Micawber's Bookstore

I didn't plan on visiting Macawber's when I was in Minneapolis/St. Paul this summer. It was on my list of stores to visit if I had the time, having skimmed the Indiebound website for any stores that I might have missed in the area when I lived in the Twin Cities. What brought me to the Saint Anthony Park neighborhood of Saint Paul, where this store is nestled in a leafy and laid-back neighborhood, is the the Finnish Bistro across the street where I met some friends for brunch (which, I have to add, has very tasty food; I had a very delicious omelet with lamb meat). After eating my friend and I took a little time to visit the store for about 15 minutes.

Macawber's is a very charming and respectable neighborhood bookstore. I liked that it is a small store, but even thought it was small, it has small real strengths. To the right as you enter, it houses a very large children's section, and scattered through the store one finds very good specialized sections on Minnesota (its history and culture), poetry, and cookbooks. It has bookstore traditional sections, fiction and nonfiction, making for a good browse. The staff in the store was extremely friendly, enthusiastically answering questions and chatting with customers. My friend was taken by a Big Lebowski kit (referring to the movie) and almost bought it after conversing with the staff person for awhile on the movie and its merits.

Micawber's has down-home charm and makes for a great bookstore visit after eating at the Finnish Bistro. 

Micawber's

2238 Carter Avenue

Saint Paul, Minnesota 55108

(612) 646-5506

www.micawbers.com
www.macawbers.blogspot.com

Common Good Books

Common Good Books is famous for being owned by Garrison Keillor. It is a pleasant store, specializing in new books, with a winding layout and cloistered reading areas. I haven't bought many books from the store, only because there are so many other well-deserving indie bookstores in the Twin Cities and I figured Keillor would do well with his liberal base in what feels like a gentrified, upper middle class neighborhood. That might be a little unfair characterizing it such, after all I always ended up in this neighborhood. There is a very nice coffee shop, Nina's, just above the store and I regularly met my colleagues just across the street at W.A. Frost, a very nice restaurant and bar. And, the headquarters of my old union, Saint Paul Federation of Teachers is in the same building as the bookstore, the Blair Arcade. Visiting the area, and the store, on this 2010 summer trip did bring back the memories.

Common Good Books
165 Western Avenue North
St. Paul, Minnesota, 55102
www.commongoodbooks.com

The Book Cellar

Located in Lincoln Square in Chicago, the Book Cellar is the sort of indie specializing in new books that I imagine would succeed here in Bloomington-Normal. I was having this discussion with a friend of mine, as we toured this store and the used bookstore Ravenswood just down the street, wondering how indie store can compete these days with the big boxes, the Barnes and Borders, and online e-readers. This store focuses on books, but also attracts customers with their paper and cards, as well as coffee.

Overall I was very impressed by Lincoln Square's bookstore selections overall. The Bookcellar contrasted perfectly with Ravenswood, offering customers two wildly different experiences in just a few blocks- the spacious new and modern that is Bookcellar vs. the ancient rambling maze of unexpected discoveries that is Ravenswood. And just across the street from the BookCellar is a fun store specializing in brain games and puzzles. Definitely worth a visit.

Bookcellar
4736-38 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60625
773-293-2265
http://www.bookcellarinc.com/

Ravenswood Used Books

On the Saturday of our July 4th weekend excursion to Chicago, we walked around Lincoln Square a bit after viewing there the Spain-Paraguay game of the World Cup. We came across this quirky bookstore, its name not at all prominent in the store front, that reminded me of Paul's bookstore in Madison but much more intense. I've never seen a bookstore so crowded with books, a "Kafkaesque maze," as my friend who also visited the store put it. Narrow passageways wound around the store, oftentimes leading to small nooks and crannies and dead ends, with books sometimes hanging precariously above you on wooden planks. The store had quite a selection of obscure used books, making for a great way to distract oneself for hours. I bought a book of Mark Twain's lesser known non-fiction works, a somewhat dated history of Mexico in the 20th century, and a book entitled The Mind of the Dolphin. What a visit! With yesterday's find, and now this store, Chicago is proving to be quite the place for independent bookstores!

