cj Sez: If you’re in the Mobile area today (Sept 4), throw your
wheelbarrow in the trunk of your car or back of your pickup and head on down to
the original location of The Haunted Book shop. Why? Because there’s a
spectacular sale going on to celebrate their move to new quarters and recent
re-grand opening:
Okay, here’s a little history about one of Mobile’s favorite
independent bookstores: The Haunted Book Shop. https://www.thehauntedbookshopmobile.com/
The Haunted Book Shop carries the name of the beloved former
bookstore that operated in downtown Mobile from 1941 to 1991. That bookstore
was founded by Adelaide Marston (later Adelaide Trigg) and Cameron Plummer and
named for their favorite book, The
Haunted Book Shop, by Christopher Morley. The current owner, award-winning
author Angela Trigg and the granddaughter of Adelaide, re-opened the shop to
loud applause of local customers who greatly missed the convenience of a downtown
shop.
Carrying new and used books, the services of The
Haunted
Book Shop are more than local…they’re just an email away from any reader
looking for a special book. Their signed book stock certainly includes local
authors but also books from internationally famous authors like R. L. Stine.
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I was searching through my archives for ideas for today's post and thought these questions might evoke some interesting answers:
…Do you have a huge to-be-read pile on your nightstand
threatening to topple over?
… Is there one particular book you can point to as THE BOOK
that captured your imagination and started you reading more and more and maybe
thinking about being a writer?
… As a child, did you have a parent read to you?
… Did you have a home library of books?
Here are my answers:
… Nope, I have a small TBR pile and another small list of TBR
Kindle books. I’m a very slow reader…unless I get “in the zone” and then I
might read all night.
… Yep, THE BOOK for me is Last of the Mohicans, by James Fennimore Cooper. At age ten or so, when
it was still safe for a kid to walk the city streets at night, I spent some wintery
evenings crunching through icy snow to go to the library in Detroit and find a quiet
corner to read a few chapters. Based on the French and Indian war and touching
on interracial love, the story whetted my appetite for exciting adventure. Of
course, I had to see the movie and fell in love with Hawkeye (Daniel
Day-Lewis).
… Nope. Or at least I can’t remember that either of my
parents read to me.
… Nope, no home library, although I do remember reading comic books and being
fascinated by some Golden Books. I don’t think the Golden Books were mine, though.
All of that is to say, don’t compare your writing or reading
life to anyone else’s. Sometimes, all it takes is a single story to bring about
a love of books and spark one’s imagination.
I do believe I can point to my not being introduced to
reading as a child as at least one reason why I am such a slow reader and writer. But
I love the lyrical syncopation of words and syntax, and I continue to write and
publish.
What sparked your love of reading and/or writing? Can you
pinpoint a single story? Or was it the cumulative effect of childhood
experiences?
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By the by, as the masthead at the top of the page says, if
you have a book (new or old) you want to promote with a blog post, drop me a
note. We can arrange a blog date…the only caveat is that this site is PG 13.
§§
That’s it for today’s post. You-all guys keep on keeping on,
and I’ll try to do the same. Raising prayers for your health and safety.
cj
P.S. The Haunted Book
Shop has signed paperback copies of my books in stock. TO ORDER, contact The
Haunted Bookshop here:
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