the bookstore(s) of Gloucester

Last week, my guy and I hopped on the commuter rail (for the first time since March) and headed to Gloucester, about an hour north of Boston. We’d each been up there before, but not together, and we reveled in wandering around, eating seafood and soaking in some time away.

Because I am me, and because we were there to celebrate my birthday, we went to two bookstores, both of which were utter delights.

The Bookstore of Gloucester was our first stop: it’s a cozy, well-curated shop with green walls, situated right at the bend of Main Street. I loved browsing their local section at the front, and picked up one of Jennifer Ackerman’s books on birds. They have a huge children’s/young adult section (this is only a slice, above), a handful of cards and journals, and interesting stuff in all genres. I always enjoy seeing what bookstore owners choose to highlight in their spaces – it’s such a reflection of both the staff and the community.

Our second bookstore was down the street: Dogtown Books (“used and unusual”). It had an entirely different feel – a huge space lined with crowded bookshelves, bursting with titles of all types and eras.

I headed straight for local history and fiction, where I picked up Anita Diamant’s novel Good Harbor. I browsed the poetry, too, and the children’s section in the “way back” of the store. (I did not buy any awesome pulp fiction, but I appreciated the sign.)

There was entirely too much to take in, but I did snap a half-dozen shots of fun used-bookstore touches, like this typewriter. (Yes, I did type a few letters and yes, some of the keys do stick.)

Bookstore browsing feels different these days: lots of places have limited hours, and of course everyone – staff and customers – is distanced and masked. I made some online orders from my favorite stores during quarantine in the spring, but I am so glad to be able to wander the shelves again. The booksellers at both Gloucester shops were friendly and kind, and it felt good to lose myself in the stacks for a little while.

Despite their good cheer, I am sure both stores, like lots of indie bookstores, have struggled mightily during the pandemic. If you can, please order your books (and anything else they sell) from independent bookstores instead of online retail giants. It makes such a difference to those stores and the communities to which they belong.

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summer quest: Sara Paretsky scavenger hunt.

I’ve got a new mystery obsession this summer. As is so often the case, it came about by pure serendipity.

One of my neighbors used to run a Little Free Library, and someone else in the neighborhood would drop off advanced copies (in addition to the ones I would contribute). I found an ARC of Dead Land, Sara Paretsky’s latest V.I. Warshawski novel, on the shelf back in April, and finally got around to reading it in July.

I usually don’t like starting a series at the end, but I was hankering for a new mystery and I liked V.I.: she’s whip-smart, tenacious and fiercely committed to justice. Plus she’s a master of both sharp, snarky wit and getting herself into (and out of) tight corners.

I checked out the first two books, Indemnity Only and Deadlock, from the library, and then decided to see if I could find used copies of V.I.’s other adventures around town. I hit the jackpot at the Harvard Book Store: three mass-market paperbacks (in series order!) for under $4 each. So I scooped them up and have been popping into the other used bookstores I know, to see what I can find.

Rodney’s in Cambridge yielded an old hardcover of Tunnel Vision, and I later found one book each (Fallout and Critical Mass, respectively) at the Booksmith and Commonwealth Books. I like the varied, sometimes campy cover art, the portability of the mass markets, and the fact that they’re so darn affordable. I love a glossy new hardcover as much as the next reader, but I also like collecting a series this way, scavenger hunt-style. I didn’t have any luck at the Brattle, but I’m getting the ones I don’t find from the library. (Thank heaven for library holds pickup.)

Do you hunt for series like this?

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