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autumnscribe's review
4.0
Every bookstore in this book sounds wonderful, and given half the chance I would love to visit any (or all) of them. However, as a book, this is not a sit down and read it cover to cover kind of book. It is more of a collection of essays to be read one at a time whenever you are in need of a bookstore fix.... I know I would have enjoyed it much more had I read it a little bit at a time over the course of a year or so rather than just a few days.
ksoanes's review
4.0
Charming, fun, and insightful. My only disappointment was that no Rochester, NY author penned a tribute to The Village Green Bookstore. The Village Green was a wonderfully diverse and progressive bookstore that I loved as a child, teenager, and loved even more when I worked there at nights when I was just starting life after college. I still remember if fondly and lament nothing has come close to replacing it.
dmsleeve's review
4.0
Wonderful. I did feel a little guilty about borrowing this book from a library. However, as I read the book, I entered many of the bookstores into my garmin so that if I ever find myself anywhere near any of these towns, I can spend a few hours at the stores and actually purchase some books. This book also added several new authors to my to-read list.
teaandbooklover's review
4.0
Some nice entries, others not so nice.
Overall I really liked it and found it interesting so I'll give it four stars.
I could have done without Chuck Palahniuk's entree-ew. I don't need to know obscene things, thanks anyway.
And Ron Currie Jr.'s entree-yeah, don't need to know about your personal habits there either, or equating it with your ease of shopping for books. Those two definitely took the classy appeal of the book down a notch or two.
The best and crowning one was Ann Haywood Leal, I loved that one.
Overall I found the author's favorite bookstores, where they live, what they wrote and what they read interesting and was able to finish it in one night.
Overall I really liked it and found it interesting so I'll give it four stars.
I could have done without Chuck Palahniuk's entree-ew. I don't need to know obscene things, thanks anyway.
And Ron Currie Jr.'s entree-yeah, don't need to know about your personal habits there either, or equating it with your ease of shopping for books. Those two definitely took the classy appeal of the book down a notch or two.
The best and crowning one was Ann Haywood Leal, I loved that one.
Overall I found the author's favorite bookstores, where they live, what they wrote and what they read interesting and was able to finish it in one night.
amyhdavis's review
5.0
I read this collection bit by bit over the past year and I enjoyed every moment of it.
meghanmarion's review
4.0
I received this book as part of Goodreads First Reads.
I really enjoyed reading about authors discuss their favorite bookstores and what makes them so special. I definitely have a list of a bookstores I want to check out.
I really enjoyed reading about authors discuss their favorite bookstores and what makes them so special. I definitely have a list of a bookstores I want to check out.
paperbackstash's review
4.0
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.
barefootsong's review
3.0
A collection of love letters by various authors about their local (or in some cases "local") independent bookstores. Some essays are more interesting than others (as with any anthology), but I did appreciate the array of authors -- the typical best-seller types, but also some genre writers and children's authors, which means I've actually read the work of some of these authors! The bookstores covered are located in 35 states and Washington, D.C.
whats_margaret_reading's review
4.0
My Bookstore is some ways is a highly self-congratulatory exercise in authors priding themselves in going to independent, local shops and avoiding online retailers of books. In other ways, My Bookstore is a celebration of people who are passionate about books, whether primarily authors, readers, or booksellers. Both of these things come through in many of the essays, and the afterword strongly echoes the anti-online retailer sentiment.
The flaws out of the way, I think I've discovered a travel guide for when I visit the cities with their bookstores featured. Some of the independent bookstores included in this anthology are expected (Powell's, Harvard Bookstore, The Strand) and some less so (my hometown indie, Village Books, was included and that was a reason why I decided to read it). The essays are appreciations of places where booksellers are more than just people who sell customers something and are fixtures in the community. Many of these authors writing these appreciations owe their subsequent novels to the word of mouth their independent booksellers generated for them. Others have appreciated that these bookstores are also meeting places for readers and authors, or where kids go to discover the joy of reading.
Reading books about people who like books is fun and reminds me that there are so many more bookish places to explore.
The flaws out of the way, I think I've discovered a travel guide for when I visit the cities with their bookstores featured. Some of the independent bookstores included in this anthology are expected (Powell's, Harvard Bookstore, The Strand) and some less so (my hometown indie, Village Books, was included and that was a reason why I decided to read it). The essays are appreciations of places where booksellers are more than just people who sell customers something and are fixtures in the community. Many of these authors writing these appreciations owe their subsequent novels to the word of mouth their independent booksellers generated for them. Others have appreciated that these bookstores are also meeting places for readers and authors, or where kids go to discover the joy of reading.
Reading books about people who like books is fun and reminds me that there are so many more bookish places to explore.
jachin_heckman's review
5.0
A bit pretentious and a clear anti-technology message, but there is just something magical about listing to writers talk about something so close to there hearts. Every page of it makes you want to read, stop to surround yourself with books, and then continue reading.