We had been traveling for something like twenty straight hours when we finally reached our last signpost–the customs official at LAX.  He squinted dubiously at the declaration form we had filled out.  “You only spent a hundred dollars in Europe?” he said with justifiable skepticism. 

“We bought this sweater,” I said, raising my youngest child’s hand to show off the Benetton cardigan we had grabbed in desperation when he had been cold one day.  “Otherwise, all we got were books.  Lots and lots of books.”  He smiled, waved us on through, and we stumbled our way out of the airport.

The great thing about being on vacation is that my kids read in a way they just don’t read at home when homework takes up their time and makes them reluctant to open any book, and the computer is vying for their attention.   This vacation, they were powering through the books they had packed. 

They read a lot in London, but they could also watch TV there and we were also at the theater a lot.  Once we got to Paris, though, where our internet didn’t work and the shows were all in French, well, they wouldn’t stop reading. Not even when we were walking down the Champs Elysees  (see photo). 

Anyway, the point is they were reading during every moment of downtime.  In the morning, they’d each take a small backpack and put a book in it to read whenever we’d stop anywhere to rest.   Sometimes it wasn’t even to rest: we have a photo of my daughter right in front of Notre Dame, calming balancing on a little pillar, making her way through The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks while the rest of us excitedly pointed out gargoyles and the inlaid star that indicates  ”point zero” for Paris.

To be fair, Annie was exhausted by the time we reached Notre Dame, and so were we all.  We had started at the Arc de Triomphe right after breakfast, wandered all the way along the Champs Elysees to the Tuileries, explored the Louvre, and then made our way along the Seine to Notre Dame.  Miles and miles of walking, not even counting the time spent wandering around one of the world’s biggest museums.    Our exhaustion, combined with the fact that we were running out of English language books to read, meant only one thing: we needed a bookstore and we needed one fast.

And of course, we were just a few blocks away from one of the greatest and most famous bookstores in the world: Shakespeare and Company.

It seems somewhat foolish to me to write at length about Shakespeare and Co.–a bit like writing about Shakespeare himself, in that you sort of feel like ‘what’s left to say that hasn’t already been said?’   We weren’t exactly discovering some small unknown treasure.  In fact, right before we left for Europe, Kim sent me a NY Times piece by Jeanette Winterson that pretty much tells you all you need to know about the store’s history and ethos.  No need for me to repeat all that–just click on the link and you’ll get a much better summation of what makes Shakespeare and Company cool than I can give you.

What I can tell you is this: it was an oasis in a desert, right where we needed it when we needed it.  The books are in English and pretty much everyone we spoke to there was either American, British, or Canadian.  Yes, there are rare books (in a little annex next door) and there’s a huge section devoted to the writers who all lived in and wrote about Paris back when it was all sepia-toned (you know–Henry Miller, Anais Nin, Lawrence Durrell, and the like), and, yes, it references the Beat era bookstore City Lights (they consider it a sister store) back in San Francisco–but none of that really mattered at that moment to my kids.

What mattered to them was that if you climbed the rickety narrow stairs in the back (only room for someone going in one direction so you can get stuck waiting for a while and make sure you stop to listen to whoever’s playing the piano right near the bottom of the stairs because the guy playing that day was really GOOD), you reached not only the kids’ section, where there were new and used books of such randomness that you could poke through them forever and still keep finding unexpected new gems, but ALSO a reading room where anyone who wanted to could just sit and read.

That’s right, a room lined with sofas just when we needed it most.  The kids grabbed some books and collapsed.  They would happily have stayed there reading until it was time to eat dinner, only my husband has this weird compulsion to explore cities when we travel.  (Even with his insistence we move on, my daughter still managed to finish an entire book before we left.)

The reading room is lined with full bookcase with signs that tell you you can look at the books and not buy them.  Being tired and hungry, I told my kids I was annoyed that the books filling up the walls weren’t actually for sale–I felt a bit like I was in a restaurant and not allowed to swallow any of the food I was chewing.  I definitely said it too loudly, and earned a much deserved nasty look from the guy who was working at a desk up there (maybe the owner?  I was too scared after that to approach him). 

