Last week The Intended told me that I shouldn’t make any plans for the coming Saturday, as she had a surprise in mind for me. So Saturday came and we got in the car, and drove. And drove, and drove. And we wound up – Surprise! – at a bookstore. Namely this one, the Montague Book Mill, advertised as “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find.” Go take a look at the pictures.
It’s a lovely use for an old building, isn’t it? The building houses not only the bookstore, but a restaurant and a cafe as well. Since we visited during the day, the Night Kitchen was closed, but after browsing the stacks we had a slight repast (A No. 1 and champagne for her, No. 6 and a Left Hand Chainsaw Ale for me), courtesy of the Lady Killigrew Cafe. The stacks, for those of you who are bookishly inclined, lean more towards hardcovers and trades, rather than your garden-and-yard-sale variety paperbacks; whoever does the buying there is picky, which means good titles for the plucking. I wound up with four books: Wodehouse, The Long Recessional, In Command of History and Defeat Into Victory.
On the way home we stopped in Amherst (like Burlington but slightly less annoying full of hippies and trustafarians) for a brief walkabout. Naturally we stopped at the Amherst Brewing Company for some more eating (beer bread) and drinking (Workingman’s Wheat). Then we went home. The End.
A damn fine day. Lovely weather, a lovely bookstore, good eats and drinks, and the best company. One couldn’t ask for more, and days and places like that remind me why I still live in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.
My aunt lives out there and has never mentioned it. I must have a word with her.
I highly recommend you stop by, next time you’re in that neck of the woods.
I know we must have had this conversation before. I have the bumper sticker in my car. I know we have. Its about time. Between Noho, amherst, Montague and deerfield there are at least 6 ( by my count) exceptional shops. The book mill is, for ambiance alone, the best of the lot. An unfortunately large but lame cooking section….
ohh, and also, the owner/buyer is very picky and very well versed. One great spring day I watched Beavers in the river off the desk whilst perusing whatever slim volume of comics i had picked up that day. ( i think it was Sgt. Rock and Easy Co.)
Trustafarians! Never heard that word before. I love it.
@monojack:
When we arrived and saw the place, I remembered that conversation. The NY Times did an article on the book shops of the area; Boston.com did too, which was where J. got the idea.
There is another similar bookstore out on Rt.2 between Greenfield and Shelburne Falls. An old barn that was converted into a 2nd hand bookstore/antique shop with a tiny little sign on it that you’d certianly miss if you weren’t looking for it. We drive past it every time we go camping out is western MA but haven’t stopped in there yet. Maybe we will this weekend. If so I’ll be sure to pass on a report.
Mayhaps we shall pop into Boswell’s Books in Shelburne Falls as well.