Bookstore Day is April 28: How Will You Celebrate?



I love bookstores. Big bookstores, little bookstores, mega-bookstores, chains, indie shops. Brick-and-mortar or mail order. Used or new, thrift store, department store, or dedicated bookstore, I'm in. In fact, I will find book sections in stores to shop — just ask the folks at the gift shop in Harpers Ferry National Park.

So, when Twitter told me about Bookstore Day, I didn't need to be told twice. Nor did it take much to remind me that I can visit multiple bookstores on that day, and I set about mapping my visits.

My kryptonite is older used books. If someone else has loved the book, I love it even more. I have been known to purchase used books as gifts — which may sound gauche, but as I ask myself with no discernible irony, who wouldn't like a hardback early edition of The Godfather? (To go with the cheap paperback loaner copy, of course. I mean, one doesn't loan out one's first-string books!)

So, here in Northern Virginia, I will hit a few indie and used bookstores. Bard's Alley in Vienna is right on the way home from World Tai Chi and Qigong Day celebrations, and Hole in the Wall in Falls Church is right up the road from Penzy's Spice (which gets my love, too).

If I go further afield, I can venture to McKay in Manassas, stay on Route 50 to explore Second Chapter Books in Middleburg, or hit the Beltway to travel up to Wonder Book.

Stay in town? There's Goodwill on Main Street (or Salvation Army on Little River Turnpike, up the road near a great Indian restaurant, IndAroma).

Don't get me wrong: my e-reader is locked and loaded, and I am always looking for a good deal (a.k.a. cheap book). However, if I am not willing to walk into a retail-priced bookstore and lay out a few Hamiltons, maybe I'd better not plunk down any Washingtons. (This may change when I get to spend Tubmans, but we shall see.)

How will you spend Bookstore Day? And will you stop with one day, or like with Christmas, carry it always in your heart (and wallet)?

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