Ravenswood Used Books
4626 North Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625-2071
(773) 593-9166
http://chibooks.blogspot.com/

Tres Americas Books, Inc.

I happened to see Tres Americas as we drove into Chicago this past weekend and feel fortunate that I did! I have to say, this store is one of the most impressive I've visited in awhile. When I noticed the storefront, we were heading down Pulaski Street to meet friends at BadDog's Bar, for a beer and burger lunch. We found some time later that afternoon, before the Dale Watson concert, to head back and check the store out.

Tres Americas has an impressive collection of books in Spanish, including fiction, nonfiction, dictionaries and other useful reference books, and even books for children. It is the largest such bookstore I've seen so far in the states, with the old Resource Center of the Americas in Minneapolis (now out of business, I think) coming in as a close second. This is a store we'll continue to patronize, given its extensive collection of hard-to-find Spanish books. From what the owner told us, he'll even do orders through the mail.

I ended up buying a gigantic narrative biography of Pancho Villa by Paco Ignacio Taibo II and an anthology of literature. Tres Americas will be on our list of destinations every time we're in Chicago, I'm sure.

Tres Americas Books, Inc.
Libros en Español
4336 N. Pulaski Rd.
Chicago, IL 60641
Tel: 773-481-9090
www.tresamericasbooks.net

Monkeywrench Books

I've been traveling to Austin to visit a friend of mine for ten years now and every time I've made a pilgrimage to Monkeywrench books. Monkeywrench is a radical bookstore and worker cooperative, very similar to the two left bookstores I've worked at before as a volunteer --- Rainbow Bookstore in Madison, WI and Mayday Books in Minneapolis, MN. Stores like Monkeywrench are at the top of my list of bookstores to visit for numerous reasons. I like that they are cooperatives, internally democratic, and that people find meaning and community by working together for a common purpose. Each one of them has a lot of character and history in them, making them fun to visit. And they offer a variety of left-wing books that are difficult to find in one physical place, as well as space for left-learning community groups to meet and socialize.

My last visit to Monkeywrench was in a 2009 trip to Austin. In past visits I've spoken to one of the friendly volunteers about the store, but this time my friend and I just browsed for over a half-hour. I ended up buying a Slingshot organizer and Robert Jensen's All My Bones Shake. When I visit Monkeywrench, I unfortunately have to limit my purchases to what I can fit in my bags for the return trip home, always by train, and Jensen's book and the organizer aren't gigantic in size. (I did think, though, that Jensen's book was a very appropriate purchase given that he lives in Austin.) In just visiting the Monkeywrench website, I noticed that one can donate to the store via Paypal, something I'll do to make up for buying limitation.

Monkeywrench Books
110 E. North Loop
Austin, Texas 78751
(512) 407-6925
www.monkeywrenchbooks.org

About Books (Now Closed)

NOW CLOSED

A few months ago I finally got around to visiting About Books in downtown Bloomington. For almost a year I thought the store was devoted entirely to antique books, which as I've said before, I don't know much about. Now that I know better, I believe that it's the antique furniture store located right next to About Books that gives the impression that the bookstore is focused on antiques. While the store does have an antique book collection, About Books is a classic used bookstore, the one and only in Bloomington, Illinois, and only one of two independent bookstores in the Bloomington-Normal area.

Back in the summer when I visited About Books, I must've looked around for about an hour at the first floor and basement collections. I remember it having quite a large fiction selection on the first floor and a smattering of non-fiction categories in the basement. In visiting the store for the first time, I was actually on a mission, finding Kant's Foundation of a Metaphysic of Morals. And although the philosophy selection was only a shelf wide (philosophy must not be the most popular topic here in Bloomington), I was actually able to find the book for a buck or two! Take that, Barnes and Borders! And in the process, I actually had a meaningful bookstore experience in beautiful downtown Bloomington, away from the numbing strip mall malaise of Veterans Parkway.

