There is a place for people like us, friends.
Did you know there’s a town—a whole town—in British Columbia that lives and breathes books? With only 11,000 residents, Sidney boasts a whipping 12 bookstores. There’s a bookstore on just about every block. There are bookstores that sell new books, used books and rare books—whatever kind of book you want.
But Sidney’s not the first ever booktown. Here’s a quote from an article in the Star-Ledger about Sindey that was sent to me by my aunt: “Sidney is billed as Canada’s only booktown, a place that emerged from the bluleprint of Britain’s Hay-On-Wye booktown on the English Welsh border with 1,500 people and 30 bookstores.”
In this country, the first booktown was Stillwater, MN—which earned the booktown designation in 1994. Apparently, being a booktown isn’t about how many books vs. how many people are in the town. It’s about modeling the town on Hay-On-Wye.
The concept of a booktown feels as fanciful to me as “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” song—you know, that kids song where hobos get endless tobacco and everything’s made of high fructose corn syrup.
How much would I love to live in a town that loves books as much as I do—where the question of “So what are you doing this weekend?” is rephrased as “So what are you reading this weekend?”
Or where the people who usually stand in line on a Friday night at the movies are instead standing in line at a hot new bookstore, waiting for a new release.
And where the people of the town actually know that there are more books worth reading than Harry Potter, Twilight, and Dan Brown.
I’d like to petition my own town to be a booktown, but sadly, we don’t even have one bookstore! Incidentally, we also don’t have any liquor stores either. Apparently imaginative and/or chemical escapism is a no-no in this town.
So what’s your town like? How many bookstores? Are they new or used? Indy stores or big chains?
FYI- I’ll announce the winner of Octobers LOVE TO READERS
prize later in the week; so any comments left on this post will count toward the November contest.
Later!
Lisa Dale
{ 35 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Lisa!
I live in a small town in Canada and I have to drive like 45 minutes to find a bookstore! lol
I have to say I’d be in paradise living in Sidney! Thanks for the info, I had no idea about booktowns!
I also live in a small town and no book store! There is one small book store in a town near where I love but it is very small and most of the time you have to order what you want. I also live in a dry county so no liquor stores either. The stores here are not aloud to sell any erotic novels or mag. So no sexy books here either.
I live in Las Vegas so there are a ton of chain book stores as well as used book stores. There’s one used bookstore that I like going to because even though they are used she only takes the very gently used books and she takes trades. So in order to get a book all I have to do is give her a gently used book plus one dollar. I think that is a great deal! I always tell my family when they ask me what to give me for christmas and birthdays to just get Borders gift cards. Then I can go pick my own books and there are alot of them and Barnes and Noble close to where I live.
@Melanie, I hope you don’t mind if I tell everyone that in an email to me you’d confessed to driving the 45 minutes to the bookstore instead of ordering online. It says so much about the bookstore experience!
@QuiltLady, Wow! Sounds like you live in a convent, not a town! (Kidding!) I’ll be honest: I don’t hate it that my town is dry–to get to a bar, we just go to the next town over. No big. But I DO mind that there’s no bookstore. And as for our erotic botiques and whatnot, they tried last year to create a kind of “red light” area zoned for adult entertainment at the far, crummy end of town. But the whole thing was scrapped in the end, and so there’s none of those shops at all.
@Mary, I always ask for gift cards for books too! There’s a used book store not too far from here, but I haven’t been yet. I just heard about a huge bookfair tomorrow, but my TBR is already sooooo long!
I also live in a small town that has only one bookstore which is a very quaint victorian house offering all kinds of books that are gently used and brand new. We have a wonderful library in my town that is rather big, for our small town, that has a wonderful book selection. The neighboring towns that are only 15 minutes away from me in all directions that boast bookstores total 6. There are numerous grocery stores and dept. stores everywhere that sell books also. I really don’t lack for books around me because they are really everywhere I go!
I’m very lucky. I live in Victoria, B.C., 30-40 minutes drive to Sidney, the town of which you speak!
Actually though, I hardly ever drive all the way out to Sidney. There are a ton of bookstores in Victoria, too. A couple of chain stores, lots and lots of Indy stores, both new and UBS and also rare books, not to mention all the grocery and drug stores that also have book aisles. I do like to order from Amazon though, their prices are very hard to beat!
I don’t mind at all Lisa. I can actually spend hours in a bookstore even if I don’t buy anything but I usually always end up with at least one book!
I live in a small town….we have a small bookstore but it doesn’t sell romance.
