A Bookshop "Interview" with Cheryl Rice

Usually when I interview poets and writers about their favorite bookshops, it’s a quick Q&A, four or five questions, but Cheryl Rice took it another step and wrote a brief and fascinating saga about her favorite shop, one that has seen many transitions over the years and has become something altogether different, leaving Cheryl with a lot of memories and nostalgia. I hope you enjoy, and please check out Cheryl’s work and bio below. She’s a dynamic and prolific poet and writer and I’m happy to have her here!

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(Image borrowed from AlbanyPoets.com)

Having lived in the Hudson Valley for over forty years, there is no shortage of bookstores past and present that I might dub “my favorite” at any given time. I’ve been employed by the finest, and patronized the funkiest. So many of them are no longer with us, and that saddens me in many ways. As I clear my bookshelves to fulfill my Pandemic goal of making my tiny house work better for me and my arts, I let many books pass through my hands and into boxes headed for our local used goldmine, Halfmoon Books in uptown Kingston. Credit will be due there, and used gratefully to refill those recently emptied shelves, of course.

I often come across books in my collection with odd little prices penciled in the upper right-hand corner of the first page: 23¢, 43¢, 78¢. I immediately know where the book came from. Back in the early days, when I first arrived to attend SUNY New Paltz in the early 1980s, there was an outstanding used bookstore & art supply shop, Manny’s, in the heart of town, next door to P&Gs bar, and across the street from a book shop that some might have considered a rival but was actually the perfect complement—Ariel Booksellers.

Manny’s was really Manny’s back then, as the man himself, Manny Lipton, still held court. He was a loud New Yorker who’d come up from The City in the 1970s and, rumor had it, opened a bookshop to offer the many art students in town a place to buy supplies. The origins of the business are still shrouded in mist, since the original façade was clearly that of a ‘60s cocktail lounge, and the phone number was listed as “Manny’s Lounge” for many decades. The front of the store was pasted with photos and clippings, a community-created collage that got shabbier and thicker every semester. He frightened me really, since I was newly away from home and still finding out who I would become. But the draw of cheap books was too much to resist. I bravely slipped by Manny, perched up front, pontificating to a new crop of freshmen, and headed towards the deepest depths of the store.

You would mainly find me in Biography or Fiction. I was not yet a dedicated poet, although I’d been writing for most of my life. The art supplies were equally attractive to me, but not as big a bargain as the paperbacks. The stock overflowed the shelving, and piles of books sat in front of shelves overwhelmed by their loads. I remember getting a mass market edition of “The Other Side of the Rainbow,” Mel Torme’s tell-all about behind the scenes of “The Judy Garland Show.” You could find old copies of novels used in classes, but the textbooks, cleverly updated every couple of years, were worthless. Now and then a crumbling Henry Miller would pop up, and I’d snatch it quickly before the authorities showed up.

Eventually it was not the authorities, but the local fire commissioner who arrived. The place always was a fire trap, as well as a physical hazard should the shelves suddenly topple down onto some beatnik engrossed in a book of prints by Dali. Volunteers from the community came in to clear the aisles. Portions of rug that hadn’t seen daylight since the Camelot days of Kennedy winced at the brightness. It was cleaner, it was safer, but it was never the same treasure trove of gems. The pearls of Manny’s wisdom still flowed, but could the clean up have taken something out of the master? I’ll never be sure.

Graduation, marriage, divorce, and movement all led me away from Manny’s in its declining years. The business is still there, calls itself “Manny’s,” but the books are gone. Manny’s daughter and son-in-law took over the business some time ago, and it is a fine place to get a picture framed or to purchase a souvenir. Art supplies fulfill every student’s needs. But when I go in, now for fancy paper to make chapbooks with, I still wince a little. I still expect to see the Man himself, sharing his observations. I wish I’d listened then to what I’ll never know now.

Cheryl A. Rice’s poems have appeared in Home Planet News, Rye Whiskey Review, Up The River, and Misfit Magazine, among others. Recent books include Until the Words Came (Post Traumatic Press), coauthored with Guy Reed, and Love’s Compass (Kung Fu Treachery Press). Rice’s RANDOM WRITING WORKSHOPS travel from town to town at request. Her blog is at: http://flyingmonkeyprods.blogspot.com/. Rice lives in New York’s Hudson Valley.

