Books Unplugged ~ Batteries Not Required...
...a service closing down and taking peoples' collections with them, stuff that people have already paid for.
When browsing a real bookstore, you walk to the shelves containing the subject/genre you're looking for... then you start scanning the spines and covers to see what catches your eye. Now, go online. You can search on a subject or author, but you have to do a couple or three clicks to get to a description. Then you have to use the Back button or retype your search to find the next book. Tiresome.
In the North Fork, Wills Used Books and Gallery is where you take your big city out-of-town friends and surly family visitors that want to experience a little local character but are hesitant to explore on their own. It’s a funky little place located on the main drag; hard to miss the paint job. On any given summer day you’ll see Tom Wills, the proprietor, tending his garlic and maybe, tomato plants in the front yard. Come winter you’ll be greeted by his black cat, Stubby, as you open the door to a blast of heat radiating from the old woodstove near the counter.
You don't go here for a Barnes & Noble experience but rather to take in the indiscriminate and chaotic browsing adventure of one of the Western Slope’s last used book stores. There’s nothing like old books, the colors & textures, the feel, the slightly musty scent…it will simply knock your socks off.
Among the crowded shelves, one’s interest is aroused by the title or the appearance of a book. Then comes the suspense of opening it, checking out the table of contents, and if it proves interesting, thumbing the pages, reading a bit here and there and looking for underlined passages and notes in the margins.
How delightful to find some unknown reader commenting in pencil on a heart-felt love poem, “what a crock” or coming across this beautiful inscription from mother to daughter in an heirloom cookbook: “A daughter is someone you laugh with, dream with, cook with…and love with all your heart”.
You may either return the volume to the shelf, or continue lingering over it delaying the decision. Of course, every now and then, there comes along some trashy book that you can’t resist having and other times there’ll be a book you start reading and simply can’t put down.
As long as bookstores still exist, even a casual browser will have a chance to get lost in the labyrinth of shelves, enjoy the scent of a finely bound volume, find a phrase, a bit of description or some little story that enriches their life and does their soul good.
Whether it’s local gossip, community news or a specific tome you seek, Wills Used Books & Gallery is your bookstore destination in Hotchkiss.
Contributed By: Iaida Peech
When browsing a real bookstore, you walk to the shelves containing the subject/genre you're looking for... then you start scanning the spines and covers to see what catches your eye. Now, go online. You can search on a subject or author, but you have to do a couple or three clicks to get to a description. Then you have to use the Back button or retype your search to find the next book. Tiresome.
In the North Fork, Wills Used Books and Gallery is where you take your big city out-of-town friends and surly family visitors that want to experience a little local character but are hesitant to explore on their own. It’s a funky little place located on the main drag; hard to miss the paint job. On any given summer day you’ll see Tom Wills, the proprietor, tending his garlic and maybe, tomato plants in the front yard. Come winter you’ll be greeted by his black cat, Stubby, as you open the door to a blast of heat radiating from the old woodstove near the counter.
You don't go here for a Barnes & Noble experience but rather to take in the indiscriminate and chaotic browsing adventure of one of the Western Slope’s last used book stores. There’s nothing like old books, the colors & textures, the feel, the slightly musty scent…it will simply knock your socks off.
Among the crowded shelves, one’s interest is aroused by the title or the appearance of a book. Then comes the suspense of opening it, checking out the table of contents, and if it proves interesting, thumbing the pages, reading a bit here and there and looking for underlined passages and notes in the margins.
How delightful to find some unknown reader commenting in pencil on a heart-felt love poem, “what a crock” or coming across this beautiful inscription from mother to daughter in an heirloom cookbook: “A daughter is someone you laugh with, dream with, cook with…and love with all your heart”.
You may either return the volume to the shelf, or continue lingering over it delaying the decision. Of course, every now and then, there comes along some trashy book that you can’t resist having and other times there’ll be a book you start reading and simply can’t put down.
As long as bookstores still exist, even a casual browser will have a chance to get lost in the labyrinth of shelves, enjoy the scent of a finely bound volume, find a phrase, a bit of description or some little story that enriches their life and does their soul good.
Whether it’s local gossip, community news or a specific tome you seek, Wills Used Books & Gallery is your bookstore destination in Hotchkiss.
Contributed By: Iaida Peech