My Bookstore Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop

When you think of your favorite bookstore, what comes to mind? Is it the physical space? Books stacked in rows and piled high, labeled with staff recommendations? Do you think of the owner who knows each of her customers by name and can always press into your hands the perfect book that you are sure to love? Or is it the intangible thing that draws you there: the anticipation of a new discovery, or the feeling of community or of being at home? The relationship between a writer and his or her local store can last for years or even decades. Often it is the author's local store that supported him during the early days of his career and that continues to introduce and hand-sell his work to new readers. But, as many of the authors also point out, writers are also readers and customers. For them, as for most of us, a bookstore often serves as an anchor for the community in which we all live and work -- the place that introduces us to new authors and ideas and that sets our children on a path to becoming lifelong readers and lovers of books.