Lost in Place

Although I’ve been to Cambridge about a 1/2 dozen times in my life, the trip I took earlier this month included my very first visit to the Harvard Book Store. It’s a beautiful shop with eye-catching window displays and tall wooden bays of books that hug every wall of the store. I was fortunate to have a chance to meet a few folks from their knowledgeable staff — Marketing Manager Heather Gain and Head Book Buyer Megan Sullivan were kind enough to show me around and chat briefly about events and the book-selling biz, specifically the academic side of things, since both our stores serve university communities.

I also chatted with Steve downstairs in the Used Book section, where he pointed out the fantastic “book finds” that decorate the shelves of this basement area. The staff tapes up whatever they find inside used books, and they’ve also managed to wallpaper an entire door in bookmarks gathered from other stores:

I hear that the basement bathroom is pretty cool too, but I forgot to sneak a peek.

The Harvard Book Store runs a fantastic author events program, and has recently introduced some innovative new ideas into the mix. This month they launched two non-author specific events: Winedown and Philosophy Cafe. The store was founded in 1932 by the same family that runs it today — for over 75 years, a leading independent shop that continues to shine.

Of course, I could not leave without a souvenir or two — first, in honor of Small Press Month, I chose a copy of Milkweed’s Music for Landing Planes By because the cover, title and author’s name are all divine; and second, I selected a discounted copy of Michael Dirda’s Book by Book: Notes on Reading and Life, because, well — why not add another book about books to my ever growing collection?

(Second in a series of posts on Boston bookstore visits; the first one is here.)