I am on an adventure to find local book stores in every city I visit.
the rules:
1. It has to be LOCAL, not chain book stores.
2. I can only spend $8.00 on the book- no exceptions.
3. The book has to be something I am interested in or something that I can mail to a friend
4. On the front page of the book I have to write about the bookstore, the atmosphere, the music, the owner and the people I meet inside.
5. I can only buy one book
This didn't start at the beginning of tour, I wish it would have. It started when I found a book store/ coffee shop in downtown Camden, South Carolina. I went in to get coffee and look around a bit with the crew, but the coffee was good so I went back for more the next day. This day I was by myself so I had time to look around the store and actually look. The bookstore had their sale rack strategically placed by the coffee shop area. This meant that of course I looked, and I found my first book. I bought it to send to my friend back home, granted I still haven't sent it. \
[Behind the Beautiful Forevers]
The next day on the way out of the town, I stopped by the shop one last time. I found another book that reminded me of another friend back home. I bought if for cheap and started reading it that day. I still have to finish it before I mail it to her.
[Queen of the Water]
This was the start of the local book store adventure. On the front page of the book I write about the shop, what it looked like, what it smelled like and how the people were:
Book On Broad:
This was a good book store, one of my favorites so far. The smell of coffee was on point. Its a town that is rich in its history so there were older books in the front room on the tall shelves, there was a ladder that went up to the top, kind of like the ladder Belle went up in Beauty and the Beast. The second room had the newer books and little things for sell.
The second day I walked in I walking into an interview, I walked in unsure of why two people were sitting across the table from one another in the wide open, one with an apron on and a notepad and the other with perfect posture and a big smile. The only assumption was an interview, when the phone rang in the store the lady excused herself from the table and the girl with perfect posture seemed to take a breath that relieved all of her nervousness, she even did a little shake and a smile while she looked around the room.
The barista in the back room was really sweet, she knew exactly what kind of drink I wanted. The owner of the store was busy but, she was helpful when you needed her. The store was downtown, which made everything so much better. You could sit in a brown chair and watch the outside traffic go by, of course this is where I people watched before leaving.
The music in the store was calm, I don't recall it having any songs I know personally. If I recall correctly it was music that you'd hear in a usual book store.
Rainy Day Pals:
this book store was closed when I went by on the first try, which was fine. I just knew that I had to return the next day. The book store was in a old building, a really old building with other shops around it. There wasn't coffee in this store, just books and lots of them. The store was smaller and books lined every square inch of the store. When you walked in you could hear a mans voice, "Welcome," you could not see him due to books that were piled up on the check out counter, which hid him perfectly. It was like his own little hideaway. Knowing what my mission was in this book store it was fun to try and find something, I decided to try and shop for a friend back home. This is another town rich in history and he loves America History. I was looking for something on George Washington, but couldn't find anything under $8- so I moved onto the next idea. I walked up and down multiple aisles, searching for the right book. There wasn't a sale rack here, just used books and a section of new books. I stayed near the used books, after searching for what seemed to be a rushed hour, simply because someone was waiting in the van. I found it near the register. It was called [The Bean Trees] when I went to check out the owner handed me another book by the same author, but it was too much.
As I was in this shop I saw a lady come in with bags of books, he announced her when she came in, he said "here is my Kentucky girl" - this lady would come to this store in South Carolina to trade in her books to get more books from the same store. When I say she had bags of books, I mean exactly that. She had at least 5 bags full of book. She carried them in and told about how she has to read every book before she brings them back to exchange them. She said that she hated the last one she read, but she started and knew she had to finish it before she started the drive from Kentucky to South Carolina.
There wasn't any music playing in the bookstore, you could just hear the humming of the owners hearing aid, which made it a store I wouldn't forget. The man was kind, "Kentucky girl" had dedication and the books were piled high.
The Book Tavern:
The best book store I have ever been in, ever. You could tell the owner was younger just by the way the book store was decorated-- cool art pieces around the store, antique shelf in the corner that held books of the cities history and outside there was a sitting area that had sell racks all around.
The owner walked from the back room with a beard, glasses you'd only find an old man or a indie music listener. I am only saying this because the music in the shop was nothing short of The Head and the Heart, the occasional Norah Jones and classical music. He was mentioning to another worker that the town lost an important person in the town, a regular costumer who would come in and bring his used books in. His exact words, "its a sad day for The Book Tavern" --
At this point in this book store journey I am learning how to search, I knew that I wanted something outside of my regular plot. I walked around the book store and pulled out the books that seemed interesting, I check the back for the price and put it back if it was too much. I found a couple downstairs and pulled them out a tiny bit to keep the place marker. Then I walked upstairs to find the adventure section, my favorite section. I found the book after one of my favorite movies, Wild. I picked it up with joy, because I knew that this would be the one. It was $9.50- I placed it back and got laughed at by my friend because I couldn't break the rule, sure I could break the rule but there is no fun in that.
The books in the store are used mostly, of course some of them are new, but that is the section downstairs in the middle. I could have spent hours in the bookstore. I decided to walk outside and scroll through the sale racks before making my final decision. Lindsay, the girl who was with me picked up a book and said "found your book" -- It was a book telling different stories about homeless women around a big city. It was only $4.50- this was perfect.
[Tell Them Who I Am]
As I walked up to the check out I saw the different people in there, one girl buying children's books, she had to be a teacher or collecting for her soon to be classroom. The next guy, was wearing an outdoors shirt and was buying two books that I couldn't see the title of- however, he was known in the store as the owner said "thanks, Seth."
Statesville, North Carolina
I searched the city for a book store, searched and searched and couldn't find one anywhere. The downtown area was cute and you would think that there would be a great place for a book store, but there was only a little store called Lesters Books-- I tried to walk in on the first day we were in town only for it to be closed. We decided to return the next day to try again, I showed up about 11 and the door was opened, so we walked in. The place look abandoned, there were shelves, but the books were on the floor in boxes. A man came out from the back room and told us that Lester wasn't here at the time, he was in the process of moving things from the old store to the new store.
He explained that Lester was an 85 year old man and he didn't have much help moving his things from one store to the next, he was telling about Lesters obsession with Sherlock Holmes-- he even had a place set up in the store that was designated just to Mr. Holmes himself. The guy who showed us around was explaining that Lester serves hot tea to his costumers. I asked how long the moving had been underway and he said for about three weeks, looking around it looked like the first day of moving. I asked if he had any help and he said that Lester had some people tell him they would help, but they ended up standing him up.
I dont understand why people wouldn't want to help him move his book store, its the last one in their city. As the man was talking to us yesterday he said something profound during his rant about book store, "books are becoming extinct." This is sad, but true.
This adventure is helping me, its showing me to explore new cities. Its showing me that sometimes choices are hard (even in the minor things) and its showing me that books store are awesome, its showing me that books are coming extinct and its a sad thing. I love holding a book, love it.
save the books.
I will be posting about my books along the way. This may be something I continue for the rest of my life--
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