Claire met me in front of the bookstore.  I stood under the green and white striped awning, with my hands in the pockets of my denim jacket and my back to the wind.  A sharp breeze from the beach swooped down Main Street every few minutes.  The sky was blanketed with thick, white clouds.  Across the street, somebody was changing the titles on the movie theater marquee.  So far, the sign read Kramer v. Kra, and the man on the scaffolding held a giant ‘M’ in his gloved hands.  Dustin Hoffman was one of my favorite actors.  I hoped Scott would be willing to sit through another girly movie with me.     

Claire appeared from around the corner.  She shivered in Mark’s track team jacket, which was a couple of sizes too large for her, and swept her wind-blown hair from her eyes. 

“Sam, Rachel and Sarah are inside.  We’re going to browse in the book store and then head over to the boutique,” I said.

Claire stood up on tiptoe to peer into the store window.    “Sam’s here?  Does that mean . . .”

I shook my head.  “She’s still not talking to me . . .

In Sandra Cahill’s Best Friend, my character, Emma Butler, and her friends love to hang out in their local bookstore.  Both Emma and Sam are enthusiastic readers.  In the late 1970s, small bookshops graced the main streets of towns across America.  When I was a teen, I used to ride my bike to a wonderful used bookstore called the Book Swap.  I spent many an afternoon happily browsing through their stacks of paperbacks.  Today, I am glad that despite the proliferation of e-books and online booksellers, some independent bookstores still offer a warm and inviting haven where readers may continue to admire the covers of newly printed novels or flip through the pages of glossy coffee table books while they shop.

Photo by L. Walkins, August 2009

The town where I grew up, Madison, CT, is home to an award-winning independent bookstore.  R.J. Julia Booksellers opened its doors in 1990 and soon became the place where shoreline residents flocked to find their next good read.  Although, I now live several hundred miles away, whenever I drive through Connecticut with my husband, we always make a point of stopping in Madison to visit our favorite bookstore.  Not only do the knowledgeable booksellers offer a fabulous selection of titles including a shelf of staff suggestions, the store also hosts a full calendar of author events, provides self-publishing opportunities with the Espresso Book Machine and runs a busy café.  The next time you are traveling down I-95, take exit 61, make a left onto Route 79, drive into downtown Madison to do a little book shopping or simply enjoy a cup of coffee and a sweet treat in the RJ Café.  According to their website, the booksellers at R.J. Julia’s pride themselves on providing “a place of inspiration, information and excitement.”  I guarantee once you step through the door, you will be inspired to return to R.J. Julia’s again and again.