literati bookstore

An independent bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 2019 Publisher’s Weekly Bookstore of the Year. We read a lot.

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The world seems stranger than fiction, and yet, fiction helps me understand the world.

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"In Iceland, the tradition is to gift books Christmas Eve then read them all night while eating chocolate. Perhaps we're all a little Icelandic at heart."

-Note left on our typewriter

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Let it snow, let it snow, let us snow…

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It’s all happening so fast. We have whiplash.

I have always believed in our vision: to be a lively bookstore. A bookstore where books are talked about and discovered, where staff recommend new worlds to new readers, where a community could come together. It is surreal to walk its aisles and hear silence, like the first days when we signed this lease, before dreaming what these walls could become. Of course, I imagined there would also be dark days—how can you not, when owning an independent bookstore—but not like this. Not like this.

We are trying. We are fighting. 800 web orders later, our fearless, passionate, hard working team is busy packing and processing, buoyed by the kind comments and outpouring of emotional and financial support. It carries us. It fills us.

We expect tough times ahead. We expect to be closed to the public for a long, long time. For now, we trek through this day by day, alongside all of you. Our thoughts are with the sick, the health care staff, those in need. Books are not high on the hierarchy of survival needs. Still, I feel a deep sadness, and also, reading through your kind comments, a deep resolve.

Though our walls aren’t filled with echoes of book lovers browsing books, they are filled with the actions of a staff determined to do everything possible. They are filled with the memories created in the seven years we have been in business, the laughter and blood and sweat and tears of a small business throwing its best punch. It is filled with the hope that we will get through this. Together.

The dream lives on that, one day, this will once again be a lively bookstore. And we’re not sleeping until that dream comes true, once again.

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Quote of the week.

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Favorite memory of the year: It’s hard to beat this one. When we were awarded Bookstore of the Year by Publishers Weekly, we were invited to partake in a ceremony in NYC. We were excited to get back to the city where we once fell in love, and also thrilled to bring Greta, our 1-year-old daughter, along for the ride. I don’t think we adequately thought ahead that maybe it wasn’t the best idea to haul a toddler in front of 300 people during one’s most prestigous professional award event in a lifetime, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Five minutes before the announcement, Greta was struggling. (As we all do at the Javits Convention Center.) Hilary and I were frantically whispering to each other, “Maybe you just accept the award and I’ll stay back with Greta.” “What do we do if she melts down on stage?” “What do we do if she has an accident on stage?” But we decided to just go for it. As soon as we brought her up on stage and Greta saw the people looking at her, she ate it up. Smiling. Waving. Clapping along with the crowd. She stole the show, and I’ve never been more proud.

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Some prefer silver and gold. We prefer these.

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A tree glows in bookland.

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Shelfie.

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Quote of the month.

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When the weather outside is frightful...but a bookstore is so delightful.

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Look at all those pretty shelf talkers.

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“He had wondered why she liked books so much, and if it had anything to do with why he liked spaceships, because they could take you somewhere far, far away...”

-Marissa Meyer

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Here’s to all those book lovers who fell in love at a bookshop...

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“Every time I walk into an indie bookstore, I have to buy a book. It’s my bookstore code.”

-Overheard comment

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“Do you remember the first time you realized you couldn’t read all the books in the world, and how that made you sad?”

—Overheard comment

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A poem for National Poetry Month.