, but they are not his favorite place. He will go with me if I spot a unique one.  He knows that means a few hours of our vacation will disappear with me inside a store.  But he does spoil me.

There is a certain rhythm to an independent bookstore. Not to take away from the chains, they are wonderful places also.  But an indie has fought long and hard to survive in this age of eBooks, with the ease of two clicks and it is being sent.  One of the authors, Wendall Berry to be exact, talks about that in his chapter.  I haven’t read a ton of Wendall’s books but I do enjoy reading them once in a while when I get my hands on one.  Anyway, he says, “One can order a book from some distant place and receive it by mail.  I confess that I sometimes do that, and so I know by experience that to do so is to forsake one of the most decent and significant literary pleasures.”  He goes on to talk about how some of what makes a book special to him is the getting it at a bookstore.

I work at a bookstore.  It was a job that I never thought I would have and I love every minute of it.  Other than a library I can’t imagine working anywhere else that I would love so much.   So take some time and visit a couple bookstores around the country.

Happy Reading