When I travel, I
make it my personal mission to visit either a bookstore or library in each
place. I strongly believe in supporting independent bookstores, starting with
my local favorite, Blue Willow Books, in Houston. So today, I want to give a shout-out to some of the bookstore bests from my
travels so far this year.
In late December (I'm counting this as 2014 since the visit
was on the cusp of the new year), my niece took my daughters and me to the
stellar Elliott Bay Book Company in the Capitol Hill area of Seattle. With high
ceilings and wooden floors, the bookstore felt airy and light. We spent a
pleasant hour making our selections on a Sunday morning after a delicious
brunch next door at Oddfellows.
Of course, I made several visits and purchases at my Mississippi
favorite, Square Books in Oxford. The bookstore has THREE locations on the
Square in Oxford - a young people's store, Square Books, Jr.; a discount store,
Off Square Books; and the venerable two-story location on the prime corner in
this literary city. Richard Howorth, the owner and a friend, is often around
and it's wonderful to talk books with him.
This spring I bought a very special book there titled, The Storied South: Voices of Writers and Artists by my old professor, William Ferris. This wonderful collection includes a CD and DVD.
I was lucky enough to go to Asheville, NC a couple of times this
year and no visit there is complete without stopping in Malaprops, my favorite
of the SEVEN bookstores this amazing city. I visited this bookstore with a dog!
Yes, my friend was able to take her dog with us to Malaprops because they are
dog friendly. This was a first for me – selecting books with a dog.
Over spring break, I visited Portland, Oregon for the first time
and was able to go to Powell's City of Books with my sister. The store was everything I had hoped for
and more: a whole city block and the world's largest independent used and new
bookstore in the world. I was in book heaven wandering around to my heart's
content. While there, I picked up The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud, a book I enjoyed very much just recently.
During our Easter visit to New Orleans, we stayed within walking
distance of my favorite spots in the Crescent City, Octavia Books. I bought a
neat book of maps of New Orleans, called Unfathomable City: A New OrleansAtlas. This wonderfully illustrated book
sits in a place of honor on my coffee table, a reminder of the city I love.
This summer, I took my older daughter to my favorite Austin
bookstore, BookPeople, after eating lunch at the Whole Foods flagship store on
N. Lamar. We wandered and book looked for an hour, both purchasing books. I
look forward to reading The All of It by Jeannette Haien with a forward by Ann
Patchett. I'll admit, I was attracted to it because of Patchett's name on the cover (I've had a Patchett
Last weekend, both of my daughters finally got to see my sister's
home in Moscow, Idaho and enjoyed a visit to Bookpeople of Moscow, a gem of a bookstore in this small college town. This bookstore is one of the reasons my
sister, a librarian at the University of Idaho, loves her new town so
much.
Independent bookstores are alive and well. These little
lighthouses shine for all and keep many book lovers nourished and fed in this
fast-paced world. What wonderful bookstores have you visited recently?
