Favorite Bookstore memories?

The Guardian had an article today that I wished I'd responded to today  Bookshop memories: your pictures and stories but since I have a blog I don't have to write in to them and just have somebody skim over my part dreaming about their own memories. I can write it here and then I can ask my blogging friends about their own bookstore memories.   

So I have two that I will share… The first is about the Tattered Cover. It is a one of the best bookstores in Denver and I've enjoyed going there for years. Romantically Maurice and I had our first date there 9 years ago on June 12^th. Sadly, this particular location (which was a great one!) has moved and been changed to a home décor store and exercise studio. But they are still in three locations around Denver which we frequent will some regularity. 

Tattered Cover Cherry Creek

The second is my first big shopping trip buying books. I was preparing to go to college and I had save money to buy the things I needed for the year ahead. Most would think mostly about clothes, towels, shampoos… etc, Not me. I had about $400 (I think). I’d been more or less commanded to set some of that aside for clothes but the rest I’d designated that toward… books! So I headed off to the mall to do my shopping and spent a lovely afternoon at Walden books (back when they had such a thing at the mall). I bought trade paperbacks so that my small budget would go further (I didn't know how many used bookstores there were in Denver at that time). Herbert, Hemingway, Hawthorne, Bronte, Austin, and Tolkien were among the names that were added to my library that day. I was so thrilled to walk out of the bookstore, my arms filled with some of the best literature I could find.

So what about you? Do you have a bookshop memory? I’d love to hear it!     

I want to be a time traveler

My friend had a baby recently and I can't help but wonder what is in store for this wee one. As I held her, I wondered if these teeny hands would ever brush their hands over the pages of a lush illustration the way I did when I was little. Would they turn the page of There's a Monster at the End of this Book when Grover begs in anguish, "No! Don't turn the page!!!!!" the way my children did. Of course I know that this little one will because her mother is committed to books- she works in the library and doesn't even own a digital device although is well versed in how to use them. But whether they will be available with the same I-can-take-this-for-granted kind of availability? I doubt it.

With the news of Barnes and Noble's recent collision with a metaphorical financial iceberg, books available in neighborhood bookstores are quickly going the way of the Tyrannosaurus Rex- which makes me sad. In a recent article on GeekWire, author Guzman says, "books speak with more than words. They speak with pictures and size and even smell. With sound, too — the whip flip of a page turn. You hold a book open and need a surface to handle a hardcover’s weight. A book has resistance. It makes demands. You have to carry it, put it away, give it a physical space in your physical life. What if that isn’t, as I’ve come to look at it, purely an inconvenience? What if it’s a sign of mutual respect? After I finished the amazing “The City and the City” on my Kindle, I couldn’t remember the author’s last name. It didn’t stare at me every time I went to read the story. At Elliott Bay I saw the book, “China Miéville” printed big and bold on the front, and felt like I was in the presence of something new." While I was reading her article I was thinking to myself how much I love my bookshelf- that I look at the books and see a title I've read and I remember the author, the time I spent reading it... I may not reread the book, but the book itself holds something special for me. (My albums and Cds have a similar feeling for me-love or like- something my itunes folder will never replace no matter how many times I listen to the songs. I have held on to sheet music from college for the same reason.) 

It's not just nostalgia that makes me cling to books. When I was a kid, my folks were quite poor and we couldn't afford to purchase as many books as I could actually read. I read voraciously so the library was my friend. We were the kind of poor that didn't have a television when all my friends had televisions- or we'd have one but it would break down and my uncle would fix it but it would take months for him to fix it so all the entertainment I would have would be my little green box radio and my books. But it was fine as long as there was a library close by.

Now years later and working at a library myself, I know that there are still many people who are too poor to have Nooks, Kindles or iPads and if the library were not available to them, they would not have access to books. If there are fewer books being sold then there will be fewer books available for sale to the library because publishers will lose a retail outlets to sell their wares in which means they will lose profits and go out of business. It's a vicious cycle that scares me. I may keep my job because librarians are vigilant and always ready to reinvent the library to fit what society needs. Nevertheless... libraries will not be what they once were which is another sad thing, I guess.  

Don't get me wrong! I am not fundamentally opposed to ebooks -for instance as an author I think they open opportunities for publishing where a vanity press is mostly taking advantage of authors. And as a tech lover I think they're fun when I have a magazine I want to read that I don't want to mess around with for very long. But as a reader, the truth of the article on GeekWire felt fundamentally true to me and I couldn't shake the feeling that we are losing something culturally if Barnes and Noble becomes an artifact of ancient history.

