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 »
Claire
Kim
