Joana O'Brien
Google
Bookstores are my weak spot. For many years I disallowed myself from frequenting them as I could not stop myself from walking out with a good chunk of my salary spent on a stack of books. A few years ago, I completely got rid of my bookshelf (careful to take pictures of all my precious books that were given away). Today I learned that it is still my weak spot and that I should continue staying away if I want to be able to feed my kids (not to worry, that is a gross exaggeration made for emphasis). This Barnes & Nobles has it all, including a bar and cafe. There are nooks and crannies everywhere to sit down and veg. However, when in a bookstore, I do not have time to stop and veg. Instead, I owe it to my avid Google review-readers to take pictures and look at EVERYTHING. They have everything, and holding real books, feeling the different textures of the covers and the pages just gets my happy feelings bubbling and hopping. There is a huge kids section, young adults section... not sure where this list is going, because if you want it they have it. There are enough people working there to get the help you need, but never bothered. I often found myself sitting on the floor, surrounded by stacks of books (those coming with me, those I am actively looking through and some other random piles) and nobody looked at me funny or called the cops. The trip was still a bit painful on my wallet (but sign up for the free membership and you'll get a nice discount, in this case 10%), but in my entire career as a mom, I have not often been able to say no to requests having to do with books. So, the four of us walked out with big smiles on our faces and that was worth every penny (pun intended... we call our youngest daughter Penny). Ended the evening going next door to Elevation Burger, which will be reviewed next. Happy reading!