Leafing Through

Novel View 2 or Captians Island Part 1

In honor of Novel View’s big move I thought that I would post one of the greatest finds I ever did find in a little ol’ bookstore. Remember the little alcove connecting the two upstairs rooms? There were all sorts of old and interesting books there. I found this for a friend and loved it so much that I scoured the internet for it and bought a copy for myself and my brother. It’s one of the best books ever. I hope to post a little of the story each day, since it’s not really a book that you can often find. Here’s the cover and back, it’s what sucked me in. I never even read it before buying it. I just knew that it had to be a wonderful story.

 

A Novel View

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There's this fantastic little bookstore here in Anchorage called A Novel View. It is just great. For a long time it was located in one of the fabulous little houses that are slowly disappearing from downtown Anchorage. The main floor had mystery, romance, Alaskana, and featured authors. If you went up the creaky stairs (paying mind to watch your head so you didn’t hit it on the low ceiling) you would find a wonderful assortment of literature, travel books, and other fun findings. You could then walk through a tiny alcove in which old and valuable books were tucked away. On the other side was a small, cozy, carpeted room with a lot of lovely children’s books. The basement though, oh the fabulous basement (watch your head!) that contained the worst of my secret habits, Sci-Fi paperback. I could spend hours down there digging through stacks and racks of science fiction. Alas, due to unfortunate circumstances they have been forced to move. At first I was horrified. If not in a creaky, cute little house, then where? I was sure that it would be the last time I ventured to their store. Well, I just got my monthly email from Pat, the owner. She’s informing her loyal customers that they will now be sharing space with the Cook Inlet Book Store. What a great idea! I love the Cook Inlet Book Store. It caries a ton of Alaskana books, and you can always find something interesting. However, I don’t shop there often because I just don’t need that many Alaskana books. Now though, I’m sure to most likely see something I like while visiting the Novel View portion of the store. I hope this joint venture works out for everyone. Good luck Pat! I'll see you for First Friday tomorrow!

Photo by Molly

Story Hour

When I was a little girl our local library had its budget cut one summer and had to do away with story hour. Some ingenious librarian came up with the idea of setting up an audio book on the telephone. It really was better than going to the library, because as much as I loved the library I often didn't like the other children who went to story hour. I think their parents just dropped them off for free babysitting and they didn't really care if they heard a story or not. The new system allowed me to call the number (which my mom had posted near the phone) time and time again. Each week a new story would come out and all three of us would race to the phone. It was nice sitting on the cool linoleum in the darkness of the dining room, phone to my ear, pulling at the strings of my cut-off shorts, listening to the likes of Thom Thumb and Thumbilina stories.