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Escape to the Nook

I had a nice time recently browsing at two very different woman-owned bookstores on South 1st, Escapist Bookstore and Nancy's Nook.

Escapist Bookstore is a gallery/boutique/bookstore with a relatively small but careful selection of books focusing on underground titles, some familiar, some not. When I went in several friendly people were chatting away while hanging an art show, making it seem more like someone's living room than a business.

I picked up a copy of Angry Young Spaceman by Jim Munroe, which looked like it might be a worthy successor to the work of Kilgore Trout. It was that or Tokyo: A Certain Style, a tiny book with photo after photo showing just how much junk can be crammed into a Japanese slacker's broom-closet apartment. Perhaps it's a punk answer to The Not So Big House, or as one reviewer called it, "a coffee-table book for a Tokyo-sized coffee table." T:ACS is initially engrossing but ultimately claustrophobia-inducing; I've got enough clutter of my own, thanks.

After some restorative fresh air and sunshine I went next door where Nancy of Nancy's Nook specializes in used children's books and toys, with a generous helping of grown-up books thrown in for good measure. She has the best selection of kids' books I've seen since Toad Hall closed down (RIP) and sells them for the most part at garage sale prices. Nancy's Nook is a certain kind of book-browser's idea of heaven, with meticulously arranged shelves vying for space with piles of cardboard boxes of unshelved and possibly unsorted inventory. I'm sure there are other book shoppers for whom it would constitute hell; if you are subject to disequilibrium while contorting through confined spaces or have problems with cats or the smell of cigarette smoke, you might wish to shop elsewhere. But if a challenge whets your appetite for book-hunting, then Nancy's is for you.

Both are located at 2209 South First between Live Oak and Oltorf.

Thanks for the leads on these book stores, Prentiss. I was recently asked about independent booksellers in Austin and the only names I could come up with were BookPeople and Book Woman. I suppose Half-Price might fit the bill as well but beyond that it seems to me we're left with the B&Ns and Borders shops. For a short time there was a cool little place on Guadalupe near 29th Street where you could find a lot of Austin writing but I think that one has joined the ranks of dear departeds like Cochranes and Garner & Smith. Who is still out there?

That's a good question about other surviving independent bookstores. There are a couple of political ones, the anarchist Monkeywrench Books on North Loop (which I've blogged about before) and local center of the leftist-chicano-poetry universe(s) Resistencia Bookstore run by the eternal Raúl Salinas. (I'm not sure about Resistencia's current address; I know I've seen it recently on the east side of South 1st, and my recollection is it lost its lease across the street in a dispute over paint colors. Shades of Sandra Cisneros!)

Then there are a few high-end used bookstores still operating, presumably with a large portion of their sales going to the online collectible market. Twelfth Street Books (12th at Shoal Creek) and Curio Corner (7301 Burnet) are in this category.

A couple of others which I thought were still open (Adventures in Crime and Space, Asylum Books) appear to have closed as physical stores although they may still have some internet operations. Lots of other dead stores are listed at the Austin Bookstore Graveyard. For completeness I suppose I should mention the controversy surrounding Jessa "Bookslut" Crispin's tirade on the subject of indie vs. chain bookstores.

So -- any other live ones that I missed?

There's...what's it called...Austin Books at 51st & Lamar. SF, comics, collectibles.

Thanks for the info! I have a friend who's very into kiddie lit and would probably love Nancy's Nook.

The pickins is slim in the independent bookstore world these days, so thanks to you, Prentiss, for giving us a glance. How did you like "Angry Young Spaceman?" Insider information: Jim Monroe will be live in person at the Escapist on March 13, fyi...