Take me down to the Lake City, where the walls are blue and the girls are pretty

Last weekend I went to the Lake City Books grand opening at their new digs with my ladyfriend who is a big fan of the store. The move wasn't far - just across the Square - but the new space is much larger and, in the grand Wisconsin tradition, has a bar.

The place was hoppin' when we got there. The staff were busier than a one-eyed man at a burlesque show as folks perused the shelves in a search for their next read. There were quite a few families there with parents ushering their young ones towards the children's section as well as lots of people standing around chatting.

I liked the blue color scheme and the limnological decorations.

I was hoping for more space dedicated to books (I adored Shakespeare's Books back in the day with its towering shelves and enough barely lit aisles to get lost in a la the scriptorium in The Name of the Rose) but the rather tiny non-fiction section yields more space for sitting & reading on couches and socializing and, I guess you could say, for people to make it their third space. And I am told the expanded space with make author events easier on a number of fronts. Speaking of socializing, the bar looked like a typical Friday night at any local tavern.

The crowd was on the younger side - 30s mostly it seemed, so the rumors of reading's death are perhaps greatly exaggerated.

I walked out with a copy of The Tainted Cup.

Godspeed to Lake City. They also have a nice sticker selection. Almost forgot to note that.

Madison has a new bookstore

Glad to see that Madison has a new bookstore, Lake City Books, just off of the Square. NBC15 has the story.

Madison-native Molly Fish says while opening an independent bookstore wasn’t always the plan, it was however always her dream.

Lake City Books at 107 N. Hamilton St. welcomed readers for the first time during its grand opening April 22 weekend. “The reception was amazing, it exceeded my wildest expectations to be honest,” exclaimed Fish.

One-third of the inventory and space is designated to children’s books and young adult reads. “I wanted to dedicate a really big chunk of the store to kids especially because of the location with the children’s museum, I also wanted to really focus on having a lot of used kids books...and they grow in their reading skills to quickly so I have books at every age of reading skill,” Fish added.