I ventured down to New Orleans this past weekend for a bachelorette party for a very dear friend of mine. We took a one-day hike over to the Garden District to visit the famous (infamous?) Commander's Palace; after a several-mile walk, we were devastated to discover that the place was closed due to the lingering effects of Isaac (no power, no flour).
But all was not lost! We discovered
The Garden District Bookshop, which
did have power, and the three bookworms in the group promptly set off for a bookish adventure:
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| Blurry shot... but look at all the books! |
The Garden District Bookshop is small, but well-stocked; whoever does their ordering has figured out how to balance a selection of local titles with an offering of lesser-known novels with a variety of well-known and high-selling authors. There's also a whole bookshelf full of signed editions...
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| Eagerly poring over pretty pages. |
I left with a copy of
Gourmet Rhapsody, a companion novel to the lovely
Elegance of the Hedgehog (
which I loved); a dose of good bookish conversation with the bookseller (who hopefully will read
The Illumination soon,
because it is excellent); a recommendation to give David Foster Wallace's new book a try even though I've never been a huge DFW fan; and comfort in the knowledge that indie bookstores are persisting across the country, even in storm-ravaged New Orleans. If you ever find yourself in the city, it's worth the hike over to the Garden District to check out this shop (yes, even if the trolleys aren't running!). And hopefully you'd be able to stop at Commander's Palace for a martini and a snack, too.
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Check out The Garden District Bookshop
at their website or
on Facebook.
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Indie Thursday is a weekly Twitter event that celebrates Indie bookstores on - you guessed it! - Thursdays. The event was started by Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelves last year to help readers everywhere truly embrace their local, independent bookstores. To participate, simply tweet about a recent purchase at your indie bookstore using the hashtag #indiethursday. Oh, and also follow @IndieThursday on le Twitter.
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I'm jealous of your time in New Orleans. Garden District is a lovely bookshop and I remember it fondly.
ReplyDeleteI was so glad to have stumbled into it - and all just because Commander's Palace was closed!
DeleteSecond that DFW recommendation. :) I love New Orleans, too - but I've been there more than half a dozen times, and haven't made it to that bookstore yet, which looks very cool. On the list for next time.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great shop - definitely worth visiting. This was my first time to New Orleans, but what a neat city. Even with the power outages and Isaac-effect. Affect? Effect.
DeleteI love that the bachelorette party ended up in a bookstore. That's my kind of party. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe best kind of parties always end up in bookstores!
DeleteI was supposed to visit New Orleans this past weekend, too, but ended up going to Ohio because of Isaac. Ahhhhh! We should have gone. I'm adding this bookstore to the list. I was just taking a break from writing a post on the bookstores I've visited in other states when I saw this! I have to visit. And I agree with the comment above - that is certainly my kind of bachelorette party. :)
ReplyDeleteI think maybe you were smart to wait - I'd never been before and was disappointed that some key places were closed because of power outages, and the trolleys weren't running which made it harder to explore outside of our hotel area without racking up taxi costs. I hope you get to go soon though!
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