I went to college in Philadelphia's famed Main Line area, the same alma mater as Katherine Hepburn. I'd take the Paoli Local into Phila., and walk over to South Street, which, in those days, really was the coolest street in town. Now, it's just a bunch of chain stores. Anyway, there was, I hope there still is, a big old sprawling bookstore full of used books there, called The Book Trader. The shelves were filled from floor to high ceiling with books, all neatly arranged and categorized. I'd spend the whole afternoon there, and always come away with a book or two, and enough money left to buy a slice of pizza at that little pizza takeout across from the theatre, or, if I really went hog wild over the books at the Book Trader, a quarter to buy one of those famous and filling Philadelphia pretzels, with mustard, before I got back on the Paoli Local and back to the Main Line.

I spent one measly semester at Michigan State and feel wildly in love with Jocundry Books in East Lansing. It was new and in the late 70s felt modern and clean and cozy. The rest of my time was at Virginia Communist, er, Commonwealth University (Long Live the Grove Avenue Republic!). The Richmond Book Shop on Broad Street was huge. It was creaky and dark and the place was permeated with the scent of old books. Even better was the second floor, where they hadn't quite figured out what to do with everything and you got to explore and discover treasures on your own. Glory days.

Can I do graduate school? There was the Bookery in Ithaca, where you could get a book and go to the coffee bar that the Moosewood cafe opened up in the same old school building. But even more, I'd take these long drives in the upstate New York countryside and end up at--sorreee--the Barnes and Noble in a strip mall in a Eastern Flats or something, or the Borders books in the Carousel Mall in Syracuse. Syracuse: we'd go to Borders, write in the cafe and pick up a remaindered book, then hit the Empire Grill and Microbrewery downtown.

My favorite haunt in grad school was the Used Book Cafe at 126 Crosby Street, in SoHo in Manhattan. Pratt Institute's library science program was held in the Puck Building a block away. The B/D/F/V train lines stop at Broadway/Lafayette and the R goes to Prince Street, all close to the book store. My first semester it seemed to rain every Saturday, so I'd duck into the bookstore to brose until the rain stopped. The Used Book Cafe also hosted poetry readings, music performances and panel discussions, among other events. The new arrivals were always in excellent condition, and the other books were in mostly good condition. I bought here some books that were life-changing, and that I still own today.

Speaking of grad school, I went for my master's at Carolina, and spent a lot of time in Wallace Kuralt's Intimate bookstore on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. I loved that store, creaky wooden floors and all, the big windows over the street. . . it was a refuge from the savagery of grad school life. After I left grad school, I wrote briefs for a civil rights lawyer, whose office was above the Rathskeller restaurant, and next door to the Intimate. I watched one night in 1992 as a grease fire that started in the Rathskeller spread over to the Intimate, destroying that lovely old building. The Kuralts re-built, and tried to make it as similar to the original building as they could, but it just wasn't the same creak in those stairs, I didn't go there as much, though I did join a line a few blocks long to meet Charles Kuralt there. I left Chapel Hill in 1994, and I know the Intimate closed down a few years later.

Hey Bethanne- This doesn't relate directly to your post but you're the first person I thought of when I read about Amazon.com's Kindle today. Are you going to get one? (If so, can I check it out?) Any thoughts from the publishing world? Kathy

Dear Bethanne, I graduated from Amherst this past year and was back to visit a couple weeks ago, and went though a book-buying frenzy, mostly at the Book Mill and Amherst Books. I am in the DC area now and constantly complain about the lack of good independent bookstores, but now that I realize the Pioneer Valley is really in a league of its own, I suppose I shouldn't feel so bad. Another great thing about the Valley: lots of independent coffee shops to enjoy your purchases in.