Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs

July 13, 2014December 20, 2015 / rtrube54 / 3 Comments

Just in case you’ve wondered, we’ve been on kind of a stay-cation this past week. One of the things we like to do is explore small towns in Ohio, and whenever there is a bookstore, to check it out. On Friday, we spent part of the day having lunch and looking around Clifton Mill. Then we too a short drive from there over to Yellow Springs, Ohio, the home of Antioch College, and Dark Star Books at 237 Xenia Avenue in the heart of the shopping district of Yellow Springs.

Dark Star Books

Visiting Yellow Springs is kind of like stepping into a time warp and being transported back to the late 60s, early 70s–a very hippie, counter-culture setting. Dark Star Books has that kind of feel with an interesting twist. The store was started by Mary Alice Wilson after a career in teaching. She began with her son’s comic book collection and comic books and items related, like science fiction, fantasy, role-playing games, and suspense, mystery, and thriller literature are emphases of the store. We even picked up a Star Trek comic our son didn’t have (with his help on the cell phone). At the counter, we were telling Frank, the comic buyer about our son having his want list, and Frank said, “Have him send it to me!” It’s that kind of place.

Comic Section at Dark Star Books

The back part of the store caters to more to those with our tastes, with everything from cookbooks to history, to science and metaphysics sections. Although it was not entirely the case, it felt a bit that we had stepped back into the late 60s, early 70s in this part of the store. It seemed that a significant part of the books, not all, were the kinds of things we were reading back then–Teilhard de Chardin, Herbert Marcuse, and the like. But I did find a nice copy of the one volume condensation of Lee’s Lieutenants, along with a John Innes mystery, which was not easy to come by.

Dark Star Books non-fiction section with some sci-fi in the foreground

In talking with Frank, we learned that the store has had increased sales this year, a trend that seems to be true with many Indie stores. We also noted that they do buy books from customers but appreciate a call ahead because they are not always able to evaluate books on the spot.

After wandering a bit more around Yellow Springs, we finished our trip to these parts by stopping at Young’s Jersey Dairy, about 2 and a half miles north of Yellow Springs on US Rt. 68. This is an attraction for kids and adults with demonstrations, a play area, putt-putt, a restaurant and a store that sells dairy products, has a grill for the lunch crowd, and an ice cream counter, which was our destination. A nice way to finish off the day in this part of Ohio!

Read It Again Books in Grove City

July 11, 2014December 20, 2015 / rtrube54 / Leave a comment

I mentioned a couple of posts back our recent visit to Grove City. One of our fun discoveries was Read It Again Books, located in Grove City’s shopping district at 4052 Broadway. This is a classic used bookstore. It is located in an old two-story home on the main street of Grove City, with every room filled with shelves and tables of books by different categories.

Read It Again Books and Gifts

When we arrived in Grove City mid-afternoon, we found the store closed but found enough to divert us until they opened at 5 pm. The owners, Lora and Lynn, work other jobs during the daytime and so just open during the evenings on weekdays, from 5 to 8 pm, from 10-6 on Saturdays (they may be opening at 8am for the new farmers market that is starting up this Saturday) and 1-6 on Sundays.

We’re so glad we came back, not only for the cookbook of ethnic recipes from Cleveland my wife found (we lived there for nine years) and a mint condition copy of E. H. Gombrich’s A Little History of the World I picked up at a very reasonable price. We also really enjoyed getting to know Lora and Lynn.

Interior – Read it Again Books & Gifts

Lora seems to be on a first name basis with most of her customers and really makes a point of getting to know their reading interests. We saw children, teens, and adults stop in while we were there. They have a children’s room and Lora worked with a couple of the children helping them find books they would enjoy in a way that would make any children’s librarian proud. She had a book she had set aside for one of her teen customers that she thought she would like.

Lynn was involved in shelving new acquisitions and what was fun was just listening to him talk about books they acquired that he found interesting. In addition, Lynn makes hand-turned fountain pens which also are for sale at the store. These were works of art.

Lucy

Of course, one can’t forget Lucy, the quintessential bookstore cat. She seemed very friendly to the children in the store and just seemed to lap up attention.

Lora claimed that this was the only used bookstore in southwest Franklin County, and from what I know, I believe she is right. What was obvious to me was that Lora and Lynn loved books, loved connecting customers with books they would enjoy and work hard to both serve their community and make a go of this business. In that, they seem to represent the best ideals of the used/indie bookstore movement. And for that, I’m only too glad to give them a shout-out!

In Praise of the Indie Bookstore

June 19, 2014December 20, 2015 / rtrube54 / 3 Comments

I’ve been seeing lots of posts decrying Amazon’s recent conflict with the Hachette Publishing Group. I don’t intend to add to that outcry with this post, other than to say, if we think Amazon is a monster, then it is one we have helped create and it is just doing what it thinks are in its best business interests. There is a brutal, bottom-line logic to how these companies (Hachette as well as Amazon) operate. I suspect in the end they will come to some kind of compromise — neither wants to kill the goose laying the golden eggs. My son did a post on his blog that argues this point in far more detail, so I don’t need to.

Acorn Bookshop (from http://www.acornbookshop.com/)

What I would rather talk about are the great brick and mortar Indie bookstores, whether selling used and collectors book, or new. I was reminded these treasures during a visit this week to the Acorn Bookshop in Grandview Heights, a couple miles west of Ohio State’s campus. Acorn sells used and antiquarian books. George Cowmeadow Bauman is the co-owner and known widely as “bookstore George”. His love of collecting books and selling them came from his aunt, to whom the store is dedicated. He tells the story wonderfully!

This was my second visit to the store (I mentioned it in a post early in this blog’s history). I was in the neighborhood and decided to use a gift card a kind friend sent because she liked some of the posts on this blog! Who was I to complain? I hadn’t explored the basement before and in the process came across Norman. George calls what he does “Normanizing”. Before books are shelved, Norman repairs, cleans, and for books with dust jackets, puts a protective sleeve like those you see on library books over the dust jacket. I think for this reason, the store doesn’t have the musty, dusty feel I encounter in most bookstores of its type. I’ve not been to a bookstore before that did this and I thought it was quite a nice touch!

My purchase. Notice the protective sleeve on the Modern Library edition

One of the things that marks this store is the friendly relations between all the booksellers and the customers, those who are selling books and those who buy. I was looking for a hardcover copy of the first installment of Rex Morris’s biography of Teddy Roosevelt but could not find this. They had a paperbound copy which I ended up buying but they searched downstairs to see if they had it. On their website, they speak of this store as having an atmosphere kind of like the old comedy, Cheers, where everybody knows your name.

There is an experience in wandering around a bookstore like this, not only of discovering things you’ve not heard of before that are interesting, or finding that book you’ve been looking for. There is also the experience of being among a community of book lovers, of people you don’t have to explain your quirkiness to, because they get it. While I’ve not decided to boycott Amazon, I want to patronize places like this as often as I can because these people genuinely care about the love of books (as well as making a living at it), and fostering a culture where books and ideas and conversation about them are valued. It seems to me that places like this are part of what make a good city and a good society.

I’d love to hear your stories of the physical bookstores you love and value.