What’s at your favorite independent bookstore besides books? I had a gourmet lunch at mine, The Book Haven in Salida, CO including fragrantly flavored Miso Soup, Spinach/strawberry salad with walnuts, Thai Curry Vegetables w/basmati rice that was just as if I were back in Thailand, and Caramelized Bananas in a blended silken tofu sauce sweetened with maple syrup. Delicious! And I met some people I didn’t know and visited with some I did. All of this took place in the “living room” (also the dining room on occasion) of this service-oriented local bookstore. I’d like to know what’s special at your favorite bookstore besides the books!
Here I really am in Thailand videotaping the fascinating architecture.
In addition to these occasional luncheons, The Book Haven sponsored a monthly author’s reading, a book club, and periodic salon concerts. Lisa, the owner, sold the store as she was moving away. It’s not the same, but there’s a new indie bookstore in Buena Vista (a town also near me), Once Upon a Trapeze, that has variety, a marvelous children’s section, several events featuring authors, others specifically for children, all encouraging reading! onceuponatrapeze.com worth looking up at least to find out where their name came from.
I have given book presentations (mine are not just a reading but include a PowerPoint of photos and video clips (that’s why I call them presentations) at several bookstores. One of them was The BookBar, a small indie in NW Denver, specializing in books and wine, and it’s a café too. Here’s their link: http://www.bookbardenver.com/
A few other indie bookstores of note include the famous City Lights founded by Peter D. Martin, but soon acquired by the late poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in San Francisco, Strand Book Store in Manhatten (NYC) referred to as THE Strand and huge, but Powells in Portland, Oregon, is considered the larest indie bookstore. There are several bookstores started by or currently owned by autors, including Louise Erdrich’s Birchbark Books and Native Arts, Minneapolis, MN; Parnassus in Nashville, TN owned by Ann Patchett and her business partner; An Unlikely Story, Plainville, MA, co-owned by Jeff Kinney, author of The Wimpy Kid series, amomg others.
To enjoy finding a book (so much more fun than Amazon), find your closest local indie bookstore by checking out, https://www.indiebound.org/
Do let me know what’s special about your favorite bookstore. Is it their comfortable chairs where you can sit and browse through what books you might like, their coffee, their book club, their friendliness and ease in which they can order what you want?
“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them. And it’s much cheaper to buy somebody a book than it is to buy them the whole world!” ― Neil Gaiman
Here’s a link to information about my book presentations, which are customized and can focus on any one of a gamut of topics. Scroll down for specific presentation information: http://www.doannhoughton.com/voice-of-a-voyage.html