Paperback Dreams - BUY LOCAL

Last night I went to a screening of a Documentary called ‘Paperback Dreams’ at the Salt Lake Library. It was produced by a guy who grew up in SLC shopping at the independent bookstores like the Waking Owl, Kings English, Sam Wellers and Ken Sanders Rare Books. He moved to San Francisco and became huge fans of Cody Books and Keplar Books. When he noticed that these bookstores were going out of business he figured there was a story there somewhere, and made the film.

PAPERBACK DREAMS is the story of two landmark independent bookstores and their struggle to survive. The film follows Andy Ross, owner of Cody’s Books, and Clark Kepler, owner of Kepler’s Books, over the course of two tumultuous years in the book business.

I loved the film. It was fascinating and made me feel even more connected to the book world. Living in Portland I became a Powell’s junkie, and it is due to Powell’s that I became the bibliophile I am today. Michel Powell owner of Powell's books was also featured in the film. Now that I am back in the land of the Saltie Lake, I am a frequenter of Kings English and Sam Weller's. So learning about the independent bookseller was very interesting to me. After the film there was a panel discussion with the owners of Kings English (Anne Holman - Manager), Sam Weller's (Tony Weller - Manager), Ken Sanders (himself), Univ of Utah Bookstore, and the owner of the now closed Waking Owl (Patrick de Freitas - Owner). That was so cool (to use a cliché) to see the faces behind the stores I give all my money to. They shared some very interesting information about how buying from the big book and mortar as they called them, not only put the independents out of business but also jacked up the prices of our favorites, and our paperbacks. BUY LOCAL! Me and Steph really enjoyed it and felt very ‘Indie’.

Paperback dreams is going to be showing on PBS, so check out the web site and see when it will be paying in your area. For the Utahans it will be on KUED on November 23rd (9pm) & 25th (12am), so set your DVRs.

I hope you enjoy the documentary as much as we did!

And here is my little soap box, Buy Local! Find your own independent bookstore where ever you are, and support them (in turn supporting your community) fight the urge to buy from the AMAZON, and others like that, your local should have online too.

If you are a Utahan and have not yet visited the Kings English or Sam Wellers, I can promise you, you are missing out!