An Incomplete List of the Bookstores That Have Made Lasting Impressions on Me

Readers must do all they can to support small bookshops — now more than ever

The heart of a neighborhood lies in its bookstore. I can sense it as readers peruse the shelves, chat with booksellers and listen to author events. The love and reverence for books linger in the air.

When I walk inside a bookstore I can’t wait to see how the latest books are displayed. I’m tempted to buy everything, but before I do I always ask the staff for recommendations. I know firsthand how seriously booksellers take their jobs — because I was once one of them.

When I moved to New York in 2000, I worked at a cozy Madison Avenue bookstore called Bookberries, where the staff became my family. I also grew remarkably close to the inventory. I must have sold at least 100 copies of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie, a novel I still treasure. Sadly, the shop no longer exists, falling victim to increasingly high rents in that part of the city.

In the 90s, I lived in Mill Valley, California, and The Depot Café and Bookstore was my go-to bookshop. After buying a stack of books, I often shared ideas and drank coffee with like-minded bookworms. Although we liked to think of ourselves as intellectuals, our conversations veered toward the mundane. I spent many hours at the Depot, grateful to have found community inside its walls.

The Depot has a long history — it’s been a bookstore and cafe since 1987. But it began as a train station in 1890 and stayed that way until 1940, when San Franciscans could take a small train from Sausalito’s Ferry Landing to Mill Valley’s majestic Muir Woods.

When I travel, my first quest is often to find an iconic bookstore.

In 2018 I attended an intense writer’s workshop at Kauai. On our free day, I took a taxi to Talk Story in nearby Hanapepe. I’d heard that Talk Story was a place where locals go to chit-chat and browse the Hawaiian mythology book collection. Billed as the “Westernmost Independent Bookstore in the United States,” the decor is understated, but their shelves were packed with 25,000 titles, a combination of new, used, and rare books.

They also featured retro board games and local artwork. I quickly discovered hand-written staff notes and bought Pond, a novel by Claire-Louise Bennett. I also couldn’t resist an illustrated children’s book called A Turtle’s View of the Ocean by Catherine Barr.

In 2012, my best friend and I visited Buenos Aires, walking around this European-inspired capital dressed in cotton frocks and sandals. The quantity and quality of bookstores reminded me of the elegant boutiques along Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone. But the one that blew me away was El Ateneo Grand Splendid, housed in a converted theatre, originally constructed in 1919.

I had never seen such a glamorous setting for books. The high-ceilinged interior integrated the former theatre’s gilded statues, marbled columns, and a ceiling mural celebrating the end of the First World War. What used to be the orchestra and first balcony were packed with bookshelves, the stage was a café smelling of freshly brewed coffee, and the box seats had been remodeled into private reading rooms with cushy armchairs and a great view. The bookstore’s opulence made my serendipitous search for “undiscovered” books even more exciting.

When I was in Hawaii, I thought about how Grand Splendid’s over-the-top elegance was totally different from Talk Story’s simplicity. And yet each bookstore reflected its location. Talk Story’s unpretentiousness — a lovely quality, in my opinion — captured a Hawaiian vibe while Grand Splendid’s grandeur exemplified Argentina’s past. It’s a place where Eva Peron would have felt right at home.

Every Memorial Day, I join my sister in Brewster, Massachusetts. We love meandering along scenic Route 6A in Cape Cod, stopping at independent bookstores along the way. My favorite is Titcomb’s Bookshop in East Sandwich. While I indulge my sister’s gardening passion by accompany her to the Heritage Gardens Estate in Sandwich, she supports my penchant for bookstores. The knowledgeable staff at Titcomb’s couldn’t be more helpful.

Given my flair for nostalgia, I usually run my fingers over the vintage Hardy Boys series, and then Nancy Drew. Yet this antiquarian bookstore smelling of old leather bindings keeps up with modern trends by stocking the latest books and hosting a monthly book club. It truly is the best of both worlds.

I now live in Chicago, and the newest bookstore in town, Exile in Bookville, has earned my loyalty. Located on the second floor of an Art Nouveau building on South Michigan Avenue, light pours in from its picture windows every afternoon, illuminating every nook and cranny filled with beloved books.

Owners Javier Ramirez and Kristin Enola Gilbert named the bookstore as an homage to the Liz Phair album, Exile in Guyville (which was recorded in Chicago), and indie rock is always on a loop in the background.

“We believe that books and music are synonymous,” the owners say as they commit to hosting both book and music-related events. The view of leafy Grant Park and Lake Michigan in the distance adds a meditative aura. At the same time, Chicago’s vibrant Mexican community is represented by Javier’s curated section of Spanish books for kids, teens, and adults.

Exile in Bookville is yet one more example of how an independent bookstore with all the right personal touches helps make a neighborhood lively and fun. We readers must do all we can to support them, now more than ever.

Carol Orange is the Amazon best-selling author of A DISCERNING EYE. Her work has been published in The Atherton Review, Indelible Ink, Publishers Weekly, Crime Reads, and SheKnows among others. Carol has been interviewed and featured at the Boston Globe, The Writing Cooperative, Bloom.

The Digital Journal, HokToc and by Zibby Owens. She is a long-term member of the New York Society Library fiction-writing group led by published author John Buchanan. She holds an MBA from Simmons University.

She has worked as an editor of art books in London and owned an art gallery in Boston. Her Etsy store features many of the artists she represented, as well as vintage posters she collected from all over the world.