For this month’s Bookstores Worth Browsing, Judy Merrill Larsen, author of the international bestseller All the Numbers, shares her love of a new – yes new, in this economy! – independent bookstore in Webster Groves, Missouri. I was lucky enough to participate in an author chat with Judy’s group at this wonderful new store. Now to plan a trip to Missouri! – Meg

Earlier this spring I discovered Pudd’nhead Bookstore in Webster Groves, MO, the little Mayberryish town next to my little Mayberryish town. I’d read an article in the local paper our two towns share and, as a lover of books and bookstores, wandered in. Nikki Furrer, the amazingly energetic, fun, friendly owner greeted me with a big smile and I couldn’t get over what a cool place she’d put together. Mind you, she opened the store in the fall of ‘08, just a few weeks after we’d been told our economy “could crater.” Who opens a new business, let alone an independent bookstore then? Nikki does, that’s who. And she’s got one successful business venture humming along.

Every time I stop in, it’s bustling. She’s put together book clubs (a Saturday morning group and a men’s group just to name two) and has big name authors (Jennifer Weiner, anyone?) already beating a path to her door. She’s put together “book tastings” with a local chocolate bar. She clearly loves books and readers and authors and her enthusiasm is infectious. The store feels like a big old house . . . bookshelves that look like they came from your grandma’s house fill the spaces along with tables and comfy chairs and the smell of good coffee. There’s nothing corporate or institutional about it, but she knows her stuff. This is no hobby for Nikki . . . it’s clearly a labor of love.

My own book club (two of us started it at the gym–Butterfly Life–we belong to) meets there the second Thursday of every month. Nikki makes it so easy for us, ordering the books we choose, helping us phone in or skype in authors, suggesting books for future meetings.

Now, as an author myself, I’ll never say anything bad about any bookstore, but I hold a warm spot in my heart for bookstores like Pudd’nhead where the person behind the counter becomes a friend and you know she loves books and the places they can take you as much as you do. Every town should have such a store (or two or three). – Judy Merrill Larsen