When our floating city docked in Ketchikan (I had to visualize catch-a-can to remember how to say it), Alaska at 7AM, we dashed off to fully utilize our 4 hours off the boat and in the rain. Before arriving, I wondered what in the world we were going to do in a city that is asleep. Alas, it appears Alaska sleeps on cruise liner docking schedules in the summer, the town was up and ready to greet us.
We had a fabulous guide that drove us from a wet beautiful nature spot to a quiet nature slosh (because how many people go on a family hike in the woods at 8AM) to lovely examples of totem poles, which are displayed outside, in the rain.
With the clock ticking towards cast off time, we told our guide to keep our snacks for his lunch, we’ll skip them in exchange for a few minutes to explore the local bookstore, Parnassus Books. Clearly, this was the first time anyone requested this side trip, he knew the address but had never been there.
Parnassus is located at the end of Creek Street (the end opposite to where we parked), in the historic red light district that is part stores, part boardwalk. We were rushing, so the whole family started running dodging slow moving cruisers whose boat was leaving later than ours. We burst into Parnassus, very soggy and moving fast.
As soon as I hung up my coat, my son whispered “ask right now what book they like, start talking, we’re low on time” and my husband took pictures right and left knowing I couldn’t wander around looking at the store for as long as I usually do. The clerk looked startled. Parnassus is a serene haven, and we came in like a tornado. There were so many touches that I liked–the layout of a house with the rooms containing different categories of books (if only those walls could talk), the wooden coat rack to hang up our coats, the glass paned doors dividing the rooms, the lace curtains, the feeling of stepping into a booklover’s home who invited you to browse. What a respite from people everywhere on a ship with piped in elevator music and people everywhere in the ports; one could hide here, have a cup of coffee or tea, and cozy up with a book. Well, someone could, but not us, we had eight minutes.
We look like wet rats, but isn't the store cozy?
The clerk was a champ finding something for us to read. My husband chose The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. A “memoir” by Enzo the family dog what what he has learned in his lifetime. Some of the observations are profound, “understanding the truth is simple . . . allowing oneself to experience it, often is terrifically difficult.” But I’ll be repeating “your car goes where your eyes go” as often as Enzo did when I’m teaching my teenager to drive. (UPDATE: The Art of Racing in the Rain received an award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.)
My husband liked The Art of Racing in the Rain as a follow up to The Story of Edward Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, the break out book of the summer. At the ALA convention this summer, a HarperCollins representative approached me with the book and told the story of how Wroblewski was a word processor in Colorado in his late 40s and this was his first novel, Stephen King read it and wrote a full page letter to HarperCollins raving about the book and saying that they had to publish it. Oprah picked it last week for her book club. Amazing. A fledgling writer’s dream. But Stephen King and Oprah are right, people are falling in love with this book about a mute boy, his relationships with dogs and a plot that harkens back to a story long, long ago (you can find out what story Edward Sawtelle is a re-telling of with a quick Internet search, I don’t want to be a spoiler though).
My husband loved both of his ‘dog days of summer’ books, but what’s interesting is that since reading them, he has far more respect for our dog and our dog is much more interested in him.
Parnassus Books
5 Creek Street, Upstairs
Ketchikan, AK 99901
Tel: 907.225.7690
Tags: Alaska, Alaska bookstore, Ketchikan, Ketchikan bookstore
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