Lonely Planet Bookstore Tour -- Day 4

Tuesday, May 11, day four of the Lonely Planet Independent Bookstore Tour, started with an early visit to Susan Little's Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The 32-year-old bookstore is housed in an indoor market that was formerly a tannery mill near the Merrimack River. Bookseller Claire Eaton pointed out that Henry Walden Thoreau wrote A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers about his experience floating down the river, and, of course, the store always keeps copies of the Thoreau title in stock.

Another stop in Newburyport was The Book Rack, which features a children's room and a card shop. The store has been open since 1972.

Owner Alison Tucker in front of the postcard map at Gulliver's Travel Books, Maps & Accessories in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

At Gulliver's Travel Books, Maps & Accessories in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, owner Alison Tucker showed us the store's postcard map where customers' postcards are attached with string to the locale from which they were sent. Tucker then gamely came aboard the 32-foot RV for a quick trip to Water Street Books in Exeter and was duly impressed with our ride.

Dan Chartrand was happy to see the LP folks and company, and he sent his regards to ABA staff back in Tarrytown. After chatting about the tour's route and the logistics of RV living, Chartrand showed us his store's new Lonely Planet display and signed the LP road trip T-shirt, which was getting fairly well covered with booksellers' well-wishes and signatures. After leaving Water Street Books, we roamed around Exeter briefly, picked some lilacs to spruce up the RV, and then climbed back aboard.

Next was Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, New Hampshire, a spacious 14,000-square-foot book and music shop in another indoor market that, like Jabberwocky, had also previously been a mill. The nearly floor to ceiling windows on the north side of the store looked out over a section of the Ashuelot River. Jesse Fankushen (LP's associate marketing manager) managed to snap a photograph of a flock of Toadstool booksellers in their natural habitat.

At Booklink Booksellers in Northhampton, Massachusetts, are (l. to r.) Tamara Barr (LP), owner Gabriel Moushabeck, Gary Todoroff (LP), and reporter Karen Schechner.

Back in the RV, we headed for Northampton, Massachusetts, a seductive enclave in the center of five colleges and universities. Gabriel Moushabeck, owner of Booklink, told us that Northampton was a great place to have a bookstore and that there were other fantastic stores in the area including Broadside Bookshop, The Raven, and Beyond Words. Moushabeck mentioned that he's been a proud member of ABA for years. He came outside with us to inspect our mobile digs. Quite taken with them he remarked, "This is a cool RV." Passersby agreed.

After a day of bookstore hopping, we were winding down, but pushed on to visit Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts, at around sunset, catching some shots of the countryside along the way. The bookstore celebrated its 40th anniversary this past November. Odyssey's buyer Bob L'Episcopo posed in front of the Massachusetts institution, and we headed back to Northampton for the night. --Karen Schechner

Beth Randall (left) and Carolyn Jordan in front of The Book Rack in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

(l. to r.) Dan Chartrand, Jeff Donald, Tom Roberge, Sean McQuaid at Water Street Books in Exeter, New Hampshire.

At Toadstool in Keene, New Hampshire, (l. to r.) booksellers Steve Mathew, Jeff Smull, Don Cunningham, Melinda Doolittle, Anne Adair, and Paul Campus.

Bookseller Bob L'Episcopo at Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Susan Little in front of her Jabberwocky Bookshop in Newburyport, Massachusetts.