If You Give a Girl a Cozy New Bookshop
You know the feeling you get when you find a brand-new baby of a bookshop and walk in for the first time, and something tells you right away it’s a special kind of place? The smell of fresh wood and crisp pages so thick in the air you can almost feel it. Surprise and comfort enveloping you in the best kind of way. A magic reserved for frivolous readers, dabblers, serious readers, and wanna-be hopeful readers alike.
I had that beautiful, magical experience while walking into Hidden Barn Books in Bar Harbor for the first time this past week on my summer camping adventure. This sweet little bookshop made me swoon, called me back through its doors again and again, and resurfaced all kinds of dormant dreams of owning my own bookshop one day. . .
Tucked back in the woods. . . gorgeous open shelves. . . bright, airy spaces. . . so many books to take home. . . Hidden Barn Books in Bar Harbor is a dreamy place.
As can be expected, I bought quite a few books on my multiple trips to this magical place last week. So, of course, I have five new books to share with you today ⤵
#1
I found Portland-based author Monica Wood last September when I read her most recent novel, How to Read a Book, which I absolutely loved and wrote a blog about (link here). So I’m super excited to read another title from her, especially since Ernie’s Ark takes place in Maine too and its jacket blurb is giving me major Evan Almighty vibes. More on this one soon!
#2
Ever since I fell head-over-heels hard for Lily King’s Euphoria last fall (and wrote a gushy blog all about it, link to the blog here), I’ve been looking for a copy of Writers & Lovers. So, when I saw a crisp new copy in the Maine Authors section, I snatched it up right away. I’ll let you know how it goes!
#3
This gorgeous book, The Lion Women of Tehran, was gifted to me this week by a friend who knows my reading tastes well. I adored Marjan Kamali’s 2020 novel The Stationery Shop, so I’m super excited to dig into this story and fall back down the rabbit hole of vivid Tehranian food descriptions and rich storytelling.
#4
The moment I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and read that co-author Annie Barrows is the mastermind behind the Ivy + Bean series, I set my mind to buy myself a copy of at least the first three titles in the series. It was easy to find them in the cute little kids’ book nook at Hidden Barn last week, and now I’m having so much fun reading them.
#5
If you’re a You’ve Got Mail aficionado like me, or have ever been accused of watching You’ve Got Mail a few hundred times too many (also like me), you will absolutely love Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady. This is the book I read on audio last Friday during a 5 and 1/2 hour hiking/biking adventure in Acadia National Park, and I have to tell you — both the book and the forest bathing did my achy soul so much good. Highly recommend (warning: parts are spicy).
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Wherever you are this weekend, I hope you’re surrounded by the best kind of people, all the best things, and all kinds of magical places, too.
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Happy reading,
Celeste