After a five-day visit to Nashville over the Labor Day weekend, I came down with another respiratory virus, but at least tested negative for Covid this time. Just one more plane trip (a short one!) this coming weekend, and then no more flying for me for a few months!
Last Sunday I posted about visiting two of the three indie bookstores on this list of 10 Must-Visit Bookstores in Nashville, and promised this week’s post would feature Parnassus Books in Nashville, the independent bookstore owned by one of my favorite authors, Ann Patchett.
I took a Lyft ride out to Parnassus Books on a very hot Saturday afternoon. Its strip-mall location isn’t picturesque, but it’s in what seemed to be a high-volume shopping area, convenient for people to get to by car. (You wouldn’t want to try to walk there from downtown Nashville.)
Even though there were no special events going on, the place was hopping! I haven’t seen so many people going in and out of an actual bookstore in a long time, and it made me feel good to see the store so busy.
Some of the amazing spaces and displays inside the store:
I had read Tom Lake in advance of publication, but wanted to own a copy to share with family and read again sometime. I was disappointed that they all had celebrity book club labeling on the cover, but bought it anyway! My other purchases were Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe (a different celebrity book club label, grrr!) by Emma Törzs and a Parnassus Books T-shirt.
Then I bought a sandwich for lunch at a Great Harvest Bakery in the same shopping plaza, and found a little place in the shade to wait for my Lyft ride back to the hotel on the other side of Nashville.
Before our flight back to Boston, I made my husband traipse all the way back from our gate to where we had come through the security line to help me find the Parnassus Books outlet at the Nashville airport and take my picture. Because I didn’t realize how far from our gate it was, I didn’t have time to look around (or buy anything, so probably just as well!)
Notice I’m wearing my Parnassus Books T-shirt. I should have taken my hoodie off, but I guess I was panicky about missing our flight and didn’t think. (Not that we’re ever among the first to board, anyway!)
This is a real airport bookstore!
This Sunday post is so late, it’s practically a Monday post! I’ve figured out some of my WordPress photo problems, but probably my prose isn’t as sparkling as usual today. 😉 I blame my sinuses!
Sunday Salon is to encourage conversation about books and bookish things, but can expand into other topics. The weekly link-up and Facebook group are hosted long-distance from Italy this month by the Deb Nance of Readerbuzz.