My favorite street corner is several hundred miles away from home. It is predictably nerdy and delightful, a wonderful way for a bibliophile to kill a day.
Yep. It's Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon. A city block filled to the brim with books, books, books. Powell's has everything. It has new books, used books, rare books, out of print books.
My husband and I were there a few years ago to see one of my college friends. My husband was teasing me, trying to get me to imagine what it would look like to have my book on those fantasy shelves in the "B's." He'd point and say: "It's gonna be right there!" I giggled along with him, not very hopeful about my prospects.
We spent all afternoon at the bookstore. He bought a rare Douglas Adams book. I got an out of print copy of STING: THE ILLUSTRATED LYRICS. We went back to the rare books room, a glassed-in area that's temperature and humidity controlled. I caught my husband ogling a complete works of Shakespeare set on CD. He talked himself out of buying it, since it was a nice, shiny penny. I copied down the information and had it shipped to him as a surprise the next week.
I thought about Powell's every once in awhile, hoping to go back. And wondering if one of my books would be on the shelf.
Just a few months ago, the lovely Jessa Slade saw this in Powell's and sent a photo to me:
I love a good happy ending.
