So much more

It is the sort of early afternoon when I could be stocking more reading material in the traveling bookstore, as I leave for the Yaak in an hour for an event there. But as it is raining at the moment, I decided to squeeze in a few short thoughts about the bookstore because its adventures never cease to amaze me. Of course I realize there are many incredible bookstores around the world and, hopefully, someone somewhere is making a comprehensive list. At this moment though, in the gray August drizzle of Montana, I want to acknowledge the one I know best.

Perhaps this train of thought began during the past week when Marla Goodman, a thereminist from Bozeman, who was in the neighborhood to give a concert, turned me on to Elizabeth Brown’s “A Bookmobile for Dreamers.” It seemed appropriate for Marla to perform a piece of this chamber opera in the traveling bookstore. This extraordinary event triggered an avalanche of other bookstore experiences for me. There was the first time a parent brought their baby into the bookstore, the afternoon a bride and groom stopped by and I captured their radiance, someone asking to spend the night in the bookstore, two of New York City’s finest posing in front while it was set up at the Brooklyn Book Festival, an older woman approaching me in a cafe when I stopped for lunch in White Lake, SD asking if that was my van parked outside and could she please see inside. There was the day I set it up in Minneapolis and a snow storm blew in, and the night driving across the mountains in Kentucky with fog as thick as soup. There was Lee Connah’s crankie performance at the bookstore during the Baltimore Book Festival!

I suppose brick-and-mortar bookstores have their own sets of adventures but it is hard to imagine them as exciting as a traveling bookstore’s. It is just so damn versatile! But now I need to finish getting it packed. Shirley Jacobs, an incredible accordionist (she specializes in French cafe music from the 1920-30s) is riding along to provide music for the shoppers when we set up in front of the Yaak Tavern and Merc later this afternoon. So I need to have room for the passenger and her accordion.

p.s. The Yaak trip went very well. We saw a grizzly cross the road on the drive up. Lots of book sales, t-shirt sales, conversations and appreciation of Shirley’s music.

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Textual apothecary

As a traveling bookstore owner/driver, the books I read come to me in a variety of ways. There are those recommended by readers. Often I jot down titles and if I don’t have a copy in the bookstore, order it through interlibrary loan. Sometimes I read a book review that is so compelling I try to order the title through the library, but if it is too new and the library doesn’t have it available yet, then I find another independent bookstore to buy it from. And sometimes on longer traveling bookstore adventures, I just pull a book off the shelf that looks interesting and read that. That’s what happened this weekend while at the Yaak music festival. As I sank into the first chapter, it almost felt too coincidental that I randomly selected that particular book at this particular time.

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada is a novel based on a slice of German history from World War II. In the early 1940s, Elise and Otto Hampel, a working class, middle-aged couple, began committing acts of civil disobedience against the Nazi regime. They wrote postcards that they then left in public places for others to find. The postcards had short messages denouncing Hitler and urging people to take action. The Hampels were eventually arrested, tried and executed. In 1945, Hans Fallada was given the Gestapo files on Otto and Elsie Hampel as part of a Soviet post-war decision to create an antifascist cultural movement. Fallada, a talented German author who had struggled in Germany during the war, was asked to write something based on the lives of the Hampels. He wrote this novel.

It is a compelling story. Reading it during the summer of 2021 gives perspective to what many of us experience now in areas of the country that have become polarized. It raises questions about what we each do during troubled times. The Hampels wrote over two hundred postcards. Most individuals who found one of those cards quickly turned it over to the Gestapo out of fear. Fallada does well describing how fear was established and used by the political regime at that time. This resonated with me as so many individuals I talk with about going to public meetings, speaking out, canvassing tell me they can’t because they are afraid. The Hampels’ resistance came from their determination to not let fear stop them from being true to their beliefs, to act even against overwhelming odds. Fallada captures the Hampels’ moral integrity, their effort to remain decent, their need to do something they hoped would make a difference.

Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

The Optician of Lampedusa by Emma Jane Kirby

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

Unearthing Seeds of Fire: The ideas of Highlander by Frank Adams

Propelled forward by looking back

I want to be on the road with the traveling bookstore. I want to set up at music festivals and in cities, by coffee shops in small towns and at county fairs. I want the sun to be out and people willing to engage in real conversations as we stand by the bookstore marveling at all the wonders one can find in print. I want to share ideas for how to make the world a better place and to exchange titles for some great books we read this winter. And I also want to feel comfortable with people going into the bookstore and as we stand outside next to the table with the typewriter set up, knowing we care enough to keep each other healthy.

I appreciate the book club in Eureka read a wonderful range of books this winter and has more coming up through the spring. We are a small club in a rural (and rather remote) community of northwest Montana. Since summer, we’ve met virtually. Yet we manage to have good conversations, decide on monthly titles that offer us a range of authors and ideas, encourage each other to grow and think. Some of our titles: Woman, Girl, Other by Bernadine Evaristo, Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Wolverine Way by Doug Chadwick, Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor, The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai.

While looking for a photo that made sense to me for this post, this moment, I came across one from six years ago. My first bookstore trip out of town was to a two-day music festival in Yaak, MT and if you don’t know this place, you should. I worried driving there up twisted mountain roads, no other vehicles in sight, setting up in a field behind the Yaak Tavern & Mercantile, but then did extremely well selling books. Spent my first night ever sleeping in the bookstore. And the next day met this young couple from New York City who suggested I go to the Brooklyn Book Festival. And the following year I did. First time driving the bookstore across country. Barely able to breathe as I navigated it through the city, wondering if a traveling bookstore in NYC would even be noticed (but it was!).

Since then I have put lots of miles on the bookstore; taken it across country multiple times, up and down the west coast, through the Rocky Mountains. After that first book festival in NY, I’ve set it up in Seattle, Portland, Baltimore, Raleigh, Sioux Falls, Chicago, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Minneapolis, and many more cities as well as numerous rural towns. And that couple who suggested the Brooklyn Book Festival – they have two young children now and are doing well. I follow photos of their family on social media. I’ve done things that I didn’t envision doing when I met them. And no doubt raising their two kids is something they couldn’t have imagined fully either. So looking forward to this summer, I want to believe it is possible to do more things – meet people who will change my life, have conversations that stick with me for years, and of course, read books that are remarkable.

Get these dates down

This upcoming month is an exciting one for the traveling bookstore. I want to be sure you have all the dates and places and times because chances are good that the bookstore is setting up some place you would enjoy going.  As always, this traveling bookstore isn’t just about buying awesome used books. It offers opportunities to type something creative, to have conversations and possibly to solve some problems.  I recently returned from a Humanities Montana meeting reinvigorated that there is hope in civil discourse.  So don’t hesitate to bring a beverage and/or snack and plan to stay a while talking at the bookstore about things that matter.

June 13 Eureka MT Farmers Market   Eureka, MT 3:30 – 6:30

June 17 Extracto Coffee Portland, OR 10:00 – 2:00

June 18 Ace Typewriter Repair  Portland, OR  10:00 – 4:00

June 21 – 22 SF Center for the Book  San Francisco, CA  10:00 – 3:00

June 23  Mission Pie Third Annual Type-In!  San Francisco, CA 10:00 – 1:00

June 25  Port Orford Library  Port Orford, OR  10:00 – 5:00

June 28  Lilo’s Hawaiian BBQ  Hood River, OR  11:00 – 2:00

July 14  HA Brewery  Eureka, MT  4:00 – 7:00

July 20 – 21 Yaak River Festival  Yaak, MT

plus more to come in July and August around Montana!

