BookStoreDay 2024 Saga, Episode III

 The previous installment ended on the cliffhanger (hill-climber?) question of whether we would succeed in riding up Fremont Ave to get to Book Larder. It's a bit of joke, really; the elevation gain is just 213 feet over two-thirds of a mile. But it was still some nasty, I tell you.

If you factor in our age or the weight of the bikes or something, this might be more impressive.

Book Larder is another store that I find challenging. Maybe it was resentment over the altitude gain, but this year I was struck by the excessiveness of so many big glossy books dedicated to something as basic, really, as cooking. The thing is, I enjoy cooking most of the time and I enjoy trying new recipes, but somehow I found myself wondering if the world really needed an $80 book dedicated to the art of baking cakes using home-milled spelt flour and dusted with pink Himalayan finishing salt. (I make this book up--I think--but it's definitely inspired by some of the books and products I saw on the store's shelves.) Scott wasted little time in finding and purchasing a book of tequila cocktail recipes, but I truly struggled, thinking I'd end up with a $16 tea towel. Happily, I finally worked my way over to the essays section and found a book by MFK Fisher whose How to Cook a Wolf I had purchased on an earlier bookstore day and quite enjoyed so I snagged The Gastronomical Me and made my way to the register. 

Scott had filled his time waiting for me by considering my proposed route to the next bookstore which turned out to be a good thing; it made a lot more sense to continue north to Phinney Books than to head east to the Wise Owl the way I'd mapped. It could be that the memory of cold cuts and cheese that Phinney Books had on offer in some previous years played a role in convincing me because I realized that some of my resentment towards Book Larder's stock may have been hunger-related. 

The route to Phinney was almost all flat or even slight downhill and there's a dedicated bike lane for most of the way so I was pretty cheery when we entered the shop which is one of my favorites though, once more, our visits are usually limited to Bookstore Day. Sadly, they had no snacks on offer. It's another store where I saw several titles I wanted, but I limited myself to one off the "recommended by a bookseller" display:

Staff favorite and a Gorey cover? Sold!

The Girls was the first of this year's buys that I read and it did not disappoint; it's way better than the Simon & Schuster description in the link might lead you to believe. And I've just finished The Gastronomical Me (the Book Larder purchase); it was also pretty darned good though I found myself getting a little weary of MFK's smugness. She's a little like that Facebook friend who is always posting about exotic travels where everyone just loves her, you know? But she's also a good writer and TGM includes many excellent anecdotes and observations.

Scott's photos are always more creative than mine.

But where was I? Oh, looking longingly at the "Pizza" and "Pie" signs across the street from Phinney Books. Unfortunately the one was closed and the other was a bit swankier than we were prepared for, but then I remembered there was a Taco del Mar just a few blocks away so we took a break for some serious food because coffee and pastry aren't as life-sustaining as I like to pretend.

Mmmmm . . .  Taco del Mar

Restored by rice and beans and Mexican coke, we set off in search of the Wise Owl which required riding, I swear, almost entirely around Green Lake. I feel like it was starting to get a bit cold and windy by this point--were there hints of rain as well? Regardless, we ventured into one of Scott's most ridiculed neighborhoods, Tangletown, to park our bikes outside the shop, another new addition to SIBD.

The somewhat elusive Wise Owl Books & Music

I proceeded to search and search and search some more for a book I could buy here, finally falling back, as is my way, on a children's book. I've enjoyed other books by Sharon Creech and I'm just hoping this isn't one I've already read and own. Since it was so darned cheap ($3 used) I also bought a sticker (that turned out to cost twice what the book did) there. I might not have loved their selection, but I'd like them to stay in business, you know?

It was definitely starting to feel like twilight as we left Wise Owl, and I realized that University Book Store was going to be closing in about twenty minutes so we revised the planned route once more to race to UBS rather than crossing more directly to Third Place/Ravenna. A good thing, too; we reached UBS at about 5:55. 

The photo was taken after we'd shopped (and obviously by Scott)

University Book Store depresses me these days; they seem to have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic and don't seem to be recovering the way other businesses have so it was sort of a relief to not have much time to spend there. I didn't get beyond the displays fairly close to the registers before lighting on Claudius the God. I feel like I've read this--I know I've read I, Claudius--but I think it's just that I'm so familiar with the brilliant Masterpiece Theater series.

I've been thinking I've been using the book covers too large, but this one feels like it needs to be huge.

A happy discovery as we headed north up the Ave was that while the ride from UBS to Third Place/Ravenna felt very grueling the first year or two of Book Store Day, it was pretty much a breeze this time around. We're getting stronger, maybe, or--more likely--the world is getting flatter in some areas. Either way, despite a compulsion for drivers in the UDistrict to simply stop and park in the middle of the road, we made our way to Third Place/Ravenna without incident.

The spin-the-wheel/win-a-prize game at Third Place included a "have the bookseller tell you a joke or ask you a riddle" category, as I learned while eavesdropping as I browsed a front table display there. I heard the bookseller ask, "What flower would remind you of a certain animal that took a great deal of care about its appearance?" and then wait patiently for the customer to come up with the answer ("a dandelion"--"dandy lion," get it?). They didn't get it--maybe they were feeling as strung out as I was getting to be. My prize was a sticker (yawn), but Scott scored a car! (Okay, it's a little plastic toy, but still--his prize kung fu was pretty darned good this year.) 

But what of books? It again took me an age to find something I wanted and that has never happened at Third Place before so I was pretty taken aback. I at last landed on a book by Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie whose Half of a Yellow Sun was so damned good and so utterly devastating that it had me feeling more than a little suicidal. Maybe I'll save Americanah to read in late October/early November to further intensify that time.

Scott had the brilliant idea that we could catch the 1Line from the Roosevelt station rather than riding the busy road down to the Husky Stadium station we've used in the past so we headed west to catch the lightrail to carry us to Capitol Hill and the final three stores of the day--the tale of which will be told in the next installment.

A New Station for Bessie and her Companion!