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.
Showing some Indie Love today is:
Mary Curran Hackett author of Proof of Heaven
Since I not only love to read, own, and write books, but also love to buy, shop, and generally loiter in bookstores, I head to my favorite indie here in Cincinnati––Joseph-Beth Booksellers (http://www.josephbeth.com/ whenever I get the chance.
Besides shopping here, I’ve attended wonderful events and met many iconic writers, controversial politicians, famous actors, and leaders of our day. I’ve had books signed by numerous people, including but not limited to the likes of Caroline Kennedy, Anna Quindlen, Valerie Bertinelli, Sara Gruen, John Grogan, and countless others. This November alone Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked and Out of Oz), Joel Osteen, Whoopi Goldberg, Regis Philbin will be at Jo-Beth events. There is literally something or someone for everyone.
photos: Reading at Joseph-Beth on November 1, 2011
Here is my favorite story about Joseph-Beth though: I was sitting in the children’s section reading a book to my daughter, while my son, a preschooler at the time, was playing at the train table. Low and behold, my cell phone rings. On the other end is an agent in New York City. She loves my novel Proof of Heaven and wants to take it to publishers. I’ll forever have that memory––and Jo-Beth––close to my heart!
While I love Joseph-Beth, here are a few other indies in various parts of the U.S. where I’ve either lived or traveled, and where I have had the good fortune of being able to stock my own shelves from their inventory:
1) Kramersbooks and Afterwords Café in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. As a college student in D.C. I spent many Saturdays and nights with my girlfriends scanning the stacks and sipping lattes. It’s a happening place. (http://www.kramers.com/)
2) Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon. This store blew my mind the first time I stepped into it with a group of my girlfriends from college. We had had been camping and tramping around Oregon’s Diamond and Crater Lakes, and so walking into that store after sleeping in the cold woods felt like being wrapped in a cocoon, albeit an enormous one. Loved. It. (http://www.powells.com/)
3) Carmichaels Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky. I recently did a reading there for an essay I wrote for the This I Believe series. It was small, but packed with wonderful books and nestled in a wonderful area of restaurants and shops. It drew a wonderful crowd of people too! (http://www.carmichaelsbookstore.com/)
Find out more about the author at:
Thank you Mary for sharing your favorite independent bookstores. Learning that your novel will be taken to publishers is huge. This is a great "where I was when" story.
Proof of Heaven is available now. You can visit Joseph-Beth Booksellers online here to order a copy or visit your own independent bookstore.
This post sincerely makes me wish I had an Indie bookstore in my area! Thanks for sharing all those links, though. If I can't visit them in real life, I can at least visit them on the internet, right? :)
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