Unlike Recycled Books, Brazos sells new books, and despite being around since 1974, it features a decidedly modern look with clean lines and white-painted bookshelves. A good place to bring kids thanks to its extensive children’s section, Katy Budget Books also hosts regular activities for young readers.īut among my all-time favorite Tex-as bookstores is Brazos Bookstore, in Houston’s West University neighborhood. It’s been around for decades and always features a good selection of Texana. Houston has several terrific independent bookstores, including Katy Budget Books (in the nearby suburb of Katy), which sells new and used books. Befitting Denton’s reputation as one of Texas’ great music towns, Recycled Books also deals in albums, CDs, and even 8-track tapes. (You don’t need luck to find something great at Recycled Books you just need stamina.) Whenever I’m in town, I set aside a couple of hours to peruse the store’s three floors. Written by the witty satirist Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim concerns a bumbling history teacher living in provincial England during the 1950s I found my copy at Recycled Books, a converted opera house on Denton’s town square that carries more than 300,000 books. (Sitting next to it was a companion book by Hans Christian Andersen, which I just had to have, too.) Whenever I read through these books today, I am taken back to the fairy-tale look and feel of downtown Fredericksburg, with its gothic churches and mid-19th-Century architecture reminiscent of medieval Europe.Īs odd as it may sound, when I spy my paperback copy of the novel Lucky Jim, I think of Denton. I found the book’s colorful cover and illustrated endpapers as enchanting as the stories themselves. ![]() On one trip, I simply couldn’t leave without purchasing a volume of stories by the Brothers Grimm. There are several rooms filled with used books of all genres, and a quaint German antiques store in the back. It’s a tidy store on East Main Street run by David Berkman, who is forever sorting, cataloguing, and replenishing his stock. One of my favorite small bookstores in Texas is Berkman Books in Fredericksburg. More important, perhaps, seeing it on my shelf always reminds me of my trip to Marshall. In the end, I’m both proud to have finished it and happy that I never have to read it again. (Bloomsday, June 16, is an annual celebration of the protagonist of Ulysses, Leopold Bloom.) I read pages of the tome on each of Book People’s bustling sales floors, trying to tap into the right kind of inspiration for tackling Joyce’s literary experimentalism. I remember buying it several years ago at Book People, Austin’s celebrated independent bookstore, before heading east to Marshall to take part in a Bloomsday event. ![]() Take, for example, my copy of Ulysses, by James Joyce. What’s on your shelf? 10 Books Every Texan Should ReadĪnd to me, books are sort of a biographical timeline-not just about what I’ve read, but in many cases, where I’ve been. I buy books simply to read them, and I love reading more than almost any other activity in the world. I don’t seek out first editions, limited-edition autographed copies, or obscure European folios. They help define a city’s character for me. ![]() Wherever I travel, I seek out independent bookstores.
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