Only Thing Better than a Library . . .

. . . is a good local book store. Wordsworth Book Company in Little Rock certainly qualifies. You can really tell a well managed independent store. No matter how small, if there's a bibliophile running the shop, you WILL find a book you can't live without.

Such was the case today with Wordsworth. No, that's a quaint little store -- I'll kill some time here. Yeah, small and quaint like Claflin's in Manhattan, Kansas. I escaped today with only one book, but one I'd not seen before in any of the big boxes.

The other thing about a good local store, the sense of salon. It was evident when a Wordsworth regular came in to let the operator know that So-and-So's book club was missing from the display.

Certainly, I'll make the runs to the big boxes -- nobody puts on a magazine rack like a large section Hastings -- but I'm a sucker for the indies. Kind of like my radio partner Kyle Kellams with used CD stores, we'll throwdown for a book or two as a tithe to keep our respective genres operating.

One thing about going into the stores now -- no need to go into the children's section. That's a sad right of passage. Every really good store had a quality section, and both Will and Ashley have gotten their share of books from Joseph-Beth in Lexington, for example. In fact, several of those J-B books got handed down from Will to Ashley. Now with Ashley firmly in the Twilight series, no need for a good quality elementary school book.

This has been a good year for books on the road -- even without the obligatory stop at Square Books in Oxford (no road trips to date to Ole Miss). As long as we alternate Lexington and Oxford, it's all good.

The top road book stores:

Square Books -- Oxford, Miss. Reason enough to take the trip to Ole Miss, one that many others carp about having to take.
Joseph-Beth -- Lexington, Ky. The mothership rules over the other parts of the chain, but the location they overtook in Nashville isn't bad.
Comstock's -- Auburn, Wash. If you are into aviation, there is no other store like this.
Powell's -- Portland, Ore. Got a spare day? No, I mean that literally.
Claflin's -- Manhattan, Kansas. Don't let the fact it's almost as much a thesis and dissertation copy store fool you. I honestly can say that Kyle Kellams and I could have dropped a Franklin each if we weren't on budgets.
Wordsworth -- Little Rock, Ark. I'll give them the props, reminds me of my childhood book store, The Book Mark in Monroe.

I say road, because for used books, there is no equal to our home town Dickson Street Books. Seriously. I've seen them from east to west coast (Powell's included) and for both selection and quality, nothing beats Dickson Street. God forbid those two guys ever decide to give up the business.

Meanwhile back to the game . . .