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A review by brinnet
My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop by
3.0
I'm going to call this book finished, although I really only got to page 269 before I could no longer go on.
This is a book of love letters to bookstores.
If you're an intense lover of bookstores -- and I do mean intense -- then you may make it through this entire collection of stories.
If you enjoy bookstores on a more casual level, then you may want to read a handful of these stories and move on.
At the beginning of this collection, I found it delightful. The trouble becomes that you soon realize that there are only so many reasons to love a bookstore: they gave you your start (all of the story writers are authors), they host incredible author readings, they have adorable cats, they don't have cats, they are in a nondescript strip mall, they are in a charming neighborhood...and others. But you hear those things over and over. Similar love stories. Again and again.
And not all of the writers are producing their best work in writing these love letters, either.
I'm glad so many authors love their bookstores. I am happy to hear some of the behind-the-scene details (though I suspect that authors have a different experience of a bookstore than most customers do). I think I wish this were written as a Michelinesque guide to bookstores.
This book did make me want to travel to see some new exciting bookstores. And it did make me want to visit my local independent bookstore. (In fact, I did, only to discover it was highly uninspiring. Bummer.)
Bottom line: If you love name dropping, bookstores, or tales of fearless entrepreneurs in a struggling industry, you will likely enjoy a number of these stories. But I suspect most readers won't make it through all the tales.
This is a book of love letters to bookstores.
If you're an intense lover of bookstores -- and I do mean intense -- then you may make it through this entire collection of stories.
If you enjoy bookstores on a more casual level, then you may want to read a handful of these stories and move on.
At the beginning of this collection, I found it delightful. The trouble becomes that you soon realize that there are only so many reasons to love a bookstore: they gave you your start (all of the story writers are authors), they host incredible author readings, they have adorable cats, they don't have cats, they are in a nondescript strip mall, they are in a charming neighborhood...and others. But you hear those things over and over. Similar love stories. Again and again.
And not all of the writers are producing their best work in writing these love letters, either.
I'm glad so many authors love their bookstores. I am happy to hear some of the behind-the-scene details (though I suspect that authors have a different experience of a bookstore than most customers do). I think I wish this were written as a Michelinesque guide to bookstores.
This book did make me want to travel to see some new exciting bookstores. And it did make me want to visit my local independent bookstore. (In fact, I did, only to discover it was highly uninspiring. Bummer.)
Bottom line: If you love name dropping, bookstores, or tales of fearless entrepreneurs in a struggling industry, you will likely enjoy a number of these stories. But I suspect most readers won't make it through all the tales.