An American Bookseller on Assignment in Iraq

Shelby Monroe, a bookseller at The Village Bookstore in Pleasantville, New York, is heading to Iraq this month as a reporter for two small-town newspapers. This will be her second trip. In 2006, Monroe, who was studying library science, put her degree on hiatus to spend four months as a reporter embedded with the First Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division in Kirkuk.

"Everybody thought I was crazy," said Monroe, a longtime bookseller who owned her own bookstore in Ogunquit, Maine (The Ogunquit Round Table) prior to getting her MLS and working at The Village Bookstore. Monroe was inspired to go to Iraq by the deployment of a friend who was a member of the 101st Airborne Division.

"I wanted to gain a better understanding of what life's like in Iraq instead of staying home, being worried ... and watching it on the evening news," she recently told BTW. On the first trip, she worked as a reporter for Milan Mirror-Exchange, a Tennessee newspaper, though she had no journalism experience. "My friend knew the editor," she said. "[The newspaper] was willing to give me press credentials in exchange for coverage." She paid for the trip herself, and was surprised at the U.S. Army's willingness to believe that her "intentions were good and that [she] wouldn't misrepresent the soldiers." On her first tour, she was stationed in Kirkuk for four-and-a-half months.

This time, Monroe, who will be embedded with the First Brigade for nine months, hopes to visit several bases. She expects to do more of the same type of work she did on her first visit: reporting about foot patrols (wearing body armor she bought herself on eBay) and the general day-to-day experiences of the soldiers. In addition to reporting for Milan Mirror-Exchange, Monroe will also file occasional columns for her local hometown newspaper, The Examiner, and she'll continue to post to her blog. Monroe will also be facilitating deliveries of donated boxes of books from The Village Bookstore, and she hopes to set up a book group.

"I think there are some titles that would be interesting to discuss with the guys," she said. On the list is Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Denis Johnson's Tree of Smoke, and she's packing a big box of ARCs. "It's a great place to read," she said. "Last time I didn't realize how much time I'd have. I was always scrounging around for books, but people tend to swap. There is reading happening over there. It's a nice way for the guys to escape."

When Monroe returns, she plans to work both as a librarian (she has finished her MLS) and also as a bookseller at The Village Bookstore. "There's a lot of knowledge I get working at independent bookstores that helps my work in the library," she said. "It helps me stay current." Asked if she planned to write a book about her stay in Iraq, she told BTW that she was reluctant, because, as a bookseller, she has seen the avalanche of books being published; however, she doesn't totally discount the idea. "I might like to write a book," she said, "if it felt like it came together naturally. It would have to be something that I felt was unique." --Karen Schechner