When Mac and I first explored Pacific Grove almost two decades ago, there was a charming bookstore in town that was one of the reasons we seriously considered moving there. We ended up–several years later–in Palo Alto, but whenever we go to Pacific Grove (as we did in December), we poke our heads in to see how the little store that was almost “our” neighborhood bookstore is doing.
I was reminded of them this morning when I saw in Shelf-Awareness that they’d just won a reader’s poll for “Best Bookstore–New.” New?
So I did a little poking around on the tubes and yes, this store is both the old store I’ve been visiting occasionally for years and a new store at the same time.
BookWorks went through a period of being “the Works,” but it’s now under new management. Margot Tegtmeier, who ran the coffee shop when the store was Bookworks the first time, bought the Works with her two daughters about a year and a half ago, and it is once again an absolutely a terrific place to browse for books.
The coffee is still there (and terrific teas!), so you can grab a book or two and peruse them over a nice warm cup. Or join their monthly book group. They’re reading The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry for June–a book about a fictional charming bookstore that surely was modeled on one like BookWorks. – Meg
