In January I had a chance to visit another one of Seattle’s long-running independent bookstores, Magus Books in the University District, just a block off of the UW campus.
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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.
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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.
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Independent Bookstore: Mercer Street Books
The third independent bookstore I wanted to check out was Mercer Street Books, featured in a Seattle Times article about a year ago. From that article, I discovered that there has been a bookstore in that space for longer than I’ve lived in Seattle. But I’d never been to it before. And that was a situation that required remedy. Finally, on a Wednesday afternoon in October, I got around to visiting. And I’m really sorry I waited so long.
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Independent Bookstore: Couth Buzzard
My love for Independent Bookstore Day is no secret. It has exposed me to some wonderful bookstores that I might never have visited otherwise. But not every independent bookstore participates in Independent Bookstore Day. And by focusing on the event, I’ve been skipping some wonderful independent bookstores. I don’t usually make New Year’s Resolutions, but this year I made an Independent Bookstore Store Resolution – to visit a nonparticipating independent bookstore every month.
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Independent Bookstore Day 2023: Urban Updates
I can be a completist, but I’ve always approached Independent Bookstore Day with a more circumscribed plan. I’ve worked in an outward spiral from my home until I ran out of time; picked one bookstore; and hit all the outliers that I usually don’t try to reach. But my most frequent approach is to stay within the Seattle city limits and only visit stores I’ve never been to before. That’s what I did this year.
Bookstore Day 2023
This year we planned a route that took us in a circle that started in the East before heading way down South and then working our way in a nearly straight line North again.
Nook and Cranny
We started on Capitol Hill at the recently opened Nook and Cranny. The tiny, one room shop follows a whimsical thematic system of organization. I thought it would drive my Library of Congress-shelving OCD heart crazy. But in that small space and in a browsing mood, it really works. It might have helped that the bookseller seems to have similar taste to me. I ended up buying Iain Reid’s “We Spread” in the Aging section and “Salt Houses” in – I can’t quite remember. Something about journeys, I think. Or maybe Muslim and Arab authors?
Ada’s Technical Books
Okay, I lied. It wasn’t all new bookstores. I think we’ve visited Ada’s Technical Books every year, and before the pandemic used to go to a monthly teens book club. It wasn’t part of the plan this year, but Ada’s is only a block away from Nook and Cranny. In fact, we ended up parked closer to Ada’s. So we popped in and I picked up a charming little book called “On Bullshit.”
Paper Boat Booksellers
It’s a long way from Capitol Hill to West Seattle, past the Junction even, with many freeway lane changes. I was so stressed out by the time we got there I had to sit on a bench for a while to unwind. But in the end, Paper Boat Booksellers was worth the trip. It was exactly what you want in your neighborhood bookstore. They had half a bookshelf devoted to folklore, great kids and YA sections. They even had the Norigami manga omnibus. In the end, though, I restrained myself because my kid found so many things they wanted. We got “Dear Mothman” and “Twistwood Tales.”
Arundel Books
If driving to West Seattle was bad, parking in Pioneer Square is worse. Fortunately, we could hit multiple bookstores without moving the car. Arundel Books is both a publisher and a bookseller. They have a whole Restricted Area filled with rare books, and the front of the shop sells new and used books all mixed together. It’s not your typical Seattle bookstore. There is a unique guiding hand behind their selections. A whole section on Pacific Northwest natural and Indigenous history; a shelf full of museum exhibition books. I picked up “Botanical Curses and Poisons” in their witchy section, despite the spider on the cover.
Open Books
Open Books Poetry Emporium is one of my Bookstore Day favorites, but they’ve moved to a new location just a few blocks from Arundel. It’s a bigger space than they had before, which allows for a looser interpretation of their mission as well as some creative decorative vignettes. But it still doesn’t have quite the charm of the old place in my mind. Nevertheless, we went a little rogue with our own mission and ended up buying three books and picking up lots of swag. My kid got “Fairy Poems.” I found Lo Fu’s “Stone Cell” in the half off racks and Olav Hauge “The Dream We Carry” was on my list because a few days earlier I had just watched a video about him on the channel of a YouTuber I follow. I meant to look for a book by Zhang Er, who wrote the libretto to “Tacoma Method” but our parking meter was running out and I forgot. Good thing I had already ordered one of her books direct from the publisher.
Left Bank Books
We could have walked to Pike Place Market for Left Bank Books Collective, but the meter was running out, so we parked again in Belltown and walked back. As expected, my teen was pleased with the sizable queer studies section, and we both were surprised how many books on our list could be found in the fiction section. I spent a lot of time looking at African history but couldn’t find anything precolonial. So in the end our purchases ended up being random finds: “A Song Below Water” and “Black Metal Rainbows.” We discovered we had left our passports in the car, a sure sign that we were shopped out for the day.
Despite traffic and parking in unseasonably hot weather, it was another good bookstore day. But then again, is there such a thing as a bad one?