i have found my favorite bookstore, ‘literati,’ and feel happy each and every time i walk in there. it is independent, local, walkable, friendly,  and welcoming. when i open the door and step in, i feel like cliff in the old show ‘cheers,’ but without the bar or the beer or boston.  

 

winter comes to literati

 one of my favorite pastimes is to spend time with books, reading, browsing, picking them up to see the cover, the text, reading the notes, and just hanging out among them. after the demise of borders, (created by the local borders brothers), which was based here and included the original store, a local couple decided to open ‘literati.’ a giant had fallen. and in it’s place, three lovely bookshops have come to the forefront here. one has held on throughout the mega-giant bookstore era, and been around for years, with the others, more recently arriving on the scene. each is wonderful, but something about the feeling of ‘literati’ has immediately grabbed me. the owners of the three have embraced and welcomed each other, and rather than be rivals, they’ve become friends and partners in the community.

on

downstairs at literati

 in this, its first year, the store has supported and invited local authors to share their work, created nooks for reading, and spaces for browsing, provided a small staff that is well-read and friendly, a children’s story hour, a book club, a newsletter, took part in community charity events, and the place simply oozes with an amazing good feeling.

have an set up an old typewriter for people to leave notes and messages. here are a couple of them:

“To be in love gives you the ability to raise up the sky and see the whole world.” 

-Note left on our typewriter

“I am 7 months sober today. I’m finally learning how to forgive. Not only those who hurt me, but myself. I’m forgiving myself…”

-Note left on our typewriter

 a recent note from owners, mike and hillary, written in their newsletter to the community, shows a bit of who they are:

Happy New Year, everyone!

This past week, we’ve been feeling nostalgic. Since we signed the lease one year ago we’ve zoomed along with build-out, construction, opening, logistics, accounting, and the chaos of the holidays… Finally, we’ve had a chance to catch our breaths, pause, and reflect.

Thank you everyone who has bought a book from the store. You didn’t have to. You could have gone to Amazon, but you didn’t. You came to us.

A huge thank you to Jeremiah Chamberlin and this profile of our opening in the latest issue of Poets & Writers Magazine. Jeremiah witnessed the store long before anyone else did. He was there when we painted the floors, for our shipment of boxes, for all those anxiety-producing pre-opening weeks… and then he wrote about it. We thank Jeremiah for taking an interest in telling our story and doing such a wonderful job. 

Thank you all, again, for making our 2013 successful. It’s a scary time to open a bookstore. But everyone here made it much, much less scary. We have a lot of work to do. We are inspired by this year’s success, but there is a long road ahead.

Thank you again. -Mike, Hilary, and the rest of the Literati Book Ninjas. 

It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.  ~Oscar Wilde

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image credits and links:  http://literatibookstore.com