The Continuing Saga: Bookstore Day, Episode II

[Find Episode I here]

The rain started up either just before or just after we reached Open Books: A Poem Emporium (to use its full name). I was happy to see that people in the shop were actually shopping and even talking about books; in some previous years I'd witnessed people dashing in to get their stamp and back out again without pausing to look at what was on offer. Maybe that's the upside of making it a ten-day event, or maybe poetry is just becoming more popular. We encountered the book group that we'd seen at Arundel again at Open Books too which was somehow nice; one of the members was holding forth (politely and kindly) about her favorite poets to one of her companions. I was pleased to see Cascadia fairly prominently displayed; I'd be seeing it again at other shops.

Cascadia sharing a shelf with Ursula Le Guin at Open Books

I opted for a classic you'd really think I'd have read before:

When Scott saw that it was translated by Nabokov, he immediately wanted to see if Nabokov's end notes were longer than the Pushkin poem itself. They aren't, but the "Translator's Introduction" runs to 67 pages. 

As above, it was definitely raining by the time we left the shop with our purchases and free poem, so I wasn't sorry that it was a short ride to the next store--a new addition this year--Left Bank Books. Left Bank required masks (which they provide) and they have a great selection of buttons. I resisted the lure of the buttons, marveled at the number of Craig Romano-authored guidebooks, and ended up buying another classic I've somehow neglected to read, Malcolm X.

A classic in a classic mass market trim size

 Somehow that caption reminds me to note a couple of observations based on this year's outing: paperbacks are quite lightweight, for the most part, these days, and the most common price for a trade paper book is $18.95. Mr X, in his mass market packaging, was a steal at $9.99.

Getting a shot without passing tourists was some tricky here

The time had come for some serious distance between stops: since we decided to skip Queen Anne Book Company atop Queen Anne (Spoiler alert: I visited it on my own a few days later), our next destination was Magnolia's Bookstore in, predictably enough, Magnolia. This called for riding into Belltown and  finding the elevator down to the waterfront, and then traveling north through the SAM sculpture park, Myrtle Edwards Park, and the Terminal 91 bicycle path before turning south to cover a somewhat similar distance, slightly uphill this time, along the edge of Magnolia before again turning north to descend into Magnolia Center. I love Seattle, truly I do, but sometimes all the water, not to mention the hills, make it difficult to get anywhere. 

You just know I posed in that apple cut out, too.

But I do love Magnolia's Bookstore and the rain stopped somewhere along Myrtle Edwards so we did not succumb to hypothermia. This is one of the shops we get to only on bookstore day and yet I always enjoy our visit there. I was torn between a number of books and finally committed to the one I assumed I'd not see again--and then I found that one featured in many other shops while I didn't see the others ever again. Were I not bookshopped-out, I might make an effort to get back to Magnolia.

The book I bought at Magnolia's Bookstore

We paused for another coffee and some sort of pastry at Petit Pierre Bakery next door, but didn't linger too long. I could mention here that more than one business in Magnolia lacks a public restroom; we ended up buying an excellent chocolate bar at Magnolia Mailbox a few doors down so we could get a key to use the facilities in that building. 

Refreshed and relieved, we got back on our bikes and continued northward to Ballard, home to Secret Garden Books. I often have trouble finding something to buy here, but I went for a staff recommendation this time around and, as it happened, the bookseller who rang me up was the one who had written the shelf reader so he commended my selection. Do I remember for sure which book it was that I bought there? Well, not so much really, but fortunately I left the receipts in most of the books purchased and I did think that "cat" was in the title:

The time has come to stop and think seriously about where we went next. It was, as it happens, the heart of Fremont, because Charlie's Queer Books is another newly added shop to SIBD. It's a smallish yet airy space and somehow very pink. Or maybe orange. It felt a bit like being inside a sherbet. I overheard a young woman telling her friend about a particular book so I inserted myself into their conversation because I wasn't finding anything on my own. Hard to say if I'll like it, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

I like the cover; that's a start, right?

Charlie's was the shop at which we forgot to take a photo of the bikes; we'd had to lock them up a bit down the block but, mostly, I think we were distracted by the prospect of having to ride up Fremont Avenue to reach the next shop. Scott scoffs, but I'm willing to ride uphill. I just don't love it and I especially don't love it on busier streets with a bit of cross traffic which, sadly, Fremont is and Fremont has. I returned a week or two later to take the following snap of Bessie for posterity:

Bessie at Charlie's on a sunnier day

Did we make it up the hill to Book Larder? Tune in to Episode III, to find out!