Monday, November 2, 2009

In Praise of Bookstores






No big surprise, I love to hang out in bookstores. Luckily, the Husband does too. The picture of the tree is one we took right outside Barnes & Noble the other night. The streetlight made it pop, I'm not so sure the photo does the glowing tree justice. When I visit cities I love to check out bookstores, such as: Powell's Books in Portland Oregon, (my hometown), City Lights in San Francisco, and Munro books in Victoria B.C. (my sister lives up there.) What's your favorite bookstore? Is it a plus when they serve coffee, cookies, cheesecake?

All Rights Reserved. © 2009 by Elizabeth Bradley.

23 comments:

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Powell was my maiden name. I wish we had a Powell's here. My favorite used bookstore is called ABC Bookstore and second fav is called Hooked on Books.

jdsanc said...

Cheesecakes and bookstores, really? I wish. I could love to have those two together, yum. At a great bookstore today for a book signing. I just love the smell, books and coffee. Give me cheesecake and I might never leave!

Jemi Fraser said...

I have bookstore envy right now! We only have 2 bookstores in town - both Coles. They're great, but very small in comparison to these. I love the Chapters/Indigo in Toronto's Eaton Centre too. Great places :)

Rosaria Williams said...

Powell's in Portland is my favorite, though I don't get to it but a couple of times a year.

Kristen Torres-Toro said...

That tree is beautiful!!!

I don't spend much time in bookstores because it's too tempting to spend a lot of money. I do love them though!

ellen abbott said...

Half Price Books.

Joanne said...

Wouldn't you love to do a photo-tour of bookstores? Book Barn is one of my favorite used book places, which is a place just like it sounds. A big old barn type building, old, dusty, musty and beautiful! My own local B&N rates for new.

Gutsy Living said...

I just got back from Naples, Florida where my husband and I are hoping to move in the next 1-3 years. I found a Books a Million store. I had never heard of them, and my blogger friend, Nancy, said it's her favorite book store.

Cloudia said...

Oh yeah!
The hours spent in bookstores (like Book Trader in Philadlephia) made me what I am today.


Aloha, Friend!


Comfort Spiral

Stacey J. Warner said...

My favorite bookstore is Bailey/Coy in Seattle but I also love Twice Sold Tales, also in Seattle.

LA just doesn't have the same romantic feel as Seattle.

much love

I love the pictures!

Hilary said...

I tend to buy most of my books at yard sales through the summer. But just about any book store is difficult to resist. If they also sold cheesecake, I'd be in real trouble!

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Elizabeth:)

Greetings:)

This is used to be one of my favorite hobbies also. Whenever I get spare time or when I am just walking on the road if see a book store I will get in and spend some time. Even when I am waiting for a train, I would rather stand near the book stall and see all the books. In fact, I bought quite a lot of books on the railway platform. We have some lovely book stores around my town Kochi such as DC BOOKS AND PUBLISHERS, PAI AND CO., HIGGINBOTHAMS, BOOKWORM etc. Apart form the regular book shops there are quite a lot of second hand books sold on the pedestrian platforms. Some times I get very good books at very cheap prices. In my town we also get pirated editions of all latest books on the pavements at half the original book cost. The only danger is that sometimes some pages may be missing or the print on some pages may not be clear.

Of course, no one sells coffee, and cheesecakes because people will come and spend their time there eating and drinking without buying any books.

Lovely photos Elizabeth.

Have a nice day:)
Joseph

Tabitha Bird said...

I love bookstores too. But American book stores are my fav! They are so big and beautiful. We really have nothing close to them here.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

I wish I had some independent bookstores near me!

Now I'm shopping Borders and Barnes and Noble. Sigh!

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Boozy Tooth said...

I love this post Elizabeth. You take an ordinary subject and really bring out its beauty. Beginning with that TREE! Gosh that's an amazing shot.

I also loved poring over the bookstore shots. Books are comforting - whether you're in the middle of a fabulous read or whether you're just in their company. I completely understand the attraction.

Thanks for sharing those thoughts and photos. I likey.

Donna M. Kohlstrom said...

I love any bookstore as long as there are books! LOL! I probably would have to say, Barnes & Noble followed by Books A Million.

The Victorian Parlor said...

I love bookstores! My favorite is MacIntosh Books. They specialize in antique books and local interest books. I could spend the whole day in there perusing all of the volumes!

Blessings,

Kim

Lauri said...

It's funny you mention bookstores as I am just back from Gaborone trolling bookstores. I've been shopping lately at Exclusive Books which is a South African chain store. I recently read an article about how Botswana Book Centre (my old bookstore before Exclusive opened up) was struggling. I told myself when I was in Gaborone I would shop at my old store. I went there and felt so sad. It was half empty and not well organised. The books looked old and dusty. I felt very sad.

Elspeth Futcher said...

Oh! You know Munro's Bookstore! I grew up in Victoria and I have always loved, loved, loved that store. They used to be in a long narrow shop that had big comfy leather chairs with soft classical music playing at the back of the store. I spent literally hours there as a teen.

Elspeth

joe doaks-Author said...

I love the experience at Powell's. Not only do they have every book ever printed, Most are seriously discounted. Very nice.
Best Regards, Galen

Imagineering Fiction Blog

Nancy said...

I didn't realize your hometown was Portland! I'm heading off for there at the end of the week. Yes, Powells is a favorite.

Pixygirl said...

I love Munro's too. Did you know that it is owned by Alice Munro (run by her son)? Another fav is Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. It is so comforting to be surrounding by all those english books in the midst of Paris.

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