When thinking about this post, the first sentence that came to mind was, "Typically the bookstore..." but I realize there isn't a typical for the traveling bookstore, nor for many things in life. I'll leave the bigger world aside for the moment though and focus on the traveling bookstore business. I think of it as a fair weather enterprise. Spring through fall it is on the road doing its mighty thing. And then when winter blankets northwest Montana, the bookstore hibernates. Usually at that point, I sneak away quietly on tiptoes, letting it sleep for a few months.
Recently though, there's been a lot of bookstore buzz which caught me off guard in a delightful way. A first-grade teacher who discovered my bookstore at a farmers market this past summer, got in touch the other day to invite me to visit her school. Set up the bookstore, talk with the kids, we will purchase a book for each child (there are sixty!) - she said. And how could I refuse such a wonderful invitation? Sixty first-grade readers who no doubt will be giddy with excitement (I hope) looking at books and exploring the bookstore. So despite doing this in late November (the temperature this morning here in Eureka, Montana was 18°F/-8°C) I am thrilled, tidying up the bookstore, getting out a large US map so I can point out the bookstore's travels, and amassing piles of picture books to have ready for these young readers.
That invitation to bring the bookstore to a school began a small avalanche of other surprises. Eve Tolpa contacted me about an article on the bookstore for a college magazine. In the course of our conversation, she asked how St. John's College, the school where I did undergraduate studies, intersected with my bookstore business. It was an excellent question because it made me think, looking back umpteen years to when I sat around seminar tables in Annapolis, Maryland. Of course, it made perfect sense then to attend a college where people read and discuss what they read, and here I am decades later selling books and having discussions about books with people who come by the bookstore. Most days, I'd describe my life as a crooked path, or perhaps not even one path but multiple paths. Being a short-order cook to being a teacher, living in SF to living in Romania, being a carless urbanite to driving a traveling bookstore across country. Talking with Eve Tolpa during the interview, helped me recognize some commonalities in my ways.
And April Isaacs (The Ecstatic Wanderer) contacted me recently about starting her own traveling bookstore. She already lives in a van so it will be a short step to adding a bookstore component. Again, like speaking with Eve Tolpa, questions arose during our conversation that made me think about what I am doing, how I am doing it, and why I am doing it. The next bookstore season this spring, is the tenth year which seem remarkable for me and for the van. Already mulling over where to go.
No idea why this winter has a different tempo for the traveling bookstore. It is exciting to have new experiences though. Embark on different conversations. Thankful.
"The Magic and Mystery in Tibet" by Alexandra David-Neel
"All Systems Red" by Martha Wells
"Let Us Descend" by Jesmyn Ward
"Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss
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