Lost in Place

This is the first in a series of posts about my recent visits to several Boston-area indie bookstores.

My Boston bookstore visits began with a St. Pat’s Day stop at Brookline Booksmith, just a short walk from the Coolidge Corner “T” stop. I strolled around the neighborhood for a bit first — Brookline is a walkable community where chains and local businesses seem to co-habitate fairly well. I was surprised to see a Barnes and Noble literally one block down from the independent store. Their shop seems to do just fine, despite the neighboring chain. The indie bookstore has been serving readers in this town for over 45 years — a tradition that seems to ensure its continued existence on Harvard St.

The main floor of Booksmith houses most of their books, stretching from bestsellers and bargains up front, to a children’s section at the back. To one side is a Cards & Gifts area where most items are now marked down. (I snagged some deeply discounted cards and a few unnecessary pocket-sized books, both of which just happen to be translated titles: Moscardino and Little Red Ink Drinker.)

Events Director Brian Foley showed me the basement space they use for store events — shelving units containing DVDs and used books are pushed to the side most weeknights to make room for their popular Readers and Writers Series, a program which features predominately fiction and poetry. They can accommodate about 100 people in the downstairs space. I cringed with jealousy later on when I spied Booksmith’s proximity to the Coolidge Corner Theater directly across the street from their store. They use this art deco venue for hosting larger author events, like Jhumpa Lahiri and Tobias Wolff, who will both appear there in April.

The weekly b-mail from this store is particularly well done (by Paul Theriault) and definitely influenced my decsion to visit this shop while in town. I didn’t get to meet Paul or some of the other staff members who I know from web browsing; they’ve got several staff members who blog: Lori at Brookline Blogsmith, Carl at the recently initiated Used Book Cellar blog, and Alison Morris at PW’s ShelfTalker blog about children’s books. Alison works at Booksmith’s Wellesley location, which I did not visit on this trip. But I’m pretty sure that either shop is sure to satisfy if you’re looking for an indie bookstore in the ‘burbs of Boston.