When we were purchasing our books from the nice young Canadian woman downstairs, she informed me that the books that weren’t for sale were from private collections (she claimed many of them were from Simone de Beauvoir’s estate) and that even though they’re not for sale, people are welcome and even encouraged to read them in the store.  And of course, once I was rested and fed, I realized what a wonderful thing that is: a great collection of books that everyone can have access to.  My apologies to the man upstairs for my rude behavior.  Honestly, I only behave like that when I’m really really tired.

We bought an enormous pile of books that day and, in a reasonably fair exchange, managed to leave my son’s brand new sweatshirt lying on one of those reading room sofas.  Okay, that was unintentional (and annoying), but I like to think it was my son’s way of saying he really really wanted to go back before we left the city.  And so we did.

Joseph Fox Bookshop - owner Joseph Fox credits some of their success to the many off-site events the store participates in, over 200 a year.  These events give exposure to Joseph Fox Bookshop and if it is an author event, it stocks him with signed editions he continues to sell from the store.  Mr. Fox has noticed a slight slow down in sales, but he is confident that store will stay in business for years to come.  The store recommendation that caught my eye is Karnak Cafe by Naquib Mahfouz.  It’s underlying topic of state sanctioned torture is timely and I like the portions of Mahfouz’s publishing history that I’ve heard.

House of Our Own – another venerable establishment, it sells new books downstairs and used upstairs.  Co-owner Deborah Sanford said to stay financially flexible the store dropped author events because calendars are so busy that customers couldn’t be counted on to attend.  Instead, the store attracts a loyal following by providing an extensive literature collection and a warm, friendly and homey atmosphere.

Brickbat Books – a charming bookstore with rare and used books and new small press books.  The owner, Patrick Richardson Graham noted that the used bookstore business is always tight and continues to remain so.  The store hosts music events including a couple of bands that impressed Jakob Dorof, but I’ve never heard of them.  I looked at the store blog and currently a group of Vintage Mid-Century Paperbacks are well displayed.  The prices are reasonable, but even if you’re not buying (but you should), the covers are terrific, take a look.

Giovanni’s Room- currently the oldest gay-and-lesbian bookstore in the nation, where winter sales beat estimates, but a two year long city construction project in front of the store could be difficult to survive (not exactly how we wanted the stimulus money to work).  The owner, Ed Hermance, hopes the expertise of the staff will be enough to keep their customers loyal.  The book that immediately caught my eye is My Germany:  A Jewish Writer Returns to the World His Parents Escapedby Lev Raphael.  I have the extreme privilege of helping Holocaust survivors apply for German reparations, it’s just about all the legal work I’m willing to do anymore.  Part of the process is reliving their story; it is an honor to hear them.  The last time I worked with a survivor, she came with her son and at one difficult moment, he turned to me and said “we don’t talk about this very much.”  I am very interested in reading about a son’s journey to help heal his family’s past.

Whodunit?- currently the oldest mystery bookstore in the country (I’m noticing a trend), co-owner Art Bourgeau said that they have never had so many people visiting the store.  He credits his constant buying of books and their reasonable price, most under $10, as the lifeblood of the store.  They also sell hundreds of books a year from a table of books kept on the sidewalk.  I confess, I’ve never bought a book from one of those tables, I’ll have to look harder next time.

Head House Books - a store selling new books, owner Richard de Wyngaert says the store stands out from Amazon and the big box stores because he acts as a curator who chooses books of value and merit, the store atmosphere is elegant (it is beautiful, look at the picture), and it offers a series of guest author events.  I’m looking forward to readingBlindspot by Jane Kamensky, it looks like the perfect fit for the Art History Challenge.

Wooden Shoe Books and Records – opened in 1976 by a group of council communists, anarchists and civil rights activists.  It’s still run as a collective, but has seen income decline.  They are considering relocating to a larger space since their events attract more people than they can comfortably fit.

