Iowa City Wrapup 2

Iowa City also has a used store (the "Book End") sponsored by the city library and manned with volunteers. Most of what they get are donations, with a few books discarded from the library. A pretty small place, but there were a few interesting books there.


The Book End

The best known Iowa City bookstore is Prairie Lights, which is the multi-level independent bookstore downtown. Much like Auntie's in Spokane, they do a good job of bringing in readers/events, and they even host a weekly NPR show. It's a pretty cool store, though the layout is a bit funky.


Prairie Lights

The other new bookstore downtown is Iowa Book, which is part new bookstore, part U. of Iowa gear/apparel store. That's pretty self-explanatory right there, eh? But I bet that students in Spokane wish there were competing stores to the campus bookstores. Oh, and I did buy a book there. There was a local guidebook related to the "literary walk," and it was all of $2.50.


Iowa Book

Iowa City Wrapup

See? I am actually going to finish what I started....

OK, I believe that I was able to visit every used bookstore in Iowa City (as well as the independent new bookstores).

I've already talked about The Haunted Bookshop (though I had the added pleasure of going to dinner with the owners and talking "shop"), so I'll move on to the other three main used/rare stores.

Oh, I have to preface this by saying that these bookstores would have been easier to find (and all are within walking distance of Downtown Iowa City) if I could keep my directions straight. I'm normally quite good with directions, having been employed on numerous occasions as a pizza delivery driver, but for some reason, Iowa City seems backwards to me. Like North should be South and vice versa. So, I spent quite a bit of time walking TOWARDS bookstores but not actually TO them, if that makes sense.

After dinner with the Haunted Bookshop owners, they took me to the Book Shop to meet its owner, Will. The Book Shop is actually this smallish house stuffed to the rafters with books. Literally stuffed. With 40-book-tall stacks in FRONT of the cases. So, it is not easily browsable. However, there were many interesting titles, and I found my eyes landing haphazardly on one after another. Fortunately, you can search through Will's titles on the Internet (wonderful thing, that), and Will himself is a very accomodating, warm individual. Just don't knock over the stacks.


The Book Shop

The next day (Monday) I finally found the rest of the bookstores. Murphy-Brookfield Books stood out as a place I would often shop if given the chance. Most of the books are half off their cover prices, and for areas such as poetry (I picked up a Pablo Neruda book), literature, philosophy, religion, etc., their selection was extensive. The owner was again quite personable (true of nearly all the booksellers in Iowa City).


Murphy-Brookfield Books

I suppose I was least impressed with Northside Book Market. They had decent books, but the rambling layout and funky signage/bookcases made the place feel like an advanced thrift store or an antique mall. So, if you enjoy the "shabby chic" look, maybe this would work for you. My other complaint is that it was closed on Sunday (the one store I had found on Sunday), which is not a big deal (I am generally closed on Sundays as well), but a CD store that abuts the bookstore WAS open, and you had to walk THROUGH the closed bookstore to get to the CD store. The aisles of the bookstore were blocked off with furniture and the store's lights were off, but it was a bit surreal to be able to stand INSIDE the store and not be able to shop. I did go back on Monday to look around and actually walk through the aisles, and I even bought a poetry book. And that's all I will say.


Northside Book Market

OK, I will continue this with part 2....

Bookselling Coincidences

OK, I'll start this by saying that I will post my wrap-up blog of my Iowa trip soon. I also note that I often promise "blogs to follow" without usually making good on said promises, but this time will be different. Hopefully.

Instead, right now, I wish to write about what I believe to be fairly common occurrences in the world of bookselling: requested book happenstances. More often than I care to count, a customer will come in, request a book that I do not have in stock, and then the next day or the following weekend or whatever, I will come upon the requested title. It happens so often that it must be a rule of bookselling or something.

Today, I encountered the corollary to the rule: in Iowa, at a bookshop run by the city library (or volunteers thereof), I noticed they had a hardcover copy of West With the Night by Beryl Markham. Now, I sell this book often (as often as I sell any book--end of disclaimer), but I usually only find it in paperback form and have even had requests for it in hardcover. Anyway, I didn't buy the book due to lack of luggage space, and sure enough, a customer just came in asking for the title. I do have two paperbacks in stock, which may be good enough as the customer (or potential customer) mentioned possibly coming back later in the week to pick one up, but if I had bought that book in Iowa City, the sale (with the accompanying story) would have been made without a doubt.

If you are a book BUYER, the moral to the first rule is that once you request a book the store does not have, check back in a week, as the book will often show up. The moral to the corollary for book SELLERS is if you have an inkling about picking up a book, PICK UP THE BOOK, luggage space or not.

--Greg

Haunted Books

Long day so far....

Had a general orientation this morning which involved signing in, getting a t-shirt, and eating pastries before getting the general run-down of the weekend.

Met with my short story workshop class--there are eight of us plus the instructor, which is a good number. The class works together well, though I talk to much and am sick of my own voice at the moment.

By the way, I am writing this sitting inside watching a tremendous downpour happening outside, which I mention due to the tornados that Iowa City hosted earlier this spring. No twisters yet, though I remain vigilant.

OK, so for our lunch break, I decided to explore Downtown Iowa City (which I also explored last night, but it's a different place during daylight).

I found an excellent used/rare bookshop, The Haunted Bookshop, whose selection reminded me of my own store. I even picked up some Bukowski for my personal collection, as he is rare to find used, except maybe at Powell's. Anyway, if you are in Iowa City (or driving through Iowa on I-80), definitely do not miss The Haunted Bookshop. Tell them I sent you or something.



