So last weekend I was in Santa Fe, one of the coolest cities in the U.S., and did a reading at the Collected Works Bookstore, which is a beautiful, old-fashioned, high-quality, brick-and-mortar bookstore right off the plaza, on Galisteo Street. Much has been made of the demise of brick-and-mortar, independent bookstores, but from my experience in reading/signing at many of them in the Rockies this late summer/early fall, they are most definitely alive and well, and feature all the personality you won’t get shopping online. One of the cool things about Collected Works is that Cormac McCarthy actually shops there, too, and I managed to talk to several people who know him, said nice things about him, but pointed out he doesn’t do signings, and shuns personal interaction with his fans, which I respect, though I’m not that reclusive. But my road trip to Santa Fe was nothing like the bleak wasteland McCarthy imagines in The Road, and looked a little more like this:
