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closeBookstore aims to be what Amazon is not
By Cheryl Truman ctruman@herald-leader.com
Wyn Morris, left, and Hap Houlihan have opened Morris Book Shop, in a former dress shop near Good Foods Market and Cafe on Southland Drive. Photo by Brad Luttrell | staff
IF YOU GO
Morris Book Shop grand opening
What: Although the bookstore is already operating, its grand opening will feature music by Robert Schneider of Apples in Stereo, author Jeffrey Scott Holland signing his book Weird Kentucky and door prizes.
When: July 12. Regular hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Mon.-Sat., 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun.
Where: 408 Southland Dr.
Call: (859) 276-0494.
STAFF PICKS
The guys who run Morris Book Shop shared their book picks:
Wyn Morris, owner
Now reading: The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III. “A rare literary nail-biter from the author of House of Sand and Fog. I’m finding the creeping tension almost unbearable.”
Other favorites:
■ Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. “Marketed as a young adult book, this fast-paced novel is a worthy successor to Orwell’s 1984.”
■ In the Rogue Bloodby James Carlos Blake. “A criminally underrated author’s brutal masterpiece, on a par with Cormac McCarthy’s best.”
■ Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan. “Phenomenal 10-volume graphic novel series that just completed its run. The adventures of the last man on earth. And his monkey.”
■The Guards by Ken Bruen. “First in a series featuring doomed, Jameson-soaked ex-cop Jack Taylor from Irish noir master Bruen.” One quote book the book: “I needed Merton and a pint. Not necessarily in that order.”
Hap Houlihan, manager
“My picks contain some non-fiction to balance things out,” Houlihan says.
Now reading:
■ Vienna 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War and Peace at the Congress of Vienna, the second book by Lexingtonian (and former UK history professor) David King. “It’s an account of the Napoleonic ‘after-party’ that shaped modern Europe.”
■ Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills, edited by Abigail R. Gehrig. “I don’t personally believe the ‘End Times’ are around the corner — I just think that a little self-suffiency can be tons of fun, and this book is a great primer on vanishing essential know-how.”
■ A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World by Tony Horwitz. “Most Americans have the dates 1492 and 1620 down pat, but very few of us know anything about the years between. Horwitz’s new book is a funny and intelligent examination of the history and mythology surrounding the discovery of America.”
■ Netherland, a novelby Joseph O’Neill. “A fresh look at New York, the American Dream and (of all things) cricket. A smart novel that sticks to your ribs.”
Imagine that you had a library — not the one you've got, with books stacked randomly, and three Ian McEwan titles but no Atonement — but something tastefully chosen and artfully arranged, with a couple of attentive guides to point out intriguing stuff you might have missed.
As a business model, it's not Amazon.com, which sells by assuming you already know what you want. It's more like the late, lamented books-by-mail operation A Common Reader, which sold you things by showcasing what was simply interesting stuff and letting you wander around intriguing descriptions until you found something you could sit down with for a few hours. The kind of bookseller that would stock the full Remembrance of Things Past, but also the odd breakout science-fiction title and a shelf full of the 331⁄3 album book series. There'd be a complete Kentucky and regional section, and a tiny tucked-away area for the young'uns. A very compact, neighborhood-friendly book browser's heaven.
That's what Wyn Morris and Hap Houlihan envision for their new Morris Book Shop.
It's a small bookstore — about 20,000 volumes in 1,700 square feet — in what used to be a Southland Drive dress shop, wedged between a former shoe store and Ali Baba Mediterranean Territory. Reading chairs accent the picture window that used to house mannequins. The booming Good Foods Market and Café is nearby, there's a farmers market on weekends, and Habitat for Humanity runs a resale store a few doors down.
Says Morris, 44, who runs Morris Book Shop with Houlihan, 41: ”I'm going to keep it as regional as I can.“ He calls hand-selecting the inventory — the ones and twos, where superstores shelve dozens — ”the funnest part“ of the job.
Being small means being able to react quickly to customer requests. A customer suggestion that the store stock some books in Spanish yielded a Spanish-language section that includes 100 Years of Solitude, Don Quixote — and Curious George and Where the Wild Things Are.
Morris and Houlihan, both native Lexingtonians, have worked for University Press of Kentucky and Joseph-Beth Booksellers.
So far, Morris Book Shop is pretty much sticking with books — no designer backpacks, hemp lotions or coffee bars. Traffic comes from curious friends and former colleagues, the neighborhoods around Southland and nearby Lafayette High School, and foot traffic from the diverse collection of Southland Drive businesses, from restaurants to equipment rental to home goods stores and Lexington Hospital for Cats.
Houlihan says that for some browsers, the big-box experience can be overwhelming.
”If you just want to browse, to discover something interesting,“ he says, ”it's hard to do, to find the little gems.“
That's why Morris Book Shop, Houlihan says, wants to stock ”the best of the best“ for readers.
”We're being a true sort of neighborhood store,“ he says. ”One of our biggest advantages is our small size.“