Virginia Book Tour: Part Two
The Crazy Ladies Book Tour got a four-hour head start driving across Richmond to look for the bookstore where we were expected. We'd almost missed our broadcast splash the previous day by taking a wrong turn on the way to the WTVR-CBS studio, arriving three frantic minutes after the appointed hour. (We did make it to our segment in time.)
The store for the day's event, Book People, was thrillingly book-stuffed. Over 20,000 volumes in about 1200 square feet. Every wall looked like this: 
We had time to squander before our signing hour and explored the cluster of surrounding businesses, including the little lamp shop (Toombs Ltd., antique lighting) where we both particularly admired one chandelier. Carrie asked the price. Five thousand, said the proprietor. It's the one Spielberg used in the movie Lincoln. Turns out Spielberg has popped in here often and commissioned lighting for the movie's White House. As a customer, the director got excellent reviews: very nice guy who wants everything in his movie to have perfect historical accuracy.
Next stop: McHugh's Restorations, where the pieces of a shattered Limoges urn were spread out for re-assembly. It would take 11 hours to do, said the woman who greeted us. The broken urn was originally bought in Europe by a honeymoon couple on their grand tour, pre-Civil War.
What kind of strip shopping center was this? Had we stepped into a Spielbergian time warp?
Later that afternoon, Sister Crazy Lady Carrie Knowles and I sold a few of our books at Book People. (Her novel Lillian's Garden, mine Cobalt Blue) The woman who hosted us through airbandb bought enough copies that she likely did not profit on our stay with her.
And Carrie and I bought enough books by other people that we didn't profit much either, at least financially.
To Be Continued…
Categories: 2013
Tags: airbandb, Book People, Carrie Knowles, Cobalt Blue, Lillian's Garden, Lincoln, McHugh's Restoration, Richmond, Spielberg, Toombs, WTVR