Nothing like a haiku to kick off the holiday shopping season. It sez here.
Freely translated, what I’m saying is this:
I urge you to buy one book today, just one, at an independent bookstore.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Border’s are great. Buy books from them, too. But if every member of the book-buying public buys just one book from an indie bookstore today, that bookstore stands a much better chance of being around next year.
To find the bookstore nearest you, in real or cyberspace, click here to visit Indiebound, the indie bookstore website, where you will find book reviews and recommendations as well as directions to websites and bricks-and-mortar stores.
And when you’ve bought that one book, come back here to this page on stabenow.com and tell me what book you bought, and what bookstore you bought it in. I’d love to see what books you’re all giving this Christmas. I might get some ideas…
Here are some indie bookstores to start you off:
Homer Bookstore, Homer, Alaska
Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, Arizona
Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, California
Powell’s Books, Portland, Oregon
Third Place Books, Seattle, Washington
And here is me at the Poisoned Pen with my two books.
Dana, just heard the other day that a local independent, Davis-Kidd, will be closing it’s doors after the holiday season. Economics, online shopping and the progression to ebooks have been contributed to the failure. Davis-Kidd is owned by Joseph Beth Bookseller with a store in Lexington, KY and Cincinnati and those stores do not appear to be affected by this closing. It’s just sad. Nashville will still have several corporate style bookstores but Davis-Kidd was a standalone for this area.
I signed in a Joseph Beth long ago. I remember how extraordinary the store was.
Okay, I’ll start:
I bought Louise Penny’s Still Life (http://www.poisonedpen.com/products/mfiction/9780312948559/?searchterm=still%20life) and Tasha Alexander’s And Only to Deceive (http://www.poisonedpen.com/products/tfiction/9780061148446/?searchterm=tasha%20alexander) from the Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Okay, so I bought two books from an indie today. Sue me.)
PS–And yes, absolutely, do as I did above and include links to your indie bookstore in your comment.
We indies appreciate you, Dana!
http://www.seattlemystery.com/
Picked up Margaret Maron’s “Sand Sharks” and Mariah Stewart’s “Dead Certain”.
You bought two books, too! Thanks, Judy. Haven’t heard of Mariah Stewart, I’ll have to check out her books.
Pingback: By Just One Book
SinC members are buying books at indie bookstores, too. Go here and read the comments to see what books where: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=197271588443134334&postID=674656349343259359
I bought my husband a present: Around My French Table, by Dorrie Greenspan, at Fact & Fiction in Missoula MT. A lively store in a great little city, F&F formed a partnership a couple of years ago with the University [of MT] Bookstore, as part of a strategy to survive the challenging market and to address the long-time owner’s pending retirement. Seems to be working — the shop was bustling yesterday despite the now and cold!
Great news about the bustling bookstore, Leslie, thanks! And here’s a link to Fact & Fiction: http://www.factandfictionbooks.com/ (Your husband’s present sounds interesting, too, have to keep an eye out for that.)
Thanks for adding the link, Dana! We love to cook, and after our trip to France a year ago, esp love French cooking. At Bouchercon in San Francisco, I found a book at Book Passage called French Country Cooking by Laura Wakefield, an American trained and living in Paris, that we’re loving — esp b/c our food looks almost as good as the fabulous photographs!
Hi Dana -
How thrilling to find you bought Still Life – hope you like it. if you don’t, don’t tell me. do you remember, we had dinner together last year just after Thanksgiving….deep fried turkey, if I remember. I love your books, so am so pleased to see you with Still Life. And yes, great call to arms to support Indies.
Dana, it’s too late for Creatures ‘n Crooks in Richmond, VA, but I still appreciate your loyalty to indies!
I bought my Chanukah presents for my nieces and nephew at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline, Massachusetts. The Once and Future King by T. H. White, Amazing Cows by Sandra Boynton, and Rescue Bunnies by Doreen Cronin, illustrated by Scott Menchin.
http://www.brooklinebooksmith.com/
I picked up Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book at my local indie, The Avid Reader. And they caught me with a display item as well; did you know there’s an unofficial Harry Potter cookbook out?!
Not wonderful news about Creatures ‘N Crooks, Leila, but the holiday shopping season is on for the next month. Let’s hope people head out to indies still around.
Gilly, does your copy of The Once and Future King include The Book of Merlyn? Never mind — next Chanukah…
Erin, is there a recipe for butterbeer in that? [grin]
And thanks, Louise. It sure passed my first-page test.
Sadly, no butterbeer. That seems to be a very elusive recipe (though the Associated Press had a recipe up back when the Harry Potter theme park opened that sounds interesting). The quick college version that I’ve always liked is a shot of butterscotch shnapps in a pint of your choice (Blue Moon was the best)