One more part of visiting the store, I remember, is that I got to meet the owner. I can't remember her name, but I learned afterward when visiting the bookstore site that the store is up for sale! If only I had the capital! And I suppose I'd need some experience running a bookstore, that would help!

About Books
221 E. Front St.
Bloomington, IL 61701
309-829-3999
www.aboutbooksbloomington.com

Arise

[Now out of business, to be replaced by a similar store with a different name]

Arise Bookstore is one of the two left political bookstores in the Twin Cities, the other being Mayday Books which I reviewed in an earlier post. In the years I worked at Mayday Books, I noticed that there was somewhat of a friendly rivalry between the two stores. It might be different now, since Arise seems to change a lot over the years with a high turnover in volunteers, but the common notion was that Arise was more of an anarchist and environmentalist hangout and the Mayday catered more to a wide left community. I would go to Arise once or twice a year to support the store, out of solidarity, but the store community and its political focus wasn't my scene.

One bit of history I always found interesting, told to me when I worked at Mayday, was that Arise Bookstore was a split from the Mayday back in late 80s or early 90s. Accounts differ, but I've heard that the people who eventually became the Arise wanted a political program and be more than a leftist bookstore and community space. I've also heard that the Arise group wanted more organization in the store. Whatever the details, I think most of the Arise volunteers today cannot remember the details of the split. Today the two stores work together in complementary way.

In the times that I have bought literature from Arise, I was impressed with their radical fiction section. In the past their non-fiction selection was a little outdated, but in recent years I think their book ordering has improved.

BookSmart

Just down the road from Magers and Quinn, and very close to the Uptown Theater in the Uptown district, Booksmart was a major destination for us when we lived in the Twin Cities. My wife and I would find ourselves in Booksmart on Weekend nights, Friday or Saturday night, usually when waiting for a movie to start at Uptown or the Lagoon Theater, after having eaten at the Indian restaurant off Calhoun Square.

Booksmart had a very big selection, like many indie bookstores in the Twin Cities, but its selection was better in academic titles than other stores except the Book House. It had a first floor and a basement. I remember always being drawn to the used liberal arts selections in the basement and buying at least one or books each time.

When visiting Minneapolis this past July, my friend and I didn't stop in. We were running short on time and so I only had time to snap a picture. It's a great store nonetheless and an especially great place to hang out on the weekends between food and a movie.

BookSmart
2914 Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55408
(612) 823-5612

Magers and Quinn

I'm embarrassed to admit that I never visited Magers and Quinn when I lived in the Twin Cities. My only knowledge of the store was that it sponsored Robert Brenner's talk on the Iraq War at the University of Minnesota. (We at Mayday Books thought it surprising that a political bookstore wouldn't have been asked.) So, having heard about the store, I finally made it over for a visit on my recent trip to Minneapolis. My friend Kirk and I browsed the maze of bookshelves of this classic old store. Magers and Quinn is located in a prime spot in the heart of the Uptown area, right on Hennepin Avenue. I can't imagine why I hadn't been there before. My only guess is that it was closed late weekend nights when we happened to be in Uptown or we didn't venture south enough that late.

Magers and Quinn
3038 Hennepin Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-822-4611

Cummings Books

Cummings Books is an excellent bookstore, located in Dinkytown, Minneapolis, just a few stores down from the Book House (reviewed in the immediately prior blog post). When I lived in Minneapolis, and I would be searching for a particular book, it would be very convenient to look in both of these stores, being so close on the same street. I actually thought that the stores might be owned by the same person, but I now doubt it.

What I liked about Cummings is that it had a very different personality than that of Book House. The books were arranged in a more orderly fashion, with nice clean rows, and from what I remember, without double-shelving. There wasn't the gigantic selection of the Book House, I believe, but I could be wrong about this. They did have a good selection as well. The aesthetics of the store were pleasing, and there were always quite a few animals in the store, cats roaming around, and a few large birds in cages (I forgot what kind). It's definitely a shame that my experience of Cummings is wrapped up in that of the Book House, because from what I remember, the store had a charm and personality (and book selection) all its own.

