COME FIND US
As a bookseller at Bluestocking Books in Hillcrest, I want to extend a welcome to Aaryn Belfer’s friends Seth Marko and Jen Powell as they embark on the adventure of opening The Book Catapult in South Park [“Cutting the Amazon cord,” Sept. 27]. The sense of community that grows in a neighborhood with a local bookshop is tremendously gratifying. Aaryn aptly described the tactile pleasure of “dragging (her) fingers along the spines of real books” in real bookstores, as well as the conversations and connection between bookseller and client. Independent businesses in general keep neighborhoods interesting, providing the warm glow of finding a special item sold by a shop-keep who is there because they love what they do and who they serve, and not because the corporate training manual told them to. I want to remind your readers that, while we have admittedly lost some colleagues along the way, there are many bookstores in San Diego, including but not limited to Bluestocking Books, which has been in business for over 18 years and in a site which has been a bookstore for over 50 years. Footnote Books is a 26-year mainstay in the neighborhood and Verbatim Books in North Park is coming up on its second anniversary. If you look, you can find us, and more! In San Diego, going to an independent bookstore is still geographically accessible, and it’s been a pleasure for me personally to be a part of it for 20 years.
Mary Lyons, Normal Heights