'Return of the Great American Indie Bookstore'

Shelf Awareness

"American independent bookstores are thriving in many cities around the country. In fact, rumors of their demise in the age of Amazon.com and e-books are greatly exaggerated. We still love reading 'real' books--that is to say, physical, printed editions," wrote David Hale Smith in an American Way piece headlined "Return of the Great American Indie."

Featured booksellers were the Mysterious Bookshop, New York City; Books & Books, Coral Gables, Fla.; Powell's City of Books, Portland, Ore.; Literati Bookstore, Ann Arbor, Mich.; and the Wild Detectives, Dallas, Tex.

Smith, a literary agent who also edited Dallas Noir, observed: "Bookstores are still wondrous, magical little places. There is something special about the community that gathers in and around a great local bookstore. Browsing their aisles is an invigorating experience; the brain fires up at the riot of colorful book jackets, the earthy smell of quality paper and the promise of future hours well spent, tucked away inside your mind."