Wal-mart is not that far away maybe 10-15 mins. But I mostly drive 45 mins to go to Borders.
Hi Lisa (again),
My small town (24000 inh) only has 2 bookshops and both sell book exclusively in french and mostly best sellers (hello Dan Brown !).
As a concequence I only shop for books online… imagine my frustration !
Fortunatly I discovered the romance readers community online and there I can find all I want : excerpts, interviews, reviews, signed book contests, and the oportunity to “talk” with other romance lovers about my favorite hobby.
xoxo
ooh, I’d love to visit some of those towns
I live right outside of Houston in Humble. There’s lots of different bookstores from the big ones, Borders, to the Indy ones, Katy Budget Books, but some are too far for me. I usually stick to the Barnes and Nobles that’s close by… or if I have time, there’s this small used bookstore that I enjoy visiting. It can be cramped in there, but I like browsing through older Silhouette and Harlequin titles
hi Lisa, just subsribed
I live in a town of app. 550 people with a library. No bookstore. The closest book store is an hours drive away in the city. Our library is of good quality and has many books, music, magazines, etc.
I live in a very small town (only one traffic light!). There is no bookstore here. There is a Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, and Borders in Savannah, which is about 45 minutes away. I prefer the smaller independent bookstores like E. Shaver’s in Savannah and Jekyll Books on Jekyll Island.
Oxford, Miss., is a great book town. It is small, quaint and artsy. Square Books is a store any book lover would enjoy. There are plenty of readings and signingsBeing in the small town square, there simply wasn’t enough room for all of the books there so they expanded and now there is Off Square Books and Square Books Jr. They are all a few hundred yards away from one another so that means there are TONS of books in a very small area. Oxford is also William Faulker’s home and you can tour Rowan Oak which is really beautiful.
Besides all of that, Oxford was named one of Travel and Leisure’s Coolest College Towns. Great for book lovers, foodies and shoppers.
I don’t live there anymore but had the privilege of living there through my four years of college at Ole Miss. As a journalism major and English minor, it was an awesome place to be!
http://www.squarebooks.com
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/u_museum/rowan_oak/interactive.html
No bookstores AND no liquor stores? Dang. No baileys coffee with a good romance book? What is this world coming to?
@Michele, “I really don’t lack for books around me because they are really everywhere I go!” That’s fantastic!
@Sara, that’s very cool that you live so close. Glad I didn’t try to make anything up in this post, like “Sidney is also a town with the higest rate of narcolepsy; some see this is a function of being a booktown.” KIDDING!
@Maggie, That stinks! How could they NOT sell romance?!? It’s like one of the four basic food groups of reading!
@Emmanuelle, You’re so right about the romance community being vibrant online. It’s a big-hearted bunch, and I’m so glad to be a part of it with people like you!
@Dina: Welcome!
@RobynL: Thank goodness for libraries! I was just at mine today, and everytime, I think of how lucky we all are for them.
@heatherzilla, One traffic light? LOL! That’s so foreign to me since there’s one light every ten feet here in Jersey! If you have to stop at the light, are you like “where did all this traffic come from?” That’s what my fiance always says when we go to my hometown (which is small) and we have to wait couple of minutes before leaving the driveway.
@Nikole, I should start a speakeasy for just that! How fun would that be?!?
@Ali, Oops, I missed you in my replies! I love that you browse for older HQ titles.
@April. Missed you too! You’ve totally sold me. I’m in for Oxford. Thank you so much for telling me! I’ve actually been to the Oxford in England, and of course I went book shopping there, but Oxford Miss sounds like it could be cooler!
Hi Lisa
I’d love to move to Sidney!
I have two Coles bookstores here that have been here as long as I’ve been alive. And there is one used book store which, in the last decade, has become uber-sucky.
Worse, the Coles bookstores hardly get any new books by new authors!
Thank you Twitter for introducing me to more new authors & their books.
Thank you Internet for online book shopping.
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
WWWWWWWWWWWAA LISA!
I CAN’T FIND THE EXCERPT FOR THE CONTEST, DUMB LOOKED ALL OVER.
Hi all…….just subscribed…….
Congratulations on the reviews for your new release, It Happened One Night. It sounds like a good read.
I live in the city limits of fair sized city, and we have B&N, Borders and a new Books A Million plus several used book stores. Also, I try to go to the book fairs at the schools every year. (Need more bookshelves!)
