When I walked into Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe, four young employees were chatting behind the counter. I asked about a good read and learned that the staff was passing around Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. The book describes the author as an Australian escaped convict who lived as a fugitive in Bombay where he established a free medical clinic for slum-dwellers, then worked as a counterfeiter, smuggler, gunrunner and a street solider for the Bombay mafia. After ten years he was recaptured, finished his prison sentence, then upon his release started a successful multimedia company. Shantaram is a fictionalized tale of Roberts’ life. I read the back and asked the employees “Are you kidding me? Is this guy for real? Is this James Frey all over again?” They laughed and explained that while the book isn’t beautifully written, it is a great romp. I’ve actually looked for this book in stores to show to other people (how many stories about Bombay mobsters do you hear about) and haven’t found it, Shantarm is a Kramersbooks special for me.
Kramersbooks and Afterwords Cafe is packed with books stacked up several copies high squished together edge to edge. Eureka! It took me half an hour to get around the first table. There is a lot to chose from in fiction, mystery, history, psychology, religion, politics and various other standard bookstore categories. The store children’s section is sparse, thereby limiting my browsing time, but the Café served ice cream giving me a few extra minutes. Kramersbooks and Afterwords Café is the first bookstore/café in the nation with coffee drinks, a full bar, and food. The menu itself is the size of a book. A New York Times article claims you are not a true Washitonian until you receive an invitation that ends in “I’ll Meet you at Kramer’s.”
The Afterwords Café doesn’t have the intimate wood feel of a standard bookstore café; we walked through a bar to get to it and the dining area is glassed in reminding me of a Florida restaurant (I wonder how cold it is in the winter). But the waiter was great with the kids and we were welcome to camp there as long as we wanted, which is the key to a good bookstore café.
Kramerbooks and Afterwords Cafe
1517 Connecticut Avenue
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202.387.1400
Reply
Recent Articles
-
Wonderful Video of What Happens in a Bookstore at Night
I’ve been in a bit of a posting slump, but I’m working my way out and what better way to start the new year than with this lovely stop action video, “The Joy of Books,” about what happens in Type bookstore at night. I can’t wait to visit Toronto just to stop by Type Books to [...]
-
Scrambling For A Last Minute Gift? Head To Your Local Bookstore!
Farhad Manjoo ignited the latest round of ‘will the local bookstore survive’ with his “Don’t Support Your Local Bookstore” tirade on Slate. (I couldn’t fail to notice that while Salon promotes a campaign to support local bookstores, Slate is bashing them.) Numerous responses Manjoo were published, twitter feeds with special hashtags popped up, and even [...]
-
57th Street Books – Chicago, IL
57th Street, the actual street, is perfect for the meandering bookworm. We started with lunch at the graffiti clad Medici Restaurant. Famous for its burgers and scribbled upon walls and furnishings, we filled the time waiting for our food by adding our own “tags” to the table top. More importantly, within blocks there are three [...]
-
Essay Challenge Recap
I coming in just under the wire this year, this challenge must be completed today!! The Essay Challenge over at Books and Movies is the only one I joined this year, even so, I didn’t keep up with it the way I have the past two years. Not that I haven’t read essays all year [...]
-
Salon says “Support Your Local Bookstore!”
In the latest pitch to keep bookstores alive and well, or at least breathing, Salon.com gave credit to indies for finding and promoting the latest excellent book most of us don’t know: An independent bookstore brings a lot to a city or a town: a showroom for the latest literary releases, an auditorium where authors [...]
-
Small Business Saturday – Shop at Local Businesses on November 26th!
Actually shop at them as much as possible, they are the engine that drives your local economy. But, let’s give the little guys a leg up in the middle of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Drop by a local business, chat with a real person, and contribute to your neighborhood economy by purchasing a Christmas [...]
-
Which authors would you invite to Thanksgiving dinner?
Taking a riff from NPR’s story last week about which deceased composers Miles Hoffman would invite to Thanksgiving dinner, I pondered the same question for authors and asked quite a few friends. Here are the guidelines: which dead authors would you invite to Thanksgiving dinner? Which author would you invite to give a reading Thanksgiving [...]
-
Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Opens Today
One of the pleasures of having a teenage daughter is the opportunity to share silly, girlly experiences. While I understand all of the criticism about the Twilght series, and agree with some, as I’ve written before, I’ve enjoyed the ride. Even more, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share the sheer reading fun with my daughter. [...]
-
Abbey Books & Gifts – Valyermo, CA
I spent just over 24 hours last week at St. Andrews Abbey. I’m not Catholic, but I enjoy joining the monks in the Daily Office. For those of you new to that term (and that would’ve been me a couple of years ago), it’s the practice of pausing at several set times through out the [...]
-
Alexander Book Co. – San Francisco, CA
Alexander Book Co. is a traditional independent bookstore tucked around a corner in downtown San Francisco. Wedged between office towers and the Academy of Arts complex, it’s a cozy respite from steel, glass, and marble. The store even smells like good books waiting to be discovered. The first time I tried to visit the store, [...]
1 comment
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link: http://www.bookstorepeople.com/2008/08/kramer/trackback/