Recommendations 7/11/2021: Tales of a Bookstore Tourist

Bookstores and breweries. East Coast or bust!

So remember a couple of weeks ago when I was recommending bookstore tourism as an alternative to slogging around our overcrowded public spaces?

Turns out a couple of enterprising folks were already on the case, and one-upped my idea by adding breweries to the bookstores. I asked Steph McHugh, one of the intrepid adventurers to share their tale as advice and inspiration for others.

Bookstores & Breweries: East Coast or Bust! by Steph McHugh

After John’s article about bookstore tourism was published, my husband Mike and I were sent a barrage of texts. Why? Because at the time of that publication we were on our third week of a road trip centered around visiting bookshops between Chicago and Maine. 

Mike and I both grew up with the love of travel in our blood, and having visited all seven continents within the first ten years of our marriage, we especially love hopping on a plane and heading out of the country. We are both teachers, and are blessed with having time over the summer to dedicate to long trips, so we’ve spent every summer of our last twelve years together seeing the world.

The pandemic halted our international plans, but it’s caused us to enjoy the US in new ways including finally visiting my 50th state; (North Dakota, if you’re curious.) This summer, with so much still uncertain in the world, we knew staying in the country might be a good choice. I am an elementary school librarian and I’m absolutely crazy about all things books, and both of us love finding a good craft beer on our travels, too. We took these loves and centered our summer vacation around those two things: bookshops and breweries. I reached out on my @lbookends Twitter account to ask for bookshop recommendations, and almost immediately received suggestions of almost two hundred independent bookstores between Chicago and Maine. Vacation officially extended! 

As a third element to the trip, and to go along with the book theme, we decided to add Little Free Libraries along our route! We love doing book drop-offs in LFLs in our own community, and this felt like a cool way to support our favorite children’s authors and illustrators on our book adventure.  Plus, it causes us to explore areas of towns that we wouldn’t otherwise see. We organized all of the Twitter bookshop suggestions, plotting out a route which would hit more than three dozen bookshops. Then we added in some exciting breweries and packed our bags, which now included piles of children’s books to drop in the Little Free Libraries along the route.  Mapping out the Little Free Libraries was easy to do using the website’s map (which you can find at https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/!)

We hit the road and during our month-long adventure, we visited 43 independent bookshops, 53 breweries, and dozens of Little Free Libraries.  Because we weren’t having to worry about a weight limit with our suitcases, we filled the car to the brim with books & beer (which, as we quickly learned, are both the best kind of souvenirs!)  We discovered that each indie truly had its own personality and charm, and it was especially amazing to see that so many of the bookshops had shown creativity & innovation during the pandemic and were now truly thriving.  Mike and I kept track of details about each bookstore (and of course documented with many, many photos) and upon coming home definitely have a list of favorites. If you’re looking to head out on your own bookshop road trip, you can peek at our pics on Twitter for inspiration. But the *best* thing about bookshops is that no matter where you’re going, all the best towns are sure to have their local indie – ready to welcome you in for some literary conversation, the best smells around, and certainly endless amounts of stories just waiting for you to bring them home to curl up and read. Cheers to bookstore tourism! 

Shoutouts to these unforgettable bookshops from our road trip! 
- Curious Iguana (with eye-catching displays & a celebration of books of all types!) in Frederick, MD!
-Let’s Play Books Bookstore (a bookshop based upon the love of books and celebration of community) in Emmaus, PA!
- RJ Julia Booksellers (for a loveable layout, & every kids book you could wish for) in Madison, CT!
- Cover to Cover Children’s Books (the children’s bookshop that celebrates author visitors in the biggest way!) in Columbus, OH!
-Ink Fish Bookstore (for selling cooking items with the cookbooks & beyond!) in Warren, RI!
-Toadstool Bookshop (for having an extra discount for librarians!) in Nashua, NH!
-Spark Books (for being an ADORABLE children’s bookshop that also sells board games!) in Aspinwall, PA!

Massachusetts was home to many of our favorites… here’s a few of those!  
- The Silver Unicorn Bookstore (a bookshop with the cutest nook & lots of signed books) in Acton, MA!
-Eight Cousins (for having an ARC room… a teacher’s dream!) in Falmouth, MA!
-An Unlikely Story (a beautiful bookshop with Wimpy-Kid charm, a book marquee, & amaaaaaaaaazing booksellers) in Plainville, MA!
-Blue Bunny (for being a hub for authors & illustrators, and for truly celebrating creativity!) in Dedham, MA!
-Brookline Bookshop (for having an unbeatable selection and incredible staff!) in Boston, MA!

(And while we ended up skipping Illinois bookshops since we’re already so familiar with our own state’s beautiful indies, we highly recommend visiting Naperville’s Anderson’s Bookshop & Evanston’s Booked if you’re ever nearby!)

-Written by Steph McHugh, Oswego, Illinois
Elementary School Librarian in Yorkville, Illinois (CUSD #115)

Links

My column this week is about why sometimes a new book will be “sold out” at at smaller independent stores (it’s not their fault), and how you can reduce any frustration you may experience about this.

Any link that involves a list is always the most clicked on link of the week. This may set the record. Lit Hub’s 222 anticipated books left to be released in 2021.

Full disclosure, my most recent book is published by Belt, so I’m biased, but I think this interview with founder/publisher Anne Trubek gives a good look at why I think so highly of them.

The first time I read a Donald Barthelme story (“The School”), my notion of what a short story could do was permanently altered. Charles McGrath offers some insights into Barthelme’s particular and peculiar fiction.

If Lit Hub’s 222 books through the end of the year is too much, the Times has 10 new books for just this week.

Reading companion of the week

Hazel is resolutely curious about books and reading.

Getting a lot of feline action on the reading companions front. Where’s my canine people at? Send to biblioracle@substack.com.

Recommendations

All links to books on these posts go to The Biblioracle Recommends bookshop at Bookshop.org. Affiliate income for purchases through the bookshop goes to Open Books in Chicago. The tally took a huge leap up to $99.55 for the year! Thanks to everyone who has purchased through an affiliate link and let’s get to three figures!

As always, recommendations are open for business. Supply remains limited, so act now and you may get satisfaction quickly.

1. The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
2. No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
3. The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers
4. Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
5. Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Emily C. - Greenville, SC

According to my list of books I’ve recommended here this year, The Book of Night Women by Marlon James has not been recommended this year, so it’s time to remedy that oversight.

1. Memorial Drive by Natasha Trethewey
2. Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps by Chet Van Duzer
3. Girl by Edna O'Brien
4. To Cook a Bear by Mikael Niemi
5. Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Marie J. - Wilmette, IL

Jhumpa Lahiri’s Whereabouts is unlike any other book of hers I’ve read, but of course it is well worth any reader’s time.

1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
2. Dead Man's Walk by Larry McMurtry
3. Devolution by Max Brooks
4. The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan
5. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Ingrid P. - Rosemont, IL

I put Max Barry’s most recent book, The 22 Murders of Madison May on my half-year books of the year list, but the right book for Ingrid, is Barry’s intellectually provocative space thriller, Providence.

Thanks to Steph McHugh for her recap of the world’s best book-related road trip.

Have a wonderful week you wonderful people,

JW
(The Biblioracle)