Mississippi Bookstores
Ranked #869 in Books, Poetry & Writing, #37,165 overall
Let a book traveler guide you to some of the coolest hangouts in America's great literary terrain: Mississippi
Twice a year, I travel to many Mississippi bookstores for University Press of Mississippi, and I think they are the most valuable havens for bibliophiles in America. Many of Mississippi's towns lack the population to support large chain stores. So from the Hills to the Delta down River Country to the Central Plain through the Piney Woods and on to our Gulf Coast, independent bookstores have found a way to thrive and create places where booklovers congregate. These brave entrepreneurs share the very latest history, mystery, fiction, children's books, and Mississippiana with an eager clientelle. From the state that brought America William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, Shelby Foote, Tennessee Williams, Willie Morris, Richard Wright, Margaret Walker Alexander, James Whitehead, Ellen Douglas, Elizabeth Spencer, Larry Brown, Frank Stanford, Barry Hannah, Lewis Nordan, Howard Bahr, Steve Yarbrough, Turner Cassity, and Natasha Trethewey (to name but a few), expect to be enriched when you walk through one of these doors. Each store is an expression of its management, its neighborhood, and its hometown. So when you are down here with us, drop by. This lens is organized alphabetically by city or town first, then alpha by store name.
(POSTSCRIPT TO BOOKSTORES: If you are not listed here: 1) I'm always building; 2) I'm happy to hear from you; 3) I'm including only stores I know sell new books, not just used; 4) I haven't visited you and need to! So let me hear from you: syates @ mississippi.edu)
(POSTSCRIPT TO BOOKSTORES: If you are not listed here: 1) I'm always building; 2) I'm happy to hear from you; 3) I'm including only stores I know sell new books, not just used; 4) I haven't visited you and need to! So let me hear from you: syates @ mississippi.edu)
Bay Books
Bay St. Louis
131 Main StreetBay St. Louis, MS 39500
228-463-2688
GREAT NEWS (3.8.2011): NEW OWNER SIGNS ON! Kay Gough and her son Edward opened this store in Bay St. Louis AFTER Hurricane Katrina smashed and flooded one of the coolest of coastal downtowns. And they made it a success. This morning (3.8.2011) we hear from Kay: "All good things must come to an end. Luckily for you, Bay Books will continue to be the best independent bookstore on the Gulf Coast! The paperwork is all done, and the handshakes shook. We are pleased to say that the bookstore will be in the good hands of Jeremy Burke, a Hancock County native and St. Stanislaus alum. The official changeover will be later this month; the Farewell and New Beginning Party will be Saturday, March 26. It's been a privilege to be your local bookstore."
For months after Katrina, when business all over the coast seemed so precarious and disrupted, departing volunteers from all over America who had come to Bay St. Louis to help people and save the town stopped in Bay Books and bought up every photography book about the Mississippi coast that could be had. "We have to take this home," they would say. "Nobody will believe us!"
Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum
Biloxi
Near Belk's Entrance
P.O. Box 1907
Biloxi, MS 39533
228.435.6320
http://www.maritimemuseum.org
Temporarily relocated in the Edgewater Mall (Hurricane Katrina wiped out the original location by the bridge to Ocean Springs), this shop has succeeded so well in its foot traffic that manager Robert Sweeting wonders if the museum may keep this location as a satellite once the original is rebuilt. The staff is building the book shelf, which, as you would expect, involves seafood, Coast history, Coast wildlife, and boating, in addition to a new cookbook by the museum. Cool ship models and examples of local power and paddle boats, plus driftwood carvings and more.
Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art Store
Biloxi
386 Beach BoulevardBiloxi. Mississippi 39530
228-374-5547
228-436-3641 (Fax)
museumstore@georgeohr.org
www.georgeohr.org
I love the cafe and the wide open feel of this gift shop with tons of natural light. Books cover one whole wall and are naturally tied to the current exhibitions or to the Coast's artists. Hurricane Katrina picked up a casino barge and smashed it through the original museum in 2005 (a Frank Gehry design!) just a week before the grand opening. Now with the shop open and exhibits up and running, a lot is going on. Manager Stacey Johnson writes: "We have a fantastic collection of all things Mississippi---books, esp. related to the arts, literature, photography. Also a fabulous array of MS music and documentaries, and, of course, ART galore!"
