The Magical Mystery Tour

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I was going to dub today as Bookstore Appreciation Day, but then I realized every day around here is Bookstore Appreciation Day. Which sadly, acronyms to BAD, which is exactly the opposite of what it should be. Anyway.

Jenny Milchman is exactly the right person to help us celebrate. And in honor of this BAD day--maybe it should have a new name, anyone?--we'll offer a copy of her much-anticipated COVER OF SNOW to a lucky commenter who tells us a favorite bookstore.

Why is she the perfect person? Well, Jenny and I met at Malice last year, and became instant besties. She told me about how she and her family...well, it was really how when she was little, she,...well, it was more how how bookstores...well, let Jenny tell it. 

HANK:  Jenny, when and where did your love affair with

 bookstores begin?

Jenny Milchman: I was lucky enough to grow up in a town that had four bookstores. And it wasn’t a big town. 

I had a fair amount of freedom as a kid, way more than I allow my children

 now. (I know. I’m helicoptering them. Don’t say it…just

send me the therapy bills 

when they come due). Anyway, I used to walk around town, poking my

 head into shops. I don’t think anyone minded. And I have this very distinct memory of being in one of the four and picking up Stephen King’s Cujo. 

You know the one with the slobbering face of the dog on the cover?

 On the back it described “a sleeping evil crueler than death”. 

Ohhh, did I want to find out what that sleeping evil was! Something crueler than death? WHAT could it be?

But I didn’t have any money, so I had to walk all the way home and ask my parents. And they didn’t have any money either, not a lot anyway, not for things like new books when there was the library. 

But they believed in encouraging a passion, and when my dad 

gave me some folded bills, I ran (I must have run) all the way back to that bookstore and bought the book.

And the flap copy writer was right—it was more evil—though it would take me a decade, and two or more subsequent readings, to really understand why. Long before then I was hooked, not just on Stephen King, but on the treasure palaces where his books were found. 

HANK: Even before your new book came out, you did a riduculo--I mean, amazing bookstore tour. Tell us more! And what did you learn that the rest of us can stea--I mean, discuss?

Jenny: Tomato, tomahto. No, I’m kidding, of course it was ridiculous. My love of bookstores has threaded its way into so many aspects of our lives, and on the one hand, I feel 

like, “OK, I’m not sharing my passion for dessert, or [insert vice here] with my kids. I mean, these are books we’re talking about.” I believe that for a child to enter a treasure trove, and

find his way to 

something unique,

 something of 

his own choosing, can be a formative

experience in life. 

It was in mine. But still.  We spend a lot of time and resources on books. No college accounts for the kids yet. ’Nuff said.

Every summer for the past three, we’ve hit the road and driven

 cross-country, visiting between 50 and 60 bookstores. The kids

 keep occupied in the car with the books and toys they find in the stores, and they also get to see the country. We’ve wake-tubed in Minnesota, hiked a canyon in Colorado, climbed

 the Black  Hills.

And we’ve discovered bookstores in the pokiest corners of the country—and they’ve been filled with readers and browsers and customers! There’s a lively bookstore scene, a level at which bookstores are real hubs of their communities, which reports of publishing industry changes sometimes don’t reveal.

There were also times along the way when we’d discover that a favorite author of mine was going to be appearing, and because our trips are largely unplanned, we could hang out an extra night or day to get to see Louise Penny. Or Laura Lippman. Or Alafair Burke. My kids think that authors are celebrities—and to us, they are. The stories authors will share, the truths they’ll tell. (I can’t wait till my kids can

 meet some of the Reds!)

In terms of how this mode of travel might be something someone, um, less crazy would do…Well, I am a big fan of encouraging writers and readers to frequent their local bookstores, and even others they can drive to within a reasonable radius. Bookstores can be founts of entertainment—Chris Bohjalian, Harlan Coben, John Connelly, and Lee Child are each funnier than a standup comedian—and also huge supporters of this writing life. Having a bookseller know

 your work can lead to anything from a spot on the shelf to an 

event or appearance one day. And a dozen other things become possible…when you open the door to a bookstore and walk in.

HANK:  This is such a great photo! Which

 bookstore is this--and where and why?

Jenny: That’s one of my favorite bookstores—well, they’re all favorites, but each for a different reason.This one is in Boulder, Colorado. When I 

walked into the store, there was a young girl behind the counter.

It was like that old SNL skit with the late, great Gilda Radner as a child psychologist. This was a child bookseller.

I began talking to this girl, and she was telling me about the science career she hoped to have, and it took a while for me to figure out that her mother was both the mystery and children’s book buyer for the store.

 And by that time I had discovered this whole new wing of science to introduce my

engineering-loving son to.

And that is why, when I get to

feeling guilty that my kids havevisited 250 bookstores, but not Disney, I tell myself, it may all be OK, they may not need that much therapy. At least not because of this  

HANK: So happy BAD! Any ideas for alternate names appreciated. And tell us your favorite bookstore! COVER OF SNOW--which comes out any minute now--to a lucky commenter!