On Saturday, Jeanne and I went down to Common Good Books in St. Paul for a book signing. (Yes, the proprietor is who you think it is!)
Common Good Books is located underground in the historic Blair Arcade.
Its skylight provides an intriguing view, doesn’t it?
So just who were we there to meet? Why, our own Knit Thinker, Amy Rea, who has written a wonderful guide to Minnesota: Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes: An Explorer’s Guide.
Amy was as gracious in person now that she’s a published author as she was before – whew! 😉 After chatting with Amy and getting her to personalize the copies of her book that we purchased, Jeanne and I wandered off to a yarn store. Neither of us bought any yarn, but during the drive, we did take two mental snapshots worth sharing:
A bumper sticker: Midwives DO know squat.
Painted on the side of a trailer: Twin Cities Pigeon Racing Club (really, we had no idea!)
Hee hee.
After I dropped Jeanne off, I stopped at Uncle Hugo’s & Uncle Edgar’s and picked up a few more books… just in case the Great Book Drought hits, of course.
“Am I in this Minnesota book?” -Chaos
From the left, Amy’s book, Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents (I’m a sucker for an intriguing bike touring book), Hands of Flame (Book 3 in the Negotiator Trilogy), and Hunter’s Prayer (Jill Kismet, Book 2). (I think the cover model on Hunter’s Prayer looks like Tink! What do you think?)
“I wonder which of these books will taste best?” -Mayhem
Let’s see whether you love me today …
Wow! You know all the famous people! I guess you’ve proved your point, that you purchase less yarn when you’re not on a yarn diet ;^)
I’m so glad you went out to support Amy!
Great shot of Amy – is she wearing those cute shoes?????
Quick – get the cats off the books before there are unremovable drool stains!
I notice you are not on a book diet.
Love the book store (even though I’m no fan of Keillor’s). I’d love to buy Amy’s book and come explore your State!
Curious kitties! That bookstore looks like its straight out of Diagon (sp?)Alley in Harry Potter.. though I think its the stonework that does it for me. Sadly, all we have around here are chain book stores.
I never give myself a budget when I hit the bookstores. You never know what you’ll find, after all. Just like yarn…
I love it when you post about interesting Minneapolis sites!
Aw, thank you for coming to see me! And thank you for getting the shoes in the shot. Those poor shoes have been suffering an inferiority complex.
Amy is good at sitting nice and polite isn’t she?
Doesn’t Amy look cute as a bug’s ear?
And I guess I have to stand up for Keillor. Anyone who would graciously flatter strange old fat chicks who accost him while he is innocently standing at a copier at Kinko’s has to have some good karma working on his side… and his book store kicks literary butt, too.
🙂
Amy looks so proper & author like! Wish I could have made it out, but the landscaping I’ve put off all summer was calling. Hopefully next time.
Amy! Hi Amy! Cute shoes!
Cool skylight photo, too.
How cool and fun!
Book diet! Shut your mouth!
Amy looks absolutely charming, as usual.
I, too, seem to live in fear of the Great Book Drought. Looks like a great outing! I hadn’t heard of that bookstore before.
It’s always good to have extra reading material around. You never know what you might be in the mood to read. Sounds like a great time, and I’m glad authorship hasn’t gone to Amy’s head. After doing galley proofs and the like, she’s just probably most relieved that all she has to do now is sign her name.
I think I’m getting jealous of all your new books. Perhaps a trip to the bookstore is in order.
That’s a great bumper sticker!
FYI: I’m sure you’ll see it, and you’ve probably gotten lots of them, but I’m supposed to tell you that I gave you an award on my blog. So consider yourself told. 🙂
Those are The Shoes! Awesome.
The final book in the Negotiator trilogy is out? Awesome.
What a fun bookshop! Don’t you feel that you have to make sure you have “extra” books around, just in case you are sick or there’s a war or blizzard or something happens? I actually admitted to my husband the other day that I can’t weed very many books because I need to make sure I have enough for when I get old and can’t get out to the bookstore or library very often. Does that sound pathetic?
Those bumper stickers are good! I get a lot of commentary on mine (I put one on for the first time ever just a couple months ago), which says “1.20.09 End of an Error”.
Best famous author photo ever! She looks adorable. In her shoes.
What a cool location for a bookstore! How fun to meet Amy in person too!
How COOL that you got to go to Amy’s booksigning! I’m obviously much too far away to go myself, but I’m still jealous!
Sounds like a fun day! Cool book store. I try to get rid of books but instead I just seem to buy more.
Doh, I missed the book signing! Nuts.
Love the midwives bumper sticker.
Hi All,
First a book I enjoyed and thought I would mention to you. It may not be your type. It’s a biography of Adeline Yen Mah and tells of her life growing up in Shanghai, Tianjing, and Hong Kong. She was an unwanted child with a dreadful step-mother. She did very well in school and talked her Dad into sending her to London to college where she majored in medicine. She is now located out in California. It was very interesting I thought. Her great aunt started the original Women’s Bank of China and was very successful. Her father and grandfather were extremely successful import-export folk. Secondly, my littlest babies send greetings to their northern cousins because much of their family was solid black. Little Isis has the look used by Puss in Boots in Shrek down pat and is using it on me now because she wants a kiss and she had her head top in dinner so she doesn’t smell exactly like kissing. She is a beauty of a dilute tortoiseshell, pale gray and cream, and a long-hair. Her twin brother Buns is also long-haired but is a red tabby. He is also an absolute darling. They are SOOOOO beautiful! Gotta run. Hello to you all.
Ann Carpenter in Dallas, Texas
Are you sure it isn’t Tink? Book signings are great fun to go to.
That looks like a very intriguing book store.