OPINION: First a sprint, then a marathon

Ninety-two days, 36 bookstores and way too much money spent. On Sept. 27, Cheyenne and I completed the Iowa Indie Bookshop Tour, just three days before it ended. What started out as a joyous sprint felt more like a marathon toward the end, largely due to us both having insanely busy Augusts with very little time for bookstores.

The tour took us all around Iowa, really providing me with an opportunity to see many new areas of the state. We toured the historic fort in Fort Dodge before stopping at The Green Dragon Bookshop, whose owner started the tour. In what was truly a “gotta catch ‘em all” weekend, we hit eight bookstores. This included an overnight stay in Dubuque and a night of Animal Crossing as well. Our last day, Sept. 27, we got two northwest locations, Book Vine in Cherokee and Books and Bakery in Carroll.

Much to our wallets’ chagrin, Cheyenne and I decided to buy a book at every location. I only broke this rule once at Alter Ego, a comic book store in Marion, where I got a Disney figurine instead. However, I got two books at the Brewed Book, a used bookstore in Davenport, and four at The Book Shoppe, a store with a large used section in Boone, so it more than evened out.

For those counting, yes, that is 39 books just from the tour I bought this summer. There were unfortunately more purchases throughout this time just in daily life at Creston’s The Latest Edition… Thanks a lot, Bess.

While Cheyenne and I have been posting our road trip adventures on Instagram (@the.wanderquill), I wanted to highlight some things that stood out to me. Most importantly, shop pets.

A nice amount of the stores had cats or dogs, though at least two were not in store when we visited. Dungeon’s Gate in Ankeny has the sweet Olive, a sweet and silly French bulldog that is the store’s mascot. While we didn’t get to meet her, Lovie is the golden retriever who resides at Dog-Eared Books in Ankeny. Paper Moon in McGregor and The Haunted Bookshop in Iowa City have multiple cats each, many of which are happy to get some scratchies from customers. While there were certainly other shops with pets, we didn’t have the chance to say hi to them all, so I’m sure I missed some.

A lot of the shops also carried food or a beverage of some kind. Some, like The Latest Edition or Hedgie’s in Bedford carried wine. Brewed Book and Des Moines’ Reading in Public had various bakery items and coffee. Sidekick in Iowa City even had sandwiches and ice cream.

Each bookstore had its own unique vibe. Though Cheyenne might go into more detail about this in her column, it was interesting to see the different demographics each store was aimed at, and which drew us in more. My top five of the trip are similar to hers. My top store is Dog-Eared Books. After that for my top five books, in no particular order, are Reading in Public in Des Moines, Three Bells Books in Mason City, River Lights in Dubuque and HEA in Marion.

While I’m not going to go through every title I got, I will share the new titles! Of the 39 books, over half were books I’ve read before and simply wanted for my home library. Along with the following, I did buy two gorgeous copies of “Pride and Prejudice” as well.

In the nonfiction category: “Booked” by Richard Kreitner, “Fiend Incarnate” by Edgar Epperly, “Midnight Assassin” by Patricia L. Bryan and Thomas Wolf, “12 Years a Slave” by Solomon Northup

In the horror category: “Mexican Gothic” by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and “Vampires of El Norte” by Isabel Canas.

In the romance category: “The Pairing” by Casey McQuiston, “Love Redesigned” by Lauren Asher, “The Austen Escape” by Katherine Reay and “Something Wilder” by Christina Lauren.

In the romantasy category: “That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon” by Kimberly Kemming, “My Roommate is a Vampire” by Jenna Levine, and “A Demon’s Guide to Wooing a Witch” and “A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire” by Sarah Hawley.

Finally, in the fantasy category: “A Short Walk Through A Wide World” by Douglas Westerbeke, “Lightlark” by Alex Aster and “A Darker Shade of Magic” and “A Gathering of Shadows” by V. E. Schwab.

We probably won’t do the full road trip next year, just visiting a few favorites and any new additions, but I’m glad we did it this year. Not only did we get to see the whole of Iowa, we supported more than 30 small businesses that share our passion for reading.