There are two kinds of bookstores, the ones like Chapters that are immense and have every imaginable book you could ever want...a person could spend days in one. But they are pretty overwhelming and a person can ramble and roam for hours and not find what you want. I have had that problem myself at the one in Victoria. It's 3 huge floors of tantalizing sections...do I want Travel, or Recent Bestsellers, or Non-fiction, or Staff Picks, or Sci-Fi or..or..or...TOO MUCH! I am a "small bookstore person", or at the least, an "old building bookstore person". Munro's in Victoria fits that description, as a matter of fact, it has been called "Canada's most magnificent bookstore" by more than one acclaimed author. It was built as a bank in 1909 and has retained many of the original features. But what I like about these old building are the sounds they make...the creak of the wooden floors are you walk on them caused (perhaps) by years of dust settling in the cracks, and I like the aroma of old buildings, I don't think it can be compared to anything, it's a fragrance all to itself...a mixture of books, dust, wood and time.

When we were in Bonner's Ferry last week we went "downtown" and on their little main street they have an old bookstore. When you open the door, it creaks on it's hinges and a small bell rings. The Eau De Bookstore is very strong and the first thing you see are high wooden shelves crammed with books, both new and used, side by side. The store is narrow and long, with only 2 aisles, you walk up one and once you get to the end, you turn around and walk down the other. There are small scatter rugs here and there that give it a feeling of hominess and big, old wingback chairs stuck in the odd corner here and there, I think it you hit one, clouds of dust would fly up into the air. There was no music playing, which is how a bookstore should be...none of these "panpipes" and "sounds of nature" tapes in the background...just silence. It transported me back to the bookstores of my childhood. (Ok, that's not true at all, but it sort of sounded nice, and in a blog you are allowed all the literary lisence that you want.) I wandered around and didn't really see anything that struck my fancy until I suddenly thought of 2 of my all time favorite books as a kid (that part is true!) I asked the proprietor (and there is no other word for him...he was not a store owner or manager or sales clerk...he was a slim, gray haired man wearing black pants, white shirt and a vest...seriously!) if he had a copy of "A Wrinkle in Time" and he zipped right over to a section, and showed me 2 copies..one used and one new. Of course I chose the used, a favorite book needs to be shared and loved, and I like the idea that some other person (hopefully) read this book time and again and loved it as much as I did when I was a kid. I don't know what ever happened to my copy but I'll bet I read it 3 or 4 times a year, every year, for years. Then I remembered Ray Bradburys "Dandelion Wine", which is the ultimate "coming of age" book, and that is one of my favorite genres. He raced down to the Sci-fi area, exclaiming: "This is my all time favorite book..ever!" Again there were two copies, new and used, so of course I once again took the used.

I paid (a total of $4.00) and left his little haven, happily clutching my treasures. I haven't re-read them yet because you have to savor the thought of a book before you jump right in and read them...they are sitting on my dresser and I look at them daily and I think I'll read them tomorrow....