The Book Carriage

A nice addition to the new businesses on Oak Street in Roanoke, Texas is The Book Carriage. This independently owned bookshop is located on the north end of the new old town area.

The area just under the hanging quilt is a coffee, tea and pastry bar. I’m not a true coffee drinker (decaf only for me and not even half as strong as is currently popular), but I have tried the tea and it was a lovely treat.

This shop is a good meeting place, too. Twice I’ve met my friend, Geneva (My Heart’s Song) there and we’ve had a pleasant visit at the tables downstairs.

Unfortunately, they don’t serve sandwiches, but if they did, I’d be one of the first in line.

The stairs lead to a balcony furnished with tables and chairs.

Local artists are featured on a regular basis and the balcony is one of the display areas.

Off to the left of this photo is the children’s area, which is quite nice. I can’t think why I don’t have a picture of it, except that it had been a very tiring day and we were in a hurry.

Aside from books, The Book Carriage also sells coffee mugs, jewelry (handcrafted, I think), greeting cards, small toys, puzzles, stuffed animals and the featured artwork.

Local musicians play on Saturday nights at 7:30.

Their bookclub meets on the 2nd Sunday at 4:00 and members receive a 15% discount when purchasing the selected book.

Go here for their home page which has a menu with lots more information.

(My apologies for the fuzzy quality of the photographs.)

Letter to Audrey Hepburn

Once upon a time (about 3 years ago) there was a perfectly marvelous independent bookstore in Weatherford, Texas. And my kind husband bought this perfectly marvelous book for me there.

The Audrey Hepburn Treasures by Ellen Erwin and Jessica Z. Diamond.

It’s a totally different kind of book than I’d ever seen before. Not just prose. Not merely prose + photographs.

Each chapter has a glassine envelope with reprints ranging from contracts to letters to the program from one of her early shows to greeting cards she sent. And lots, lots more.

Such an interesting format.

And here is the reprint of an early fan letter she received. I think it’s touching that she kept it.

Here’s the lovely lady playing a cigarette girl in the 1950 film “Laughter in Paradise”.

Landmark Booksellers

In the movie “Silverado”, Paden tells Emmet “You know, a smelly saloon is my favorite place in the world” and then upon entering Stella’s, he takes a deep breath.

Now, the only time that I’ve been been in a saloon, was in Bannock, Montana and Bannock is a ghost town; and the only time I’ve ever been in a bar, was when I was about 5 years old (just hold on – it’s not as bad as it sounds) and I went with my dad into the local bar because it was the only place open where he could buy cigarettes. They were not my favorite places.

But I have the same feeling as Paden when I’m in an empty theater, an old school, church building, or bookstore. So it was a real pleasure to walk into the antebellum building on Main Street in Franklin, Tennessee which houses Landmark Booksellers.

The owners are friendly southern folks. When I told the gentleman that we were headed to the Christian Dior exhibit in Nashville, he told me that his aunt had been a dressmaker there and showed me the scrapbook of her shop. It was a fascinating journey through changing styles of wedding gowns through the years.

History books are in the front near the desk.

On the wall above the sitting area are photographs of southern writers.

A mixture of old and new abounds in the children’s room. Joe chose 2 new books for our grandsons and I chose 2 old ones for myself: an old reader from the 1940s with great illustrations, and a craft book – probably from the 1920s or 30s – I don’t remember. We purchased these 4 and 2 others books which weren’t going to fit in our carry-on luggage, so we had them shipped to us and I am eagerly awaiting their arrival. Story Times are Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 10:00 a.m.

Go here to explore the shop on their website.

Cookbooks and books about the movies are on the second floor. I’m really sorry that I missed that section, but hopefully, we’ll go back sometime. The good news is that they have some of their collection online and ordering is available.

The anniversary sale is buy 2 and get the third one free, and follows the norm that the free one is the lowest cost book of the 3. Also, at least one of them must be a used book.

A good deal of the stock is used but many are antiquarian. Joel showed me a particularly lovely one (and quite costly) from the early 1800s, with hand tinted pictures. And that reminds me of the scene in “You’ve Got Mail” when Joe Fox was shown a valuable book in The Shop Around the Corner. He exclaimed when told the price and asked if the hand tinting was what made it cost so much. George then replied “that’s what makes it worth so much”.