Count down to take off

The traveling bookstore has been around.  It set up on a street corner in Brooklyn, New York and in a field in Yaak, Montana. It has been visited by cool kids, hipsters, grooving elders, cowboys, cops, waitresses and parents with babies.  And now it is setting off on a crazy cross country adventure that is bound to push the envelope even farther.  If you don’t have time to read this entire post, here are the bare facts of where we will be so you don’t miss out:

3/28  Bozeman, MT    Wildrye Distillery 6-8

4/2  Minneapolis, MN    Birchwood Cafe 9-3

4/4  Woodstock, IL  Isabel’s Family Restaurant 10-1

4/5  Indianapolis, IN  Coal Yard Coffee  9-3

4/6  Smiths Grove, KY  Quarter Moon Antiques 10-1

4/7  Asheville, NC  French Broad Food Co-op 10-3

4/8  Asheville, NC  French Broad Food Co-op 10-3

4/9  Asheville, NC  Moog Store 10-1

4/10 Raleigh, NC  Nickelpoint Brewery 5-9

4/11 Raleigh, NC  Nickelpoint Brewery  5-9

4/12  Raleigh, NC  Lonerider Brewery  2-9

4/13  Wake Forest, NC  Page 158 Books 12 – 8

4/16  Morgantown, WV  Fawley Music 9-2

4/20  Sheridan, WY  Studio Cafe  10-2

4/20  Sheridan, WY  Black Tooth Brewery 4-7

It might strike you as ambitious that a rather unpretentious bookstore carrying about six hundred volumes with a 132 inch (335cm) wheelbase is willing to set up in all these places including the urban clatter of Minneapolis and the small town calm of Smiths Grove, KY.  And, needless to say, a traveling bookstore deals with details your average brick-and-mortar shop rarely considers – like the oil change by the time we pull into Asheville.  Storage is quite limited and mostly given over to books, a manual typewriter, a small folding table, some folding chairs, a theremini and a spare tire.  While sorting out where the bookstore will set up (a major thank you to the businesses that agreed to partner with us on this trip!), we also figure out where to spend the night.  There have been times when I sleep in the bookstore especially after some remote Montana events.  On this trip though there will usually be two of us traveling so more space is required then the one aisle between fiction and biographies.

No doubt this is going to be a buffalo size adventure.  Hope that you are able to stop by to visit. And just in case you aren’t in these regions of the country during March/April, the summer bookstore tour to Washington, Oregon and California is already taking shape.

 

 

Get those ducks in a row

It is the time of year when traveling bookstores, especially those in Montana, are planning for spring.  Of course it isn’t as though we can put off doing bookish things until the cherry blossoms are out.  We ease into it with a Valentine’s Day Type-In at The Front Porch in Eureka.  Between 2:00 – 5:00pm stop by to type your sweetie a poem, create a valentine, compose (or copy) a sonnet, send off kisses to someone special, etc etc etc.  There will be a variety of manual typewriters as well as pens, markers, glue, crayons, stamps, glitter, paper and envelopes to assist in your effort.

Then in late March we hit the road.  My oh my!  Exciting places lining up.  The bookstore pulls out of Eureka late March with the first event in Minneapolis on April 1 (no fooling!).  Then on to Woodstock, IL, Indianapolis, Asheville, Raleigh, and Wake Forest (we are partnering with Page 158 there).  On the return trip the bookstore has stops in Morgantown, WV and Sheridan, WY. Tempted to get tshirts like rock groups to advertise the 2018 Bookstore Tour.

Of course the Grand 2018 to North Carolina and Back Tour is just the beginning of the season.  There will be the farmers market in Eureka, the annual music festival in Yaak, MT and the blues festival in Libby, MT.  There will also be adventures in San Francisco and in Oregon.  It seems the trainer wheels have finally come off the traveling bookstore and its rolling!  If you want to have the bookstore visit you for a special event, don’t hesitate to ask.  Birthday parties, read-a-thons, literary luncheons, summer camps and family reunions (“The Relatives Came” by Cynthia Rylant being one of my personal favorites) are all opportunities to have a traveling bookstore pull up.