Union Street Books
Canton
107 N. Union StreetCanton, MS 39046
www.unionstreetbooks.com
601-427-0703
Hooray for new beginnings! Will Grossenbacher graduated from Ole Miss in May, and bought a bookstore in June, 2011. Now in what was the old Perlinsky men's wear store on the square in Canton, Union Street Books inherited gorgeous wood cabinetry, the best spiral staircase in any Mississippi bookstore, and a wide ranging used selection. The new books coming in and featured up front are all about Mississippi or from Mississippi authors. Will knows just about any activity happening on Canton's square, and is already listening to every customer. He knew what they wanted before I ever made a suggestion! The store has a long wide open layout, great reading atmosphere. I'm eager to see where Will takes this endeavor!
Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art
Clarksdale
252 Delta Ave.Clarksdale, MS 38614
662-624-5992
www.cathead.biz
Oyaaa! as my dear friends from Charleston, IL, used to say. While not a juke (or jook), this joint is funky cool. My face-to-face store stops have all been as a customer, usually touring the bluesy Delta with outworlders (like me) doing their blues traveling pilgrimages. Lots of books and blues CDs and DVDs. A required stop, especially if you want to make the art in your home cooler than the House of the Blues collection or decorate with the otherwise inimitable flare of the jooks in Birney Imes' Juke Joint. 2-KOOL 2-BE 4-GOTTEN. This great image of the storefront is from photo/artist Chuck Lamb.
Delta Blues Museum
Clarksdale
1 Blues AlleyClarksdale, MS 38614
662-627-6820
www.deltabluesmuseum.org
How can you go wrong with an address such as Number One Blues Alley? And right down the row is the Ground Zero Blues Club; up Delta Avenue is Madidi Restaurant. What more do you need to come to Clarksdale?! Again this is a store I'm in more often as a customer, and I'm telling you the clerks can take you deep into blues history or bend your strings to something brand new being played or discovered. This store also boasts one of my favorite book traveler moments. Holding up Earl Hooker: Blues Master (warning: part self-serving plug) I asked the clerk how it was selling. "Sold one yesterday," he says. "Get this, the cat buying was from Bulgaria."
Cotton Row Bookstore and Computer Company
Cleveland
333 Cotton RowCleveland, MS 38732
662-843-7083
How great is it to walk in a store and find a huge wall of regional variety as the first feature? But Cotton Row tops that: this giant regional shelf takes up a third of the store! Virginia O'Neal knows her town and its authors and habits. Around the store, Cleveland's downtown (which is shaped in a long rectangle rather than a square) is spruced up with boutique shops, bars, and restaurants. We've done business for years and many authors with Delta roots have signed at Cotton Row. This shot was on a Sunday after a Delta wedding.
Pentimento
Clinton
302 Jefferson StreetClinton, MS 39056
601-925-4662
Right across from Wyatt Waters' gallery and around a corner from Cups Coffee, this bookstore makes Clinton's downtown an even more pleasant stroll. Eclectic new section and savvy used. Great (signed!) first editions of Howard Bahr and others. No webpage yet but I will post when it comes. On a fall day with the doors wide open and Jefferson street bathed in sunshine, lounge in one of the chairs with a good book Toni chooses for you... then I dare you to leave!
Tennessee Williams Home & Welcome Center
Columbus
300 Main StreetColumbus, MS 39701-4532
662-329-8765
In the absence of an independent bookstore in Columbus, the convention and visitors' bureau is wisely expanding the gift shop within one room of the old rectory, the house in which the great Mississippi playwright spent his early years. So, bonus!, you can tour the house, see nifty antiques and purchase books by and about not only Williams but also Faulkner, Welty, and Mississippi classics such as Juke Joint by Columbus's own Birney Imes. Be sure to call before you come... budget considerations and staff changes may have the bookstore shuttered but the house open for tours. Ring and discover.
Spice of Life Bookstore
Corinth
1801 South Harper RoadCorinth, MS 38834
662-287-9471
BAD NEWS JUST IN, CLOSING MAY 31, 2010: This is the first store I ever walked into with a catalog and the intent to sell books, though not for University Press of Mississippi. Though my books were from Universiy of Arkansas Press, though I had no appointment, the owner listened happily and courteously to everything I said. This store will always have a sweet place in my heart.
Borders
Flowood
100 Dogwood Boulevard
Flowood, MS 39232
601-919-0462
CLOSED. Like all Borders stores nationwide.
Flowood, MS 39232
601-919-0462
CLOSED. Like all Borders stores nationwide.
McCormick Book Inn
Greenville
825 South Main StreetGreenville, MS 38701
662-332-5038
www.mccormickbookinn.com
ALAS! After 46 years, Hugh McCormick will retire from bookselling November 30, 2011. Please see details on the website.
If a library is the mind of a college campus, then a bookstore has to be a community's mind, buzzing with new ideas and opinions. A three-hour appointment at McCormick Book Inn could teach you more about Greenville than many a museum. The store devoted significant space to an intriguing and substantial collection of local historic newspapers, photographs, documents, posters, all displayed with curatorial elan.
