Booking around C'ville

The Blue Whale and its Corgi guard dog

It appears that the printed word is alive and well in Charlottesville, VA. Yesterday I became an official card carrying library patron! Of note, was the claim that this C'ville library was the most frequented library in VA. Good to know. It is a beautiful old building, that seems to house a great collection of information and entertainment. I was warmly welcomed to the community by Jeanne, the librarian. Can't wait to explore it thoroughly.

From there, I went to visit some of the bookshops in town. Being a college town, it is not surprising that there are bookshops, but the variety of independent, non-academic and used booksellers is wonderful. I guess that the biggest festival in Charlottesville is the Virginia Festival of the Book every March. I can not wait to participate net year!

This week I went to some of C'ville's very diverse book shops - all within walking distance from home. The first, The Blue Whale - Antique Prints, Books, and Maps, is guarded by what the owner described as "the sweetest dog on earth". When I countered with "aren't all Corgis sweethearts", he confirmed that none other is as sweet as his. This shop has not only books, well cataloged and displayed, but also prints and maps. It is a tony shop - with beautiful entrance and interior wood, well arranged bins and shelves, and the ambiance of a private library, with the congenial owner at the ready behind a beautiful library table/desk appropriately stacked with papers and books.

The second shop, Daedalus bookstore, (NOTE: link is to reviews - it appears they have no website!) appears to be a small shop, but has a seemingly endless maze of books. The building was a very compact home at one time, and has retained the many tiny rooms that once housed a family. Each room is fitted - or more correctly, crammed, with bookcases of every ilk and era. It was evident the proprietor knew most of the customers who edged their way between the shelves, a sign that this was a store for local regulars more than collectors or tourists. This warren of paper and ink is the perfect place to lose yourself on a hot southern afternoon. The musty smell, creaky staircase and millions of paperbacks and hardcovers will keep you busy for hours, even if you never crack open a volume - just read the myriad of titles!

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The maze that is the Daedulas Bookstore

Perhaps, this Yelp review describes Daedalus best: "I was afraid to pull out any book for fear of toppling over the entire building! If bookstores are measured by the sheer density of books per square foot, and by the precariousness of the pathways through them, then store is by far the best one that I've ever visited. Some of the hallways require turning sideways, or bending yourself like a pretzel. A very nice man was there to help me with anything I needed."

Tucked on one shelf of early volumes, was this anonymous picture of a woman. I am sure it was found while unpacking books, but she was just about the only non-book item in all of the place! Who knows how long she has been guarding these volumes.

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Day two of my exploration took me to three other bookshops on the C'ville downtown mall...

The first is Read it again Sam, and it was one of the most uniquely curated bookstores I have ever seen! Below is a picture of one wall of the store and every book you see there is a mystery! Another wall is covered with almost as many SciFi and Fantasy books, while in the middle are grouped the non-fiction books. Even those seemed to be grouped in specializations that I had never seen as major categories before!

The entire store was a neat as a pin, and the books looked to have been shelved by an OCD patient, which made me a bit nervous to take one out of place to look at it. They also had about the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in and it was a gorgeous light olive green leather to boot!

The wall o' mysteries at Read it Again Sam bookstore

From the mezzanine in the New Dominion Bookshop

Next came the New Dominion Bookshop. It had the "new book smell" characteristic of a B+N or Borders, but was a much better architectural space. Much more conventional than the other shops, it had all the normal sections and lots of Virginia based - travel and author - books. Very nice, but a bit too normy for me after the others. But the staff was great and if I were looking to buy or  order a newly published book this would be the place to go!

They have a lovely little mezzanine where there was a show of some watercolor painting by Eloise Gardiner Giles. As I looked through them, each one was better than the last. I got a lot of hope when I noticed her bio stated she is 93 years old and still paints daily.

Eloise Gardiner Giles

Lastly I went to the Oakley's Gently Used Books. Unfortunately they are closed on Tuesdays, so I didn't get to go in. Through the window, it appears to be a potpourri of all kinds of newer, but used, books and some new books. I will go back soon to investigate further, and maybe check out the T-shirt that I could see through the window. Seems an appropriate shirt for the newly retired!