On the way back to my workshop, I stopped at Whitey's Ice Cream, which is world renowned (or at least locally renowned).

Tonight there will be an open mic reading by workshop participants (over all the classes, not just the eight in mine).

A pretty full 35th birthday (yes, yes it is).

Fast-Food Bookselling

Very quickly (and no cool photos to attach):

Sitting in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on a three hour layover...

There's a bookstore in the airport called "Simply Books." Easy enough to figure out.

But rather than have sections labeled "Fiction" or "Novels," they have a section labeled "Famous Authors" that is next to the section labeled "Classics." I kid you not. Apparently, "famous authors" includes those like James Patterson.

This is the dumbing-down of bookselling for those who only read on flights. Alternatively, it may be the fourth sign of the apocalypse. Not sure which yet.

--Greg

School's Out For Summer!

OK, as soon as I clicked "Send" on the newsletter this afternoon, I realized there was one more announcement that I forgot to include. So maybe you will read this after looking at the newsletter and all will be saved.

Otherwise, this is a good time to get the store blog warmed up for my trip this weekend.

In a word: Parking.

The biggest complaint I hear about the store location (other than "I can't find you") is "I hate parking Downtown." This is especially true in the evenings near the store, as we are right across the street from EWU's Spokane campus, and students pretty much take over all the street parking after 4:30 p.m. or so.

But school is out for summer, and there is actually honest-to-goodness evening parking outside the store! I can prove it. I just took this photo about 15 minutes ago:



So, come one, come all. And bring your cars!

--Greg

A Day in Paris

Well, I can now rehash the goings on of Wednesday for you.

I got a late start, so I decided to hold off on the museum attending (Louvre and Pompideau) until Thursday. Instead, I hit a few major tourist destinations--the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Cathedral de Notre Dame.

All very impressive:

I was tired after all this (hours and hours of walking and eating chocolate crepes), and I almost headed back to the hotel. I decided, however, that this would be the best chance to hit bookstores. I was further inspired by the thought that if I made enough book purchases, I could write off at least some of the trip on this year's taxes (and yes, that's a strong inspiration).

I will write more about my bookstore finds (and they were plenty, in case you were wondering, IRS) later.

A few general thoughts about Paris:

The people here are generally friendly (much more so than the "stereotype"). This includes the people at my hotel as well as shopkeepers, waiters, etc. I did have one waiter who was a bit "snooty" and who made me wait quite a bit to pay my bill and provide change, but it was a sit-down restaurant, and my lack of command of French was more apparent here than elsewhere. Plus I made a small order.

It is COLD in the winter. I had checked the weather online before coming and since it was similar to Spokane's when I left, I decided to forego gloves, hats, etc. in the interest of saving space and not losing anything. Big mistake. What I wouldn't give for my warm gloves right about now.

The maps are confusing! This includes general fold-out maps as well as the city maps placed at bus stations which even provide a "you are here" symbol. Unfortunately, the maps do not make clear which direction they are oriented, and this is a problem considering I never know where I am at. Inevitably, this requires looking at the map, going in the wrong direction, and then returning to the map with new information with which to orient myself. Have I mentioned I have walked a lot?

Nutella crepes are just as good, if not better, at the crepes stands as in a sit-down restaurant.

That's all until later.

Au revoir.

George Carlin moment

I will write more about this day tomorrow (as long as I wake up early enough). There were many goings on.

For now I will share with you my George Carlin moment, he of the "Why do you park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?" joke.

I was confused today as I tried to go to a bibliotheque to buy books:


A bibliotheque, it turns out, is a library.

So, what do they call bookstores in French?

Librairies.

I got zapped a few times by the culture shock today.

More soon.

Au revoir.

Ugly American or just Stupid American?

Well, I made it into Paris and finally to my hotel.

That's the short version.

The longer version is that all my flights (to Seattle, to Copenhagen, to Paris) were delayed. Upon arriving at the airport in Paris, I became initially confused as I did not have to go through customs. I only had carry on luggage, but they didn't even check my passport. Of course, I could have walked the wrong direction. But anybody worried about airport security in the U.S. should take a trip to Paris. It was a mess, and I don't think they knew where anyone was going. Not the safest feeling in the world.

Anyway...although I thought I was prepared on how to leave the airport via public transportation, it was a bit more difficult as I was tired, confused, and ultimately frustrated. So, I walked around the airport for probably an hour, declining polite requests from cabbies to take me directly to the hotel for something like 50 euros. I felt a bit like Tom Hanks in The Terminal. But without the crackers and ketchup. I finally figured out (with the help of a nice airport employee worker) how to get to the shuttle I needed to get to the train station (where I was able to buy a 5 day public transportation pass for less than the one taxi ride would have cost). I then took three trains on three separate lines, crossing through busy, confusing train stations and finally made what I thought was my stop. If you want to visualize this, here's the metro map for Paris: (map). Good luck.

The trains reminded me quite a bit of trains in Chicago. The trains themselves looked similar. The passengers looked similar, and I definitely recognized the run down buildings and graffiti along the route. I suppose all major cities look the same if you take public transportation. Not too romantic, but I guess that's not to be helped.

Anyway, I finally made my stop, only to wander around the streets of Asnieres (a suburb of Paris) until again getting directions (in French) from the woman I bought a baguette from. I found the street I needed and then walked MUCH further than I thought I would have to to get to the hotel. So, basically, I carried two bags while munching on a baguette to my destination--very French. Or something.

So, today then starts the actual trip (in my mind). The sun rises late here (8:43 a.m.), which I am not used to. It makes me want to go back to bed.

I hope to have more uplifting posts soon.

Au revoir.