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While on the road

tvh56

May 3

In the midst of a traveling bookstore trip. Thirty days, over 3,000 miles, sixteen gigs, and there are so many experiences, ideas and people I want to capture in writing to share with you. Someone suggested I make audio recordings of all this while driving, but I will say driving across the Great Basin in the wind, it is all I can do to keep the bookstore on the road. Trying to record a podcast while doing that is beyond my abilities.
Missed seeing author Lois Lowry in person when she did a reading recently at The King's English Bookshop, but did get a copy of her latest book, Tree.Table.Book. It is touted as a middle grade reader but I lent my copy to other adults who praised it. Give it a try.
I am chronically behind on thank you notes to all the people who make traveling bookstore tours happen. The venues so far: Western Cider (Missoula), Westside Drive In at Parkcenter (Boise), Kings' English Bookshop (Salt Lake City), The Depot (Reno), Temple Coffee Roasters (Sacramento) and King Cong Brewing (Sacramento). Blessings on you for providing space for this quirky traveling bookstore. And heart-felt thanks to the people who kindly put me up!! Deborah and Jerry in Greenough (MT), Karen in Boise (ID), Murielle and Bill in Salt Lake City (UT), Ernie and Karen in Reno (NV), and Mary and Dennis in Sacramento (CA). I know it takes a village for some things, but obviously a traveling bookstore takes a whole lot more than just one village. Beside venues and hosts, there are individuals like Marlene in Boise who introduced me to the Boise Art Museum, Michelle in Salt Lake City who worked with me despite the chilly, damp weather, and Craig and Linda in Sacramento who took me to lunch when the van was at Les Schwabs.
Many times when people experience the bookstore, they marvel at how lovely it is, look at the list of places on the tour and remark, "You are living my dream." I often pause when I hear this to wonder why more aren't living the particular dream each of them might have. I also think about the Langston Hughes' poem, "Let America Be America Again." It is a complicated concept (living a dream) and could use not only an entire post dedicated to the topic, but volumes.
Connected with living the dream are those women who visit the bookstore and remark how brave I am to be doing this. Trying to make sense of these remarks because it doesn't seem to be brave to drive around selling books and talking with people. I looked up the word brave in the Oxford English Dictionary online. Surprised the use frequency has declined significantly since the 1700s (does this mean we are all less brave?). The dictionary defines brave as "willing to do things that are difficult, dangerous, or painful." Typically it isn't painful to do the traveling bookstore, although at the end of a long day schlepping boxes of books, I might take ibuprofen. There are difficult moments but in the bigger picture - not really that difficult. Dangerous? Now that is hard to have perspective on when I look at statistics on mass shootings in the US (too many), or the genocide taking place in other countries (too much). Even recent protests on campuses have become more dangerous than talking literature at a brew pub in Sacramento.
There does seem to be a connection between those who remark about living a dream and those who believe operating a traveling bookstore is brave. It is definitely a woman thing. Definitely something more women feel is a reality of life. Customers who are male never comment on my bravery. I suppose because they typically don't feel threatened when alone in public or parked at a rest area.
Time is running out today as I need to drive to Oakland/Berkeley now. Tomorrow setting up at the Berkeley Art Center to do an event with Collab Arts Lab from Berkeley Commonplace. Really hope if you are in the Bay Area you stop by to visit, make books, buy books, have conversations. 11am - 5pm.