 

The Road

June’s traveling bookstore events have been checked off.  Great adventures in Eureka, the Yaak, Portland and San Francisco.  There was musing with members from Cristina’s book club in Portland and learning about Mircea’s mathematical toys that are now carried (when available as they sell out quickly) in the bookstore. There was meeting Brittany when we set up at the SF Center for the Book and having conversations with her about the life style of a traveling bookstore owner.  There were wonderful people met on Mission Street who bought books and donated books.  There was Karen at Mission Pie who throws the best Type-In ever and exudes the feeling of community.  There was the magic of walking into the SF Center for the Book and seeing all those magnificent printing presses and people learning to set type and bind books.  There was Ethan’s mom in Portland who invited the bookstore to open up near Sacramento the next time it passes through that region and Cheryl who invited the bookstore to Healdsburg.  There was Matt at Ace Typewriter Repair in Portland who fixed five typewriters so quickly we couldn’t believe it, let the bookstore set up in front of his business for the day and offered new ideas for the next time the bookstore is in that town.  There was Gwen in the Yaak who knows how to make everyone feel welcome and makes the best BBQ sandwiches.  There was the young man at a Jiffy Lube in Spokane who helped problem solve a mechanical glitch with the bookstore on a Sunday morning and Melissa who lent cash when my wallet was stolen in Oakland.  There were all the children who marveled at using a typewriter, the individuals who were happy to find just the right book(s) to buy, the invites to bring the bookstore to other towns and events.

Yes, it was an exhilarating month and an exhausting month.  The traveling bookstore business is not for the fainthearted.  The conversations, the driving, schlepping books and typewriters, and the excitement of new people, new ideas and new problems require sufficient energy.  Which is why the hospitality offered by Cristina and Melissa and Kevin and Wendy meant so much along the way, along with meals shared with Shammus, Steve, Jesse and others.

And now we are teetering on July and more adventures.  The month opens on July 1,  setting up at HA Brewery just south of Eureka.  On July 14-15, the bookstore returns to the Yaak for the annual Music Festival there.  And on most Wednesdays we are open at the Eureka farmers market.  The bookstore travels across Washington to Kent Station and Tacoma at the end of the month with a possible event in Bellingham (still searching for the ideal location to set up there).  The shelves are tightly packed with new books, exciting finds and old favorites.  The postcard selection has expanded and of course, there is always a chance to sit down and talk for a while.  Follow us on FB for specific dates and times.  Really the word ‘traveling’ doesn’t begin to capture the wonder of all this particular bookstore is capable of being.

 

Get the keys

The traveling bookstore is hitting the road big time. Or at least bigger than it has since this venture began two years.  As St. Rita’s Amazing Traveling Bookstore starts its third season, the events where it is is setting up are far, wide and exciting.  Here is a quick list to get started and then more thoughts about all of it:

• every Wednesday when in Eureka, we set up at Eureka Farmers Market from 4-7pm at Riverside Park
• June 17 Sasquatch Festival in Yaak, MT all day
• June 22 SF Center for the Book in  San Francisco, CA 10am – 4pm
• June 23 Mission Pie Type-In    San Francisco, CA  3-7pm
• June 26 Ace Typewriter Repair  Portland, OR  10am – 3pm
• July 1 HA Brewery  Eureka, MT 4-7pm
• July 14-15  Yaak River Music Fest in Yaak, MT
• July 24 Kent Square  Kent, WA  10am-3pm

…and more as summer unfolds.

Besides bringing a wonderful selection of used books and vintage postcards to a location near you, the traveling bookstore is also an opportunity to have conversations and to explore dreams.  That’s how it started after all; a dream to open a bookstore and the reality that it would be tough to make that business financially viable in a town with a population of 1,037.  So with enough conversations and enough brainstorming, here it is – a bookstore that can travel to where people are, a bookstore that has low overhead when parked in a small town, which can then travel to set up at a music festival, in a city or in front of your house (if you want to throw a literary party).  It’s about following one’s dream and finding ways to make it happen.

It would be great to meet up with you along the way. Hope you are at one of these summer events or decide to arrange for the bookstore to come to your town/city.  And, if you don’t mind, please help get the word out about this amazing traveling bookstore.

