WORD - Brooklyn, NY

WORD was one of the independent bookstores I toured this past fall on my tour in the NYC area.  It is located in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn.  If The Strand Book Store in New York was the amazon (what am I thinking?  poor choice of words!) largest of indies I've visited, WORD would be the smallest.  A very neighborhood feel kind of place.  As time goes on, my goal of meeting all the owners mentioned in My Bookstore becomes more and more challenging.  With the passing of time ownership changes hands, lives change, and the people I'm looking for are no longer with their bookstores.  Such is the case with WORD where I didn't get to meet Christine Onorati because she is no longer there.  The trade-off was that I got to meet the new owner of this fine store, Emily P.  I told the employee at the front desk why I was there, where I was from, and he went to the back to see if Emily could come out.  Remember, this place was small so I could vaguely overhear him making his request to Emily and then I heard this loud unintelligible but obviously happy reaction from Emily and out she came.  As it turns out, she was originally from Des Moines, IA, went to school in Iowa at Grinnell College and with that commonality, the conversation took off.

As for the store itself, very small, no cafe, but very warm and welcoming.  And as with all my other indie visits, there are always great people like Emily to talk to about books.  Her recommendation to me was Five Days At Memorial, by Sheri Fink.  Story about a hospital in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.  It really sounds like a great book.  As with many others, it patiently awaits its turn to be read.  I also bought The Astral, by Kate Christensen.  Kate is the author who wrote the essay about WORD for My Bookstore.  I took it as a sign when I walked by The Astral, a large oldish and rose colored apartment building, on my way to WORD.  As always, go to an indie and buy a book.  Bonsoir!

CURRENTLY READING:  The Fall of Giants, Ken Follett.  I really like Follett so think this will be good.  But it's a big boy, would make a great doorstop.  For a vault door at a bank!

JUST FINISHED:  Turtle Diary, Russell Hoban.  For me it was good, not great.  Liked the story but too many tangents.  2.5 stars.

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