A Sweet, Sad, Beautiful Evening of Community
Some Nook-ish Reflections on 2024 and Eagerness for What's to Come
Pretty early on in our book shop ownership we decided we wanted to close the store for most of the time between Christmas and New Year’s Day: we knew we’d want to spend extra time with our older two who would be home from college; the family time, with everyone being out of school, would be invaluable to us; and the previous owner of Nooks recommended it.
Halfway through that time off, and I have to say this down time has been delicious. We closed on Christmas and December 26th, opened for a few days over the weekend, and are now closed from Sunday through Thursday. It’s been such a wonderfully slow time of sleeping in, board games, watching movies, and sitting for long stretches on the couch simply chatting with our kids. I’m realizing this will probably become two of my favorite weeks of the year.
On the Friday night after Christmas, one of the few days that we were open, we had a very special event at the store where we dedicated our community room in memory of our dear friend Leslie Bustard who passed away around 20 months ago. We’ve christened the room “Leslie’s Nook,” and at the dedication we gathered with a few dozen mutual friends of Leslie’s, her husband Ned, and her three daughters. Some of us read poems Leslie wrote; some of us read from books we love, passages that remind us of her.
I read a short section from C.S. Lewis’s ‘Til We Have Faces, in which the sister of Psyche describes seeing her again for the first time, and how she is the truest form of herself—still recognizable, but more the essence of who she had always been. I look forward with hope to seeing Leslie again someday, at a time when she will be even more herself than she was when I knew her.
We were also pleased to unveil a painting of Leslie by Katie Joy Nellis, “Leaf by Leslie,” that will hang in the community room. Come by and take a look—there’s a presence to it in real life that simply can’t be captured in a photo.
The entire evening was sweet and sad and beautiful and reinforced the desire Maile and I have for this space to be one where people come together in order to celebrate all the aspects of life, which sometimes includes remembering those who are no longer here with us in their earthly bodies.
The final surprise of the evening was when Beth and Byron Borger arrived! They are the owners of Hearts and Minds Bookstore in Dallastown, PA, and continue to be our inspiration when it comes to the book-selling life. We had no idea they were coming, and we were so honored to show them around our little shop.
We’re looking back on a hard and beautiful year, one that included us buying a book shop, having two kids in college, our third child learning to drive, losing Maile’s dad, traveling to Hawaii for his memorial service, and thriving through our first holiday season as book shop owners.
It’s been a lot.
Yet I’m also feeling so much excitement for what’s to come in the New Year, both in life in general and at Nooks. Maile and I plan on releasing the first few episodes of our new podcast in early January, and we’re eager to share about this experience of running a book shop, along with some talk about writing and family and books in general.
And we have book clubs starting up! You can find out more details about those HERE. In January we’re readying Small Things Like These and Dog Stars together, and Maile is starting her small group that will be reading through The Artist’s Way. And there’s always the Secret Backroom Reading and Snacking Society Book Club for kids ages 10-14 (or thereabouts) that meets once a month.
(You can purchase any/all of the book club books by shooting us an email at hello@nooks.gallery or going to our Bookshop.org site and ordering there!)
We also have some wonderful author events happening in January and early February, including visits from
, , and ! You can find out more about those events and get your tickets HERE.All of that to say, Maile and I are both feeling energized about what this new year is going to bring. We’re looking forward to growing this little community of bookish people in the city of Lancaster and in this online space.
And we hope you’ll come visit us at Nooks in 2025.
What a sweet and beautiful thing to have a room named after Leslie!