Signings

We combined our usual Western trip with the opportunity to sign a few books along the way.  This business of selling books--not just writing them--is all new to me and a little overwhelming for an introvert who would much rather spend time in her study.  Talking to strangers is a tall order.

But I've found out a couple of things.  First, independent bookstores are welcoming places and the staff are eager to help out the uninformed and uninitiated when it comes to books signings.  Good thing.  There's a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into setting up events and a novice like me has not a clue.  Thanks be that these folks are patient with mistakes and understanding of the mis-steps of a first timer.


More than that though are the folks who own and staff these places.  The people who own indie bookshops are simply amazing, with very interesting stories usually involving a life-long love of reading and a series of happenstances that bring them to selling books for a living.  Bobbie Smith, one of the owners of Between the Covers, started out as a baker for the cafe that is part of the enterprise, then a bookseller in the shop.  When an accident forced an change in her husband's career, the opportunity to purchase opened up and she's been going strong ever since along with her co-owner, Daiva Chesonis, who has a master's degree in conflict resolution.  Sitting in the shop for a couple of hours the afternoon of the signing and watching people come and go, it's even more evident to me how important BTC is to Telluride. It's not just a place for books; it's a place for community and it is clear that these two dynamic women are a good part of the reason. They know their clientele, they like them and the shop reflects that.  No one, not even a tourist, leaves the shop without feeling unwelcome or apart.

That's really one of the more important functions of books, I think: creating community over space and time.  A writer sharing ideas and something of himself to people he may never meet.  Unexpected commonality. Meet a stranger, discover that you've read the same book and there's instant common ground. The broader your reading, the more community you have.  If you look at the contents of the average indie bookstore, you'll find that there's a wide variety of thought represented.

Go, explore!  Buy!  ( I came back from the tour with The Death of Conversation and a tote bag emblazoned with a 7-panel precis of Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man Is Hard To Find.  The groom bought a coloring book.  See what I mean?)

Then there is ambience.  Every bookstore has a place to sit and ponder your purchases, but there is something special about indies.  They are often paired with cafes, usually have eclectic decor, and they are inviting, as individual as the visions of their owners.  Go to Nightbird Books and you'll find a comfortable seating area with a floor to ceiling cage of finches--and nobody minds if you just hang out a while checking out the inventory.  In the back room is a long table perfect for the many book clubs that meet there--one of which, the foreign poetry group, came in as I was leaving.  Look at their calendar and you'll see how Nightbird brings people together.  There's nary a week week on the calendar without a signing, a reading, or a club meeting.

We've started to realize the value to our health of fresh, local food.  Perhaps we need to remember that there's a "heathy, fresh, local" version of book selling, too: places where community happens in so many ways.  Here's to the indie bookstores who make all that possible!