Now, the store is up for sale: "Property includes land, store building, storage, authentic book smell, legendary dust, multi-generational corner cobwebs, Buster the store cat. Negotiable items: custom built wooden fixtures, basic regional inventory, active website." See more details at the website.
Turnrow Book Co.
Greenwood
Greenwood, MS 38930
662-453-5995
www.turnrowbooks.com
This is the home of one of my book trade heroes, Jamie Kornegay. We both started bookselling in Mississippi at about the same time, him at Square Books in 1998, and me at UPM in that same year. When my wife and I went up to Greenwood to help him move the old Dancing Rabbit Books across Howard to the new store, he dropped one of the most inspirational sentences I have ever heard. "Steve," he said. "I decided this next decade I'm going to work harder than any other time in my whole life." With a smile he said it, and a day's worth of sweat and grit from moving. This space is spectacular, and with the proximity of the Viking Cooking School it is growing a cookbook collection that may rival (no appliance brand puns intended) any in the country.
Yellow Bike Books
Grenada
1360 Sunset Drive, Ste. 15
Grenada, MS 38901
662-226-6676
This store is right off I-55, taking exit 206 east on Hwy 8 (Sunset Drive) and up the hill on the left. Debbie Mitchell has moved some of the old books from "Books" across the plaza, and the new carpet, newly painted walls, decor, and shelves are warm and inviting. Chloe, the friendliest Maltese in all of Grenada, greets all comers and leads them to shelves of cookbooks, literature and literary Mississippi, lots of volumes on the Civil War and a big children's section. Debbie left a high-pressure, 24/7 healthcare job when she heard that Grenada (pron. Gren AY da) was about to lose its bookstore. Three months in, the new store looks wonderful, and Debbie carries a line of gift lotions and notions. How fortunate for Grenada that Debbie stepped forward and took the bookstore plunge!
Barnes & Noble
Gulfport
15246 Crossroads Parkway
Gulfport, MS 39503
228-832-8906
Just east off US Highway 49 and before the I-10 interchange as you are slowing in the traffic approaching Gulfport you can see this Barnes & Noble. Andrea Yeager and Tim Sutherlin have made this a Coast-heavy and Mississippi-friendly selection.
Gulfport, MS 39503
228-832-8906
Just east off US Highway 49 and before the I-10 interchange as you are slowing in the traffic approaching Gulfport you can see this Barnes & Noble. Andrea Yeager and Tim Sutherlin have made this a Coast-heavy and Mississippi-friendly selection.
Main Street Books
Hattiesburg
205 Main StreetHattiesburg, MS 39401
601-584-6960
www.visitmainstreetbooks.com
Here's another store alongside which I grew up in bookselling. When I first talked with Diane Shepherd she was still setting up shelves and getting excited when someone would peek in the window to see what was happening. I was just a publicist and promotions manager then, setting up signings. We answered a lot of questions together, and I don't know who learned more about the business! Now Diane has moved across Main Street and the store has tremendous space, lots of Hattiesburg authors and books about the Coast. For a look inside the bookstore, see the seven (not very professional!) videos I took with a flipcam on my last visit. See them at UPM's vimeo site
B. B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center
Indianola
400 Second Street
Indianola, MS 38751
662-887-9539, ext. 226
www.bbkingmuseum.org
Blues books and not just those about B. B. King predominate here. But you can also find the best new books about the Delta, photography, cooking, music, and more. The Museum exhibits are not to be missed by the blues fan, and having been through them more than once now, I would do it all over again. Get one of the bottled waters just for the label image and the cool phrase, "B.B. King: From Indianola to icon."
Dragonfly Shoppe
Jackson
Mississippi Museum of Natural Science2148 Riverside Drive
Jackson, MS 39202-1353
601-354-7303
museum.mdwfp.com
This is THE stop for critter geeks (like me and all my nephews and nieces). But the store also carries Walter Anderson books and a good selection of Mississippiana beyond natural history.
Jubilee Bookstore
Jackson
Jackson State UniversityAyer Hall
1400 Lynch Street
Jackson, MS 39217
601.979.3935
It's great to get in on the ground floor, but that old cliché literally won't work here (see picture!). Now expanding (really transforming might be the better word) on the second floor of Ayer Hall in the Margaret Walker Alexander Research Center is The Jubilee Bookstore. Director Robert Luckett plans on carrying titles in African American studies, Civil Rights studies, African American fiction and poetry, and of course books by Margaret Walker Alexander and books in our series in honor of her, The Margaret Walker Alexander Series in African American Studies. This is NOT the campus bookstore, but something revived and new. Call for hours and information.
