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Paulina Springs Books – Sisters, Oregon

June 17, 2010 in bookstore, used books by Kim | 1 comment

Sisters, Oregon is a lovely small town in the shadow of the beautiful Three Sisters Mountains.  The downtown decor is western quaint.  With only a population of 1925, Sisters supports two stores, Paulina Springs Books and Lonesome Water Books. I dropped by Paulina Springs Books three years ago and picked up Owl Island by Randy Sue Coburn on the booksellers recommendation and I was looking forward to seeing how the store changed.

Bucking the bookstore trend of hunkering or closing down, Paulina Springs Books has expanded since my first visit.  They opened a sister store in Redmond, Oregon (see my review of that store and how to pronounce Paulina) and are enlarging this store by breaking through a wall and taking on additional space.  Larger didn’t change the chatty atmosphere.  I remember during my first experience that a discussion about books became a store wide conversation among the various customers and booksellers.  The same open conversations occurred again, where customers and booksellers bantered back and forth about upcoming books, YA recommendations, and great reads.

Like it’s sister store, Paulina Springs Books has a strong outdoor/nature section.  Of course, there is an emphasis on Oregon, remember the Three Sister Mountains are looming out the front window, yet I found several books to accompany me on my southwest trip (since cancelled).  I found a shelf talker recommending Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams, and when I told the bookseller I bought the book to read for a trip to the southwest, she pointed me to Red by Williams, Read the rest of this entry »

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One of the Nation’s Best – Powell’s in Portland, OR

May 10, 2010 in bookstore, One of the Nation's Best, used books by Kim | No comments

A couple of weeks ago, my girlfriend Leslie visited Portland and headed directly to Powell’s, the mother-of-great-bookstores.  I was stuck in Los Angeles, mentally following her through the day.  I e-mailed her a message to have fun just as she was entering the store.  Hours later after I paid bills, picked up tired teenagers, and cleaned up the house for dinner guests, she e-mailed me that she was just leaving the store.  One guess as to who had the better day.  Here is Leslie’s wonderful afternoon:

Powell’s Books in Portland has long been one of my favorite bookstores. However, it’s been years since I’ve been there and I caught myself wondering if it was truly as special as I recalled or if my memory had turned it into something far better than it really is.

I recently returned from Portland to see a good friend who, when we were talking about what to do during my visit, immediately asked “You want to go to Powell’s, right”? We made sure that there was enough time to spend a couple of hours perusing the shelves. I’m very pleased that my memory was correct – it is a fabulous independent bookstore. And, a few hours really, for me, was not enough time to spend there.  (My mother-in-law, who lives outside of Brunswick, Georgia doesn’t have a lot of good department stores in her immediate area and is always on the hunt for clothes. She was in Portland a few years ago and passed up two free afternoons shopping in Nordstroms so that she could spend more time at Powell’s. It’s that kind of place).

My girlfriend in Portland, Laura, visits Powell’s fairly often. She brought me up to speed on several of the changes that they’ve made over the years. The best change is that the store just simply keeps getting bigger. It now takes up an entire city block. If you don’t want to look through every single section like I wanted to, the sections are all color coded with very easy to understand colored signs. Looking for fiction? Look for the blue and gold signs. Philosophy? You’ll find it under the Read the rest of this entry »

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Lonesome Water Books in Sisters, Oregon

May 3, 2010 in bookstore, used books by Kim | 3 comments

Or, How I Found Two Laura Ingalls Wilder Books

I saw a wooden “BOOKS” sign as I exited Paulina Springs Bookstore (a review of that store soon), it was hanging from the eaves of the porch overhang on a wood sided building lined with a wood plank sidewalk.  The entire scene was straight out of “The Rifleman.”  Loaded down with my Paulina purchases, I walked over expecting to see a mish-mash antique store with a few books.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Peeking inside the window, the store was momentarily closed, I saw rows and rows of bookshelves.

After meandering around Sisters–when you are there you must, must, must stop for handmade ice cream at Sno-Cap, even if it’s freezy and you have to eat the ice cream with a scarf and gloves–a cute little town with fabulous views of the Cascades, I stopped back at Lonesome Water Books.   The first thing I noticed was a sideline never before witnessed in a bookstore:  vintage buttons.  Lots of buttons.  They almost made me wished I sewed.  The owner’s wife loves buttons and a portion of her collection, I learned that many were still at home, were offered for sale.  Momentarily waylaid, but then remembering I don’t sew on buttons, I started roaming the shelves.  All neatly arranged, the store has every category of books imaginable.  My favorite:  Autos, Fire Engines, Tractors, Small Engines and Bikes, this category of books was new to me, but it took up two shelves.

In the memoir section, I tripped over a hardback early edition of  On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder, a diary of her move with Almanzo and Rose from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri.  I thought I had read everything by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I devoured the entire series multiple times as a child, then couldn’t wait to read them to my children (it was so hard not to sob when Jack died), and finally read much of the series again in a sod house when Leslie and I took our daughters on a Little House on the Prairie trip from one Ingalls homestead to another.  I explained to the clerk how excited I was to find the book, how I had traveled to the places Wilder lived.  Prior to this conversation, the clerk and I had run into each other in the aisles, but hadn’t spoken.  He listened to me, nodded twice, asked me to wait a  moment, then walked to another part of the store.  I heard books moving around, a few humps and then he returned with a first edition of West from Home:  Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, San Francisco 1915 and placed it in front of me as if it was a gift.  And it was.  I didn’t know she was in San Francisco (visiting Rose apparently) and can’t wait to read her impressions of it.  This taciturn elderly gentleman knew exactly how to please a customer.

