My Favorite Bookstore
I’ve Never Visited

I’m not sure how I learned about Par­nas­sus Books in Nashville, Ten­nessee. Prob­a­bly I was look­ing up some­thing about author Ann Patch­ett, who is one of the own­ers of the book­store. I have loved her books for years. And I adore her book­store. Even though I’ve nev­er been there.

Some­thing about it imme­di­ate­ly tick­led my fancy—even from afar. Maybe it’s the name? In greek myths, Mount Par­nas­sus is the home of the Mus­es, those inspi­ra­tional god­dess­es of lit­er­a­ture, sci­ence, music, and the arts. Maybe it’s their programming—they do some fan­tas­tic work there. Pret­ty much every week I’m wish­ing I was close enough to attend an event they’re host­ing. (Sign-up for Mus­ing and you, too, will know all they’re planning.)

I have a deep and abid­ing love for inde­pen­dent book­stores. I am lucky enough to live in a place that is home to sev­er­al won­der­ful indies—a cou­ple of them ded­i­cat­ed entire­ly to chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture, even. The peo­ple who work at these book­stores are sim­ply the best. They are well-read, excit­ed about local authors, tire­less in their event/program plan­ning, and gen­er­ous in their pro­mo­tion­al work. They take seri­ous­ly the busi­ness of get­ting the right books in front of the right read­ers. I don’t know how they do it, but now that I’m an author, I’m more than just admiring—I’m grate­ful. Most authors do not have an enor­mous mar­ket­ing depart­ment and bud­get behind them—they have indie book­shop angels rec­om­mend­ing their book to one cus­tomer at a time.

A friend vis­it­ed Nashville this past week­end, and she not only vis­it­ed Par­nas­sus, she also took a pic­ture of Giant Pump­kin Suite on their shelves! This is such a thrill for me. (Well, who am I kid­ding, it’s a thrill every time I see my book on a shelf—even my own book­shelves.) But there’s some­thing about it being at Par­nas­sus, in par­tic­u­lar, that just warms my heart. 

When you call Par­nas­sus Books, some­one who sounds like my aunts, or maybe one of my Mom’s cousins, answers the phone. (This Min­neso­ta girl has some south­ern roots.) I imme­di­ate­ly feel…well, at home and loved. And so, although Giant Pump­kin Suite is set in Min­neso­ta, I just know it must feel quite com­fort­able down there in Nashville on the shelves at Parnassus. 

Thanks Par­nas­sus, for being my favorite book­store I’ve nev­er vis­it­ed. (I’ll get there!) And thank you indies everywhere—for your pas­sion for books, your ded­i­ca­tion to read­ers, and your kind sup­port of authors. Thanks for includ­ing Giant Pump­kin Suite on your esteemed shelves.

(And thank you, Ter­ri, for send­ing the picture!)

[Read­more­from­Me­lanieHeuis­er­Hill]

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