bookstore

You are currently browsing articles tagged bookstore.

Bodhi Tree Bookstore

April 23, 2009 in bookstore, spirituality by Claire | 3 comments

An oasis of spirituality in Los Angeles

Once again our friend Laura Sanderson Healy is contributing a review and we’re so grateful to her.  If you haven’t yet read her earlier review, click here.  The rest is her writing.

logo1Calling all Bodhisattvas: enlightenment by the multiple armload awaitsyou at The Bodhi Tree in Los Angeles, a spiritual bookstore beyond compare (though Zen practitioners might tut-tut that comparisons are odious). Since 1970 the Bodhi Tree has been the MRI-strength magnet on Melrose Avenue for seekers of all sorts, whether one is hunting down books on Eastern gurus like H.P. Blavatsky or G.I. Gurdjieff or Western psychics like Edgar Cayce. Books about God or gods/goddesses (and their nemeses), manuals on physical health and wellness, cures and treatments, and self-help titles for those who find themselves on mental or chemical obstacle courses, all find space, as do all the religions, good and — verdict’s out. The store presents all the
theories without passing judgment, according to its literature.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

The Book Revue in Huntington Village

March 11, 2009 in bookstore, used books by Claire | 1 comment

book-revueA Long Island Bookstore

As you know, we love when readers contribute reviews of their favorite bookstores and the farther from LA they are, the better we like them.  Supportive and enthusiastic reader Meagan Cea lives in Huntington, New York and is a sophomore at Queens College in Flushing.  We’re very grateful to her for the following review.  The rest of this post is hers.

 In this economy everyone is trying to pinch pennies. A surprising
and wonderful side effect is that, in the effort to save money, more
and more people are choosing books over movies and video games. But for
those with a real habit, reading isn’t necessarily cheaper at 15, 20,
sometimes 30 dollars a pop. That is, if you haven’t discovered a way to
feed your addiction.

Whenever people think of New York, they think of New York City,
Manhattan. It’s only natural. Yet in doing so they forget about another
wonderful little island: Long Island. If by chance you do remember Long
Island and find yourself out in Suffolk County, you just may stumble
upon Huntington Village. Huntington Village, also known as downtown
Huntington, is THE hot spot for any kind of entertainment you’re looking
for: restaurants, cafes, bars, a movie theater, even a jazz lounge. But
the best thing in town is of course, the bookstore. Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Take a Stand against Book Banning

March 3, 2009 in book banning by Claire | 2 comments

Here at bookstorepeople.com, Kim and I love when people contact us with worthy book-related causes they want to bring to the attention of our readership.  Rachael Holley, an intern at ABFFE (The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression), asked us to help her spread the word about Banned Books Week.  Although it won’t take place until the fall, it’s crucial to start planning your involvement early, as Rachael explains below.  We will, of course, remind everyone when Banned Books Week arrives.  The rest of this post is Rachael’s:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Catcher in the Rye. Harry Potter.

Every one of these books is a literary treasure, and yet as recently as 2008 these books have been challenged for “offensive language, racism, sexuality, and anti-religious viewpoints.” What if you and your kids couldn’t read about your favorite Wizard at the public library? Or your local high school banned Mark Twain from its curriculum?

This year, take a stand against censorship. Join the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the American Library Association (ALA) in celebrating Banned Books Week 2009. From September 26 to October 3, independent bookstores across the country can host events, displays, and speakers that promote anti-censorship and raise awareness about the reality of book banning in the United States.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Diesel Books, Now in Brentwood

February 16, 2009 in bookstore, cookbook, graphic novels, location by Claire | 1 comment

The neighborhood gains a new bookstore

When you live in Los Angeles, you get used to that feeling of urban anonymity wherever you go, but the first time I walked into the new Diesel Books in the Brentwood Country Mart, I glanced down at the guest list and immediately spotted the name of one of my closest friends just a few rows above where I was about to sign up for their email newsletter, and I suddenly felt like I lived in a small town.

Diesel just opened up a few months ago, less than five minutes from my house.   Locals like me who live near the Country Mart tend to go there regularly for their Reddi Chick fix, since they have the best rotisserie chicken and ribs in Brentwood.  (Also possibly the only rotisserie chicken and ribs in Brentwood.)  You order at their take-out counter, then sit outside in the courtyard, either close to the fire or far away from it depending on how warm it is.  (When it’s really warm, there’s no fire at all, of course.) Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

Exploring in Aspen

February 4, 2009 in bookstore by Claire | No comments

As you know, Kim and I love guest posts.  We can’t actually visit every bookstore in the country by ourselves, although Kim may come closer than anyone else in the world to reaching that goal.  My friend Maria Semple, is a TV writer turned novelist.  Her recently published first novel, This One is Mine (Little Brown), got glowing reviews and I loved it.  Check out her website to read more about it.   Maria kindly and graciously reviewed one of her favorite bookstores for us, Explore Book Sellers, rated a reader’s favorite in Mountain Living Magazine in 2007 and 2008.  The rest of this post is by her. 
Maria at her booksigning at Explore

Maria at her booksigning at Explore

Growing up in LA, I went to grade school with the Anderson girls. (Celebrities to us, not because their mother, Katherine, was the daughter of Hollywood’s first celebrity couple, Irving Thalberg & Norma Sheerer, but because their father, Richard Anderson, played Oscar Goldman on The Six Million Dollar Man.) Katherine and Richard divorced; Katherine and her daughters moved to Aspen. She reported back that it was a jewel of a place and that she had opened a bookstore. My parents brought us to Aspen for the summer. We stayed for the school year. We never left.

Read the rest of this entry »

  • Share/Bookmark

« Older entries