The Bookstore in Lenox has been serving the community since last Tuesday for more than 40 years. It’s the kind of place where locals can drop in to leave a message for their house painter knowing he’ll stop by, or get a book for a friend as a surprise and leave it waiting at the counter until they come in.
It was a local hub even before Matt Tannenbaum took it over decades ago. He knows the people who walk in and will recommend the kind of book you didn’t know you needed to read until he handed it to you. He has introduced me to Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass and Hal Borland’s nature essays among many others.
The Bookstore is open for curbside pickup if you call ahead, or shop virtually and support them at their bookshop.org shop.
He keeps a wide two walls of contemporary fiction and a deep collection of poetry, along with Judaica and science fiction, children’s books, science, history, all carefully chosen and compelling — and a choice collection of New Yorker cartoons.
A few years ago he expanded around a Get Lit bar, inspired by late-night cafés in cities like Prague, where friends meet over a glass of proseco. Writers visit here regularly for readings and events. You might walk in to hear a conversation about reading in Don Quixote, or John Crowley’s latest speculative novel, or a long poem set in the winter solstice.
