Visiting Bookstores

I just got back from a trip to San Francisco. Had a wonderful time.

Did you know there's a Starbucks on every corner in San Francisco? I'm not kidding. I believe that statement to be true, at least for the area where I stayed -- the Financial District. There was one in my hotel. Came out the front door of the hotel and there was one across the street. Walked up the street and there was one on the corner across the street. Walked around the block, and there was one on the backside.

Everywhere we walked - Starbucks. It became a joke.

There are also a lot of independent bookstores. I passed quite a few of them. And we walked and walked everywhere from China Town to Fisherman's Wharf to the Golden Gate Park to the Mission District to one area that we quickly hightailed it out of.

One bookstore I visited (can't remember the name of it), had narrow doors and interesting angles and turns, and floor to ceiling bookshelves.

On our last day in town before heading to the airport, my son wanted to find a book or magazine for the flight. Since we didn’t know of an independent close by, we went to the Borders less than a block away. He looked for magazines and books to take on the flight. I perused the magazines and didn't see anything interesting, so I did what I like to do when I'm in a bookstore.

Note here -- Booksellers may not like the following...

I looked for books by author friends of mine. And when I found them, I turned one or two of their books face out.

Didn't find everyone that I looked for, but did find Susan Wittig Albert -- turned one of her books face out. Also found Jeff Abbott and turned his. Located Diane Fanning in True Crime and sort of rearranged the shelf so I could face out two of hers. Went through Romance and found Jordan Dane and readjusted hers. Didn't see Rick Riordan in mystery, but found his children's series in that section of the store and made sure his was turned.

When you shop for books, you roam through the store and the books that first catch your eye are those with the cover facing out. So, I say, if you have friends who are authors, then find their books and turn one face out. Every little bit helps and they'd do the same for you.