When I was 16y.o., my parents & “little” (11y.o.) took me from a small, New England town (the biggest city I’d ever lived in at that point. Our previous home had been in a town too small to have a PostOffice: Our mail came through the next town over. They had a prison, so were big enough to have a P.O.! But I digress…) My family drove me from our tiny town to Greenwich Village, in the heart of NYC, to begin my college career. After they drove away, I realized that what I’d previously only thought of as a great adventure and the true beginning of my adulthood, might actually be… lonely 😩. I wandered through The Village, looking for someplace I knew. Someplace that would bring me comfort. After I’d made my way from my dorm to 5th Avenue, I found The Place. A bookstore. A place where I could find what had enabled me to attend college in Greenwich Village to begin with - books. Lots of books. Tons and tons and tons of books. I bought my first “grown up book” there that very day. (The Denial of Death by Becker. And, No, I still haven’t read it. I’ve no idea why I thought it would be interesting!) That bookstore became my lifeline to home. I stopped in several times a week. During tough times, I might sometimes stop in a couple of times a day, grab a trashy novel from the shelves and sit in one of their comfy alcoves to read for a bit. It was heaven!
My haven was the school library. No bookstores nearby out in the boonies. Later it was a larger public library in a bigger town. Sibs and I also read the World Book encyclopedia for fun. Only since college have bookstores become a thing, and I lament the closing of so many, and celebrate the few who remain.
This is why I love you. I'm a former Shaker-ite, by way of Pennsylvania, currently living in the southeast of England. Books have saved me during some tough times, and bookstores (and libraries! how I love a library and the Shaker libraries--they are gems and I sorely miss them)--oh, the bookstores. I loved Joseph-Beth when it was on Shaker Square and then Lyndhurst and mourned its demise. There's a great little bookshop in Lititz, PA, where my parents live, Aaron's Books, that I also love, and last week I went on a "Bookshop Crawl" in London--to Daunt Books, Books for Cooks, the Notting Hill Bookshop, and a few others and came away with a stack of books and a long list of "must-reads" to add to my already long list of "must-reads." During the pandemic, I didn't stockpile toilet paper, I stockpiled books. My children have always known that "Mom will never say no if I ask her to buy me a book" and I'm lucky they're now both avid readers.
The Daughters of Erietown is one of those books on my list; I wish I'd been able to catch you on one of those pandemic Zoom calls. Thank you, Connie.
I have two favorite bookstores, the female-owned Antigone Books and a young couple’s Littlest Bookshop, both in Tucson. I also have a lingering fondness for Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon where I spent a lot of time while working or visiting relatives there. So many bookstores have bit the dust - I read that half the nation’s adults didn’t read a book last year. Is that even possible????
I grew up an Army brat! By the time I graduated from high school, I had attended 13 different schools! With every move, there was always the anxiety of making new friends, learning about new posts, schools, and housing, etc. One of the very first things we did as a family of 7 (five kids) when we arrived at a new post was to get library cards. The books we chose were always our first “friends” wherever we landed. I will always cherish libraries and bookstores.
My favorite bookstore is one with which you may be familiar - The Book Loft - in German Village, Columbus, Ohio. They opened in 1977 with 15 rooms packed floor to ceiling, wall to wall with best sellers and obscure books on every topic imaginable. I had just begun driving so I learned how to fine tune those skills on the narrow brick streets off Third Street and City Park. Over the decades the store has grown and now boasts 32 rooms of absolute bliss and enlightenment. And over the years as I moved around the country, The Book Loft was a required stop every time I came home to visit. I have now landed permanently back in Columbus and am thrilled to visit whenever the whim hits! Hope you and your grands have had an opportunity to enjoy, and who knows, they may see it grow into more rooms of knowledge and adventure!
