Last night while researching independent bookstores to send press releases to about my new book, I came across a place called The Book House right here in St. Louis which I never even knew about. J and I got out today and made a special trip there just to see the place. Wow! We were so glad we did. It’s an old historic house with every room and every wall packed from ceiling to floor with books - new and old.
It was a bit hard to find, as the house sits several yards back from the main street. We actually passed it, but I had made a note of some cross streets and we turned back to look again. I’m glad we did.
Inside, we immediately perused the fiction section and I picked up a new copy of Truman Capote’s Answered Prayers. It was a book that I had been wanting for a while. There it was, so I thought what the heck! Books are stacked vertically and horizontally and I’m not joking when I say they line every wall from top to bottom. So much to read…so little time. But the store offers a nice mix of new and old, and some rare out of print books that were just fascinating. J and I loved looking at all the old hardback books. They just don’t make books like that anymore.
Near the back of the store, still on the first floor, sat a nice young helpful lady who was quick to answer my questions about the hauntings mentioned on the store’s web page. The bookstore is haunting by three ghosts. One is a young girl. One is an older man, believed to be taunting the little girl. And the third ghost is somehow tied to some of the books they own or have owned. It’s possible some were from his own private collection. Behind the counter was a wall of local Missouri books. We snatched up a few on St. Louis hauntings and ghosts, a fav subject of mine and J’s. St. Louis ghost history wouldn’t be complete without local author, Troy Taylor. We bought his book, Devil Came to St. Louis.
I asked about bird books, a recent interest of mine. J checked out the basement of bargain books which he said was pretty spooky. I didn’t go down there. Instead, we both went into the children’s section to look for Little House on the Prairie books. J loves Laura Wilder’s own personal story, and characters from those “good ole” days. We found all of her original books in hardcover from the 1950s, but we did not purchase them. I headed upstairs to look at the 2nd floor of books, and to find those bird books.
Back downstairs, we asked the nice employee lady about a few more subjects. She located some children’s books from the 1950s for us, a steal at $3.00 a piece, and wrote down the title and author of another book we might like which they had in storage. Seven books later and $77.00 well spent, we were out the door, but will definitely be back.
The Book House was definitely the highlight of our day. It was nice to have great helpful customer service for a change, and to support a local business. Check them out online, or if you ever come to St. Louis!
