Tag Archives: bookstore

Michigan Booksellers

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Happy bonus week!img_0940

It feels like it has been awhile since I have written post that was bookish, rather than focused with a book review. With the fifth Wednesday this month, I thought it was time to get back to something along those lines. As promised at the beginning of the month, I wanted to share some information about my tote from the “Michigan Booksellers.”

A few years back, a group of independent bookstores across the state of Michigan decided to create a sort of books passport—in the form of a tote bag featuring a map of the state and a list of stores to visit. As a little extra incentive for the project, each store included offered a 10% discount on your first purchase at their store when you brought in your tote. I first heard about this through the Instagram account of my local store, when some of their staff did a social media takeover for a weekend trip to all 15 stores. Shortly after, I found myself in one of the smaller towns included. As luck would have it, the first open parking spot I found was just across from the bookstore! I decided to stop in, and so my journey began.

I think it’s fair to say that this kind of promotion was made for someone like me: I have a hard time turning down a good tote bag and love an excuse to visit a new bookstore. It’s been an extra treat that I get to do a bit of exploring along the way, including my first trip to Marquette and a few other out of the way towns. There were even a few stores within an hours drive of home that I had never visited before! A few times I have enticed others to join me by combining bookstores with local breweries—a perfect combination.

When going in to a new bookstore, I like to go in with an open mind. Although I usually have an idea of what I am looking for, I like to leave it open ended. I go in thinking about one thing, but leave with more than only that—it makes the experience more fulfilling. Over time, visiting these new stores has evolved into a search for recommendations from small booksellers. Each time I visit a store for the first time, I buy a book that is a in a special display or featured as a recommendation. It has been a nice addition to my book collection, and has earned itself a special section on my bookshelf.

img_0943So far, I have visited 13 of the stores, and only need to visit Cottage Books in Glen Arbor and Island Bookstore on Mackinac Island to complete the list. (I tried to get a picture to show this off–but that did not quite work out as intended.) It has been an exciting journey, and while it will feel like an accomplishment to check off that last store, it is a little bittersweet. Maybe in the future there will need to be another round of visits to each of these locations. Do you think that could count as the ultimate Michigan road trip?

Notes from a Public Typewriter

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img_4522Book: Notes from a Public Typewriter by Michael Gustafson

Date Read: March 30 to April 1, 2020

Rating: 4 (of 5) stars

A few years ago, a group of Michigan independent bookstores came together for a project that I immediately fell in love with: the Michigan Booksellers tote, which featured a map of the state on one side and a list of bookstores on the other. The tote could be used for a 10% discount on books on your first visit to each of the stores, and seemed like a fun adventure. I am not sure if I was more excited for the excuse to travel to see each of the stores, or the excuse to add more books to my collection. Along the way, I decided that in addition to picking up any books I might be looking for at the time, I would also buy a staff recommended book from each of the stores as a sort of souvenir of my bookish traveling.

Along this journey, I stopped in the Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor at the beginning of March when I was there for work. As luck would have it, rather than a staff selected book, this bookstore had a book of its own! A fun and unique feature of Literati is the public typewriter in its basement. Over the years, the owners of the bookstore (Michael and Hilary Gustafson) have collected the notes left by their community, many of which were compiled to create this endearing book. The public notes are divided into several sections introduced by the storeowner, which serve to tell the story of the bookstore and the community that it serves.

I am so happy that I found it when I did. As I said, I bought this in early March, and then read it right at the end of the month—a little more than 2 weeks in to the quarantine in my state. This book highlights the unique connections that we have to those in our community, even when we do not know the individuals directly. I could not help but feel a little spark of magic and connectedness in a time when I really needed to experience that.

I’m sure some of this was influenced by the fact that Ann Arbor holds a bit of nostalgia for me. I grew up not far from there, and spent a fair amount of time in the city when I was in high school and college. The city is full of interesting sights, and a trip there was never complete with a stop at my favorite Borders Books. In his narrative pieces, Gustafson talks about the now defunct Borders, mentioning that Literati repurposed some of their original shelving. Although I was only there for a short time, I fell a little bit in love with Literati when I visited, and this book will hold a lovely piece of that on my shelves at home.

Boris’s Thoughts: “You feel good? I feel good. 4 paws.”