I had hoped to make “our favorite book stores” a regular feature here at BGB, but these things sometimes go by the wayside. Of course, you can always bring a good idea back. There’s nothing like spending way too much time in a great book store. So I’d like to revive this feature with one of my favorite rural book stores, The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia (I’d link to their web site, but they don’t have one - at least not one that is easily Google-able - same thing).

The sign next to their door says, “Georgia’s Best Small Bookshop - Georgia Journal, 1997.” So they’ve been around at least that long. I stumbled across the store on one of our trips to visit friends in Coon Bottom, Florida, which is just across the state line. (The only evidence online that I can find to document that Coon Bottom is an actual place is that they have a Volunteer Fire Department).
The Bookshelf is a small shop, but I have always found something in their carefully chosen selection that I didn’t know that I needed to have. It’s uncanny. You can get a cup of coffee while you browse, and usually someone has baked fresh brownies or cookies for sale, too. It’s a great stop. The traditional southern main street in Thomasville has really come along in the last five years or so as well. If you find yourself near Thomasville, stop for The Bookshelf and take a walk around town when your done browsing.
Other posts in the “we love” series (none of these has their own web site, apparently - what year is it?):
- Sundog Books in Seaside, FL
- Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA
- Beaucoup Books in New Orleans, LA (mentioned in passing)
Stores that I would have their own post if I had either a blog or a camera during my visit:
- City Lights in San Francisco, CA
- The Tattered Cover in Denver, CO (LoDo)
- Book and Books - Miami Beach, FL (my local for 5 years)
- Maple Street Book Shop and Children’s Book Shop - New Orleans, LA (motto: Fight the Stupids)
Stores that will certainly get their own posts once I’ve made the pilgrimage:
- Powell’s in Portland, OR
- The Strand (18 Miles of Books) - NYC
- Square Books - Oxford, MS
- The Brown Recluse - Marfa, TX (no web site)
Pass along your favorite must visit book stores in the comments. And I’m not talkin’ ’bout no fool corporate book stores.
February 7th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Powell’s must have the best selection of any independent bookstore I’ve seen, but I was a little let down by its ambiance–sterile isn’t the right word for it, but it’s not as warm a place as I’d expected. (I had high expectations.) Tattered Cover was a very pleasant surprise for me–for my money, even better than Powell’s, all things considered.
But the Grandaddy of ‘Em All in Dr J’s world is Square Books. It has the most knowledgable staff I’ve ever come across, a great inventory in southern history and literature, and a wonderful location–a hop, skip and a jump from Rowan Oak, Faulkner’s crib; right across the street from the county courthouse and what the locals call “the second-place trophy” (a confederate soldier monument); and two or three doors down from City Grocery, a bar where I’ve wasted many, many hours. I consider it time well spent.
February 7th, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Lemuria in Jackson, Miss., is pretty fantastic.
February 7th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
Dr J: That settles it. I’ve got to get to Square Books ASAP. I’m sorry to hear that Powell’s is just big. The Tattered Cover has a very cool, old west brothel vibe that I love (at least in LoDo). I’ve spent hours there in the two times that I’ve visited.
Porch: I have never hear of Lemuria. I was just checking out their web site, and it looks like my kind of place. It’s on my list of places to check out. Added bonus: you can sing the Johnny and June song “Jackson” on the drive.
February 7th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Square Books in Oxford = Best.
Just visited City Lights in November, and it looked awesome, although I only had 5 minutes to case the joint and soak in the Beat ambiance.
Another sentimental fave is The Regulator in Durham, NC.
February 7th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I can vouch for Lemuria and Regulator, both. On the NC beat there’s also a good joint in Raleigh whose name escapes me, but none of these are as good as the late Intimate Book Shop in Chapel Hill.
February 7th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
And I’ll post on Larry McMurtry’s multi-building bookstore in Archer City, TX, soon: http://www.bookedupac.com/index.html.
February 7th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Frank: A book store called The Regulator sounds bad ass. And now I double really need to boogie over to Oxford. Maybe I need to couple it with a Tupelo pilgrimage.
Dr J: looking forward to the McMurtry report.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:42 am
In the mid-90s, my then-wife and I spent a week driving to Memphis (Graceland, Sun Records, Beale Street, etc.), via Oxford (Rowan Oak and Square Books) and Tupelo (Elvis’ birthplace), then down through the Mississippi Delta on Highway 61, with stops at Greenwood (awesome sould food), Clarksdale (Delta Blues Museum, hotel where Bessie Smith died and other landmarks) and various jukejoints and bluesmen’s gravestones, then into Cajun country (with bayou tours outside Lafayette and lots of crawfish and boudin), then to N’Awlins, then back to the ATL. Basically a jazz, blues and early rock and roll pilgrimage. Not a trip for everyone, but one of the best weeks I’ve ever spent. There’s nothing quite like driving through the Delta, in the middle of nowhere, with the windows down and Robert Johnson on the stereo.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Frank: If that job thing of yours doesn’t pan out, you may want to consider providing organized tours to groups.
February 12th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Sadly, Beaucoup Books closed in June 2006 though there was news that they would reopen online.
http://news.bookweb.org/news/4547.html
February 12th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
That stinks! Beaucoup seemed to be losing steam after their move further up (down?) Magazine Street. The hurricane did them no favors either I suppose.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
What about Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC? I love that store and being nestled right downtown surrounded by great food and music makes it all the better. They have a good Southern Literature section in the coffee shop area.
July 29th, 2007 at 2:31 pm
When in Boston, do not miss the wonderful book stores we love so much:
Everyone’s fave is Brookline Booksmith, in Brookline (of course), very very close to Boston propah.
Porter Square Books in Cambridge — a truly lovely little literary chapel with good people and doing good work.
And Newtonville Books, doing for suburbanites what the cool people do downtown. Readings, great stock, nice place.