Bookstores

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I love discoveries in bookstores. What are favorites, perhaps not in your own town but a worthy destination?

One of mine is Malaprop’s, Asheville, North Carolina; forever grateful to the friends who insisted on a stop there during a trip.

Also, does it have a cat, at least as of your last visit? Malaprop’s: yes.

Comments

Powell's Books

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

I used to love going to Powell's Books in downtown Portland Oregon. They expanded and had other stores in the suburbs. I think that was a mistake. They went out of business about two years after that.

I've not found another like it. The downtown store had lots of character. It was in an old building in what we call "Old Town". It took up several stories and I never really figured out the rhyme or reason for where the different books were, but loved to wander around the store discovering unique books I'd never seen anywhere else.

Now, I'm stuck with Barnes and Nobel. They have a good selection, give good service, but lack the personality of Powell's.

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt

Powell’s

Emma Anne Tate's picture

Was open in downtown Portland in July of this year. And, yeah . . . it was REALLY good.

Emma

That's good to hear

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

I'm currently living about an hour west of Portland so don't get there very often. I usually don't get any closer than Hillsboro or Beaverton.

I take it you live somewhere near by?

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt

That's the store I remember.

Patricia Marie Allen's picture

It was always an adventure to go looking for a particular book.

Do you live in the Portland metro area? Only a local would know where Powell's was and that it was a labyrinth if mega proportions.

I'm currently living about an hour west of Portland. So don't get into town very often. I usually don't get any closer than Hillsboro or Beaverton.

Hugs
Patricia

Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt

Two come to mind

erin's picture

City Lights in San Francisco has several floors of books.

And Thunderbird Books in Carmel used to have a coffeeshop inside. Not a Starbucks, just a room with coffee and some snacks.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Thunderbird Books

I haven't been to Carmel since the Covid-19 pandemic began, but it had the coffee room when I was last there. Also a good selection of cards.

Amazingly

erin's picture

The last time I was in Carmel was 52 years ago. :) Nice to know somethings have not changed.

Hugs,
Erin

= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.

Pulp Fiction

joannebarbarella's picture

In Brisbane City (Queensland, Australia). They specialise in crime and SF and Fantasy. I've been going there for over thirty years. The proprietors are mostly still the same and are always happy to yarn and recommend. About five years ago their lease came up for renewal and the landlord wanted to double the rent. They moved 200 yards (metres) along the road and got a place for a quarter of what they had been paying. That enabled them to survive the virus.

Also they publish a monthly newsletter/digest/reviews of the latest publications and have a thriving mail-order trade. They have a vast on-line "library" of available titles and will happily order for you.

They are living proof that with a bit of luck and lots of service that bookshops can still survive.

Adventure

Andrea Lena's picture

I worked at a Barnes and Noble just before I became disabled. Hired in October on a 'permanaent' basis, the first week of the following January, I was told I no longer had a job. When I told the guy I wasn't hired as a seasonal worker, he said the guy that hired me no longer worked there, so toooooooooooo bad! I enjoyed my time there stocking carts and shelves; an epiphany of sorts as I realized just how obsessive-compulsive I had been all along.

In the midst of the drama that was my childhood, my mom told me to read...and read a lot. Her explanation, borne out through a lifetime of her own disappointments was, "If you read, you can go anywhere you want, even if you don't leave your room." When she died, we looked at the room that never served as a bedroom and found hundreds and hundreds of books. Asimov anf Bradbury and L'Engle and LeGuin shared shelves with Robbins and Zane Grey. She traveled a lot even though she hardly ever left New Jersey. :)

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

Your Mom’s library

Emma Anne Tate's picture

Sounds like a really lovely place to hang out . . . Asimov and L’Engel and LeGuin. I spent so many wonderful hours with them!

Emma