We are nearly there

Yes, there is still snow in the mountains but spring is here. The lilac bushes are slowly starting to get buds.  I heard there are crocus blooming although I haven’t seen any myself, and the season’s first event has been scheduled for April 22: Books, Bread and Beer as its the traveling bookstore, Yvonne’s Simply Sourdough and of course the mighty HA beers all at HA Brewery on Grave Creek Rd.  Other events are starting to get sorted from a couple great times promised in the Yaak (June 17 and July 15) to an appearance in Tacoma, WA, the Montana Book Festival in Missoula, Eureka Farmers Market and others that are still taking shape.  Once the summer schedule is set I will certainly let you know.

For now it is enough that the snow is gone, people are thinking of gardens and I am taking the bookstore out on the road. The winter has been too long but now I am ready to put in piles of books I accumulated this winter, make a new sign (left the last one in Rock Island, IL at an event last September), and load up the typewriter.  And this season will be very special as I am quitting my day job to put more time into having the bookstore on the road.  A shift but I think sixty-five and a half is the perfect age for this sort of adventure. I can still manage those boxes of books,  drive a long day when needed and enjoy talking to just about anyone who shows up.

in the Yaak

That’s where the idea came to me.  I was in the Yaak for their annual music festival.  I assume most people don’t know the place unless you happen to live in northwest Montana or are familiar with books by Rick Bass.  Whether you know the place or not, it comes down to the same thing. Its an extremely  beautiful and remote section of the state that requires a fair amount of driving on narrow roads through thick forests. When you arrive, there are two bars: the Dirty Shame and the Yaak River Tavern and Mercantile.  That’s the town.  And the Yaak River Tavern and Mercantile throws a great music festival each July. I make it a point to take the bookstore there. Turns out people at a music festival in that nearly off the map valley enjoy books and I sell a fair amount. I also get to talk with interesting people.

Actually I meet interesting people wherever I take the bookstore, but it must have been hanging in the Yaak for a couple days away from electronics (no cell service) that shifted my perspective. I tend to mull over who I am and what this endeavor is – the traveling bookstore – a fair amount. It seems more than a business and less than a business. There is a lot of interaction as the average person doesn’t just walk into the bookstore, pick out a book, pay me and leave.  There is always conversation and often long conversations.  And because selling used books isn’t the easiest way to amass a fortune, I am obviously not in it for the money although I do have standards. So I wonder if the traveling bookstore is a hobby or an obsession or an art project or just an unusual business model.  While set up at the Yaak River Music Festival, it dawned on me. I am a repository for stories.

There was the woman from Flagstaff who after forty-two years of marriage and bankruptcy, decided to hike the Grand Canyon solo and a few years later had cancer and afterwards went to Nepal and now is thinking about where she wants to live.  And the young woman who hadn’t even heard of Yaak, Montana two years ago but was driving with her boy friend and looking for a place that accepted Wiccans and now they had an acre of land and a very small mobile home  and chickens near the river.  Or Malachi who was a rather young person traveling with his parents and brother out west.  He typed a poem, using a typewriter for the very first time in his life and then picked out the book, The Elephant Whisperer to give his dad.  And then the woman with the most angelic voice who was yes, I admit it, my favorite group at the festival.  I asked how to get in touch to hire her band for another event and she explained she had lost her post office box so I could send letters to her neighbor who would walk them over.  Or the retired teacher from Arizona who has a bunch of books she wants to give me and surely we can find someone driving from Gilbert, AZ to Montana later this summer who would bring them. I have no doubt this will happen.  A lovely woman from Florence, Alabama suggested I take my bookstore there next spring.  A man explained how he bought this great house in Cutbank, Montana for next to nothing with four bedrooms and he was living there alone and not much was happening in the town which is why he came to the festival. A guy in one of the other bands told me a crazy amazing story about a wedding he played at where a guy from India got drunk and broke into a neighbor’s house by mistake and caused thousands of dollars in damage but is getting drunk really a mistake.

These are just some of the stories.  There was the guy from Canada who told me he had too many books and then his wife told me he could buy more because she loved him and books made him happy.  And the old man who stood talking with me as it started to rain and we laughed about how great it was to have read Kurt Vonnegut. But I could go on like this for pages and it isn’t necessary as I do remember the individuals and their stories.