Love My Indie with Author Amalie Howard

Love My Indie is a feature where fellow bloggers, readers, and authors tell me about their favorite independent bookstores. I love the feeling I get when I go into an independent bookstore - like it is filled with hidden treasures just waiting for me to find them. Maybe one day I will have the chance to visit these amazing bookstores.

If you're interested in participating in this feature, please send me an email at actinupwb@gmail.com - I'd love to hear from you and discover your favorite indie bookstore! 
 

Showing some Indie Love today is:

Amalie Howard, author of Bloodspell

I live in Larchmont NY, a picturesque and beautiful town in Southern Westchester nestled alongside the Long Island Sound, and bordered by Mamaroneck in the north and New Rochelle in the south. We are incredibly lucky in Larchmont to have two equally fabulous independent bookstores—Anderson’s Book Shop and The Voracious Reader.

Anderson's Book Shop

Located on a tree-lined block on the main street in the center of Larchmont, Anderson’s has been a Larchmont staple for years, almost sixty-five of them to be exact. In fact, Anderson’s will be celebrating its sixty-fifth birthday on May 7, so Happy Birthday in advance! Aside from the full range of fiction, nonfiction, and both adult as well as children’s titles, Anderson’s also carries miscellaneous gifts (which I’ve always found great in a pinch for the endless stream of kid birthday parties). 

Inside Anderson's Book Shop

The store is spacious, airy, and browsing-friendly. I’ve been known to lose an hour at a time perusing books in there! Anderson’s also hosts book signings and promotional events for many authors, both at their store and at other local venues. Annabelle and Jenny Siegel, who both run Anderson’s, are wonderful people and are always up for a chat or ready to recommend a good book. They are extremely supportive of local authors and even have a special wall at the front of the store where these authors are prominently displayed. Annabelle graciously offered to not only host a book signing for Bloodspell, which we will likely do in late summer/early fall, but also is very happy to include my book on the local author wall! It’s wonderful to feel so supported by a local bookstore. But this comes as no surprise – my two older boys have painted Halloween pictures on Anderson’s store windows (part of a local Halloween window-painting tradition) two years in a row! Anderson’s Book Shop loves their town, and it loves them back.

Just around the corner and also in the main village area, you will find The Voracious Reader with its charming red-brick exterior.
 

The inscription on the front store window reads “for young people with an appetite for books.” It’s a whimsical kind of place that just beckons for you to come in off the street and perhaps have a delicious mug of butter-beer while checking out all the fantastic books. 

Inside The Voracious Reader

When I walk into The Voracious Reader, it’s like walking into a fantasy world full of beautiful books. Geared toward children and teens, The Voracious Reader is run by Francine Lucidon who is just as charming as her store. Francine has always hit the spot for me with her young-adult book recommendations, and has been a particularly enthusiastic supporter of my own writing journey. Francine will be hosting the launch of my debut novel, Bloodspell, at The Voracious Reader in early June! This lady knows books like nobody’s business. And she also knows how to host fabulous author and book events that have people signing up weeks in advance on the Voracious Reader website. I’ve met both Jane Yolen and Justine Larbalestier at different events there! For any aspiring writer, this kind of exposure is invaluable. My two-year-old also attends story-time there every Monday at 11 (stories read by none other than the multi-talented Francine herself), so it’s definitely a family-oriented venue. Francine has been so successful here in a few short years that she is currently expanding into the space next door, which means more books, more great events, and much more to offer all the voracious readers who live nearby! Knowledgeable, compassionate, and kind, it’s no surprise at all that the residents of Larchmont have embraced her and her wonderful bookstore, The Voracious Reader, with wide-open arms.


Hurrah for indie bookstores!

Amalie Howard is the author of the young adult urban fantasy novel, Bloodspell which will be available June 1, 2011 from Langdon Street Press. You can visit her website at amaliehoward.com