In which we go to Gibson’s for Independent Bookstore Day!

Indie Bookstore Day!!! One of the best days of the year, in my opinion. I think I’ve been going since roundabout 2018, where I must have heard about it from some family or friend or another and convinced my mom to drive me to Concord (I didn’t have a license then so, like, this was a huge feat). I won a raffle that year and earned myself a most fabulous Out of Print pouch of cats from bookstores across the country. Still have it!

But even more so than the merch, I go to support my very favorite bookstores on what we hope will be one of their most successful days each year. It’s a way to show some love to the spot you love to haunt most and keeps you supplied with reading material. I come ready to SPEND.

Going into it this year I had a relatively small list, only because so many of the books I want right now are still a few weeks out from publication! I don’t know why I’m so ahead of the game right now. But there are a couple books I’d like including:

• Devil House by John Darnielle
• Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Sutanto
• Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano
• Secret Identity by Alex Saguro

And of course, the merch. Can’t do IBD without some merch.

But this year I had to work during the day and couldn’t get there until this evening…so my lovely auntie snatched me one of those tote bags!!

Just look how fabulous. I’m a sucker for a tote bag. In fact, I think all the ones I still have in my possession are from bookstores or IBD (I have some merch from 2018, 2019, 2021, and now, 2022! We don’t talk about 2020…).

So my boyfriend, Nate, and I set out in the evening for Gibson’s and made a night out of it.

I got EVERYTHING on my list, which ROCKS. I found the vast majority of it in the mystery section (excluding Devil House which is currently a staff pick, one of the best endorsements a book can get), which surprised me, as I don’t think I typically pick up books that are exclusively “mystery”. I think usually my mysteries have some horror or thriller aspects to them.

And much to my delight, Finlay Donovan and Dial A both sound absolutely hysterical. I honestly picked them based on their covers and that I had heard of them before, but I found them on a random list of “books like Only Murders in the Building“. I think they’re both going to fit the unlikely detective prompt of the 52 Book Club 2022 challenge quite well, if anyone still needs a read for that! I think I filled mine with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Even Nate got a book! He doesn’t typically splurge on reading material, but every once in a great while I can drag him to the bookstore and he finds something he wants. This time it was The Food Lab by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt. Babish of the Binging with Babish fame recommended the book in a recent video he watched (along with The Wok, which we desperately want…I can’t even imagine how many foods regularly eaten in our houaehold would be easier with a wok). He likes to cook and does most of the cooking in our house, so he splurged the $50 price tag and went for it. We were perusing it when we got home, and it definitely seems to have been a worthy investment.

Please ignore my bad grammar above…text speak and all that. XD

In the end, I got a full stamp card (good for 20% off your whole purchase, which I promptly gave to Nate behind me even though it hurt my heart) and an *almost* full additional one. We got five raffle tickets between us for some seriously awesome merch, gift cards, and gift baskets and even a personalized shopping experience at the bookstore during closed hours! Which, of course, would make any little introverted bookworm’s heart go wheeeee! There were five different raffle options, so we just stuck one ticket in each. Cross your fingers for me.

Here’s my whole haul! Not too much as to break the bank, but enough to keep me well read for the next few weeks or so. 😉

If you haven’t gone before, keep your eyes peeled for IBD festivities at your local bookstore next April! And if you did attend, where did you go? What did you get??

Have the very best weekend, friends!