Ronald Rice

I used to work at an independently owned bookstore. This was many years ago before I had kids. And as frustrating as that place could be (it cured me of wanting to own my own bookstore), there really was something magical about it. After I chose to stay home with my babies, we moved away from the town it was in but whenever we came back to visit, that store was one of the first places I popped into each and every trip. It was a startling and sad day when I heard through old friends that it show more was closing even though we had been gone from the city where it was for years by then. And in all honesty, when we drive through now once or twice a year, it's still a reflex for me to glance over to where it used to be, briefly forgetting and fully expecting it to still be shining out from its welcoming space. Independent bookstores do inspire that kind of long time loyalty and I'm still jealous of the people who have their very favorite store still around for them. In My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop, this collection of brief essays extols the included writers' neighborhood independents, the stores that have meant the most to them as an author, or even just the stores that invariably welcome them and gives them joy whether close to home or a continent away. And the essays capture the ways in which these special stores feed the soul, encourage growth, and foster the imagination for all of us.

The stores are located all over the country and the writers are from a variety of genres but each of them share their deep connection to the owners, employees, and spaces that make their chosen store so very special. Some of the authors look at the stores purely from the standpoint of a reader. Others tell of the welcome they've received as published authors. And all of them know that their chosen store is in fact the very best store not only in their corner of the city, state, or country, but in fact the best store anywhere. The writers' love for the stores is palpable in absolutely every one of the entries in the book. Some of the essays are short and others lengthier. Some focus only on the store in question while others are more rambling and farther ranging. Some are as much about the author him or herself as much as they are about the book shop. It's best to dip into the essays one at a sitting as they can run together. While each store is no doubt individual and they are peopled by unique and different folks, there are quite a lot of commonalities between good bookstores and so sometimes differentiating amongst the many highlighted here is difficult. This book is a neat concept and will certainly help me search out good independents, something I try to do when I travel some place new, but this is very definitely not a book to sit down with and read straight through because of the inevitable similarities between essays. Over all, it's a bit gimmicky but if it helps to maintain the fiscal health of the bookstores mentioned as well as those equally deserving but not included, it will have been a worthwhile gimmick and I'll be perfectly happy to have bought it (and at one of the included stores, just in case anyone was wondering). show less

Good essays from writers about favorite and beloved independent book stores; what they mean to them and their families, how the owners and staff are well-read and supportive of many a new writer.

I especially enjoyed the following essays:
The Odyssey Bookshop, a love story to books and those who adore them
Book Passage, a wow of a shop that made me jealous,
Politics and Prose, supportive of its customers and everything word related,
Boswell Book Company, an ode to Daniel Goldin 'saving the show more world' with his love of books,
Quail Ridge Book and Music because Nancy Olson has made it into a community hub,
University Book Store, a magical place,
The Regulator Bookshop, historic store in former middle-class black neighborhood,
Mayers and Quinn because of a smart date between Louise Erdich and her future husband, and the support she gets to start her OWN bookshop
Fiction Addiction, 'Book Your Lunch' promotion to have readers meet writers over lunch
Chaucer's Books, because of how deeply bookstores affect Pico Iyer, author
Bunch of Grapes, I can identify with the feeling of memory while browsing
Bank Square Books, who wouldn't be moved by this essay of a distrustful child saved by a book
Powells, hysterical, outrageous, unexpected; more story than essay
Anderson's Bookshops, Urrea's essay is touching because it shows how his love of books transferred to his daughter Becky
And many more.

What all these shops have in common are owners and staff who love books, education, learning, and people, their sense of intuition in providing customers and writers just what they need, their untiring efforts to create comfortable surroundings, and a community of readers, and extensive 'hand-selling' to promote local writers.

I grew up in the Bronx; and unfortunately didn't have an independent book store like any of these gems. I do remember my mother taking me to the Kingsbridge Branch of the New York Public Library when young, and later walking to the Van Nest branch a few times each week. I loved both of them and DIDN'T KNOW what I was missing. show less

Book lovers like to flock to bookstores. Bookstores that stand out as that ‘something special’ and something extra can win permanent places in a reader’s heart. I have fond memories of bookstores I’ve visited that I never got to see again, or who have now gone on to the bookstore-beyond, but they will always stay special to me. Thankfully the ones in my town still exist, waiting to be visited and cooed over all over again.

When reading Pat Conroy’s half memoir last year, My Reading show more Life, he praised a bookstore that meant a great deal to him, covering the bookstore owned in several chapters, discussing the people he met in the store, how he helped work in the store and would spend hours hanging out there, how it helps advance careers, and how that bookstore branched out through parties, word of mouth, and how it exists today. That got me thinking of other writer’s experiences, which led to me ordering this book.

Each chapter has a drawing of a rendition of a bookstore mentioned by the author.

It opens on a promising note - Be still my heart...the first essay from Martha Ackmann, on The Odyssey Bookshop, brought not only the bookstore to life but its creators. Romeo, who took his tea at 4 and was obsessed with Middlemarch. The bookstore that started on fire, was rebuilt, and started on fire again, to be taken over by a daughter who kept it flourishing. The Phoenix effect. It comes alive in this essay - wish I could visit.

Some of these don’t dwell on the charm of a specific bookstore, but instead take their chances to whip out a soapbox. Wendell Berry mentions not one bookstore but emphasizes the full magic of a book cannot be duplicated by reading a story on an impersonal screen. His quote matches my own view here: ”I still own books that have remained alive and dear in my thoughts since I was a boy, and a part of the life of each one is my memory of the bookstore where I bought it and of the bookseller who sold it to me.”

On a funny muse, Rick Bragg starts his essay by saying cats and bookstores go together like Peanut butter and Jelly but that he likes his bookstore withOUT cats, thank you very much! But it all ties in anyway, funny humor describing a favorite no-nonsense bookseller.

I had other notes that I jotted down while I slowly read this, but I can’t find them. If I do one day, I’ll add to this review, but overall it’s a great book that contains interesting essays in it, mixed with some that are generic and impersonal. One or two essays is fine, but reading this many takes time as you can only take in so much at once. It’s a good coffee table book to randomly open and browse. show less

In My Bookstore our favorite writers-from Elin Hilderbrand, to John Grisham, to Dave Eggers-express their adoration and admiration for their favorite bookstores and booksellers. The relationship between a writer and her local bookstore can last for years or even decades. Often it is the author's local store that supported her during the early days of her career and that works tirelessly to introduce her work to new readers. But authors are also readers and customers, just like us. For them, show more as for most of us, bookstores serve as the anchor for our communities, the place that introduces us to new ideas (and new neighbors), and that sets our children on the path to becoming lifelong readers and lovers of books. Brimming with original, deeply moving, funny, and exceedingly well-crafted tributes to bookstores, from Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine (Ron Currie, Jr.) to Powells City of Books in Portland, Oregon (Chuck Palahniuk) and everywhere in between, My Bookstore is a joyful celebration of our bricks-and-mortar stores and a clarion call to readers everywhere at a time when the value and importance of these stores should be shouted from the rooftops. show less