Lemuria
Jackson
202 Banner Hall4465 I-55 North
Jackson, MS 39206
601-366-7619
www.lemuriabooks.com
My hometown bookstore, a phone number I have memorized, and a book space I am thankful for every day. I grew up in the Missouri Ozarks, and let me tell you, it would have been heavenly to have had a store such as Lemuria in my original hometown. I knew about Lemuria before I ever set foot in it or sold a book to its staff. When Rick Bass visited the University of Arkansas Creative Writing Program, he told us he became a writer because John Evans at Lemuria handed him Jim Harrison's LEGENDS OF THE FALL and said, "Here. You ought to read this." Now that is bookselling! Tons of events, pictures on the wall of hundreds of literary lights, first edtions, a seemingly endless selection of contemporary fiction... this is one of the cardinal bookstores of the South.
Mississippi History Store
Jackson
200 North Street
Jackson, MS 39201
601-576-6933
mdah.state.ms.us/museum/shop.php
While the Old Capitol is being repaired from Hurricane Katrina damage, the Mississippi History Store is sharing books on history, art, literature, and Mississippi from the beautiful Winter Archives building. Also a great feature: if you cannot make it to Ocean Springs to the Walter Anderson Museum Gift Shop or Realizations, this store has cards and prints from Anderson and many others. Do call for status... renovations and budget cuts in Mississippi have caused the store to close now and again.
Jackson, MS 39201
601-576-6933
mdah.state.ms.us/museum/shop.php
While the Old Capitol is being repaired from Hurricane Katrina damage, the Mississippi History Store is sharing books on history, art, literature, and Mississippi from the beautiful Winter Archives building. Also a great feature: if you cannot make it to Ocean Springs to the Walter Anderson Museum Gift Shop or Realizations, this store has cards and prints from Anderson and many others. Do call for status... renovations and budget cuts in Mississippi have caused the store to close now and again.
Mississippi Museum of Art Store
Jackson
Mississippi Museum of Art380 South Lamar Street
Jackson, MS 39201
601-965-9939
www.msmuseumart.org/catalog_c166283.html
After you've seen the giant paintings by Bill Dunlap and photographs by Eudora Welty, you can take books home and keep a piece of the art forever. Great cards drawn from the collection and lots of stationary items, but the manager also keeps lots of Eudora Welty on hand and books by other Mississippi writers. The store carries a lot of Walter Anderson books, as well as books on the Wolfes, Hollingsworth, Dunlap, Barthe, and many other great Mississippi artists.
Barnes & Noble
Madison
1000 Highland Colony Pkwy Ste 3008
Ridgeland, MS 39157
601-605-4028
While my tag here says Madison, the mail goes to Ridgeland. On Interstate 55 just north of Jackson it is hard to tell when you have barreled past Jackson into Ridgeland into Madison. So slow down! Donna Humphries and staff have an expansive store with a mind toward local representation. If you want some Mississippi, they make sure it is here.
Ridgeland, MS 39157
601-605-4028
While my tag here says Madison, the mail goes to Ridgeland. On Interstate 55 just north of Jackson it is hard to tell when you have barreled past Jackson into Ridgeland into Madison. So slow down! Donna Humphries and staff have an expansive store with a mind toward local representation. If you want some Mississippi, they make sure it is here.
Cover-to-Cover
Natchez
401 Main StreetNatchez, MS 39120
601-445-5752
www.c2cbooks.com/?page=shop/index
Charles Hall has some of the hardest to find books on Natchez and the River. And a beautiful facade in one of the prettiest downtowns on the planet. See photograph below (vainly I'll say the shot was too good to make tiny).
Old South Trading Post
Natchez
Natchez, MS 39120
1-866-440-5354
http://oldsouthtradingpost.com/newsite/
No checkout counter here to afford maximum merchandise, and so all transactions, all commerce sings from the narrow garret Jonathan Wood roams and rules in the back of this super stocked tourist haven. His mighty, melodious voice greets all comers with a Happy hello, and, Here's what's new. I defy a customer to leave with buyer's remorse after his glad greeting or exclamation of What a perfect choice, she'll love that! And I couldn't resist a tastefully designed tee-shirt that read Natchez, Mississippi, established 1716. 1716! For books, the Old South Trading Post keeps Civil War, Mississippi and Louisiana cook books, photography gift books, ghost story books, and southern travel guides. A mailed newsletter goes to 18,000 every quarter. This shop is on the bluff side of Broadway in the same depot building that houses an outlet of the amazing Mississippi catfish restaurant, Cock of the Walk.
