Author Josh Kun read his book at Skylight Books last year.Robert Lachman, Los Angeles Times
Writers offer chapter and verse about their favorite independent bookstores in Southern California.
What is it we love about a good bookstore? The selection? The intelligence of the sales people? The ambience? It’s those things, but I think it’s something else: I think a great bookstore is a place where you feel you can go to find your tribe, to be around people who make them feel, well, less alone.
They’re looking for their kin. The same is true with book lovers. We want to find our corner bar equivalent, a place where, if everyone doesn’t exactly know our name, at least they recognize and accept our particular obsession.
Portrait of a Bookstore in Studio City might be vying for the title of smallest bookstore in the world, but what it lacks in space it makes up for with its passionate staff. Led by owner Julie von Zerneck, the team, including head buyer Lucia Silva, make thoughtful selections from the new and keep a strong collection of the old on hand, so that whenever you’re in need, there’s something there to grab your interest. It may not be the broadest selection in town, but the collection is wonderfully edited, and all the staff members love to talk books. The store is a little like the home library you wish you had filled with people who are as obsessed with books and reading as you are.
—
Marisa Silver
[ click to read more in the LA Times ]