I like big, clean, well-lighted, chain bookstores with lots of
stock and a cappuccino machine. I love funky old used bookstores
with erratic rooms and jammed shelves where I can find a hard cover
copy of
”
The Great and Terrible Quest
”
for $5.
I like big, clean, well-lighted, chain bookstores with lots of stock and a cappuccino machine. I love funky old used bookstores with erratic rooms and jammed shelves where I can find a hard cover copy of “The Great and Terrible Quest” for $5.
But most of all, I love independent bookstores with friendly personal service, where I can waltz in and find presents for all my nieces and nephews on the shelf, and have them gift-wrapped, and order whatever I want with a fair expectation that it will actually materialize within a few weeks, and that someone will call me when it does.
Therefore, I love the Wize Owl, Gilroy’s new bookstore, owned and operated by Michele Campbell.
I’ve been waiting for the Wize Owl to open since mid-October, when Michele and I were co-soccer moms, rooting for our daughters from the sidelines. (This is so Gilroy; often you know the person, though sometimes you only know the person’s co-worker’s aunt.) Anyway, Michele was working all soccer season, drawing up lists of inventory, and talking to publishers, and reading trade journals, and fretting about contractors.
Now, at last, it’s open, in the brand new office building at the corner of Santa Theresa and First. The building is still under construction, but promises to be quite lovely, with a central courtyard graced by a fountain.
The Wize Owl is beautiful.
It’s airy and spacious and well lit. It’s well stocked with new releases and timeless classics. The store is fragrant with the scents of fresh paper and candles, candles being some of the gift items also stocked by the Wize Owl.
The children’s area is furnished with several beanbag chairs, so that small fry can cuddle up and be cozy while pursuing their selections. “I’m looking for chairs (for the rest of the store,)” says Michele, “but I haven’t found exactly what I want yet.”
She has found exactly the right tree house for the children’s area, and hopes to get that installed this weekend, or maybe next. I can’t wait to see it. She was reluctant to give a firm date, because it depends on weather and time, and she’s pretty short of time.
“Business is really good,” says Michele, thanks to a combination of word-of-mouth and articles in The Dispatch, but she isn’t resting on her laurels. The Wize Owl has story time scheduled every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. and every Saturday at 11 a.m.; all ages welcome. The next book signing is scheduled for February 19th from 4 to 6 p.m.; Kathleen Antrin is promoting her new crime novel “Capital Offense.”
In the future, Michele hopes to host open-microphone poetry readings. She’s putting out a newsletter. The Wize Owl’s web site will include booklists for specific teachers and specific classes.
Michele was off and running again, so I wandered around the store. Bob books for early readers. “Goodnight, Moon” for toddlers. Harry Potter. JRR Tolkien, including some 2003 calendars of Lord of the Rings. Travel section, science fiction, general fiction and non-, classics, Bible, New Age and Mythology, parenting, children and juveniles …
I really hadn’t intended to buy anything, but she had some pocket Bibles, and I really needed one for camping; my big old King James is too heavy and too fragile to lug over 29 miles of the Sierras. And Anne and I had just finished re-reading the Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. LeGuin, so I couldn’t resist Tales from Earthsea.
If you haven’t read Earthsea, it begins with “A Wizard of Earthsea,” in which Sparrowhawk masters his magic, and learns what it means to be a man. In “The Tombs of Atuan,” a girl chooses light and life over the worship of the dead. In “The Farthest Shore,” Sparrowhawk and a young prince journey beyond the ends of the earth to stop an evil necromancer who is draining the world of life and magic.
These are complex and beautifully written books, though they would probably be too hard for most 11- year-olds. If Michele doesn’t have them in stock, I’m sure she would be happy to order them for you.
