Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park, Washington is a destination bookstore. In fact, it kind of is Lake Forest Park. There’s not really much else there except this giant, awesome bookstore. So after years of meaning to, I finally made the 40 minute trek out of the city to visit this bookstore. Needless to say, dozens of dollars were spent. Among the books in my haul was a book titled A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar. No, I am not planning a bicycle tour along the Silk Road (although Kashgar definitely belongs on my Euphonious Bucket List). In fact, the book is a novel. But I am simply defenseless against a title like that. Read More
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Nonfiction Novel Titles
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Join the Club
I tried running a book club in grad school, but after a few months we gave up pretenses and started drinking in bars. I do wish I could talk about books sometimes with people who have also read them. But the truth is, clubs are hard for me, with their set meeting times and leaving of houses. Now I think I’ve found a book club that will work for me. Read More
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Perfectly Safe
In the white, liberal, upper middle-class circles I usually inhabit, safety trumps all other values. Helicopter parenting has become the standard for responsible parenting, despite data to the contrary. Schools and parents are increasingly making decisions based on the fear of lawsuits or the fear of disapproval from more safety-conscious parents instead of their own best judgement. So this quote from Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book struck me as particularly meaningful.
“I wanted to keep you perfectly safe,” said Silas. “But there is only one perfectly safe place for your kind and you will not reach it until all your adventures are over and none of them matter anymore.”
We should not seek perfect safety for our children, or for anyone we care about.
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Dear Hank Wiliams
When I was in the second grade, my teacher read Old Yeller to the class. When she got to the end, she started crying and had to go get Mrs. Wilson to finish for her. From then on I felt smugly superior to my teacher. Don’t get me wrong. Ain’t nothing sadder than a dead dog, but get a hold of yourself woman. That was my attitude then. Read More
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The Little Paris Bookshop
There are two things I have to do whenever I’m near Leavenworth, Washington. I must eat at South, arguably the best Mexican restaurant in the state, and I must visit A Book for All Seasons. So even if the temperature hadn’t topped 100 F at our campsite overlooking the Wenatchee River this summer, sending us into town in search of air conditioning, I probably would have found myself browsing the warren of rooms in Leavenworth’s brilliantly curated independent bookstore. Read More