“. . . you don’t get to be the best-read man in America by giving a damn about someone else’s taste.”
Oh to bump into Michael Dirda, who says he has about 10,000 books and is “a sucker for pretty books”, in a book store aisle. Over the course of the article Dirda declares Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel as “. . . the greatest book ever”. So that one is now on my ‘books to read’ list.
I also took the time to make a list of the books that Dirda recommends or buys throughout the story. So if you’re looking for something worthwhile, these might be worth looking up. What’s fun is that not all of them are “stuffy”. There are spaceships and sailboats too!
Rick Brant’s ‘Electronic Adventure’ series
anything by Tom Swift
Arnold Bennett’s The Card Pym (the edition edited and annotated by Harold Beaver)
M.F.K. Fisher’s Two Towns in Provence
Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel
Alberto Manguel’s Black Water: The Book of Fantastic Fiction
Ray Bradbury’s The Illustrated Man
Dorothy Sayers’s Omnibus of Crime
Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time
Harry Kemelman’s The Nine-Mile Walk
Ross Thomas’s Chinaman’s Chance
It looks to be a great read of not only some of nation’s neatest local bookstores that writers enjoy, but also dives into WHY they enjoy them. Rick Bragg wrote the feature on the Alabama Booksmith while Fannie Flagg wrote about Page & Palette (where the rumor is she got locked in a closet!?) I hear the book is indeed a true celebration of the impact bookstores have on their communities and the creative readers that pass through the doors. This is one book I am really looking forward to.
Here is a complete listing of all the bookstores and the author’s that wrote about them:
Fannie Flagg—Page & Palette, Fairhope, AL
Rick Bragg—Alabama Booksmith, Homewood, AL
John Grisham—That Bookstore in Blytheville, Blytheville, AR
Ron Carlson—Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, AZ
Ann Packer—Capitola Book Café, Capitola, CA
Isabel Allende—Book Passage, Corte Madera, CA
Mahbod Seraji—Kepler’s Books, Menlo Park, CA
Lisa See—Vroman’s Bookstore, Pasadena, CA
Meg Waite Clayton—Books Inc., San Francisco, CA
Daniel Handler and Lisa Brown—The Booksmith, San Francisco, CA
Dave Eggers—Green Apple Books, San Francisco, CA
Pico Iyer—Chaucer’s Books, Santa Barbara, CA
Laurie R. King—Bookshop Santa Cruz, CA
Scott Lasser—Explore Booksellers, Aspen, CO
Stephen White—Tattered Cover Book Store, Devner, CO
Kate Niles—Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, CO
Ann Haywood Leal—Bank Square Books, Mystic, CT
Florence and Wendell Minor—The Hickory Stick Bookshop, Washington Depot, CT
Rick Atkinson—Politics and Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC
Les Standiford—Books & Books, Coral Gables, FL
Robert Macomber—The Muse Book Shop, Deland, FL
David Fulmer—Eagle Eye Book Shop, Decatur, GA
Abraham Verghese—Prairie Lights, Iowa City, IA
Luis Alberto Urrea—Anderson’s Bookshops, Naperville, IL
Mike Leonard—The Book Stall Chestnut Court, Winnetka, IL
Albert Goldbarth—Watermark Books, Wichita, KS
Wendell Berry—Carmichael’s Bookstore, Louisville, KY
Edith Pearlman—Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
Mameve Medwed—Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.—Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA
Simon Winchester—The Bookloft, Great Barrington, MA
Nancy Thayer—Mitchell’s Book Corner, Nantucket, MA
Elin Hilderbrand—Nantucket Bookworks, Nantucket, MA
Jeanne Birdsall—Broadside Bookshop, Northampton, MA
Martha Ackmann—Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA
Ward Just—Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, Vineyard Haven, MA
Ron Currie, Jr.—Longfellow Books, Portland, ME
Nancy Shaw—Nicola’s Books, Ann Arbor, MI
Katrina Kittle—Saturn Booksellers, Gaylord, MI
Ann Patchett—Mclean & Eakin Booksellers, Petoskey, MI
One of my favorite things about Birmingham is the book culture. Looking online I know the local book scene is not “in your face” like the football fans or as scary as all of the “weather geek” updates, but man we have some cool people in Birmingham doing cool things to promote books, authors and reading. I have to admit to being a fanboy of some of them. There are some that you know you’d enjoy chatting with if you ever just bumped into them at the grocery store or bar. Here are three local Birmingham bookish bloggers that I always look forward to seeing updates from. Even if they are talking about books that I’ll never read, their passion for books is addictive and fun to follow.
So if you enjoy discussions with fellow book-folk, be sure to check these out:
Church Street Coffee & Books – the bookstore crew over in Mt. Brook keep the Postscript updates coming regularly with guest posts, book reviews and insights into the world of “running a bookstore”.
Medusa’s Library – this blogger works over at another great local bookstore the Little Professor in Homewood. If you like book-related conversation the posts here are fun. If you’re into paranormal books and sci-fi fiction you are going to be very very happy.
Oh My Godwin! – this local tumblr is dripping with bookish goodness. Some posts are humorous and some elevate books. My favorite updates are the photos. All of which will have you smiling wondering “can I have a room like this in my house”?
So those are three of my favorites. Who am I missing?
Yes, I know. It is Banned Books Week here in the states. But it is also the last Buy A Friend A Book Week of 2012, which I think is much cooler. While it doesn’t carry the emotionally charged fear of being told what not to read, it’s a great idea that encourages you to match up the right book with the right friend and make it happen. That’s it. It’s that simple.
Pick a friend. Pick the book. Buy from a local bookshop. Deliver said book. It is the best of all worlds.
I have my friend picked out this time (BAFAB week happens four
times a year) and the title list narrowed down to three possible books. I just need to see what’s in stock around Birmingham. The next BAFAB week isn’t until the first week of January 2013. Until them you can follow BAFAB Twitter, though as you can tell from their tweet stream they are really only active during BAFAB weeks.
