A Bookstore Remembered...

For Marissa Doyle, author of the fantastic novel Bewitching Season, the best bookstore in the world exists in memory (well, and in Massachusetts too)...

I actually haven't set foot in one of my favorite bookstores in almost twenty-five years...but I don't think I'd be a writer today if I hadn't gone there frequently as a child and young teen.

The store is The Bunch of Grapes Bookshop in Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard. I grew up spending a lot of time on the Vineyard when it was still a funky, artistic-y place, before it was "discovered". So you got used to seeing James Taylor or Walter Cronkite or Ruth Gordon or Art Buchwald on the streets or in restaurants, and you just ignored them, because on the Vineyard it just didn't matter.

I had (still have!) a wonderful mom who could never say no to buying me books, so a trip to the Bunch of Grapes was de rigueur every weekend we were on the Vineyard. And it was during some of these trips that I found books that I'd never seen anywhere else--books like Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series and Dorothy Hartley's Lost Country Life and Evangeline Walton's The Mabinogion, a retelling of ancient Welsh myths and a book I still re-read and buy for people to read because it's that good. These books are a big reason why I write YA historical and fantasy fiction today...and I might never had found them at a critical time in my reading life if the wonderful people at Bunch of Grapes didn't have a fabulous children's book section back before children's books were "important".

Thanks, guys, for introducing me to those books.

Sounds like she needs to plan an author event on the Vineyard! We'll come to that!

Pigs, Goats, and a TON of BOOKS!!!

Sarah Prineas, author of The Book Thief, tends to EXAGGERATE, but she takes her bookstores pretty seriously, so we think she's on the level with this one (because her story is corroborated by the above artist's rendering):

So I grew up in Lyme, Connecticut, and about 10 minutes down Rte 156 from my parents' house is the best used bookstore in all of NewEngland.

The Book Barn consists of six buildings (some of which are sheds, really), with comfortable chairs, 13 cats, turtles, guinea pigs, goats, coffee, tea, cookies, a beautiful flower garden, and THREE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND books (which is why they need six buildings).

Oh, how I love the Book Barn.

A highlight of my career will be goingto the Book Barn and finding one of my books, used, on its shelves.

Also, once my son threw up in the parking lot, but you probably don't need to know that!

Debbie: Not Afraid to Love the B&N...

Debbie Reed Fischer, author of Braless in Wonderland, has two favorite bookstores, and we're including them both here because we're proud of Debbie's willingness to own her love for the BIG guys. A good reminder that there are amazing people in every corner of bookland. And we appreciate all of them!

Debbie?

There are two bookstores that rock my world. The first is Books and Books in South Miami. Every time I go there, I feel like I'm walking into a party, which is often the case. The bookstore is U-shaped, with the inside of the U being an outdoor courtyard with a bar and tables. Whenever a book launch takes place, there's a band, hor d'ouerves (often Cuban pastelitos), always the sense of celebration. There's nothing better than a night visit to Books and Books: first, you browse on the hard wood floors inside, buy your books, then hit the courtyard for a glass of wine, a little salsa music and a warm tropical breeze all year round.

I also like a certain Plantation Barnes and Noble with the greatest CRM in the community, Susan Boyd. Her store is centrally located between three counties, and she really supports Florida authors. Susan has a way about her that brings the author community together so that we all support each other and come out for each other's signings.

The Best Bookstore That May Not Actually Exist!!!

Regina Scott offers us this amazing story, leading us to question reality (and whether Regina knows that they took the word "gullible" out of the dictionary) ... but never Regina's love of books...

Any writer needs good reference books, and when you write about a historical period, you crave them!

A friend of mine was traveling with her parents toLondon and asked what I wanted her to bring back. I begged her to find books about the Regency period that I couldn't find or afford in the U.S. She loves to scour bookstores, so this was no problem...

Turns out it was a bigger problem in London. Every store she walks in to gives her this blank look. Regency period? When was that? She's appalled and not a little discouraged. Near the end of the trip, her father, who's been grouching that he can't find a good cup of American coffee, drags herinto the area around the British Museum in search of a coffee shop. He finds one and settles down, but she's restless and goes wandering.

Near the coffee shop she spots a shop in an old building, windows a bit grimy, no sign in front. Peering closer, she notices that inside, as far as the eye can see, are row upon row of books! In she goes and wends her way to the back to find the wizened clerk.

"Doyou have any books about the Regency period?"

He gets all dreamy eyed. "The Regency period. Ah, yes. Marvelous time. Try this."

And this turns to that and that and that and before she knows it, her arms are filled with books of period architectural drawings, out-of-print books with photos of extant clothing, detailed biographies we'd kill to get in the U.S. After thanking him profusely, she staggers back to get her dad, fully intending to come back the next day and get more.

Only the next day, she can't find it. She wanders every alley anywhere near the British Museum. Her dad joins her, because he'd finally found the perfect cup of coffee. But no matter how they try, they never find the bookstore or the coffee shop again.

It's like it was the Library of Requirement, or perhaps like Narnia. Once through the door, and you can never return.

!!!

Best Bookstores (Part 4)

So, we've got so many favorite bookstores, I'm spilling over into 2 posts a day, because THAT'S how much we authors love our booksellers!!

This afternoon, Barrie Summy , author of the super delightful middle-grade novel I So Don't Do Mysteries, is giving up the skinny on her favorite:

Have you ever visited THE YELLOW BOOK ROAD bookstore in San Diego? It’s an amazing, rocking, cool children’s bookstore.