Cummings Books
417 14th Ave. SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 331-1424

The Book House

The Book House, in Minneapolis' historic Dinkytown near the University of Minnesota, has got to be the most impressive indie bookstore in the Midwest. That definitely sounds hyperbolic, I know, but its selection is just that amazing. If you're visiting Minneapolis and need a place to go, check out the ginormous Book House and then tour the Dinkytown business district. With its cafes and college life, the Dinkytown is a little respite from the all-too-typical Minneapolis scene. (Back in the day, Dinkytown was Bob Dylan's hangout. According to the Book House website, Dylan lived in Dinkytown for a year, calling it the University of Dinkytown.)

I just visited Minneapolis this past summer, after having moved from there last year, and I must admit that I didn't have time to visit the Book House this time around. (I did visit Dinkytown and get its picture, though.) Nonetheless, in the seven years I lived in Minneapolis, my favorite place to shop for books was the Book House. In every genre, their selection was gigantic, especially in the academic categories in the basement. It seems like they outgrew the store space many years ago, now that books are actually double-shelved. Double-shelved? Behind each row of books is another row, sometimes with more rows on the floor, which I have to say, was equally frustrating and impressive. My memory was that almost any important academic work could be found in the store, and my principle when I lived there was to always check the Book House, and the Cummings next to it, before resorting to the anti-union Barnes and Borders. One time, I remember, I needed a book for one of my teacher preparation courses, a popular title called The First Day of School (or something similar), and I thought I'd give Book House a try before resorting to one of the corporate outfits, Sure enough, it was there, used and less expensive, and I didn't have to inadvertently support a union-busting company!

In thinking about the Bookhouse, and the many first-rate indie bookstores in Minneapolis, I'm reminded that many people in the town, when answering one of those Best of the Best surveys in the local papers, hardly ever vote for these stores. Sometimes a Book House, or a Magers and Quinn, gets to the top of the list or an honorable mention, but so many people vote year after year for one-size-fits-all stores like Barnes and Borders. In my view, stores like Book House should be heading those lists every year.

The Book House
429 14th Avenue SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
(612) 331-1430
www.bookhouseindinkytown.com

The Bookends

I found Bookends during a stopover in Menomonie, Wisconsin, visiting my friend and his family, during their family reunion, as I made my way north to Minneapolis. I was doubtful that there would be an independent bookstore in town, given Menomonie's size. The store is nicely located in the heart of the small downtown, right across the street from the incredibly beautiful, ornate Mabel Tainter Theater.

My friend and I browsed for quite a long time in Bookends and spoke to the new owner of the store. She was an ESL teacher, which is my own occupational calling, and so was quite knowledgeable about a new book written by a Hmong immigrant on her experiences moving to the United States. (I forgot the name of the book, but it especially interested me that the author was raised in St. Paul and went through that city's ESL program as a child.) The store owner was also very knowledgeable about literature in general and the business of selling books. She showed my friend some peace posters, which he bought for his classroom, and provided some insight on being a new bookstore owner in a small town.

In its small-town charm, Bookends reminded me somewhat of the one I had just visited in Viroqua. Very cute, laid out for comfort. The store had a broad array of genre categories, being strong in a few of them. It seemed to me that the owner had very good taste in buying some strong current titles. I also noticed that the store advertised a series of book discussion groups, a nice community service. I ended up buying Jeremy Rifkin's The Biotech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking the World. If I'm ever in Menomonie I'll definitely stop back. I have no idea if the town has a Barnes and Border, but if so, I'd recommend skipping the corporate monoexperience by visiting Bookends and then taking a tour of the amazing Mabel Tainter Theater across the street.

