Wow, the Book Den lead me into quite a fascinating saga when I looked it up. Apparently, the Book Den was started in Oakland, California, not so far from me, at the turn of the last century. It was relocated to Santa Barbara in the 1930s—where it’s still thriving!

This is news to me because I used to work for the Earthling Bookshop in San Luis Obispo, which started in Santa Barbara and only branched out to SLO much later. I won’t get into details, but the SLO store closed abruptly about a year after buying a whole building and without warning its loyal employees, my friends (I was long out of there), who had worked night and day to transfer the inventory at considerable personal toll. The Earthling’s gone from Santa Barbara now, too, citing Barnes & Noble as squashing independent bookstores when it moved into downtown.

But the Book Den remains! http://www.bookden.com/pages.asp?page_id=extrapage_27

Book Den East: http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/directory/business.php?i=236

Here on the Vineyard we have Bunch of Grapes, which is recovering from a devastating fire. My favorite though, is Book Den East, basically a barn with lots of dusty old books. It’s a few blocks away from my parents’ house. Closed right now, but looks like it’s still running. There’s never any music on, the place is always dead silent, the owner is super quiet, and it’s kind of awkward, but it has great stuff.

The Boulder Bookstore: http://boulderbookstore.indiebound.com/

Trident Booksellers in Boston: http://www.tridentbookscafe.com/

Chris, what’s the closest really great bookstore near Martha’s Vineyard? And in Finland? (Can we GET a link to the biggest independent bookstore in Finland?)

I don’t remember the cafe of Powell’s. We were on a roadtrip on my birthday a few years ago and got to spend the evening there. All I remember is staggering out beladen.

Of course, for smaller great bookstores there’s City Lights in SF Northbeach: http://www.citylights.com/. They’re also a publisher and right across Jack Kerouac alley from Vesuvio’s coffee shop, where I once made a complete idiot of myself loudly explaining to a writer friend Natalie Goldberg’s writing exercises, which I’d just started reading, while he said, “Shut up. You’re making us look like groupies. Shut up,” until I said, “What is your PROBLEM?” and he said, “Who is that on the wall?” (I didn’t know.) “That’s Jack Kerouac. This is his old hang-out.”

In honor of my friend I embarrassed (He really is a severe Kerouac groupie, just so everyone knows), I’m posting the second half of my interview with Carolyn Cassady today. She says Happy New Year, Robbie.