Around Indies

Café at Breathe Books: A Happy, Calming Place

The café at Baltimore’s Breathe Books, opened earlier this summer by store owner Susan Weis-Bohlen, gives “Baltimoreans even more reason to visit the much-loved bookshop,” said the Baltimore Sun. To fulfill its mission “to nourish your mind, body and soul,” the café offers dishes and snacks that are gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, raw, or Ayurvedic and that include no white sugar or flour.

“Sitting with a book on Breathe’s friendly front porch, or at a table inside the charming shop, is a calming and happy way to spend an evening,” the Baltimore Sun said. “Add a bright and seasonal square of polenta, a glass of tea and a rich macaroon and you may find yourself so relaxed and well-fed that you never want to leave.”

Greenlight Puts Food in the Spotlight This Fall

Brooklyn’s Greenlight Bookstore has a full schedule of food-related events this fall that aim to highlight local chefs, restaurants, and food writers. Among the many events taking place from the end of August to November is the introduction of the bookstore’s Brooklyn Chef series, a collaboration with Smorgasburg, the weekly Williamsburg food festival. Greenlight will have a presence at the festival each week, with Brooklyn chefs presenting their books. Each chef, restaurant owner, or author will be at Greenlight’s booth to sign books and talk about food, and each event will feature free food samples (while supplies last).  

Also notable is the launch of Greenlight’s Cookbook Club, which will meet on the first Tuesday of every third month beginning October 1. Each featured title in the Cookbook Club will be discounted 15 percent for the three months preceding each meeting. Members of the Cookbook Club will select a recipe to prepare and bring to the group meeting to be savored and discussed.

Lemuria to Publish Photography Book

Next spring, Mississippi’s Lemuria Books is planning to publish Jackson: Crossroads of the South, a photography book about the city that Lemuria calls home.

The store blog announced that owner John Evans is working with photographer Ken Murphy and designer Rick Dobbs “to capture what we value, enjoy, and find beautiful about our city.” Jackson  will be the first published book for Evans, who hopes it will also boost local pride.

Lemuria will wholesale and retail the book, which will have a suggested retail price of $75.

Koham Press to Open in Vallejo

Rar Farmer, a former manager of Half Price Books in Berkeley, California, plans to open Koham Press, an indie bookstore and publishing house in Vallejo. The bookstore will carry titles in literature, philosophy, poetry, and art, and also include some obscure titles, Farmer told the Times Herald. Some of the book inventory will come from PM Press in Oakland, and Farmer will accept used books on a credit system.

“The environment that I’m going for is an ‘at home library’ with floor-to-ceiling book shelves and nice, comfy chairs for relaxing,” Farmer said.

Chester County Book Company to Reopen

Chester County Book Company recently announced to its customers that it will be reopening on Tuesday, September 3.

For 25 years, the business served the community of West Chester, Pennsylvania, and went by the name Chester County Book & Music Company. In February, the bookstore closed and its music section branched off into its own retail space, called Electric Avenue Music.

With the encouragement of the local community, Chester County owner Kathy Simoneaux decided to reopen the bookstore in a 6,000-square-foot space two doors down from its former location in the West Goshen Shopping Center.