Turning Pages Books & More
Natchez
520 Franklin StreetNatchez, MS 39120
601-442-2299
www.turningpagesbooks.net
One of my favorite driving circuits is to blaze over to Vicksburg and see Lorelei Books, then cruise down the Blues Highway US 61 through Port Gibson and on to Natchez, where Mary Emrick and great Natchez books await. Greg Iles signed copies and lots of literary Mississippi here, plus an enormous shelf of Civil War books and every Natchez home and architetcture book waiting for Spring and Fall Pilgrims. This store is as cozy as a warm cup of tea, and boasts a mascot named Sugar (see mascot photos below), who will sleep on your coat without your even needing to ask.
Realizations
Ocean Springs
1000 Washington AvenueOcean Springs, MS 39564
228-875-0503
walteringlisanderson.com
If you haven't been to Ocean Springs, drop what you are doing and hit the road now. An especially great time to be there is during the Peter Anderson Festival when the streets are flowered with craft vendors and all the shops and restaurants are bustling. This shop will show you books on Anderson's work and offer lots to take home from this unforgettable seaside village.
Walter Anderson Museum Store
Ocean Springs
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
228-872-3164
walterandersonmuseum.org
The first experience of Walter Anderson's art is transformative for anyone who has visited this museum. You will leave and see motion and energy in nature such as you never beheld before this encounter. Go here! Then stop at the shop and take something home to return you to Anderson's vision in case the World gets too much with you.
Square Books
Oxford
160 Courthouse SquareOxford, MS 38655
662-236-2262
www.squarebooks.com
Looking out on the square that Benjy Compson was driven round to calm him and where so many other scenes William Faulkner described come alive, this store is one of the gems, and like Lemuria a cardinal store of the South. With OffSquare Books and Square, Jr. operating right around the corner, one could book browse all day in what Square has to offer, and still return to find undiscovered nuggets the staff is sharing in sections as far ranging as poetry, photography, and philosophy. Just down Courthouse Square are two more iterations of Square Books, Off Square and Square Junior. Off Square contains literary magazines, used books, and the event space. Square Junior is an amazing children's store. When I last visited I counted two strollers in the store and three more on the way in, and a lot of happy faces.
Pass Christian Books
Pass Christian
Pass Christian, MS 39571
228-452-7399
www.passchristianbooks.com
www.passbooksonline.com
Very sad news today (2.4.2011). Rich Daley, who ran Pass Christian for years, died after a sudden illness. He was 52. In remembrance, he would appreciate donations to the Humane Society of South Mississippi. The website is still up, but I don't know about the store's future. Will report more when available.
When this store launched its website, I was inspired to create Mississippi Literary Links at UPM's website, and seeing the site again I'm inspired. Scott Naugle and Rich Daley lost their store to Katrina, and then, crazy brave, they re-opened and have vowed to keep at it, whether at the current location or something new. Good coastal selection and fine general reading with a passion for what is new and what is Mississippi. Scott Naugle writes great book reviews in the SOUTHERN REGISTER and the SUN-HERALD. By the way, the town involved here is pronounced Pass Chris cheean. Barely touch the "t" or just skip it.
Dancing Rabbit Press Gallery
Philadelphia
402 East Beacon StreetPhiladelphia, MS, 39350-2954
601-650-1999
www.dancingrabbitpress.com
Right on the square in storied Philadelphia, this store puts the focal in local. Browsing its shelves is like opening a choice historical quarterly; let's call it The Neshoba County History and Civil War Review. Here you can not only browse a fine selection of books about Mississippi, the Choctaw, Philadelphia, Neshoba County, but you can see local art on the Civil War and on the local landscapes, touch part of the mortar shell that smashed through Pemberton's headquarters at Vicksburg... experiential book shopping gauranteed!
Book Mart
Starkville
120 E. Main StreetStarkville, MS 39759
662-323-2844
In downtown Starkville along a developing row of restaurants (including the original Mugshots), Book Mart has one whole room of Mississippi State gear, and a larger space devoted to trade books, mysteries, romances, and lots of regional books. Foot traffic was really good on the Thursday when I last visited. This store is associated with the Campus Book Marts, and the downtown outlet does carry course texts, and now features a cafe and bakery! The store works closely with its customers---in one appointment I counted two special order pick ups and one called in. If you're looking for any published author from the Golden Triangle (Columbus, Starkville, Tupelo, West Point), this is the place. I found books by local authors from our deep, deep backlist!