So many favorite bookstores, all over the U.S., have charmed me and alternately fueled and satisfied my curiosity and enthusiasm for books, reading, and writing -- it is hard to pick just one. And, in so many cases, the booksellers themselves have been so helpful, and made such a lasting impression. Several that stand out: now long gone New Dominion Bookstore in Charlottesville, Virginia, in its original pedestrian mall storefront location and in its larger, grander expansion nearby. It was respite, retreat, and refuge from the vicissitudes of graduate school and young adult life. More recently, I love our local Market Block Books in Troy, New York, and Northshire Books in Manchester, Vermont. Northshire, in particular, makes a great weekend drive "book-grazing" destination to find new books! Don't get me started on my local library, lol... Thank you, Connie, for your writing and wisdom, and for sharing this community with us.
I grew up in a small town. Closest bookstore was 20 miles away. But we had the county bookmobile that came to town for 2-3 hours every Friday evening. I always got a stack of books every week. What a treat.
Some of my earliest memories with my father involve exploring the shelves of book stores. Even when we struggled to find common ground on many things, we could always agree on a trip to the book store. Every time. Thank you, Connie, for reminding me of this!
When I was growing up, my grandmother worked in Anderson’s bookstore inside a mall in Kansas City. She was sharp, opinionated and confident - which I will always believe she gained from all of the knowledge in the books at her disposal. She always said working in the bookstore was her favorite job. (This who came from a woman who was asked to join the FBI out of high school but turned it down because she couldn’t afford the bus fair from Joplin, MO to Washington DC and became a teacher instead). Who wouldn’t love to be surrounded by books? Like the man who helped your granddaughter, her favorite part was helping people find new books to enjoy. I was so lucky to have my own grandma as a friendly face anytime I wanted to buy the newest Animorphs or Boxcar Children. The bookstore was a treasure to us all.
I smile thinking about how I took my then boys to the bookshop to get the latest Harry Potter release. They were excited for the new book, but also being able to stay up so late.
The bookstore was jammed with excited kids and parents, and when the magic hour hit we bought our books and went home. I wonder what my sons recollections are of that night?
When I was 16y.o., my parents & “little” (11y.o.) took me from a small, New England town (the biggest city I’d ever lived in at that point. Our previous home had been in a town too small to have a PostOffice: Our mail came through the next town over. They had a prison, so were big enough to have a P.O.! But I digress…) My family drove me from our tiny town to Greenwich Village, in the heart of NYC, to begin my college career. After they drove away, I realized that what I’d previously only thought of as a great adventure and the true beginning of my adulthood, might actually be… lonely 😩. I wandered through The Village, looking for someplace I knew. Someplace that would bring me comfort. After I’d made my way from my dorm to 5th Avenue, I found The Place. A bookstore. A place where I could find what had enabled me to attend college in Greenwich Village to begin with - books. Lots of books. Tons and tons and tons of books. I bought my first “grown up book” there that very day. (The Denial of Death by Becker. And, No, I still haven’t read it. I’ve no idea why I thought it would be interesting!) That bookstore became my lifeline to home. I stopped in several times a week. During tough times, I might sometimes stop in a couple of times a day, grab a trashy novel from the shelves and sit in one of their comfy alcoves to read for a bit. It was heaven!
Loganberry Books in the Larchmere neighborhood of Cleveland. It's like a bar... where everyone knows your name... almost.
I just purchased Lola and the Troll at Lift Bridge Book Shop In Brockport, NY!
Thank you, Donna!
You’re so right - bookstores have such a calming effect on one’s psyche.
My haven was the school library. No bookstores nearby out in the boonies. Later it was a larger public library in a bigger town. Sibs and I also read the World Book encyclopedia for fun. Only since college have bookstores become a thing, and I lament the closing of so many, and celebrate the few who remain.
Love The Learned Owl Shop in Hudson, Ohio. I begin to decompress the moment I walk through the door.
This is why I love you. I'm a former Shaker-ite, by way of Pennsylvania, currently living in the southeast of England. Books have saved me during some tough times, and bookstores (and libraries! how I love a library and the Shaker libraries--they are gems and I sorely miss them)--oh, the bookstores. I loved Joseph-Beth when it was on Shaker Square and then Lyndhurst and mourned its demise. There's a great little bookshop in Lititz, PA, where my parents live, Aaron's Books, that I also love, and last week I went on a "Bookshop Crawl" in London--to Daunt Books, Books for Cooks, the Notting Hill Bookshop, and a few others and came away with a stack of books and a long list of "must-reads" to add to my already long list of "must-reads." During the pandemic, I didn't stockpile toilet paper, I stockpiled books. My children have always known that "Mom will never say no if I ask her to buy me a book" and I'm lucky they're now both avid readers.
