For a bit of an ‘end of summer’ hurrah before school starts up again and all the busy-ness of Fall comes along, I drove to Omaha yesterday and went on an indie bookshop crawl with my sister. I only had one specific book I was looking for (which I found) so we weren’t on some grand bookish mission, but it was nice to get out of town for a bit and see some different bookshops than the ones I’m used to. Our first stop was The Book Nook in Papillion, which sells new and used books as well as DVDs, BluRays, Funko Pops, puzzles, and board games. They recently moved to a bigger location next door from their old location, so some shelves weren’t quite as organized as they might have been, but everything was still tidy and easy to look through. The collection is sorted by very general categories, with fiction being its own section and not really divided by genre, and nonfiction being divided into broad categories of its own. This made it interesting to browse, but harder to look for individual genres since everything was grouped together. Classics and poetry were off on their own, as were books of local interest. The used DVD and BluRay selection was extensive, and I found seasons one and two of Carnivale, an old HBO show about a dark carnival navigating eerie happenings that affect them thanks to a battle between forces of good and evil in the Depression-era American West. I loved this show when I first saw it not long after it aired in 2003-05, so I’m curious to see if it will hold up after all this time. I only paid about $15 for the two sets, so if I find out I don’t like the show anymore, I’m not out very much. The Book Nook’s inventory is available to browse online, so I know where my first stop will be if I’m looking for an old movie or show I can’t get at the library. It’s an hour’s drive away so I can’t go there every week or anything like that, but when I’m in Omaha and have time to drive there, The Book Nook will definitely be a place to visit. They have an adorable shop cat, too. Our next stop was The Pen & Dagger in La Vista, which sells new books, stickers, and some gifts. It offers primarily fantasy, science fiction, romantasy, young adult, and romance novels with a smaller selection of children’s, art books, cook books, and general fiction. While it’s not the largest indie bookshop in Omaha, it feels spacious and offers a relaxing and quiet place to shop, even when it’s busy, which it was while we were there. Or maybe it’s just that bookish people are quiet even when they’re out shopping. I don’t know when Pen & Dagger opened, but it feels like a newer place. I hope they stick around and are able to expand their collection in the future. While browsing, I was tempted by a couple of art books- one dedicated to the illustrations of Edward Gorey and one that was all about book design. I decided against them due to their cost and sheer size, and instead purchased The Eye of Leviathan (The Sea Beyond #1) by M.A. Carrick, which was the book I was hoping to find at one of the shops. M.A. Carrick is the name for the writing duo of Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms. The two authors have been friends for a couple of decades and published many books of their own before teaming up to write as M.A. Carrick. I haven’t read all of their Rook and Rose trilogy, but I’ve loved what I have read and am looking forward to getting to the rest of it. When I saw they had a new book out, I decided I had to pick it up. Pen & Dagger’s collection is available for purchase online as well as in-store.
Once we left Pen & Dagger, my sister, who was driving, decided we would brave the extensive road construction in the Blackstone neighborhood and go to The Wandering Page. Once we navigated all that and figured out the parking situation, we walked in to discover that The Wandering Page is less of a bookstore and more of a cafe and lounge– which is not a bad thing at all, it’s just not quite what we were expecting. It didn’t take long for us to browse the shelves, and neither of us found anything we were interested in. So while The Wandering Page wasn’t quite the bookish destination we were hoping for, it is a beautiful, cozy space with food and space to meet up with a friend or just hang out to read for a while. The Blackstone neighborhood is full of beautiful old buildings and houses, and if The Wandering Page’s cafe doesn’t have the sort of food you’re looking for, there is a cookie shop, an ice cream shop, and several restaurants within a very short walk. We went to a Japanese barbecue place named Koen, and the food and service were excellent. We didn’t go, but there is a similar bookshop and lounge down the street called The Reading Room where you can meet up with friends, browse a selection of books, or just hang out and read while sipping a literary-themed cocktail. Our last stop after lunch was Book Club Society for their grand opening. Like The Wandering Page and The Reading Room, it’s a place meant more for social gatherings than book shopping. They have a selection of general fiction titles, a bar, and comfortable couches. According to the owners, Book Club Society is meant to be more of a space where people can host book clubs rather than being a book shop. This sounds like an excellent idea to me, as when my book club was meeting regularly, we picked a coffee shop and hoped there would be a table large enough for us. The place was absolutely packed for the grand opening, so if that is anything to go by there is plenty of interest in a space to host book clubs. The owners, Michelle and Megan, had a great idea and a lovely space, so I hope this venture is successful. After that, we decided we were done shopping for the day. The Book Nook proved to be our favorite thanks to its great selection, a cozy atmosphere, and enough space that we didn’t feel crowded by books or other shoppers. The cute cat was a definite plus. I didn’t take any pictures of any of the bookshops, since they were all busy and I felt awkward trying to get pictures of bookshelves while people were standing in front of them.
I only finished one book this week, and that was my advance copy of Robert Jackson Bennett’s A Trade of Blood. As I feared, the luster has worn off of this series for me. I was not invested in the mystery, nor did I care about the revelations regarding the empire Din and Ana live in, and so I think I will bid farewell to these books after this. Part of their initial allure was the Homes and Watson dynamic the series opened with, but this has fallen flat. Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant detective who actually cares about the people he’s working for. Ana, on the other hand, is just as brilliant, but she seems to care more about the engines of empire and the individual case’s place within them than she does about the actual people involved which makes me care less about Ana as a character. Din is learning more about his abilities and the empire as a whole, but part of his plotline always involves falling in lust with yet another person he shouldn’t be involved with, and I don’t care about that particular plot point, either. It doesn’t help that, with every new book, we learn about some fancy new angle to the series’ magical biohacking, and complex magic systems have never interested me. When I guessed whodunnit around the halfway point I was ready for the story to be done with, but then I still had so many pages left to follow Din around while he was being baffled by it all. This series started out strong, but I’ve pretty much lost interest in the whole thing. Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for the advance copy for review. Traveling in Books is free today. But if you enjoyed this post, you can tell Traveling in Books that their writing is valuable by pledging a future subscription. You won't be charged unless they enable payments.
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