Because I am currently in the process of leaving my heart in San Francisco, this week’s Monday Miscellany is short.
10 of the Best Independent Bookstores Across the U.S.
Barnes & Noble will always be there with a stack of bestsellers, and Half Price Books is likely to have the novel you’re looking for in a pinch. But for travelers, little will beat the act of stepping inside a small, local bookstore, being greeted by the owner and guided through the collection by an employee who actually loves literature as much as you do. Maybe it’s their independent spirit (reading, after all, is a form of freedom), or maybe it’s that they’re connected with local authors, but the independent bookstore manages to live on in an era of Kindles and chain resellers. So, if you’re like us, and agree that a good trip deserves a good book, then just for you, here are 10 of our editors’ favorite independently owned bookstores throughout the United States.
Are you lucky enough to have one of these stores nearby?
- The Booksmith, San Francisco, CA
- Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA
- Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA
- Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café & Grill, Washington, D.C.
- Mercer Street Books & Records, New York
- Powell’s, Portland, OR
- Skylight Books, Los Angeles, CA
- Square Books, Oxford, MS
- Strand Book Store, New York
- Women & Children First, Chicago, IL
Cheyenne literary club vibrant after 112 years
Then there is the Young Men’s Literary Club of Cheyenne, still going after an incredible 112 years.
Established in 1902, the capital city’s organization is something of a relic and only one of a handful of literary clubs from that era that survive today.
It is an elite men-only organization with 30 active members who must be invited to join.
The rules of the club state that its purpose is “to provide benefits from the training of the mind in literary pursuits and the advantage to be gained by the interchange of ideas and discussion of topics of public interest.”
But isn’t it too bad that no one has realized, during those 112 years, that women read and discuss literature, too? See how the exclusive members reacted to a couple of different attempts to incorporate women into the group.
Shel Silverstein’s Unlikely Rise to Kid Lit Superstardom
Shel Silverstein—the late cartoonist, singer, songwriter, playwright, and mega-selling author of such classics as The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends—didn’t like children’s literature. Spoon-feeding kids sugar-sweet stories just wasn’t his style. Fortunately for generations of young readers, someone convinced him to do something about it—namely, break the mold himself. Using edgy humor, clever rhymes, and tripped-out drawings, Silverstein achieved the impossible. He bridged the worlds of adult and children’s art, while becoming wildly popular in the process.
More of the usual good stuff from Metal Floss.