GERM Books and Gallery- a new and used bookstore offering ideologically unpopular books and those dealing with socially difficult topics.  Jakob Dorof said the store has plenty of conspiracy theory, UFO and occult books.  Currently, business is doing very well.  The Gallery holds art shows in the same politically incorrect vein.

I am mad about John Updike. I never had the discipline to wait for a paperback when a new book came out. Several years ago, one of my like-minded fellow fanatics told me Updike was doing a reading/signing gig at the library downtown.  There was never any doubt that we’d go and see him (in the middle of a work day like thieves sneaking into a museum).  I was so twitterpated while we listened to him read to us that I almost cried.  I felt so lucky to be in the same room with him, actually looking at his silver head, LISTENING to him while he read something he had written. My guy J.U…..right in front of me!!!   It was overwhelming.  He was wry, handsome, smart…and then he signed my book.  I got back in my car, squeezed my fists tightly, and squealed.  Only Mick Jagger has gotten a bigger reaction from me.

I am a big fan, even when a lot of my other bookish friends weren’t as crazy about him as I was.  I think he got the short end of the stick simply because he was Grisham/Cornwall prolific, and also because he was living in the same world that Philip Roth moved in.  For some reason John Updike (like my boyfriends Pat Conroy and John Irving) doesn’t get the same press. Harrumph.

When I beg my book groups to do an Updike series, I always lose the bid. I have to remind people he won the Pulitzer – twice.  (Faulkner also won twice: fitting company.)  Maybe those Rabbit books were too long ago,  or maybe modern readers picked up the prize winners and didn’t start at the beginning of the series, so they never knew how good the reading was.  I say “reading”, not writing, because I am a reader after all.  So often we praise writers for their writing style – but I loved that Updike was a good read.   He made me squirm in my seat as he described a particularly sordid sexual encounter.  He made me hold my breath as a I read about the death of a child.  He sucked me in.

I remember my Dad reading the Rabbit books, so Updike has a warm family, WASP, familiarity to me.  Rabbit, like my Dad, was a high school sports star from a town in middle America.  Rabbit, to me, is real and really American.  He’s a car salesman (!) who ages, who marries, who suffers disappointments in his children and his wife.  He ages, and the reader gets to know him, and to feel things with him as his life fades.  There are Rabbit Angstroms around every corner where I come from.  

The holidays always find me shopping to buy other people things they want.   Inevitably, I end up a at a book store, and have to buy myself something too.  Last Christmas, I went to a funky local book store, Equator Books in Venice, CA, that sells used, classic books and vinyl.  I admit that I got waylaid briefly by the Jesus Christ Superstar brown album…but then I saw the first editions of the Rabbit books.  I dropped the JCS vinyl like a hot potato and clutched the Updikes in speechless happiness.   I had to go back home for more dough – but before I did that I asked the guy at the counter to hold them because – get this – I was so afraid someone else would see them and beat me to it.  

RIP Johnny U.  I’ll continue to beg my reading friends to dig you out of the back shelves.

A lot of us passionate readers have a secret dream of one day owning a bookstore. When Meg Ryan welcomes children to her small independent shop in You’ve Got Mail, who doesn’t want to be that character?  To spend your days surrounded by books, to introduce strangers to the books that mean the most to you, to have a reason to order every new book that catches your eye in a review . . .  if you love to read, that’s just pure fantasy.

When I walked into Mystery Books on Broxton Ave in Westwood Village, I knew I had found a really appealing independent bookstore with a clear market niche.  But when I started talking to the assistant manager, Linda Brown, I learned that this wasn’t just any bookstore–this was my dream brought to life.

Just this fall, the Pasich/Woods family, who had been coming to Mystery Books for years (enough time for youngest son Connor to grow from a small child to a teenager) bought Mystery Books from the small group of investors who had previously owned it.  The family isn’t in the book business: they just loved the bookstore and wanted to keep it safely in operation.

