National Book Day
Why I have books in the store:
When I go to someone’s house for the first time I love to see what art they have hanging on their walls and what books they have stacked into their bookshelves or placed on their coffee tables. My grandmother gave to my mom who gave to me a signed cookbook by Salvador Dali and it sits on my bookshelf and when I see it, I think of my grandmother meeting Salvador Dali and I smile because she was so ahead and modern in her time. When I look around the store, I see the books not just as props for the clothing but as objects that create a smart and poetic atmosphere and draw in the kind of smart and curious person who wants to sit for a moment and read through these works. They are hand picked by me during these special days when I drive to LA and meet with this smart and soulful woman. We sift through Art Books, Cook Books, Kids Books—books about decor, movements in time, fashion, race, politics. She writes my order and we talk about art movements, current events, politics, color, fashion and our lives, our own unwritten stories. I could order my books online but I like going to her and I like touching and flipping through each book that I buy—and I buy one of each book because it feels special, like whoever buys that book I feel connected to them because I picked that book out.
When I look around my own home I see colorful modern art—some made by well known artists and some of my favorites that were drawn or finger painted by my kids. When I look at books being read by friends, I sometimes see books that I could never imagine reading—large, non-fiction biographies and stories of self-made men and women and companies and I smile because it reminds me of their intelligent and curious nature. And then there on my bedside table I see books about love, soulmates, women and healing—and within those books I find community, a shared and common life with all these people who I've actually never met—but who so poetically share their intimate stories with me so that I too can feel connected. And best of all, when I thumb through my kids bookshelves picking out our stories to read for the night, I am reminded of the stories we have been told as children and that we now tell our kids—of the characters and the innocence and not so innocence within the pages that bring each of us immediately back to parenthood and childhood—that teach us some of earliest understandings of friendship, travel, fear and love. This is why we read and why we teach our kids to read and why it continues to be such an important aspect of my store and for this curious woman—because within the pages there is an ancient connect to language, to imagery, to a imaginary and real world that we can slip into and be reminded of something deep in our nature, that keeps us nurtured and creative.
From one curious reader to the next,
Jen