And Maybe a best-selling novel
Don't you just love Independent Bookstores?
I went looking for a book for Kim's birthday the other day. (Bonus husband points for not waiting until the last minute). I found something very intriguing from an author I wasn't familiar with, and the purchase took me down a bunny trail to the Parnassus Bookstore in Nashville, Tennessee. Love it. I'd rather buy from an independent bookstore than Amazon any day. But something about it tickled my wrinkled and aging memory.
Oh yeah. That's the book store that super-duper, best-selling author and all-around classy lady Ann Patchett opened up about ten years ago. I had forgotten.
You see, back in about 2005 when I decided to produce a series of author interview shows for the local Access TV channel, (Think Wayne's World meets Literature), we did an interview with Ann while she was visiting Austin. We being Sara Laas as interviewer and me as producer, director, photographer, editor, and best-boy (whatever the hell that is in the movie business). That was when her award-winning novel Bel Canto came out.
The Parnassus website is beautifully done. But, naturally, I was drawn to a number of videos they posted near the bottom of the home page there. And one in particular. In 2012, after her shop had been open about a year, Ann was on the Stephen Colbert show before Colbert moved over to CBS' Late Show. The interview was funny with a little bit of insight into trying to thrive selling books in the shadow of Amazon.
Give it a LOOK RIGHT HERE and then support your local bookshop.
Back here in Austin we've been working with the local indie mega bookstore BookPeople to conduct and post interviews with authors they draw. We posted them on our site Austin Liti Limits. It was all going swimmingly until the Virus hit and BookPeeps has been reduced to doing the author events virtually. We also regrouped and have been Zooming interviews with my good buddy Scott Semegran doing the interviews and I've been handling the editing.
We've got some good ones, including Owen Egerton and Meg Gardiner. Check those out and the next book you order online, you can get it just as quick and easily from BookPeople or anybody but Amazon.
Until then, stay safe, healthy and virus free.
Lar