The Observatory Books Juneau
There are a few unwritten posts waiting to eventually go up. This one is a must. Observatory Books begs to be entered. So I did one evening.
And once inside, it's like being in someone's long lost attic. Well, it is organized by topics and all, but there are books and maps and portfolios that you won't find at Barnes and Noble.
The specialty is Alaska. You can double click any picture to see it bigger. Here is the General Arctic section:
Around here you can find gems like these:
This is a place where it's easy to get lost in other worlds.
A place where you wonder whose fingers touched the books you're holding in your hands. People you'll only know because your fingerprints overlapped on the pages of this book.
Maps are a big part of this collection. Did I say collection? It's more like the back room of a museum than a bookstore.
Fortunately, all these treasures are well protected by the charming guard dog.
But Juneau, with a population of about 30,000, has three book stores I know of just in the tiny downtown. There's so much to like here. And this is probably a good time to post this because tonight my Anchorage book club is gathering to discuss The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't read enough of it it to write about it here.
The specialty is Alaska. You can double click any picture to see it bigger. Here is the General Arctic section:
Around here you can find gems like these:
Or this classic Alaska anthropologists' work.
All this is watched over by Dee Longebaugh who started the first
Observatory Books in Sitka in 1977 and moved it to Juneau in 1992.
She'll find what you need and tell you tales about the books
and about the authors, many of whom she knows. And she'll
share her stories.
This is a place where it's easy to get lost in other worlds.
A place where you wonder whose fingers touched the books you're holding in your hands. People you'll only know because your fingerprints overlapped on the pages of this book.
Maps are a big part of this collection. Did I say collection? It's more like the back room of a museum than a bookstore.
Fortunately, all these treasures are well protected by the charming guard dog.
Just before we left Anchorage, there was a story on NPR about the closing of the last bookstore in Laredo, Texas.
Wikipedia reports:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laredo,_TexasB. Dalton is set to close its store in Laredo, Texas, and that has ignited a debate in the border town. Kids have written letters to keep the store open. Groups have held rallies to pressure the company. Laredo could soon become the largest U.S. city without a bookstore. But with libraries, online stores and overnight delivery, is a bookstore really necessary?
According to the 2007 census estimate, the city population was 233,152.[5] Laredo is part of the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo Metropolitan Area with an estimate population of 718,073.[6]If that's right, the city is a little smaller than Anchorage, but the metropolitan area has more people than the state of Alaska. At the time, as I was counting the bookstores in Anchorage - Barnes and Noble, Metro books, Title Wave, Borders, and probably a couple more - and thinking that we're pretty lucky.
But Juneau, with a population of about 30,000, has three book stores I know of just in the tiny downtown. There's so much to like here. And this is probably a good time to post this because tonight my Anchorage book club is gathering to discuss The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't read enough of it it to write about it here.