Lonesome Water Books

221 West Cascade Ave

Sisters, OR 97759

T:  541.549.2203

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Paulina Springs Books in Redmond, OR

June 22, 2009 in bookstore, Uncategorized by Kim | 3 comments

Every year, a group of us gather in Bend, OR for a weekend of hiking, fictionmeandering about town, talking (lots of talking) and relaxing.  Usually, we land in Redmond and drive straight out to Bend, but this time Keri, Nancy and I stopped by Paulina Springs Books before dashing to our view of the Three Sisters.

Paulina Springs Books sits in the middle of 6th Street amidst cute cafes (we loved the Toucan Cafe for lunch, try the special Santiago mate drink) and shops.  The store is a joy to walk around with used, hardbacks and paperbacks all stocked together.  There’s plenty of space, a luxury, and Keri said “what I like about this store is that most of the books are facing out.”  Just about everyone agrees, the books facing out catch our eye.  Also, my favorite bookstore attribute are the shelf-talkers, I tend to read them before looking at the books on the shelves, and there were plenty in this store.  It was with a shelf talker that Nancy found The Secret of Lost Things by Sheridan Hay and pulled me over because a book about bookstores I had to read.  I’ve seen twitter chatter about the book, so I was happy to find it.

Paulina Springs Books is the sister store to the original Paulina Springs in Sisters, OR.  They are owned and operated by a brother-sister team.  Cynthia, the sister, leads the Redmond store that opened about 18 months ago.  Cynthia was a school teacher and took on bookselling when she retired.  She found that it took awhile for the locals to learn about the store and just when they started to gain some traction, the recession hit.  But they are happy to be in Redmond and have a local following.

The store has large bestseller and staff pick sections which offer a discount, but Cynthia said the locals love regional books.   They adore the area they live in and want to learn about it and explore it.  I understand, you only need to be here for an hour before you’re trying to figure out how to relocate.  Specifically, William L. Sullivan’s books fly off the shelves.  I bought the next-to-last copy of his latest, Atlas of Oregon Wilderness, and we spent the weekend looking up hikes and trying out a few.  It’s a terrific resource, the author describes the natural history of the area and a variety of hikes both long and short. In this part of the country, he gives important guidance, such as when the snow will melt so you know whether or not to bring your snow shoes.  The photography offers a sample of the views and sights along the trail.

I asked Cynthia who Paulina was, and learned there never was one. Paulina is pronounced poe-line-a’ and is an Indian term used as a name throughout Central Oregon for a peak, a lake, mountains and a variety of businesses.

Cynthia and I chatted about the closing of the Book Barn in Bend last year.  But, three new bookstores opened up in the last year.  There is a big box store in the area, but it hasn’t squeezed out competition.  The number of stores has helped bring in authors for events and enriched the entire community.  Hmmm, I wonder how many bookstores the girls want to visit?

Paulina Springs Books

422 SW 6th St.

Redmond, OR 97756

T:  541.526.1491

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Dudley’s Bookshop and Cafe in Bend, OR

June 10, 2009 in bookstore, used books by Kim | 2 comments

dudleysstore_front1As I walked down Wall St. towards Minnesota in downtown Bend, I was sad to think that The Book Barn wouldn’t be there when I turned the corner.  Imagine my surprise when I looked up and saw Dudley’s Bookshop and Cafe in exactly the same location.  I practically skipped over.  The Bend/Redmond area has four bookstores (lucky them!) and a big box, but Dudley’s is the only store dedicated to selling used books.  Now the community has a place to recycle the fabulous books they purchased at the other stores.  There is a selection of all types of genres, so whatever you’re looking for check in and whatever you’re trading in, there is a place for your book at Dudley’s.

Teri, the owner, changed the configuration of the store from the Book Barn days.  Rather than the shelves standing flush against the wall, they’re perpendicular, giving her room to add a cute little cafe corner in the back.  I visited The Book Barn several times and never knew there was a second floor.  Dudley’s opened up the top floor and it is a huge lounging and event space.  The comfy couches and rocking chairs are perfect for spending the day reading with other bibliophiles.

In just a short time, Dudley’s is as much a community center as a used bookstore.  The white board event calendar on the back wall is packed.  In addition to author appearances, there are weekly groups (employment transition, Spanish and knitting) along with monthly book groups and jam sessions.  The Celtic band plays regularly along with other local musicians.  The pictures on the website testify to a full blues and folk band that had the audience up and dancing.

When I talked to Teri, she said “I have a terrific landlord!”  Something I’ve never heard a bookseller mention, in fact it’s usually the opposite.  When she was looking for a place to open a used bookstore, the landlord offered her rent at less than half the cost of the other locations.  When the economy hit the skids, he voluntarily reduced the rent by 10% and said Teri could call him if she had any questions.  Her response, a million thank yous.  That’s a landlord that’s committed to the community and providing a place for them to gather and exchange ideas.  Which is exactly what Teri does.

Dudley’s Bookshop Cafe

135 NW Minnesota Ave.

Bend, OR 97701

T:  541.749.2010

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