Independent Bookstore: Charlie’s Queer Books

Last month a new independent bookstore just fell in my lap – or more precisely, opened in my neighborhood. As The Uncommon Cottage continued its westward march along 36th Ave., this fall, we saw folks remodeling the cute little cottage the shop most recently occupied. When we asked what they were up to and found out it was going to be a bookstore, the family gave a collective cheer.

.

Despite appearing to do all the work themselves, Charlie’s was up and running in time for the holidays, so of course I checked it out. It’s already become a regular stop whenever we’re out and about in the neighborhood.

Charlie’s Queer Books

Charlie’s Queer Books is an absolute cupcake of a bookstore. Housed in a quaint purple cottage, it contains three pink and white rooms of merchandise. Rather than the dusty abundance of a typical bookstore, Charlie’s shelves have room to breathe with lots of outward-facing covers and even stacks of some coffee table books. There are tables with artfully arranged displays, a wee, twee children’s corner. While I wonder about the practicality of the choice, I admire their commitment to the pink and white theme on the painted stairs to an attic with a conference room, study table, and reading chairs.

.

Queer Bookstore

Certainly, Seattle could use a queer bookstore. As the Seattle Times article about Charlie’s pointed out, Beyond the Closet and Bailey/Coy are gone, with nothing to take their place. And Fremont, if not the most obvious choice, is certainly a natural fit. One of Seattle’s most popular drag brunches is right around the corner at Dreamland. And we’re a bookish neighborhood, with secondhand bookstore Ophelia’s Books just up the street and queer co-op Outsider Comics (and Geek Boutique) just down the street.

Queer Books

Aside from the obvious nonfiction sections filled with sociology and history books examining gender and the queer experience, Charlie’s has a robust biography/memoir section. The sections on cooking, crafting and fashion are pretty hefty, too. The fiction section contains books by queer authors or stories with queer characters and themes.

I had to laugh when I perused the YA section, because with two teenagers, it seemed like at least one of us had read almost everything we saw on the shelves. But I think that says more about us as readers than the size of their selection, which was almost as big as their main fiction section. (On that first visit we ended up buying Cemetery Boys, which I had already read, but my teen hadn’t, and I liked it well enough to own it.)

Actually, I think you could almost browse Charlie’s shelves without knowing the shop was explicitly queer. Gay people have always written books, so there are plenty of classics on the shelves, and we are starting to see a lot more fiction with queer characters where the story is about more than their queerness. And thanks to Charlie, those stories have just gotten a lot easier to find.

Of course, the gleefully gay merch would give it away to even the most oblivious browser.

Neighborhood Bookstore

But the point is that while Charlie’s is super gay, specialization doesn’t stop it from being a great general neighborhood bookstore. The stock on the shelves may be specialized, but like any other neighborhood store, they can order any book you want to buy. Few bookstores these days have enough space for teens to hang out and do homework together like Charlie’s does. And like any good bookseller, Charlie is always there, ready to come out from behind the register and talk about books, giving and receiving reading recommendations with tourists and regulars alike.

.

They’ve only been open a few weeks, but my kid and I, together and separately, have already stopped by several times. In fact, as I was writing this, the kid came into my office to ask if we could go to Charlie’s this weekend for their Christmas ornament workshop.