Ronald RiceBesprekingen

Yes, I love books, libraries and bookstores. I often order books online. Does that make me evil? I’ve enjoyed most every bookstore which I have been in, and spent my money at each, but I don’t have a personal favorite. Most of the stores which I’ve enjoyed have closed.

When you think of your favorite bookstore, what comes to mind? Is it the physical space? Books stacked in rows and piled high, labeled with staff recommendations? Do you think of the owner who knows each of her customers by name and can always press into your hands the perfect book that you're sure to love? Or is it the intangible thing that draws you there: the anticipation of a new discovery, or the feeling of community or of being at home? In My Bookstore, 84 of our favorite writers put all of these thoughts and feelings into words in a one-of-a-kind collection that expresses their adoration and admiration for bookstores and booksellers all across the country.½

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 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.½

Interesting eclectic read of various writers and their favorite bookstores.

A bit inside, to be sure, but interesting in how each person perceives the worth of a bookstore and what (s)he gets from it beyond just books.

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 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.

3.5 stars. A surprisingly interesting book. Chapters are written by a variety of authors so vary considerably in style, humor, etc.

A collection of essays by authors about their favorite book stores.

It was encouraging to read how many of these stores are still in operation in the days of online dominance and it made me jealous that I don't really have anything like them close to where I live, and I loved the feeling of community I got from reading all of these essays, even if I find how some people view and use book stores...a bit odd. I can't imagine only buying books that a book store employe picked out for me as one example, I have NO problems finding tons of excellent books on my own.

Mostly enjoyable if a bit repetitive, this is definitely a book better read an essay or two at a time rather than in a straight read through.

My weakness for anything book business-related forced me to crow about this wonderful collection of authors speaking out about their love for their favorite bookstores. That connection between customers and their bookstore is what my professional career was all about.

A bit repetitive, but it's got heart. Comics content is Jeff Smith and Lisa Brown, and Washington, DC's Politics & Prose bookstore is featured.

This includes about 80 essays by writers on their favorite independent bookstores. Great reading if one of your favorite places on earth is a bookstore.

a charming book about bookstores! made me want to visit them all!½

"My Bookstore" by Ronald Rice is a compilation of essays by authors writing about their favorite bookstores. I skimmed the book because I wasn’t interested in everyone who contributed essays. I read the ones from authors I knew and the essays that featured bookstores that I have visited or would want to visit. This is the perfect book to skim without feeling guilty. You don’t have to read every single page to enjoy some books, and this is one of them.

Whenever I travel to another city (I live in Denver) I always seek out a local bookstore. They are a great place to spend time and pick up books that I am unfamiliar with. If the store is unique in some way, this makes shopping there that much more enjoyable. I especially enjoy bookstores that have a localized special section such as, nautical books if they are by the ocean; Southern writing from any of the great bookstores in the south like Square books in Oxford MS. or in the case of another country, history or historical fiction for that location. It is wonderful that we have the selection of bookstores here in the USA and that the price of books is not as expensive as they are in England, Hong Kong, and Australia. 95% of the books I read are non-digital; I truly enjoy holding a physical book over one on my Kindle. There were two areas in this book I had trouble with.
1. A number of the authors went to great lengths to explain how wonderful these bookstores were in accommodating them for their needs and especially during readings they held at said bookstore. While this is nice to know, and great for them, most of us will never be in that position, and are not treated as they are, at a bookstore, whether it is one we frequent regularly or not.
2. I fully understand that these bookstores have a lot at stake and that Amazon is the ultimate bad guy, but can we be honest here. Most people have a finite amount of money we can spend on books and at my independent bookstore The Tattered Cover in Denver; the books are NEVER on sale. There is no membership discount like at Barnes and Noble, and quite frankly they seldom if ever have the book I want in stock. Of the 8 books I currently have in my shopping cart with Amazon, none of them are in stock at The Tattered Cover. So if I am to follow the preaching of the contributors of this book, I should order the books I want from my independent bookstore, wait for them to come in and pay full retail price for the experience. For me this is not realistic. I do go to The Tattered Cover at least twice a month, but more often than not leave frustrated that the only books there are; The New York Times top 40, or the most recent edition of an author's book, or multiple books from any author (James Patterson, Clive Cussler, Stephen King, Janet Evonovich, and Sue Grafton) who pumps out one book or more per year. Another all-time favorite is any book by a known liberal, be it a celebrity or politician. These are not the books I want to read.
My bookstore needs more in-store recommendations, more selection and deeper choices from authors from big publishing houses to small press, they might also benefit from having an area highlighting recommendations from other independent bookstores around the country, These are just some of the things my bookstore could do if they want me to continue to buy from them rather than from Amazon, where I get 2 day free shipping and a discount on every book I order.

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 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).½

An inspiring collection of essays praising the independent bookstore. The individual pieces range from the philosophical,to the autobiographical, to the merely nice but platitudinous. But the overall effect reminds us that books are valuable, and the role of the non-chain bookstores is irreplaceable in the ecology of generating new works and connecting them to their appreciative audiences. I, for one, will make the effort to get few of my books from Amazon, and go instead to the local bookshop (as I did to buy this book!).