A Bookshop Interview with Gabriel Ricard

Gabriel Ricard is a poet, writer, and occasional actor currently based out of Long Island, and I originally came to know him through his role as the cinema guru at the always epic Drunk Monkeys site. But he’s as dynamic as they come, impossible to pin down to just one title or genre, and his newest book, The Oddities of Saturday Night, veers from essays and poetry and dives back into short stories. I’m grateful he took a few moments to tell us about his favorite bookshop below. Enjoy!

Favorite Bookshop: Chop Suey in Richmond, Virginia

1. How did you discover the shop, and what do you remember about your first experience there?

I discovered the shop when I was 18, and I was part of a theater group that was staying in Richmond for three weeks, doing our own plays and stuff. It was essentially theater camp, but it jumpstarted my career in a few different ways.

One of the activities we participated in was a reading with Clay Mcleod Chapman at the original Chop Suey bookstore in Richmond. The original location was this incredible, absolutely ancient brick building. It’s the kind of bookstore you hope to find in any given town or city you’re in. Creaky wooden floors, stacks of books in some corners. New stuff, rarities, a cat that hung around. You might open a book and find a Bob Dylan concert ticket from the 70s. It was just amazing in every possible way.

It was the best possible place, to be sure, to hear someone like Clay read.

2. Does the shop have a particular vibe, theme, or atmosphere that stands out?

It had that atmosphere of a store that just couldn’t say no to stuff. It was shockingly well-organized in spite of that, but you couldn’t hope to browse absolutely everything of interest in an hour. You could kill the whole day there with ease.

The store has since moved to a smaller location. Still a fantastic, independently-owned bookstore, but it’s just not the same.

3. What books have you bought there in the past?

The three that always stick out to me:

-My first Charles Bukowski book

-My first William S. Burroughs book

-A book about the history of adult live performing in the United States that was unfortunately later stolen from me.

4. What part of the shop would we find you hanging out in the most?

Film. They had such a deep collection of stuff in that regard, I didn’t know where to begin, and I never got around to buying the books I really wanted from that section.

(You can also pick up Gabe’s book at Moran Press or by reaching out on Facebook. PS: I swiped the bookshop photo from NBC12.com.)

A Bookshop Interview with Daniel Sennis

Poet and rhyme-master extraordinaire Daniel Sennis has a funny and scathing new collection out called O Conman! My Conman! Sick Rhymes for Sick Times that is perfect for this fraught and befuddling year, and I asked him to share his favorite bookshop with me. I wasn’t surprised by his pick because it’s one of my favorites too.

Favorite Bookstore: Northshire Bookstore (Saratoga Spring, New York and Manchester, Vermont)

1. How did you discover the shop, and what did you enjoy about your first experience there?

My extended family would often visit Manchester when we had family up from New Jersey. Northshire was the best part of the trip for me. The shop was a wonder. A completely different experience than the little corporate chains in the mall we usually frequented. There was so much to see. Multiple rooms, all spacious, with delightful novelty items spread throughout. At the end, we’d always get something at the cafe. 

In 2013, I was about to move back to Saratoga from New Paltz when I discovered that both Northshire was opening a new location in Saratoga and that Northshire offers self-publishing services. Since I wanted to self-publish a book of humor, I was incredibly excited that I could do so while supporting a business I loved (and having my book in a bookstore I loved). I published my second book with Shires Press this year!  

2. Does the shop have a particular vibe, theme, or atmosphere that stands out?

Grandiose may be too grandiose a term, but, something like that. There’s a lot—bookwise and otherwise, to empty your wallet. 

3. What books have you bought there in the past?

It’s hard for me to remember all of the books I’ve purchased at Northshire. Some recent purchases are The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, Ani Difranco’s memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream, and Let’s Pretend this Never Happened by Jenny Lawson.  

4. Is there a specific part of the shop you run to first, a section that really makes the place unique?

When my son is along, we go straight to the kid’s section, which is the whole upstairs floor. He loves it, though he is mostly enamored by toys at this point. When I can sneak away, I check out YA upstairs and then go down to the first floor and check out the front tables with new releases and bargain books. Then I’ll hit politics and fiction.