Sadly, I can't remember what our first Independent Bookstore Day was; did we bike from store to store as long ago as 2015? But, of course, this is just the sort of question that justifies the existence of blahdeblahblah for with a little effort I can see that we did, indeed, bike the event in 2015. We made it to only four stores, but we visited Jennie Grant (and her goats) on the day.
This year, alas, featured no goats, but we hit ten stores which is, I think, a new record for us. The numbers: ten stores, thirty purchased books (plus two free pretty-awful-awful looking ARCs), forty-one miles total, thirty of those by bike, an as-yet untoted up dollars spent.
 Bessie and Bernardo outside Arundel Books, posing for the first of many photos of the day
It was pretty much immediately after we left Arundel that things started to go pear-shaped. The plan was to bike along the waterfront, but the bike lane seems to be a victim of the viaduct deconstruction and the crowds were insane. (Have I said we didn't get going particularly early? We did not.) We detoured up to Second Ave's bike lane only to discover more construction and more detours.
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| The sign for the day |
And then we took some wrong turns getting to Magnolia, making the Arundel to Magnolia's Bookstore trip the longest leg of the day: nearly ten miles. But Magnolia was charming when we reached it and, as with last year, the trick was to limit my purchases there: Peculiar Ground and News of the World purchased for a total of $36.31.
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| Magnolia's Bookstore also had a lovely display of Molly Hashimoto's books in the front window |
Last year we had just eaten at the cafe next to Queen Anne and thus had to give the Petit Pierre Bakery a miss; this year we skipped Queen Anne Book Company and thus welcomed a restorative coffee and pastry at this most excellent bakery.
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| Pop tart, blueberry tart, two fine short lattes |
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| The advantage of traveling by bike: Crossing from Magnolia to Ballard via the Locks |
At Secret Garden, I gave in to the inevitable and bought Salman Rushdie's The Golden House, now in paper, and a book I'd resisted in Magnolia, The Travelling Cat Chronicles. Total damage: $40.74.
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| Obligatory bikes with store signage shot |
It was at this point that I suggested a bus up the hill (traditional since last year) and also that we go ahead and hit Phinney Books, just in case we didn't make it to the new Madison Books location. On the bus I struck up a conversation with a woman who was reviewing her passport. While I was impressed by anyone attempting the day by bus--she was only hitting the Seattle stores, but had made it to Fantagraphics--I was a bit disgusted when she proudly proclaimed she hadn't bought any books.
Phinney is always further north than I expect, but it was an easy flattish 1.5 miles to get there. It was again packed and Scott handsold a copy of Lucky Per. I don't think he asked for a commission. Phinney is where I broke my two-book rule and came away with three: Innocence, The Slaves of Solitude, and The True Deceivers--the last one almost entirely because I was charmed by its cover.
A total of $50.48 changed hands. Ouch.
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| Not obvious in this shot, it had started to rain while we were in Phinney Books |
The ride from Phinney to Book Larder felt like November with a cold hard rain pelting down on us. Scott, unfortunately, had not brought a waterproof coat and, at this stage I was wearing fingerless gloves. We were both feeling like cold drenched rats when we reached the packed-to-the-gills Book Larder. Unbeknownst to me, Scott quickly found and purchased M.F.K. Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf. I put back whatever frippery I'd finally settled on after I tasted the cheese/smoked paprika appetizer they were sampling and walked out with a crazy impulse buy of Kachka: A Return to Russian Cooking. I hope I use it, having spent $44.04 on it.
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| This was the year I moved a lot of sidewalk signs to accommodate my photo |
We worked our way over to Open Books, mostly on Wallingford backstreets and by the time we'd reached the poetry emporium, the sun was out again. Open Books was another packed shop and it took me a long time to find my treasures there: The Albertine Workout and Moo: A Novel. A welcome return to the world of under $20: $17.94 plus tax.
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| It wasn't easy getting this photo without people in it: they were literally coming in by the busload |
Some more lovely residential streets in Wallingford kept us off busy 45th for much of the next (short) leg, but I still suggested a restorative pint at the Blue Moon Tavern on "Roethke Mews." Scott did not object.
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| It says something about our state that I didn't think to take a photo until the beers were mostly gone |
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| The bikes through the (surprisingly clean) Blue Moon window: I am amused by the Zagat sticker. |
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| But maybe they were rated for the high quality of their bathroom grafitti |
Restoredish, and maybe a little tipsy, we continued on to University Bookstore, encountering more detours along the way, causing me to be cranky yet again. I even forgot to get raffle tickets when getting my passport stamped. Grrrrr. They are remodeling the store and all of fiction has been moved to the main floor once more. Upstairs was given over to a space for readings and people sampling food. I heard all about where Molly's gets its bread (Macrina) before finally taking a sample of a turkey sandwich. Not brilliant but it was good to give the beer something to chew on. I finally remembered/stumbled across the author that Karen Molenaar Terrell had recommended and also found a used copy of a Toni Morrison I'd looked at earlier: Still Life and God Help the Child set me back a modest $17.59--and I got a button for a 25 percent discount on small-business Saturday. Woo-hoo!
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| Bessie, Bernardo, and some photo bomber bikes outside UBS |
By this point we'd admitted that we were abandoning the Great Circle Route and would not be ending things at the Seward Park Third Place so we biked north to Third Place Ravenna instead, another pretty easy, pretty pleasant ride--especially after we cut over from the main drags to some prettier neighborhood streets. Seattle is truly a gorgeous city this time of year. I impulse-bought because it had a charming cover and good shelf-reader tag Unclay and a cheap copy of Going to Meet the Man. Since I'd been so responsible with my books, I tossed in a couple of lip balms (mine having fallen apart back in Fremont) and postcard. Total damage thanks to irresponsible sideline purchasing: $36.54. I also forgot to get a photo here, possibly because Scott was starting to bonk.
We rode down the luxuriously paved 25th to the Burke Gilman and continued our easy ride to the UW Lightrail Station where we boarded a southbound train. Scott was uncharacteristically sparky with the officious platform guy who told him not to block the (not-in-service) door with his bike, but eventually the train started moving without us getting tossed off. Scott opted to wait outside while I went in to Elliott Bay, so his final passport had one less stamp than mine. We'd deliberately chosen not to end at EBBC this year because we felt very second-class for not having full passports there last year. This time around the woman who stamped my card was very complimentary about us having biked. I still bought only one book: Dreyer's English for $27.53.
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| Amusingly, if you're me, I was chided by an EBBC person for staging this shot. Scott and I were both rebels by the time we were pushing the ten-hour mark. |
We stopped at Central Market for lemons en route to Ada's, our last bookstore of the day. That slight detour had us riding along 16th East, another lovely residential street in a neighborhood neither of us frequent. We overshot Ada's a wee bit but backtracked. Since Ada's has a cafe, Scott opted to come in and have a coffee while I scoured the shelves for something to buy. I love Ada's, but it can be challenging. I'd resisted buying the new Ian McEwan all day, thinking that it was sci-fi-y enough that Ada's might be carrying it but no luck. I eventually went to my usual fallback: Atwood and YA: Oryx and Crake and Un Lun Dun came home with me in exchange for $30.83.
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| Ada's sign was hella-heavy but I persevered. |
The ride back down the hill was lovely--and since there was 19-minute wait for the next train, we opted to coast all the way down to the bus stop downtown.
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| The Space Needle is so small here and you can barely see the mountains. It was gobsmacking in reality. |
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| Who is that artist whose work frequently includes numbers and vehicles? This could be my homage to him.Or it's the final shot of the bikes from inside a bus. You decide. |
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| Books, buttons, bookmarks, miscellanea |
