My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

I Love Bookstores

I thought I'd share the ottoman I've refurbished since I've ironed it. Looks great to me. I am very pleased with it now.
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A sweet fellow blogger, Claudia, did a post on bookstores recently. She and I are avid readers. I'd bet I read more than she reads though. But I read so much and am rarely without a book to read. Once I get down to 2 books left, I start visiting the local used bookstores or order on Amazon. Claudia was extolling the virtues of small or individually owned bookstores as opposed to the giants that dot our cities now. Frankly, I'll buy a book wherever I can find it, but I do love the 3 we have in our town that I visit. But since I may have read all the ones I'm interested in here in town I have to order online. But I love perusing bookstores and getting recommendations from the knowledgeable owners. It has opened my mind to a lot of books I may never have read had it not been for their recommendations. For instance, Janet Evanovich.

I had never read or heard of her until a man at Bent Corners Used Books mentioned her. The first book had me hooked. I went back and bought every single book of hers he had in stock. She is one of the funniest writers I've ever read. I laughed myself silly reading about Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, and her sidekick, a former...uh...woman of the night. Hilarious!

I love Jeffrey Archer and have read every single book he's written so far. To me, he is the best writer alive who writes about different things. Most authors stick to one subject. Not him. He is a fantastic author.

Then there's David Baldacci, Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Harlan Coben, James Patterson, Daniel Silva and a few more. But these are my favorites and I buy everything they write. But I digress.

There is nothing like going in to the one downtown here called Yesteryear Book Store. It looks like it may have been an old department store at one time because there are 2 levels. Actually, it's more of a mezzanine but it has books all over the place. There must be hundreds of thousands of books in there. So many that there are stacks on the floor even. I love going in there and the books are pretty cheap also. But I'll always read books I can hold in my hand to feel the paper. I doubt I'll ever succumb to e-books; I just love holding the book too much.

My go-to bookstore. Not very big but I can usually find 10 or 12 books in there to buy.


This one is in the basement of an old church but the books cost a bit more and it's hard to navigate around in there as you can see. I have a friend that works in there a few days a week and she helps me locate books, but I'd spend more money in that one than Bent Corners, which is very, very cheap.


This truly is the biggest supply of books I've ever seen. Our local library doesn't even come close to it in size or number of books. Actually, our town library is rather pathetic and there is parking for a very few cars only, just not worth the time going there.
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Now on to the beautiful photos.

 Apparently, a lot of people, me included, loved this fabric enough to make tea towels out of it.


It's pink, what can I say?!


Roses and laundry hanging on the line. My favorites. ;-)


Beautifully photographed close-up of a flower.


Pretty pin.


One of the most beautiful entry staircases I've ever seen.


Mexican foliage. Beautiful.


They're even doing these craft folded roses on haute couture now. Lovin' it!


Benches with pillows instead of chairs.


Prettily made up vignette.


Nice night for a picnic. :-)


And your favorite: French chateaux.
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Tidbit:
The Cullinan Diamond is the largest gem-quality diamond ever discovered. Found in 1905, the original 3,100 carats were cut to make jewels for the British Crown Jewels and the British Royal Family's collection.
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6 comments:

  1. You like so many of my favourite authors, Connie.
    Sadly one of our used book shops has closed down due to high city tax costs, and dwindling sales.
    We have a mobile library in the village once a fortnight and they will order books, which is good. Our main library has no parking near it so not easy if you have lots of books to carry.....but they do have a nice cafe.

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  2. You are so lucky that you have those bookstores nearby, my friend! I wish we had more used bookstores around here.

    xoxo
    Claudia

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  3. My husband and I are BOTH avid readers. But I only read nonfiction. I would LOVE to have a nice little family owned bookstore here but we only have Barnes and Noble. I hang out there often! I think I could LIVE there! And I pick up lots of books at garage sales. Right now I need to get rid of some books. I have no more room! have a great week!
    sandy :)

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  4. I love reading! I am always in the middle of a good book. Always! I now have a nook too and wow, the amount of free books you can get! It has introduced me to new authors that I am not familiar with. I love both nook books and regular books. I just love to read. At this point, I have so many books on my nook to read that I can no longer complain about not having enough to read. I also love the used bookstore in my area too.

    Heather

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  5. Hi Connie, I have missed you but I am back. I love your ottoman and the fabric is so sweet. Very romantic. Your romantic pics are lovely as well. The Mexican flowers pic is beautiful. I am ready for winter to go away and enjoy flowers here.

    I am an avid reader and so was my mom. The libraries in her town were read out by her too. She had to keep going farther to find a new one. I'm serious. My kids gave me a Kindle for Christmas a year ago and I have just recently started to read from it. I much prefer a book. We also love Janet Evanovich. We have read or listened to her books on tape and I think we have read or heard every one.

    The store you shared is amazing. We too visit all the local bookstores and we reserve books by Patterson and many of the authors you mentioned at the library. We do have a wonderful library here for such a small town.

    Happy reading Connie,
    xo, Jeanne

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  6. Ooohhhh.....Connie,you really have those pink tea towels?? I adore them! They are so sweet!
    I read too!
    Ames at Girl raised in the South turned me on to Janet Evanovich when she wrote a post about Florida and the folks who live there! I went thru the entire Jan Karon series in a few short months as well as Debbie Macomber! Love Nicholas Sparks and often enjoy autobiographies and history too! I often take the advice of those who read around me and have read some wonderful books!
    During this years Super Bowl my middle daughter asked if she could bring a book at the Super Bowl party my oldest daughter, two doors down, held! LOL! What can I say, the girl loves reading!
    A good bloggy friend told me to read "The Girls From Ames" and it was a real treat! Then she sent me a book called "Mean Girls At Work" when I was having a tough time at my job! Myra is a real doll!
    The biggest book store here is the Tattered Cover. It is a massive book store but you could spend the day there and they would never bug you to buy or leave! They also host lots of authors with book signings! I shop amazon.com too! I find lots of great hard covered books at my local Goodwill for $1.99 each and soft cover and children' books for 99 cents! I also find tons of good buys at the local A.R.C. which supports people with disabilities. I bought a book, for the great grand baby and ended up keeping it for me! HaHa! It was a Christmas book and I relaized it was signed by the author. She just passed away in 2012 and so I thought I might as well hang on to it!
    I have been known to repurchase books my hubby has given away! In fact last summer our middle caught him loading books into the car and she wailed "Daaaaaaaaad....how can you give away our childhood? The set of junior classic books was a mainstay! She promptly removed them from the car to her overcrowded book shelves! LOL! We owned all the Dr. Seuss books when the kids were small and he took them to the consignment shop! I was furious and reordered the entire set! The kids can fight it out over who gets what! HaHa!
    well I better hush and let you get on with your life! Have a beautiful weekend! Blessings, Anne

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