For the Love of Bookstores - The Printed Page (Denver)



 After two snowstorms within several days, Denver Metro shoveled itself out of the blinding white and resumed Life as usual. I'm still convinced that the people of Colorado are part mountain goat, mostly because of their resilience during the winter months, but I digress. The Printed Page is one of those places that you find when you aren't looking for it. A hidden gem of a bookstore, one that I know will covet most of my money in the near future. When you walk inside, jazz music greets you while shelves of books entice you with their clever titles. The clerk, an older woman with a smile you can feel beaming from behind her mask, welcomes you in and within seconds, offers you a bottle of water. How's that for being personal? This "bigger on the inside" sanctuary of books is the ideal place for a relaxed day of reading and keeping quiet. Even if there are others enjoying the bookstore, you don't really notice them. Everyone who enters The Printed Page suddenly is cocooned within their own bubble made of words and ideas. 

I located two books - one I hadn't read before (The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen Carter) and one I had read years ago (The Final Solution by Michael Chabon) - while my boyfriend located four books from his favourite authors. I found myself wanting to sit down in the comfortable chair in the back corner and read my day away, hoping like hell the clerk wouldn't throw me out after being there for so long. Yet, as we paid for our books and made our way to the door, the friendly clerk kept telling us how happy she was just to have people in the bookstore. At that moment, I really didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay, make everyone cups of tea, and engage in the art of conversing about books with fellow bibliophiles. This pandemic has taught me that the things I used to take for granted are now deemed as precious. The Printed Page, if only for a little while, makes you forget about the virus. That's something special. 

Many years ago, I read about the Third Place: we have homes and work, and yet we also need a Third Place, a place to socialize in. Places like barbershops, bookstores, coffeehouses/teahouses, and others in which we can come together and engage in that social aspect we need. When I walked into The Printed Page, I honestly felt myself relax and be inspired at the same time. That's what bookstores do: they welcome us with promises of knowledge, relaxation, and perhaps, a spark that will set off an idea. When my boyfriend and I returned home, I devoured The Final Solution in one sitting and will hopefully get to The Emperor of Ocean Park this week. And when I do return to purchase that hardback copy of that one book I had been looking for, I hope I'll get another bottle of water and a longer conversation.


The Printed Page - 1416 S. Broadway, Denver, CO

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