Jemi Fraser of Just Jemi responded to my Wishful Wednesday post with this comment:
"[I] Love Indie Bookstores - don't you just love finding a new one?"
Well, I love finding things: new things, beautiful things, old things, take-me-away-to-another-world things. Which is why I love books, reading and writing them.
Where do you buy your books?
Barnes & Noble is easy. Even their shipping is free to members. I love how big their stores are and how many different books they carry. I think most of them are beautifully put together. And they have good resources for authors, especially on a local level.
In college there was the hole that smelled like mold and I sware the bookshelves were going to collapse. (They probably have by now, only to be replaced by similar decaying ones.) I don't know what diseases walked in and out of that door, but it was still a magical place. Books on witchcraft coexisted with tomes on monkshood, mystery classics and DIYs.
Tuesday I found Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, NC. It is an Indie bookstore celebrating 25 years of business. It is not a college bookstore. In fact it's in a rather nice area of town. But its selection is magnificent. I look forward to many more hours of browsing the stacks.
Another great one (though not one I can visit often) I found on vacation in September. The Island Bookstore in Corolla (at the Outer Banks, and pronounced cuh-RAW-luh for non-Carolinians) is a world unto itself. The wood floors even creak! There are window seats to lounge upon, and a balcony for outdoor reading on balmy days. Actually, my sister did just that and got locked out! The store is so packed with books the storekeeper didn't even notice a customer was missing. I highly recommend the trip, to both the Outer Banks and The Island Bookstore.Where do you buy your books? Have you "discovered" a great Indie bookstore?
They sound wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite book store closed a few years back. It was part of a downtown city block of buildings, squished between a bank and a home decorating store.
The old wooden floors, the beautiful shelves, the clean, bright paints and colours -- all wonderful! They also stocked beautiful "dust-catchers", candles and unique art pieces. I miss it.
Sounds perfect. I can't say Quail Ridge is picturesque, but it has the warmth and the books. I like the books. The Island Bookstore - I never would have left if I didn't have to!
ReplyDeleteMichele
Quail Ridge is a popular place for writers to do signings...members of the Carolina Conspiracy have had several there. Park Ridge Books in Charlotte is the same way...very welcoming for authors.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte does NOT have many indie stores--to my great disappointment! I used to live in Birmingham and there were MANY there.
Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder
Great minds think alike, I wrote a blog about bookstores a few days back. A new indie bookstore just opened in my town, I am anxious to get over there and check it out.
ReplyDeleteAaaah a NEW Indie! I love it! I would love to own one. Think of all the authors you'd meet! And the booklovers!
ReplyDeleteMichele