The Bookends
214 East Main Street
Menomonie, Wisconsin 54751
(715) 233-6252
http://www.thebookends.com/

Bramble Books

In my recent trip to Minneapolis, I did a little traveling through Wisconsin on the way north, stopping off in Madison for a day, and then I drove through the beautiful driftless region and spent some time in the wonderful town of Viroqua. Viroqua blew me away. I spent my high school years in Tomah, Wisconsin, a small and very conservative town only about an hour from Viroqua. In the 1980s and 90s, Tomah lost its main street community to Wal-mart (and the north side of town generally), and in true Republican spirit, prided itself as being the home stomping grounds of Tommy Thompson. So, the progressive town of Viroqua - filled to the brim with liberal environmentalists, progressive naturalists, libertarian Do-it-yourself survivalists, practitioners of eastern philosophical schools, organic and family farmers, independent business owners, co-ops of every imaginable stripe - is indeed an oddity in rural conservative Wisconsin. As my friend put it, there must be an enviro/organic/co-op/libertarian revolution going on there in Viroqua!

What got me visiting the town, besides my memory of its scenic beauty when I visited the place in December 1989 as part of a tour in the La Crosse Youth Symphony, was the independent bookstore in town, Driftless Bookstore. I first heard of Driftless on Facebook, mentioned by an old high school acquaintance who now lives in the town. By its website, Driftless appears to be quite large, both its store and its online business. However, its public presence leaves a little to be desired. For days prior to my arrival in Viroqua, the website was down and it was difficult to find an address for the store. I knew that it would be closed on Sunday and Monday, and so I wouldn't be able to visit, but I thought that I would at least be able to see the store from the outside. But, no luck, the store is very hidden inside a public market and not visible from the outside. It was actually very difficult to locate and I only surmised its location by using my GPS and inferring that the sign that said "books" on the outside meant a bookstore was in the vicinity. I'm sure I'll visit Viroqua again someday, perhaps as a vacation spot, and Driftless Books will be on my sightseeing list.

This time around, however, I did visit a bookstore in town in the time I was exploring Viroqua, Just down the street from Driftless, well situated on Main Street, is the Bramble bookstore. Bramble is very typical of small-town bookstores, having a small but respectable collection of new books on popular topics and a friendly, small town atmosphere. I noticed that it had big Do-It-Yourself sections that focused on gardening, farming, woodworking, etc., as well as good self-improvement selections such as parenting, nutrition, etc. The collection was broad, having the categories of sports, outdoor activities (especially those popular in the region), and local and regional history. Other sections, such as the fiction and political sections, were much smaller, containing a limited selection of popular titles. And the person working the store, perhaps the owner, was very friendly. Overall, it was nice to see a bookstore of such small-town charm. Only in Viroqua, with a population little over 4,000, would it be possible to have two independent bookstores!

Bramble Booksellers
117 South Main Street
Viroqua, Wisconsin 54665
(608) 637-8717
www.bramblebookstore.com

Driftless Bookstore
215 South Main Street
Viroqua, Wisconsin 54665
(608) 627-1132
www.driftlessbooks.com

A Room of One's Own

My last stop on my tour of Madison's downtown indie bookstores was a Room of One's Own, a well-known Feminist bookstore just off State Street on Johnson Street. Back in the early 90s, A Room of One's Own - named after Virginia's Woolf's 1929 essay of that name - was my first experience visiting a bookstore specializing in women's and GLBT literature, and so is high on my personal list of special bookstores in the United States.

I noticed immediately upon entering the store that it had changed a great deal since the early 90s when I had last visited. In the entrance, the store provided information on events, store events and community happenings, in addition to the regular newspaper offerings found in Madison. The store itself was very well-organized, naturally containing a very well-stocked GLBT fiction and non-fiction section, a progressive magazine section, and very informational categories on progressive parenting, health, and other interesting topics. What also impressed me about the store was its very comfortable layout, mostly its wide aisles and areas with comfortable furniture where you could read the books and magazines. I looked for awhile for two authors that I might be able to find there, and even though I didn't find them, I'm sure the bookstore would've ordered them for me. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and left with an opinion of the store even more favorable than I had previously.

