If you know me, you know how much I love bookstores. As I write this, I get a tingly feeling just thinking about them. In an earlier post I likened the feeling to the excitement a child has at Christmas and while it’s as close to explaining how I feel when I walk in the door of a bookstore, it doesn’t quite cover it because each one is unique. 

I find it so interesting that I can feel the same sense of elation in Politics and Prose in Washington D.C where one could be perusing right next to a vice president or senator as I do in The Otherwise Bookstore in Rome where many of the books are not even in the language I speak. I feel a comfort and a thrill in Books Are Magic, Center for Fiction and Rizzoli Bookstore, where their only similarity is their NY location. I used to think it was the coziness, the creaking floor, the snug shelves like the ones found at Three Lives Bookstore in NYC or the Almost Corner Bookshop in Rome but it can’t be that if I feel the same way in open and airy places like I Am Books and Porter Square in Boston. And I don’t think it is just the smell of books, the hints of vanilla and almond that lure bibliophiles for I loved both the musty used book aromas in Second Story Books and the brand-new book and store smells in Beacon Hill.  So then, what could it be, book friends? What is it that we all love about these special places? Could it be more about how we feel when we are inside these shelved walls? The acceptance to be who we are among the stories and characters that affirm that we are not alone, but among friends. For me, this is at the core of my love of these very special places in our communities. I’m thankful every day for their existence and I am so grateful this year for having been able to visit so many. 

These are the bookstores I visited in order of visits. I only counted bookstores I had never been to before.

1.Politics and Prose Wash D.C.

2.The Last Word, Mt AIry Maryland

3.Birchtree Bookstore, Leesburg VA

4.The Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore MD

5.A Likey Story Bookstore Sykesville MD

6.Books are Magic Brooklyn NY

7.Center For Fiction Brooklyn NY

8.GreenLight Books Brooklyn NY

9.Three Lives BookStore NYC

10.Rizzoli Bookstore NYC

11.192 Bookstore Chelsea NYC

12.Porter Square BooksBoston MA

13.Second Story Books Rockville MD

14.Otherwise Bookstore Rome Italy

15.La Feltrinelli Florence Italy

16.Giunti al Punto Liberie Florence Italy

17.Almost Corner Bookshop Rome Italy

18.Altroquando Bookshop Rome Italy

19.Old Town Books Alexandria Virginia

20.Hooray for Books Alexandria Virginia

21. Posman Books Boston MA

22. Beacon Hill Books and café Boston MA

23.Trident Books Boston Ma

24.I am Books Boston MA