Barnes & Noble
Tupelo
The Mall at Barnes Crossing
1001 Barnes Crossing Road #104
Tupelo, MS 38804
662-791-7868
Aren't we getting big-time with three Barnes & Nobles in the state! Scott and Starr work overtime to make sure their store has a solid Northeast Mississippi flavor. Beware the Nook sales kiosk at front, especially if you bring a gadget geek with you. You will be hooked into Nooking by a happy, gregarious Tupelo retailer! Bypass and head straight for the regional section.
1001 Barnes Crossing Road #104
Tupelo, MS 38804
662-791-7868
Aren't we getting big-time with three Barnes & Nobles in the state! Scott and Starr work overtime to make sure their store has a solid Northeast Mississippi flavor. Beware the Nook sales kiosk at front, especially if you bring a gadget geek with you. You will be hooked into Nooking by a happy, gregarious Tupelo retailer! Bypass and head straight for the regional section.
Reed's Gum Tree Bookstore
Tupelo
111 South Spring StreetTupelo, MS 38801-4811
662-842-6453
www.reedsgumtreebooks.com
Reed's Department Store in hopping downtown Tupelo (I'm not kidding, great restaurants, cool pubs, nifty music and art stores, outstanding automotive museum, Elvis's birthplace has a whole lotta shakin goin on) is a classic, and Reed's Gum Tree bookstore is part of what makes it great. John Grisham signs new books at only a few stores in the nation---Lemuria, Square Books, Turnrow, and Reed's are among the lucky. On my recent visit, Grisham had just been in and there was a steady flow of customers picking up signed copies of his latest, 2500 copies in two days.
Village Green Book Store
Tupelo
1210 West Main StreetTupelo, MS 38801
662.842.8541
Waiting on the owner at my first visit to this store, I heard something that made me want to stay for hours. In walked a customer, and one of the sales personnel hollered out, "Good afternoon, Mr. Kim." Now that's local, independent bookselling! Jim Troxler has been selling books in Tupelo for thirty years, and has seen all manner of changes in the market. Village Green features a deli, which is swamped at the lunch hour, and a tremendous selection of gifts, including Mississippi State and Ole Miss merchandise, locally manufactured candles, cards. The book selection is very attentive to Tupelo's corner of the state. You may walk out of here with more than a book!
Lorelei Books
Vicksburg
1103 Washington StreetVicksburg, MS 39183
601-634-8624
www.loreleibooks.com
And you thought Vicksburg was nothing but casinos and the battlefield. Take a look downtown and you will find next to the Attic Gallery a bookstore that makes buying local its mantra and your reward. Anything and everything about the River, Vicksburg, steamboats, the siege, it's here or Laura Weeks will find out about it for you. Plus, she has gathered literature and even poetry---she was advocating a new discovery, the poetry of Murray Shugar when I was last in. Ask her about who she's reading! A truly inviting space.
Old Court House Museum Store
Vicksburg
Old Court House Museum1008 Cherry Street
Vicksburg, MS 39183
601-636-0741
www.oldcourthouse.org
How's this for history? Jefferson Davis delivered his first political speech on the east courthouse steps (pictured). From the cupola at top, a who's who of Confederate generals watched in dread as the Union gunboat fleet swung into firing range. And Ulysses S. Grant addressed his victorious troops from the west facing staircase. Dominating much of the first floor, the Old Court House Museum Store has all kinds of new books about the city, the river, and the siege. And it carries reprints of classics, and lots of local luminary and former curator Gordon Cotton's books. The minimal fee for museum entry is abundantly rewarded in the Confederate, Pioneer, Objet d' Art, and other curated display rooms.
Vicksburg National Military Park Store
Vicksburg
3201 Clay StreetVicksburg, MS 39183
601-634-6286
http://www.nps.gov/vick/index.htm
Talk about getting your history at the source. Here's a bookstore with a super helpful and knowledgeable bookstore manager and park rangers on hand. AND its built on the hallowed ground of the 47-day siege. Walls of Civil War books, everything you could want on the siege, its commanders, armies, soldiers, civilian cave life, the Eads gunboats. If you wish only to drop into the store, you do not have to pay the park fee, though the monuments and driving tour are spectacular.
Mississippi Booksellers websites
Visit these online now at
- Mississippi Literary Links
- This is the clearing house of links I started after I first saw Pass Christian's website.
Bookstore mascot
Coco of Lorelei Books in Vicksburg
Coco says sales reps talk WAY too much.
Bookstore mascot
Sugar at Natchez's Turning Pages Books & More
Sugar received her MBA at Tulane University and was the first canine in Natchez to ace her CPA test on the first try.