You can see why someone would fall in love with this store.  It manages to be pretty big and cozy at the same time.  I’m not much of a reader of mysteries (recently I had a lovely two month relationship with Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell books, but that was more because of the fantasy that Mary gets to sleep with Sherlock Holmes than because she went around solving mysteries) so I wouldn’t have expected to want to linger in the store–but I honestly didn’t want to leave.

Yes, of course, the bookshelves are filled with mysteries, but not just current, American mysteries–they include first editions from here and over seas.  A whole section of the store is dedicated to the British imports that you can’t usually find in America, many of them signed and/or first editions.

Mystery Books stocks a lot of rare finds–including things as wondrous as first edition Agatha Christies and Raymond Chandlers–so if there’s a mystery-phile in your life, I can’t imagine a better place to find an easy birthday or holiday gift.

There’s also an extensive reference section for the budding (or well established) mystery writer, including a lot of books on forensics which might be fun to browse if you’re simply a CSI fanatic.

And their kids’ section is knock-your-socks off great–they won me over when the first very book I saw was a new Orson Scott Card Ender book.  Linda told me that the children’s section does skew a little broader than the adults’, so there’s something there for everyone–and the entire section is liberally sprinkled with young Connor’s book recommendations.   See?  It’s good to own a bookstore.

Their website is fantastic, filled with upcoming author visits and all the newest releases.  Check it out and then drop by the store the next time you’re in Westwood Village.  (Locals should know that it’s just a couple of blocks from Diddy Riese, the best and cheapest ice cream shop in town and on the same block as my favorite parking structure in the Village.)

Mystery Books

1036-c Broxton Avenue

Los Angeles, CA  90024

310 209-0415

Eighteen years ago I visited Seattle for the first time.  It was our first weekend trip away from a job I hated and a city I swore I would never live in (now I realize I’ll live in Los Angeles for the rest of my life, but I did get rid of that job).  The angst I felt over all the changes in my life lifted the moment I walked into The Elliott Bay Book Company.  I found a book during that first visit about living in suburbia; the recommendation card described the tedium of living in tract housing as the constant evenly paced whoosh of a Rainbird sprinkler.  The description struck me, so I bought the book.  It detailed the brain-numbing monotony of suburban life.  Whenever I drive through tract housing I feel that oppression.

Interestingly enough, during my recent trip to Elliot Bay, I bought two more books about home life (really, they have over 150,000 titles, the breadth and depth of the store is amazing, I just seem to have a theme whenever I go there).  When I walked into the store I was a bit overwhelmed by all of the choices.  In front of me as soon as I entered where four 9 foot or taller bookshelves full of staff recommendations.  I wanted all of them.  More recommendations were spread among the various subjects.  An entire bookshelf is dedicated to recommendations for books groups (plus book groups can meet with a staff member to discuss recommendations for their group and tips on how to keep the conversation on topic).  I gave up trying to make a decision and asked the woman at the information desk if there was a unique book she liked.  She had two that she talked about as we walked over to the books (I learned later that employees are trained to walk the customer over to the book they’re asking about chatting with them the entire way, I loved it).  The first was Cost by Roxana Robinson, a story of what all of us give up for family.  I haven’t read it yet, but I’m looking forward to it.  Hmm, is this the appropriate book to be reading around the Christmas tree surrounded by family?  Maybe not. 

Book Review

The second book was The Story of Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer, she said the book did a wonderful job showing that spouses never really know each other.  But the author is young, in his thirties, what, has he been married 15 minutes?  Well, I read this book and the young author has some interesting insights on assumptions in marriage and the problems resulting from a lack of communication.   The basic storyline is how Pearlie’s view of her husband from their childhood and their marriage changes when a person from his war years returns and alters their lives.  What drove me nuts is that Pearlie and Holland, the husband, never discuss the issue, they communicate about this vital topic only through this ghost from his past.  For me, the book becomes a bit of a stretch, but I discuss everything with my husband, he actually might like a little bit of Pearlie in his life.  Pearlie wonders about marriage and the role of a wife through the sentencing of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.  Why didn’t Ethel turn on her husband to be with her kids?  To whom does she have the greatest loyalty?  The question of loyalty comes up in the Rosenberg’s marriage, Pealier and Holland’s marriage and the actions of the boys who did not fight in WWII, either as a result of conscientious objection or fear. Interwoven in the story is a picture of life for a black family at the end of the Korean War and a peek into the culture of a nation awakening to its promise after WWII.