A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore
307 W. Johnson Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 257-7888
www.roomofonesown.com

Avol's Books

Avol's Books, off State Street in Madison, Wisconsin, is a very large used bookstore with a decent collection of books, especially academic titles. The first thing I wondered in visiting the store was why I had never visited this store when I lived in Madison in the 90s. And strangely, I couldn't even remember if the store was there in the 90s! This time around, now in 2009, I was actually trying to locate A Room of One's Own and happened to come across Avol's first. Well, what the hell, I thought, I might as well enter and check the place out. I can't believe I would say this, but State Street seems to have almost too many independent bookstores! How can they all survive?!

In entering Avol's, the person working the front desk asked for me to take off my backpack and place it behind the counter. I don't have a knee-jerk reaction against this requirement, understanding that there might be problems with shoplifting. And it was nice not having to cart that huge backpack around as I browsed! I asked the front counter person if this was a new store, out of my ignorance, and she said it had been there as Avol's for five years and before that it was Canterbury's. Yeah, that's right, Canterbury's! (I asked an old Wisconsin friend why we had never visited Canterbury's, and he thought that in our youth the store might have given off a bourgie feel that would have turned off our radical sensibilities. Probably so.)

In browsing the titles, I wished I would've visited in my youth. The store was big, like all Madison indies. Indeed, living in downtown Madison, there would be no need for visiting the Barnes and Borders. State Street alone has, at the least, 5 quality indie bookstores! And that doesn't include other niche stores, such as Shakti, a store specializing in spirituality. Besides the very big collection at Avol's, including a rows and rows of academic titles, I noticed that it has a community life with talks and discussions. All in all, it seemed like a nice store.

Avol's
315 W. Gorham Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 255-2730
http://avolsbookstore.com

Browzers Bookshop

When visiting Paul's bookstore on my recent trip to Madison, I couldn't believe that there was another bookstore next to it! How could there be two bookstores in such close vicinity? As it turns out, once you enter the next door building, there is the Underground Textbook Exchange in the basement and Browzers on the third floor. I'm not sure how the Underground Textbook Exchange is related to Browzers above it. I assumed, probably incorrectly, that it was the same business; otherwise there are three independent bookstores in the same vicinity!

I easily found my way up to the third floor to visit Browzers; the textbook exchange in the basement was closed, I think. At the very least, it didn't seem like the elevator went to the basement. I browzed Browzers for about a half hour. The store was fairly large, well-organized, selling mostly used books. Like many newer bookstores, it had a very cool and clean feel to it. I imagine that the air-conditioner had something to do with that feel. At the counter as I checked out, I happened to see an old Shakepeare's Books sign and I asked the cashier if the store was related to the old Shakespeare's that used to be on the capitol square in the 90s. Sure enough, they had just moved, explaining the close proximity to Paul's. Turns out that the owner (the son of the original owner?, I can't remember) decided to change the name back to what it used to be called way back when. So, in case you are wondering whatever happened to Shakepeare's on the square, it is now Browsers on State.

Browzers Bookshop
668 State Street
Madison, Wisconsin 53703
(608) 255-5521
www.browzersbookshop.com

Rainbow Bookstore

Rainbow Bookstore is my favorite bookstore in Madison, so of course I had to stop in and check it out again. From what I remember, Rainbow broke away from Peoples' Bookstore back in the early 90s, right before Peoples' closed shop. My connection to Rainbow was mostly that I was an occasional customer, but I also volunteered for a little while for the store for a very short while in the mid-90s. I remember, as well, of a meeting we had in the basement of the store, a small and dank space that wasn't the most conducive for a meeting. But I imagine, with their expansion a few years back, that meetings are now held in the main store, perhaps in the extra space where they sell UW textbooks.

From these memories of Rainbow, I was later motivated to volunteer at Mayday Books in Minneapolis. Rainbow is the sort of community space, centered around books, that sold me on the importance of independent businesses in the community, especially collectives and cooperatives. Through the years I've been impressed by the level of organization and sophistication of Rainbow. They must do a lot of online business, having their inventory on the website and being members of indiebound.com. Moving in on the textbook sales, competing with the monopolistic and cold-hearted University Bookstore, was also a smart move.