Bookstore mascot
Bay Books' Pepper
Bookstore mascot
Patch from Main Street Books
Jerry and Diane found Patch at the back door one morning in 2007. Blind, tiny, and suffering, he was a mess. They took him to the vet, and the vet found so many problems, he recommended Patch be euthanized. Jerry said, no way. Here Patch is thriving in February of 2010. Now there are customers who come to the bookstore just to see and love Patch.
Bookstore mascot
When, O when does the UPS man arrive?
Chloe of Yellow Bike Books, the most gregarious and popular Maltese in all Grenada, delights in every customer... but, besides owner Debbie Mitchell, the UPS man is her absolute favorite. Since this picture doesn't capture her happy demeanour, let's assume she is anxiously awaiting her man in brown! After only three months customers are already dropping in just to pet this little wonder.
Kindle some defiance, why dontcha?
Find this sign on your next visit
The revolution will not be kindle-ized, or so says Jamie Kornegay.
Bookseller at work
Diane Shepherd
readying the store at Main Street Books, Hattiesburg
Hurricane Shelf
at Pass Christian Books
When people needed to understand a disaster, they reached for books.
Glad they were there;
Glad to see them gone!
Utility trucks putting Bay St. Louis back on the grid right outside of Bay Books when I visited.
Great reading space
The DotCom Building at Lemuria
I think this is Michael Connelly reading.
Cover-to-Cover
In beautiful downtown Natchez
Notice the building was originally a bank in 1889. Heartens, doesn't it? As if after the current banking system is destroyed, there will still be some good, undaunted bookseller courageously sharing books with his or her community no matter what befalls us!
Does selling Walter Anderson's books affect booksellers?
Side effects may include...
This is the lovely foot of an Alabama bookseller. And on that fine-turned foot is a tattoo of Robinson the Cat, Walter Anderson's famous kitten on the keys who plays duets with ease. Next person to email me the correct name of the bookstore this foot presides in and the town this foot belongs in wins a copy of Robinson: The Pleasant History of an Unusual Cat. Email syates @ mississippi.edu
Where Jubilee began!
At the Jubilee Bookstore at JSU
Or at least we can say, upon this typewriter Margaret Walker Alexander wrote her novel Jubilee. Shoppers can see it and many others artifacts and surprises at Jackson's "newest" store.
Reader Feedback
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VillaDejaBlue
Jan 6, 2012 @ 10:34 pm | delete
- Nice lens.
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Dec 9, 2011 @ 4:42 pm | delete
- Great lens! Love book stores (my mom REALLY loves book stores!). I am actually an author - recently published my first book! If you get a chance, maybe you can look it up. It's called "Grace Through Every Trial." Again, great lens!
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Tupelohoney
Aug 28, 2011 @ 3:40 pm | delete
- Ooops. Forgot to mention I am Carolyn O'Brien, the founder and owner of BOOKS in Grenada, Mississippi -- now Yellow Bike Books!
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upmtraveler
Aug 29, 2011 @ 4:31 am | delete
- Thank you, Carolyn, for this splendid news! And I will greatly miss working with you. Now I have two new bookstore owners to meet---one in Bay St. Louis and one in Grenada. Exciting! Did Yellow Bike keep the same phone number?
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Tupelohoney
Aug 29, 2011 @ 8:42 am | delete
- Yes, Yellow Bike Books kept the number 662-226-6676. Debbie will be happy to hear from you. I told her about UPM and this site. I love my new home but I will always be a Mississippi gal. I will be keeping up with all the bookstores through this site. Thank you so much for your commitment to the passion for books!
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Tupelohoney
Aug 28, 2011 @ 3:31 pm | delete
- I am thrilled to announce that the legacy begun by BOOKS in Grenada, Mississippi will continue! Debbie Mitchell has bought this store and will take it to a new level. Her new concept is Yellow Bike Books. (I just LOVE this name!) We couldn't help saying, "a good book and a good bike never go out of style."
When I decided to sell my business I got constant questions and comments by my shoppers about how the Kindle or Nuk (sp? who cares) is putting book stores out of business. NOT TRUE!! I was relocating to Fairhope, Alabama. Independent book stores are thriving. Like any retail business new times call for some tweaking and small book stores or "book-tiques" I like to call them, are doing a marvelous job.
Support your independent book stores and if you are near Grenada, Mississippi you must check out Yellow Bike Books in the Village Creek Plaza on Sunset Drive.
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AmateurAtHTML
Jun 1, 2011 @ 4:30 pm | delete
- I love the anti-Kindle sign! If I can't hold the book in my hand and physically turn the pages it just doesn't have the impact on me.