The List of Qualities

Elliott Bay has an amazing amount of features that support its nationwide fame, here’s a bullet point list of what is wonderful:

• A coffee shop serving organic food and coffee that inhabits the entire basement.  Rumor has it that the coffee shop in “Frazier” is based on this one.
• Book clubs every Tuesday night at 6:30:  The Elliot Bay Book Club discussing contemporary fiction on the first Tuesday; The Global Issues and Ethics Book Club discussing modern problems and maybe even solutions on the second Tuesday; Speculation, the SciFi and Fantasy group on the third Tuesday; and, Stages, for readers of new and classic dramas on the fourth Tuesday.  The books for each group on the website, a handy recommendation guide if you love the genre but don’t live close enough to attend.
• Maiden Voyage First Edition Program – the store sends out a hardback first edition of an author’s debut novel.  One past choice was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, winner of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.  Membership is $150 a year.  Hmm, another holiday or birthday gift that would keep on giving all year long.
• Elliott Bay gives back to the Seattle community with Books for Change.  A percentage of sales from chosen books are donated to charity.  When I was there the choice of books related to the organization for that month, but also included several fiction and non-fiction bestsellers such as Master Pip by Lloyd Jones.
• The staff will assist with corporate sales, either arranging for the appropriate book for an entire office or client list or a variety of hand picked books for a particular business.
• Almost nightly author visits from the entire range of authors from the stature of Frank Rich and John Irving to the new unknown author who could be tomorrow’s Phillip Roth.  In fact, right now the opening page for the website is a recollection of the Obama’s visit when he toured the nation for The Audacity of Hope.
• Staged Play Readings occur from May to October (the less rainy months?), each month is a staged reading of a play.
• Last but certainly not least, each quarter Elliot Bay publishes Elliot Bay Booknotes a summary of recommended books of various genres.  Bookmark this page and remember to return to it on each Equinox and Solstice.

A Closing Gift

The entire time I was reading The Story of Marriage, I kept thinking of a poem I heard Mary Oliver read last winter.  I was in Royce Hall with hundreds of other people and you could have heard a pin drop, we all sat mesmerized by the poetry of this tiny woman.  After almost 20 years of marriage, I think this one is the most beautiful love poems:

The Whistler

All of a sudden she began to whistle. By all of a sudden

I mean that for more than thirty years she had not

whistled. It was thrilling. At first I wondered, who was

in the house, what stranger? I was upstairs reading, and

she was downstairs. As from the throat of a wild and

cheerful bird, not caught but visiting, the sounds war-

bled and slid and doubled back and larked and soared.

Finally I said, Is that you? Is that you whistling? Yes, she

said. I used to whistle, a long time ago. Now I see I can

still whistle. And cadence after cadence she strolled

through the house, whistling.

I know her so well, I think. I thought. Elbow and an-

kle. Mood and desire. Anguish and frolic. Anger too.

And the devotions. And for all that, do we even begin

to know each other? Who is this I’ve been living with

for thirty years?

This clear, dark, lovely whistler?

Thank you, Mary Oliver.