In visiting the store today, I was most heartened to see a number of young people in the store browsing through the collection, especially given the very high number of independent bookstores in the State Street area, all carrying used leftist literature. I was happy to see one sign that the left community in Madison is alive and well and supporting their leftist bookseller.

Paul's Bookstore

Paul's was my first indie bookstore, back when I was a freshman in college at UW-Madison. The maze-like aisles, the strong scent of thousands of used academic books, the personalized postcards and newspaper clippings on the ends of the wooden shelving, the feeling of semi-ordered chaos. I loved hanging out in Paul's, as well as Peoples' bookstore, a more left-wing variety a few blocks away.

I've been at Paul's from time to time through the years, but visiting now reminded me of my last trip there in the 90s, which was a little peculiar. I can't remember what I bought, but the cashier couldn't get my credit card to work for the longest time and said that striking it on her leg might help. Somehow it worked, and then I used that same card on gas and food on a trip to Texas. Later, in Texas, my card was canceled. I called Chase Bank, and the their representative, thought I was a thief in possession of the card. The bank was suspicious by the card moving south toward Mexico. The accusatory question I remember in the interrogation was "What happened at Paul's bookstore? Something happened at Paul's bookstore."

Paul's has the same feel, the same aesthetic. I'm sure the layout has changed, perhaps where the front counter is located, but it's incredible how a place like Paul's can keep its character through the years, as everyone who has passed through has either changed radically or simply moved away.

Wonderland

On the way up to Madison and then Minneapolis, as part of my summer vacation visiting friends, I stopped off in Rockford to check out the Wonderland bookstore - an indie specializing in children's books I found on the the indiebound website (www.indiebound.org). It's been a long time since I've been in Rockford, the last time being in 1989 when I came down in high school for a second shot at the S.A.T. For some unfathomable reason, I thought I could find the high school by aimlessly driving around sections of the city. Finally I had to get a map at a gas station, but in driving around for 3 or 4 hours, I got to see quite a lot of Rockford.

Ever since I was very young, in the late 70s to early 80s, Rockford was viewed by many as one of the most unpleasant American cities in which to live. This was largely due to the rust belt deindustrialization that inflicted cities such as Rockford, resulting in large unemployment rates and a gutted economy. (As noted in Michael Moore's Roger and Me, Rockford vied with Flint as the worst place to live in Money magazine.) But in driving around Rockford today, I believe that much of the derision directed to the town had to do with its working-class roots and the corporate attack against workers in this country originating in the early 70s. Sure, I'm sure that Rockford suffered due to the economic policies of the 70s and 80s; the suffering in Flint was more than apparent in Moore's movie. But, just as my impression in '89, Rockford seems like a great town! Straddling the Rock River, it's downtown is very pleasant and the whole metro region is quite large and bustling. And from what I can tell, the people are very friendly. Before finding Wonderland, I stopped in a Subway for lunch, and to my surprise the workers there were extremely interested in what I was reading (Aristotle, no less) and when talking about my union-made shirt (No Sweat, not made in a sweatshop), both were very pro-union. I have to say, just this little conversation alone put Rockford high on my list of places to visit!

As it turned out, though, bookstores in Rockford happened to be closed on Sunday, July 5th. Before even finding Wonderland, I ran into two other indie bookstores nearby, one called Canterbury (of which I couldn't see anything much inside) and the other a religious bookstore, ostensibly Catholic, if the large life-size cutout of the Pope was any guide at all. Both were closed, though. I finally found Wonderland across the street, in another bourgie strip mall across the street. From the outside looking in, the store itself looked like it had a very large collection of children's books, a teacher's gem. It looked very impressive from the outside. As I returned to my car, I thought that I'd love a store such as this when I was in elementary school.

Well, no luck visiting the stores. But, with my very positive experience visiting Rockford, I'll be back someday.

Wonderland
1625 North Alpine Road
Rockford, Illinois