Hi Lisa, I live in the faster growing city in GA.. We have Books-a-Million & Lambs Well new books and 2 old book stores, independently owned , then of course we have 2 Walmarts, 1 K-Mart, Target plus grocery stores that have new books. So I really am lucky to have all these at my disposal and 2 libraries…LOL I also order books on line and when I run out of room I box them up and give to Friends of the Library for their yearly sale or sell to used book dealer.
Linda B, to find the excerpt go to Lisadalebooks website, then cick on BOOKS, then on the IHON bookcover. Just click on EXCERPT at the right of the picture.
.
Hope it was THAT excerpt you were looking for
I received another one yesterday in an “Author sound Relation” email but I have no idea where to find it on the web.
HI Lisa…Just discovered your blog…Hope you don’t mind if I visit often.
My town doesn’t have any bookstores…have to travel to the mall about an hour away to find one…But it is definately worth the drive
Here in Atlanta we have all the chain bookstores you could want, as well as lots of specialty bookstores that cater to womens’ issues, sexuality, spirituality…almost anything you can identify with, there’s a bookstore to help out. Over the Labor Day weekend the U.S.’ largest independent book fair runs in Decatur, at the same time as DragonCon. (Please plan to come next year Lisa!) And Margaret Mitchell’s home (‘the Dump’) has author readings every month. It’s no Hay-on-Wye, but we love our books and our authors here. That said, I would lovelovelove to go to Oxford MS for the books.
I live in a town of no book store no library for that matter, we have to go to the next town over for the library and 15 miles to walmart to buy books, sigh thank god for the internet
@RK, excelent use of the portmanteau uber-sucky. Love it!
@Linda, @Emmanuelle, thanks for your interested in the author sound relations contest! Good luck with the contest Linda. And Emmanuelle, thanks for being such a sweetie and replying!
@rubyD, Welcome to the blog! If you’re a reader you’re among friends.
@Brenda H, Sounds like there’s no wanting for bookks in your town. Maybe my town can borrow one of your stores!
@karen k, welcome! you’re welcome here anytimre!
@Tappitytaptap, Thank you for telling me about the book fair! Sounds like it’s right up my alley! And I don’t know what Dragoncon is but it sounds like it could be awesome so I’m going to go look it up!
@Jennifer, no bookstore I understand–but no library? That’s like not having a post office. Or a grocery store! You’re right–thank God for the Internet!
Oh let’s all move there together!
I bet there are some great B&B’s in Sidney.
I wonder if Sidney has a good liquor store?
Sidney is on Vancouver Island. If you are the kind of person that loves to get lost in romantic places that unexpectedly appear from obscurity , Vancouver Island is your secret disneyland. The same could be said of most of the islands in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The City of Victoria is one of my favorite places in the world. Its like finding a section of London transplanted on a wilderness island, which is pretty much what it is.
Anyway thanks for this post. I live within walking distance of a bookstore with great prices, great personalities and a resident cat. I need to remember how precious that is.
I’ve really enjoyed reading all the comments. Reading all these comments made me think about all the libraries we have here as well. I can’t imagine not being able to go to the library. My mom was really great about that when I was little. It’s great when you just don’t have the money to buy all the books you want. I can check out 32 books at a time. Good thing I carry a very large totebag with me when I go. lol
@Robin O’Bryant, I’m already packing!
@illumin8, I’ve heard Vancouver is fantastic–though the ohter places you mention are, um, foreign (for lack of a better word) for me.
The store near you sounds lovely.
@Mary, 32 books at a time!!! That’s amazing that you KNOW that! I must mean you’ve hit that limit! I’m truly impressed. Not only must you have a very large tote bag but you must have some killer muscles to go with!
Sadly, no bookstores in my town either. I would love to open one up and sell coffee and sweets. That would just be a dream come true, surrounded by the things I love most. Sorry family. lol
I would be in heaven in a booktown. That would be the truest description of bliss.
Deidre
I live in a small town and we have no bookstores either. I would love to have bookstores for used, new, and rare books. How awesome that would be.
No book stores in the town where I work, unless you count Walgreens or Wal-Mart. Same with the small town nearest us. Do have several of the big chain book stores in the larger town nearby. There are several used and used & new book stores also. And I visit them all.
Lise i live in a big city we have book stores all over the place indy large book stores super markets that carry books even have a book store devoted to the pervy side of peoples taste
I live in a very small rural township. We have a little library but no book stores. Our 1 and only grocery store carries a pretty good selection of paperbacks. I’m also thankful for the internet and amazon. With the prime membership, I get all my books shipped free. And the prices of books on their “daily deals” and buy 4 get 1 free promotions are pretty darn good too. My only book problem is finding space to store them all!!!