Elliott Bay Book Company
101 South Main Street
Seattle, WA 98104
T: 206.624.6600

It was someone Kim knew who alerted us to the presence of Dragon Books up in the shopping center on Beverly Glen, just below Mulholland.   Madison McGarry is 14 and wrote the following:

Dragon Books is one of the small business stores that you never want to close down. It looks like the small library room found in old victorian mansions or the house of an ivy-league college professor, this is mainly because they only sell first edition copies. We (my stepmom and I) found the owner of the store, Jay Penske, talking with his some other people about a screenplay or something relative on the big sofas in the store. When we told  him that I was planning on writing a review on the store he said that he was glad and gave us a sheet of paper. On the paper it showed which kind of books are under what letter (which I didn’t notice until i saw the list), I’ve never seen a system like that anywhere else which makes it pretty cool. Once he gave me the paper, Jay went back to his conversation with the people on the sofa (makes me glad that he gets to have a life while working in a store, you barely see that in big company stores like Borders). I had no exact book I was looking for so my head went wild at the many kinds of books and covers. I bought three books and ordered some others in advanced when I left the place I wished I worked there. If Dragon Books closes down the same way as Dutton’s I don’t know  what would happened. There should be no reason for this store to close down, the books are priced just like anywhere else.

With a recommendation like that, Kim and I had to check out the store ourselves.  We set a date and despite a minor hitch–Kim sprained her ankle, putting her on crutches for the excursion–set out to experience Dragon Books.

Parking in Beverly Glen Circle is easy if you beat the lunch crowd and (as we discovered later) much more difficult if you wait, so my recommendation is to go early.  And if you have a friend on crutches, drop her off in front of the store so she can go in and warm up the employees before you’ve even parked and made it inside.  I’m just saying.

It certainly worked out well for me: by the time I got inside, Kim was already chatting up Chad Reingold who very kindly gave us a tour of the store and showed us some of their most prized offerings. 

Dragon Books is “a rare and antiquarian bookseller.”  This isn’t the place to go to get the latest Grisham.  It is the place to go to get your spouse of fifty years the absolutely perfect golden anniversary present.  Does she love Austen?  You can get her a first edition Emma.  Does he have more modern tastes?  A first edition of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest or A Confederacy of Dunces would thrill a lot of people I know, myself included.   There are illustrated texts going back centuries–one very old book of fencing instruction and drawings captivated me–and gorgeously bound old leather editions of almost every classic.  Lots of Dickens.  I like Dickens.

Prices aren’t cheap.  In fact, I’d say prices are the opposite of cheap, especially for the dream items, like that Emma.  Fortunately, there are many some shelves of used paperbacks in the back, and while this isn’t a “50 cents for 3″ kind of place, everything is in good condition and if your goal is to find something to read, you’ll find something to read.   But the true value of this story is for the rare book collector and that 50th anniversary gift hunter.

The store itself is absolutely beautiful, with shelves surrounding a “curl up and read for the next three hours” center living room area.    Hidden stairs in the back lead up to a mini loft where there’s more comfy seating and you can easily spy on the people downstairs.  You could even throw water balloons down at them if you’re that kind of person, but you’d be running the risk of having one go splat on a very expensive one-of-a-kind antique book or document.  (And don’t send your kids up there alone–that’s where they keep the erotica.  Oldfashioned, elegant, classy erotica, but erotica none the less.)

As Madison pointed out in her review, the store has its own system of organization and you will need the legend they have on the back of their bookmarks to figure it all out.  Their subject divisions (Law, Psychology, Art, Science, etc.) made me think it would be the perfect place to pick up a really nice gift for, say, a lawyer friend, a psychologist friend, an artist friend–well, you get the idea.  Not a bad place to pick up corporate gifts, either–and given the cost of the rarer items, you might want to be able to write these things off.

If you’re driving by Beverly Glen Circle, stop in and look around because you’ll be stunned by the treasures you’ll find at Dragon Books.   As Chad pointed out to us, it’s unusual to find a “walk in and browse” rare book store–most books and documents of this quality and rarity are sold by appointment only out of people’s homes.   At the moment, they haven’t yet launched their website, but they are working on one.

And once you’ve parked and stopped in, you may want to have lunch at one of the restaurants up in the Circle–just make sure you’re not eating at a table near someone who’s leaned her crutches up against a chair.   Those things can fall and crush your shoulder.  Consider yourself warned.

Dragon Books

2954 Beverly Glen Circle

Bel-Air, CA  90077

310 441-8545