Why?

Does it have thousands and thousands and thousands of great books? Yes.

And all kinds of fun teacher-ish supplies that’ll launch kids into a life filled with the love of reading? Yes.

Does it do great author signings? Yes.

Are there Friday and Saturday story times? Yes.

Is there a shelf of free ARCs? Yes.

Does it have a wonderful website where you can order scads of super stuff? Yes.

Does it have decent parking and a yummy chicken restaurant nearby? Yes.

And what else does it have that makes it the rockingest bookstore around?

The people who work there know EVERYTHING! Seriously. Every single store employee also works or has worked for the schools. The owners, Kristin and Mary? Two intrepid teachers!

And what do you get when put people with a ton of knowledge about kids and curriculum and teaching and books in a bookstore? People who know EVERYTHNG!

A shout-out (in alpha order) to the people who KNOW IT ALL: Alin, Anne, Beth, Budd, Janine, Kristin, Marci, Mary and Tamyka

We love the sound of this, almost as much as we LOVE a good chicken restaurant. Maybe tomorrow, Barrie will tell us more about THAT!

The Best Bookstore in the World (part 3)...

For today's best bookstore award, we turn to Nancy Viau, author of the middle grade sensation-to-be, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head!!

Nancy, what's your bookstore story?

My favorite bookstore doesn't look like the average bookstore at all. See?

And that's because it isn't!

But this is what my area has to offer in terms of an independent bookstore.

I live in a quaint, quiet Jersey town that is seldom on the map for anything unless it's antiques, a broken-in horse, or a cow or two. This Main Street "bookstore" offers not new books, or even almost new books. It has reeeeeealy old books--books you would not find anywhere else on the planet. Books your grandparents and great-grandparents loved; books that are cherished by its owners and sold, now and then, if someone happens to wander in on a Saturday afternoon. And if that someone is in the market for a Hollywood postcard from the twenties, or an Elvis poster, all the better.

Honestly, this place is more barn than store and the musty smell brings you back to those days when you climbed up in the attic searching for those interesting items that thrilled your ancestors. That's not a bad thing. This unique shop is quite precious in an almost-bookstore kind of way, but I won't be searching the shelves for a contemporary anything anytime soon.

Though I did stop in a few years back, and came out with a job opportunity....tutoring the owner's relative in reading...Hmmm...

Oh, I almost forgot, my town does have another bookstore. Perhaps this one will offer me a bit more inspiration?

Sometimes the best bookstore ain't a bookstore at all...

Continuing our search for the best bookstore in the known universe, we turn to Jen Bradbury, author of the YA novel, Shift.

Jen, as it turns out, lives in a Northwestern bookstore-desert, but that doesn't stop her from browsing the stacks... right, Jen?

It's true! My favorite bookstores are half an hour away in Bellingham, but I don't make it up there as often as I like. So instead of writing about my favorite bookstore, I'd like to tell you about the one I buy from most often, and I'm sure you'll agree it has its own special benefits.

Value Village is part of a thrift store chain based in the northwest. The book selection may be small, but in most of the stores I've visited they position they bookshelves close to the furniture, which means they encourage you to sit down and read somebody's old book on somebody else's old sofa. And you can buy them both if you want! That's an experience you simply can't get anywhere else.

And The Village might be the only place you can find Siddhartha shelved alongside the latest celebrity biography. Such juxtaposition inspires all kinds of wonderful tangential thought. Sort of like the way books are pitched sometimes in query letters or in deal announcements—"Its Indiana Jones meets The Namesake." Only here the pairings are even more unholy. Try cross pollinating The High School Musical Sticker Fun book with one of the old Oprah's Book Club picks and see if you don't come away just a little inspired.



Because thrift store employees aren't necessarily shelving for anything except space conservation, part of the joy is coming across books I might not otherwise find. In a normal bookstore, I tend to beeline for the children's/YA sections, and then migrate into travel, if my husband is content looking at the woodworking books. But in Value Village, everything's chucked in together, waiting for me to make some new discovery.

And some of those discoveries are priceless. There's really nothing better than unearthing a lovely, full-color illustrated, leather bound anthology of Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales published in 1923. Unless its taking that book home for the low, low price of $1.89. Or half that on discount Fridays.

Thrift stores are also pretty much the only safe places to shop books with a toddler. Following a two-year-old around Barnes and Noble, means you spend most of your time reshelving (incorrectly) the books she tugs gleefully off the racks. On the worst days you end up buying the pop-up version of Ulysses because your daughter absentmindedly ripped a page and you can't bring yourself to hide it behind the others on the display. Such trips end up being costly without really enhancing our home library. But in thrift stores, my daughter can accidentally rip a page and I'm only out a buck.

The only real problem is that writers and publishers don't see any of the profits from these secondhand sales. But most often the thrift stores exist to support worthy causes. Even better, it means the books are being read and passed on, collecting the stories from their readers to rival the ones contained in the pages themselves. And I don't think any writer could mind that.

Like the kids say, "Tru dat!"

Do the kids say that? Do they really?

Sigh... probably not. Really, we're not so cool as we like to think. Thankfully we have you, our readers, forcing us to "keep it real."

Keep it real???

Doh! There we go again!!!

(And so we shuffle off to read, or write, and drink some chamomile tea, like the dorks we are.)