A Teetering, Tottering Tower of Books

Grand Southern Literary Tour 2013

October 20 - October 27

A Tower of Books and...

...a Tower-ette of Books

Second Read Books

Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James

Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

St. Augustine, Florida

Anastasia Books

As We Were by E.F. Benson

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Jeeves and the Tie That Binds by P.G. Wodehouse

St. Augustine, Florida

Color illustration from Anne of Green Gables

E. Shaver, bookseller

Note Cards of Savannah by local artist

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil autographed by

author John Berendt (I had it gift wrapped as a present to myself!)

Charlotte's Web (hardcover edition) by E.B. White

Savannah, Georgia

The Book Lady

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson

The Bedside Guardian Volumes 28, 30, 33, and 35

Savannah, Georgia

Hattie's Books

On Love and Barley

Haiku of Basho

Brunswick, Georgia

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site

Carl Sandburg Home - The Official National Park Handbook

My Connemara by Paula Steichen (Sandburg's granddaughter)

Chicago Poems - Carl Sandburg

Flat Rock, North Carolina

Joy of Books

The Grits (Girls Raised in the South) Guide to Life by Deborah Ford

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon

Hendersonville, North Carolina

Robie Books

Books Notes: America's Finest Authors on Reading, Writing and the Power of Ideas

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley

Great Modern Short Stories (1942) - Selected by Bennett Cerf

Postmark Paris: A Story in Stamps by Leslie Jonath

The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphries

Berea, Kentucky

Berea, Kentucky and Home Again, Home Again - October 27, 2013

The last day of the Grand Southern Literary Tour 2013. A day of driving but now I am home. One literary stop on the way in Berea, Kentucky at Robie Books which I visited this past March. You can read a bit about the town and this great used book store here.

This time I met Joe, owner Avena Cash's husband, and found some more gems on the store's shelves. I think I bought five more books!

I have no idea what my grand total is for this trip, but I carried in many, many bags of books from the car. It will be like Christmas when I begin to unwrap them all tomorrow! I bought multiple books at every store we explored. I am hoping for a cold winter which will keep me indoors and reading. I do feel as if I perhaps overdid it on this year's Tour. I visited many more used books stores than on last year's trip which may account for my dwindling cash reserves...

Wild Woman, Wild Strawberries

Crazy woman as I am, I just e-mailed Avena at Robie Books and asked her to send me the hardcover copy of Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell. I had the book in my hand the other day when visiting the store in Berea but it didn't make it to the cash register with me. 

What was I thinking?

It was such a sweet copy with a pink dust jacket. I hope it is still on the shelf. Although there were a couple of Thirkell books available, this was the only one of hers in a hardcover edition.

You know how a book can haunt you? Well, letting this one go has been haunting me so I am banishing that little apparition by having the real thing sent to me. The postage will be cheaper than the tank of gas it would take to drive back to the store!

And that, gentle readers, is my book-buying adventure for the day.

Robie Books and Berea, Kentucky

Berea College

There is nothing quite as enjoyable as visiting a small college town. Berea, Kentucky boasts Berea College with its shady, tree-filled campus, a historic restaurant and hotel, shops full of hand-made Kentucky art and crafts, art studios and galleries, and some very friendly folks.

On our visit to the town on Tuesday, a friend and I enjoyed a tasty Southern delicacy, a pulled pork sandwich topped with creamy coleslaw, at historic Boone Tavern.  We had a ball as we wandered in and out of shops and galleries featuring watercolor and acrylic paintings; photographs; pottery vases, mugs, and plates; woven scarves, blankets and rugs; wooden bowls, boxes and puzzles; metalwork; blown glass; and, beaded jewelry - necklaces, bracelets, rings, and earrings. All items are hand-made by Kentucky artisans. 

As we drove into town we noticed large, artistic painted hands in front of stores, on street corners, in small parks. These, we learned, were part of the public art project "Show of Hands". Very colorful and so fitting for a town that promotes hand-made objects.

Show of Hands

The town itself has a population of about 14,000 and the college has an enrollment of 1500 students. The college was founded in 1855 and every student attends tuition free. It draws mostly from the Appalachian region of the state giving the lowest of low-income  students with high academic qualifications a chance at a first-rate education. Many students are the first in their family to attend college.

Each student works at least ten hours a week on campus either in Boone Tavern and the hotel which belong to the college, in one of the college departments or offices, or in the student shop creating  jewelry, pottery, or woven pieces to be sold.

Of course, the trip would not have been complete without a visit to the local used bookstore Robie Books. The shop, located on the edge of the campus, is presided over by owner Avena Cash who greeted us from behind the front counter. She was surround by stacks of books on the floor that she was processing into the store's inventory. 

Robie Books was originally founded by a Mr. Robie (now deceased) and his wife. Avena and her husband bought it three years ago. There are no coffee machines, comfy chairs, or cats. However, there are plenty of books which is what makes a bookstore a bookstore. 

I rummaged through shelves of historic and classic fiction, mysteries, and children's books. Gardening and nature books and histories and biographies had rooms of their own. 

At one point I had in my hand a sweet little hardcover edition of Wild Strawberries by Angela Thirkell but left without buying it. I don't know what I was thinking. I must have been getting sleepy from my lunch. Oh, well. I can always call Avena and have her send it to me.

Robie Books owner Avena Cash

Anyway, I did pick up As You Were edited by Alexander Woollcott which contains short works by American writers and poets collected for servicemen overseas during World War II. A real treasure, to be sure.

It is a rare day that I enter a used bookstore and leave with only one book but, although it is a struggle, I am trying to keep my purchases limited to hardcover copies which helps keep my expenditures and TBR piles down.