The Daughters of Erietown is one of those books on my list; I wish I'd been able to catch you on one of those pandemic Zoom calls. Thank you, Connie.
I have two favorite bookstores, the female-owned Antigone Books and a young couple’s Littlest Bookshop, both in Tucson. I also have a lingering fondness for Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Oregon where I spent a lot of time while working or visiting relatives there. So many bookstores have bit the dust - I read that half the nation’s adults didn’t read a book last year. Is that even possible????
I grew up an Army brat! By the time I graduated from high school, I had attended 13 different schools! With every move, there was always the anxiety of making new friends, learning about new posts, schools, and housing, etc. One of the very first things we did as a family of 7 (five kids) when we arrived at a new post was to get library cards. The books we chose were always our first “friends” wherever we landed. I will always cherish libraries and bookstores.
You deserve to see this reply from Gale Wheat (@galeww) under my repost of this essay:
"My mother took us to the library every week. I never thanked her for that. I wish I had!"
My favorite bookstore is one with which you may be familiar - The Book Loft - in German Village, Columbus, Ohio. They opened in 1977 with 15 rooms packed floor to ceiling, wall to wall with best sellers and obscure books on every topic imaginable. I had just begun driving so I learned how to fine tune those skills on the narrow brick streets off Third Street and City Park. Over the decades the store has grown and now boasts 32 rooms of absolute bliss and enlightenment. And over the years as I moved around the country, The Book Loft was a required stop every time I came home to visit. I have now landed permanently back in Columbus and am thrilled to visit whenever the whim hits! Hope you and your grands have had an opportunity to enjoy, and who knows, they may see it grow into more rooms of knowledge and adventure!
So many favorite bookstores, all over the U.S., have charmed me and alternately fueled and satisfied my curiosity and enthusiasm for books, reading, and writing -- it is hard to pick just one. And, in so many cases, the booksellers themselves have been so helpful, and made such a lasting impression. Several that stand out: now long gone New Dominion Bookstore in Charlottesville, Virginia, in its original pedestrian mall storefront location and in its larger, grander expansion nearby. It was respite, retreat, and refuge from the vicissitudes of graduate school and young adult life. More recently, I love our local Market Block Books in Troy, New York, and Northshire Books in Manchester, Vermont. Northshire, in particular, makes a great weekend drive "book-grazing" destination to find new books! Don't get me started on my local library, lol... Thank you, Connie, for your writing and wisdom, and for sharing this community with us.
I grew up in a small town. Closest bookstore was 20 miles away. But we had the county bookmobile that came to town for 2-3 hours every Friday evening. I always got a stack of books every week. What a treat.
Some of my earliest memories with my father involve exploring the shelves of book stores. Even when we struggled to find common ground on many things, we could always agree on a trip to the book store. Every time. Thank you, Connie, for reminding me of this!
When I was growing up, my grandmother worked in Anderson’s bookstore inside a mall in Kansas City. She was sharp, opinionated and confident - which I will always believe she gained from all of the knowledge in the books at her disposal. She always said working in the bookstore was her favorite job. (This who came from a woman who was asked to join the FBI out of high school but turned it down because she couldn’t afford the bus fair from Joplin, MO to Washington DC and became a teacher instead). Who wouldn’t love to be surrounded by books? Like the man who helped your granddaughter, her favorite part was helping people find new books to enjoy. I was so lucky to have my own grandma as a friendly face anytime I wanted to buy the newest Animorphs or Boxcar Children. The bookstore was a treasure to us all.
I smile thinking about how I took my then boys to the bookshop to get the latest Harry Potter release. They were excited for the new book, but also being able to stay up so late.
The bookstore was jammed with excited kids and parents, and when the magic hour hit we bought our books and went home. I wonder what my sons recollections are of that night?