An Ingenious Idea to Honor Bookstores
“Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.” — Kurt Vonnegut
Book Store Crawl
There’s nothing like meeting true book lovers when you’re doing a book event. Recently, when I was the featured author at Inkfish Books on Independent Bookstore Day, I met a group of lovely young women on what they called a “book store crawl.” I was intrigued and asked them what this was, exactly. Isabelle Gillibrand, who came up with the idea, explained that like a bar crawl, a book store crawl involves going from bookstore to bookstore—imbibing books instead of brews. I was enthralled by the notion and asked if we could meet up for a conversation so I could hear more. Isabelle agreed, and we discussed the background of her ingenious concept.
A couple of years ago Isabelle got the idea to visit as many Rhode Island bookstores as she could for Independent Bookstore Day. RI is a small and compact state, so it can be circumnavigated in a single day. After hearing about her adventure, a friend accompanied her last year, and this year a third joined in the fun. The friends visited a total of eight bookstores, starting out at 8 am on the west side of the state, going across Jamestown to Newport in the south, then heading up the East Bay until making it to Providence, where they hit three different bookstores before ending their pilgrimage at 5 pm.
Isabelle’s motivation was clear. She wanted to patronize bookstores and show the love, a kind of “proselytizing” for books and bookstores. The friends wanted to celebrate how bookstores foster connection and build community. Books are the foundation of their friendship, and books and bookstores are at the center of their lives.
Isabelle is a lifelong reader. She grew up in a home where reading was encouraged no matter what the content. When she travels, the first place she goes to is a local bookstore. Bookstores are a place to “land,” she explained. Once, when she had to spend many hours in an unfamiliar city, she found a bookstore where she was encouraged to stay as long as she liked. It’s this kind of welcome that motivates her to give back.
I was interested to know what the experience in various bookstores was like on Independent Bookstore Day. For instance, Inkfish, where I was signing books, had a special drink and empanada pairing for the day. Isabelle said one bookstore she visited had a bingo game focused on banned books, another had gift cards hidden among the shelves, and a third held a raffle. Such fun ideas!
The friends make sure at least one of them purchases something at each bookstore they visit. At the end of the day they stack up their haul and take a photo. They all have wide-ranging tastes, as is evident from their end of day book stacks. (Isabelle is even a member of three different book clubs!)
As much as I was impressed by the novelty and creativity of Isabelle’s book crawl idea and her passion for books, I was just as impressed that she and her friends weren’t doing any of this to promote themselves on social media. The book crawl wasn’t about about getting likes or becoming influencers or getting any kind of attention for themselves. It’s about a sheer love of books and bookstores.
What a lucky day for me to have met this smart, creative, and thoughtful group of women.
The Writing Life: Research and My Work in Progress
In my current work in progress my main character, Finn, is doing research to learn more about her family. I have her spending time at the Historical Preservation Society here in Bristol, housed in a lovely stone building that once served as the town’s jail. I’m not using my imagination in these scenes – the real building and its interior are simply too perfect for my purposes.
Even when I’m making things up completely I find it helps to find real-life correlatives for the places I’m inventing. I often wander around a town looking for the “right” house or workplace for a given character. If I find something that appeals I might borrow some of its details to add to those I’ve concocted.
Finn is staying in a cute B&B. Which of these houses do you think aligns with what I pictured in my mind for her summer in Bristol?
Life on the Coast: A Secret Garden
There’s a very special place in Little Compton, R.I., Sakonet Gardens. A labor of love spanning decades, the garden is a paradise of perennials. Designed of small enclosures, with walls created from piled logs or boxwood, the rooms lead from one to another via different entrances and exits, until finally opening out onto a wild meadow on the Sakonet River.
During a recent visit I meandered among the small secret gardens, marveling at the artistry of the owners, who have constructed and nurtured the garden with plants from all over the world. The garden is continuing to evolve, and in the plantings the owners play with textures and shapes and even light, situating flowers and shrubs with an eye to what will show them off to best advantage.
As a very novice picture taker I was unable to capture much of the garden’s magic, but here’s a glimpse.
Book Recommendation
Good Dirt: A Novel by Charmaine Wilkerson
Good Dirt hit the trifecta for me: it is thematically aligned with my work in progress, a fun read, and a learning experience all in one. The novel is also fascinating on a craft level, because it blends styles, with elements of both the literary and the commercial. The primary story is of Ebby, an upper class black woman with a prestigious heritage, who has been jilted at the altar; those parts read very much like mainstream “women’s” or family novels. Ebby is also working on a project to bring to life the history of an enslaved ancestor. Not only are those parts exquisitely written, but they also teach about the enslaved pottery makers in the period before the Civil War, who created alkaline glazed stoneware vessels used for cooking, called “jars,” that are now highly prized works of art. There were only about 75 of these potters, and some secretly signed their work or inscribed messages on them as a form of resistance. (A little more about them, including one who was the inspiration for Wilkerson’s character, can be found here.) The historical story adds depth to the present day dilemmas of Ebby and her family, and the separate storylines come together in a satisfying and emotionally resonant whole. Wilkerson is a very smooth and engaging writer with an appealing cast of characters. Her previous book, Black Cake, was a best seller. I’ll bet this one will be, too.
Ps I’ve done a book crawl with WNBA NYC and it’s a lot of fun.
I love this post, Celine. I vote for the pink house. I love the photos of the garden. It’s gorgeous. Thanks for sharing the photos about the protest too.