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upmtraveler
Jun 8, 2011 @ 4:18 am | delete
- Thanks for dropping by, AAHTML. And yes, these are different times. I have some thoughts about changes in the industry at http://fictionandhistory.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/end-times-and-why-we-write-fiction-from-history/ and more come up at UPM's blog http://upmississippi.blogspot.com/2011/06/mississippi-and-louisiana-bookstores-in.html
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COUNTRYLUTHIER
Mar 2, 2011 @ 12:32 am | delete
- Awesome collection of stores. I cannot wait to return to my native land and visit each of these fine establishments over time. It'd be nice if one of my lenses led to book carried by one or more of them, but that would be dreaming. Great lens.
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upmtraveler
Mar 2, 2011 @ 4:19 am | delete
- Never stop dreaming, Countryluthier! And bless you for visiting. When you return, maybe take a minute and let us know which store you visited first!
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And also see...
- Southern Literary Trail
- Homes and places connected with great Southern writers
- Mississippi Writers Page
- Lots of good information about Mississippi writers
- Mississippi writers and musicians
- More biographies of actors, musicians, and writers
- University Press of Mississippi blog
- News from UPM, based in Jackson, non-profit publishing arm of Mississippi's eight state Universities
- Eight state universities of Mississippi
- Links to all eight state universities of Mississippi
- Gulf Coast Writers Association
- Where books begin: writers!
- Worldwide Rave
- I am not worthy! But you and your colleagues may be! Check out what's coming from David Meerman Scott.
- Carl Lennertz's publishing blog
- Publishing insider Carl Lennertz (HarperCollins) has a blog to meet your feed need on publishing news.
- Saint John Evangelist
- Prayers and intercessions for writers and all those in the book trade: his tweets twitter On High, his RSS feeds go Celestial, his facebook friends are cherubim and seraphim, his lensrolls are Revelations. To be bluntly Catholic, Saint John, Pray For Us!
- Mississippi Arts Commission
- If you won't abide Saints, then choose Heroes!
- American Adults Reading More Literature : Book Business
- Published six times a year, Book Business magazine is read by a highly targeted audience of book and multimedia publishers and their key suppliers, including producers of trade, professional, software, directory and educational books.
- Square Books owner will not seek third term as Oxford Mayor
- North Mississippi's premier electronic news service
- UPM shares Andrew W. Mellon grant for new series in folklore studies
- Welcome to FOLKLORESTUDIES.ORG Click here to enter http://folklorestudies.press.uiuc.edu
- Lens for Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World
- Folklore Studies in a Multicultural World is a new book series that will publish top-notch first books in folklore studies. Funded by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the series is a collaborative venture of the University of Illinois Press, the University Press of Mississippi, and the University of Wisconsin Press, in conjunction with the American Folklore Society.
- Great book repair tips
- Bought a book at one of these stores years ago and now its busted? Check this squidoo lens.
- Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters
- A great organization that rewards and showers praise on Mississippi artists and creators.
Google Blog Search
- Clean comedian Small Fire helps church celebrate 20-year anniversary Feb. 19
- It was not long after high school that Moore started her career as a comedienne with the nickname bestowed on her by an aunt back in Mississippi. She began performing in Atlanta, and soon found herself performing in standup comedy clubs across the ...
- Homey grits are becoming restaurant stars
- John T. Edge, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance based in Mississippi, is an expert on all things Southern. To him, grits are not just a dish; they are a fundamental part of Southern culture. ?Grits are one of the most elemental expressions of ...
- The week ahead
- See storytelling art quilts at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte exhibition, 'Letters,' by artist Nancy Cole, until April 14. Featured is a recent series of semitransparent and textured panels, 'Sorrowful Letters,' inspired by Henryk ...
- Growth pattern Olde Towne, US 80 development under way
- One of the most visible noisemakers: Mississippi College in recent weeks tore down a building that formerly housed its interior design department at Jefferson and Madison streets to make way for a new bookstore and cafe. "We see this as an enhancement ...
Where do we want to go next?
Allons à Lafayette!
With all apologies to the Ville Platte Queen candidates for any ethnomusicological innuendo here, and thanks to Ian McNulty for the photo, I'm embarking on a squidoo lens about Louisiana Bookstores. Check progress at links to my other lenses or at
http://www.squidoo.com/Louisiana-Bookstores, see link below!
Allons à la Louisiane
- Louisiana Bookstores
- Work-in-progress (isn't everything?) lens to another set of favorite book places
by upmtraveler
upmtraveler
Steve Yates is Assistant Director / Marketing Director at University Press of Mississippi, which means, in part, that he travels with word of 70+ new books... more »
- 3 featured lenses
- Winner of 5 trophies!
- Top lens » Mississippi Bookstores
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