So, I want to be a time traveler- I don't want to only travel I want to change time. Maybe I'll go into the facility where they are developing the first ereader and sabotage it... anything to keep the book from going extinct. Anything to keep bookstores from disappearing from my neighborhood...

Anyone want to join me? I might need help...     

Don't call me a super hero just yet!

Circulation Clerk for Denver Public Library by day...
Writer by night...
Intrepid Photographer whenever I get the opportunity...
So for those of you new to my blog-- I combine my love of photography with my writing as often as possible. I hope you enjoy... 

Forty-five minutes from our front door (depending on how sardine-like the highway is) lies the liberal mecca of Colorado... Boulder. Boulder is well known for it's progressive policies in these parts-- maintaining their open spaces whilst Denver was expanding and growing, almost exploding while nearby Jefferson County would  have loved to have swallowed parts of Boulder County up into plans for FUTURE DEVELOPMENT! Boulder would have none of it, however, and many parts of the city remain quaint and old townish and the county itself is indeed, full of that shameful OPEN SPACE! It's a favorite place to visit, having the attraction that there are nearby rocks to climb (someday I'll tell you about my fear of heights!) and great bookstores and a lovely street shopping mall...

The Pearl Street Mall

The day we determined to head out, it turned out, was the near perfect day to hit the mall considering it was December and Boulder lies nestled next to the foothills and can be several degrees cooler and blusterier than it's big city counterpart. The sun was shining (YAY!!!) and we found parking a few blocks away without having to ask for a loan from the bank (YAY!!!!) (okay, I exaggerate... a little). Ostensibly we were Christmas shopping...

 but the temptations are too great. We can never pass up the opportunity to hit the great bookstores here. Besides we do buy books for the kids and each other (although to be honest I think the books had been purchased already)

After we made our purchases we were ready for some real shopping and we headed down the street.
There are many eye catchers as you walk past the eclectic residents of Boulder.
Buskers
and Street Performers abound
but because it was December,
the most astounding thing caught my eye...

Purple Pansies coloring the flower beds in the center of the walkway. Pansies are one of my favorite flowers because of their hardiness and their lovely coloring-- if there were a flower that I could choose to be it might be a just that- recalling springtime and summer while the cold winds blow just above and though the snows might cover them for a while, they often manage to come out from under it unscathed. But I digress...

  

So off we went...Oops!

Well, waylaid a bit. This bookstore is also terrific and cannot be passed up. Just look at those lovely shelves, chalk full of just about any book you could wish to find! Most of my favorite authors are covered here-- Jeannette Winterson, Paul West, Italo Calvino... You name it, they probably have it! New or used. Don't these shoppers look excited? And here they are looking over books that have stood the test of time as well as looking for exciting new authors-- 

All right, now really it's time to get to some other shops. Lets make our purchases and head out-- there is so much to offer here....

Outside the bookstore, a sad looking gentleman is struggling to play a chord or two while singing a song that is I believe made up as he goes along. He was in rather better shape than some of the other homeless performers we saw that day... one guy's guitar was duct taped together so poorly that I wondered that it made any sound at all.  

The dirty little secret about progressive Boulder policies is that the city hands out tickets to "campers." This means that if your caught in your sleeping bag on public property, too bad for you! You'll be handed a ticket which you can't afford to pay to add insult to your homelessness.

Nearby, we stop at a favorite shop with home decor and gifts aplenty. Ann Taintor (I love her!) mugs, lip balms, napkins, sticky notes, you name it are all found here. This was a new one that I enjoyed:

Sleighbells are ringing and the day is getting short! There's a candy store nearby that is too die for!

They are noted for their retro style candies. You can buy Snickers or a Hersheys but why would you... 

when they have candy that you may not find anywhere else on earth?!?!?!

This guy doesn't know what to do with himself! 

Even I was at a loss when it was time to choose just one before we left the store...

 Really? 

Just ONE??? 

A favorite kitchen store with just about anything one might need for their culinary pleasure and we had hit the best of the best in Boulder for the day..

 Our free but time-limited parking was UP and we had to head back down the mall before we too contributed to the city's slush fund. 

But we'll be back...next time it will most likely be for a more outdoorsy type activity- most likely involving those hills you see in the background and perhaps a tale or two about my fear of heights.