Hello readers! Today’s newsletter wraps up my trip to some indie bookstores last Saturday ~ a delightful road trip on which I bought SO MANY BOOKS. I’m also highlighting two recent reads that feature librarians. Let’s dive in!
Friends, it is a FULL SEASON over here, but a happy and invigorating kind of full. Sports and art shows and concerts, oh my! And today I’m at a local(ish) book festival that I’ll tell you all about soon. May will ramp things up even more with three family graduations, some traveling for two of those graduations, and more concerts, senior events, baseball and soccer. All amazing stuff, just all very concentrated in a few weeks’ time.
Did you see the big announcement on Thursday????
Now, on to today’s bookish content ……….
The Bookstore Road Trip
Last week I mentioned that I was taking a trip across the state to my Oma’s 89th birthday party and would be stopping at some indie bookstores along the way. Well, I did both of those things and they were delightful!
In case you weren’t aware, today is Independent Bookstore Day ~ if you have a chance to get to your local indie, please do! If not, perhaps consider ordering from one online? Here is a list of ALL of the bookstores participating!
Our first stop was at Arcadia Books in Spring Green, Wisconsin ~ this is an absolutely delightful small town shop that just reopened after an extensive renovation. Their book selection is excellent and diverse, and their selection of stickers and such is wonderful as well. Their cafe was also completely redone and looks amazing, but we didn’t grab anything as we had just stopped at a favorite coffee shop in Viroqua on our way there.
Arcadia Books is about an hour west-ish from Madison, WI, so if you are ever in the that city and are looking for a day trip, head on over! Spring Green is also home to a major Frank Lloyd Wright attraction that I am embarrassed to admit I have never visited - next time I’m in town I promise I will!
After Arcadia Books, we made our way to A Room of One’s Own Books in Madison because I simply can’t go to Madison without a stop there. As I mention every time I write about this store, it is the most feminist and loud and proud queerly wonderful bookstore around. The selection is astounding and I always know I’ll find graphic novels there that I won’t find anywhere else, they have a huge queer lit section, a great romance collection and even a queer erotica collection! You really, really, REALLY don’t find that at every bookstore and I’m so grateful this store exists. It’s a huge space and has way more than what I already mentioned, including incredibly strong and diverse children’s and YA sections.
We only had about 45 minutes at the shop this time, but I managed to find everything I needed and more before we sprinted down the block to Daisy Cafe for cupcakes to go because bookshop visit = Daisy Cafe visit.
The Birthday Party
After our cafe and bookstore stops that took us WAY out of the way to our ultimate destination, we finally made our way to my Oma’s 89th birthday celebration outside of Milwaukee. My aunt arranged for Oma to be transported to her house so it could be an extra special occasion, and it truly truly was. There were eight of us there in person and a ton more joining via Zoom from across the country. It was a perfect party for my wonderful Oma ~ there was a delicious cake, a game of beanbags, the best gift ever of a massive box of potato chips from another aunt, and a wonderful meal. Please note that the best gift is ALWAYS the recipient’s favorite thing. Always go with the massive box of mini bags of Lays or equivalent vs. what you think you *should* buy someone. Then the drive home during which my oldest daughter and my cousin kept me awake and alert by indulging all of my theories surrounding a myriad of celebrity and cultural situations. I won’t get started here on my thoughts re: Scott Disick, Harry and Meghan, or many celebrity memoirs, but I sure did on Saturday night!
It was really a perfect day!
Do you have a favorite independent bookstore? I would love to add it to the list for my future bookstore travels!
More Librarian Books!
Last week I also shared a roundup of library romance stories, and today I have two MORE library-themed novels! This time only one of the stories is a romance, though. One is a brand-new buzzy release and one a quieter backlist title that I had never heard of before somehow learning of it just this spring. Note to self: be better about remembering where I get my book recommendations from.
I really enjoyed Funny Story by Emily Henry on audio (thanks for the ALC Libro.fm!) and definitely recommend that format if you like listening to JULIA WHELAN! She’s definitely one of my favorite narrators and truly brought this story to life. Regarding the actual story ………What I loved: the main character being a children’s librarian and just how deeply that job was involved in the story + the lakeside Michigan small town and how it’s so vibrantly depicted. What I had a few quibbles about: for the age of the characters (mid-30’s) I would have liked the romance to be more mature. I don’t want to say any more about that due to spoilers, but they are included in my Goodreads review if you’d like to click through. This was a 5+ star read for me on the library and setting fronts, and a 3 star read for me regarding the actual romance, averaging out to a solid 4 stars overall.
The New Town Librarian by Kathy Anderson was the sleeper hit from Libby that I ended up just adoring. Queer 50-yo librarian starting over in a small town? YES PLEASE! I absolutely loved this quirky story full of librarian realness and found family. This book will appeal to many, but especially any library professionals who know the realities of library budgets, politics and patrons. There’s no real romance in this book, but there are sure a whole lot of fun personalities and some romantic feelings and bedroom activities. This is a new favorite library story for me.
That’s all for this edition, my friends!
Thanks for reading,
I love to hear from readers, so please do reach out to me with questions or feedback at mindfullibrarian@substack.com . If we aren’t already connected on Goodreads, I would love to see you there as well!
I'm positive you know this, but just in case: Spring Green has some wonderful Shakespeare performances in the summer and early fall at their Players Theater, too (plus non-Shakespeare plays,). I've seen a couple of shows there, so it's a great stop to make for a full day of literary fun. This year it looks like Much Ado and King Lear are the shows.
I’m listening to Funny Story right now and enjoying it but funny you mention maturity because I kept wondering how old the characters were. I don’t think they mentioned it until 30-40% in and it gave me pause.