Literary Tourism: Beaverdale Books in Des Moines, Iowa
While traveling, writing, and doing research for my book, Midwest Shreds, I ended up in Des Moines, Iowa. I stayed with a dear friend’s mom, who is an enthusiastic reader, so she took me to Beaverdale Books in town!
I’m a big fan of the super cute store logo with “books” being spelled out with a book design.
Beaverdale Books is definitely the cutest shop in the strip mall where it’s housed.
I’m also a big fan of all the book quotes up on the walls. I hadn’t actually heard that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow one before: “The love of learning the sequestered nooks. And the sweet serenity of books.”
As weird as this is going to sound, Beaverdale Books looks like how you expect a bookstore in a movie to look. Cute painted quotes on the walls, dark wood bookshelves, and a medley of chairs.
When I visit bookstores while traveling I rarely go in with a particular book in mind and I usually set myself a limit of two books, otherwise I’ll walk out with half the store. A friend recently told me about the Spoon River Anthology and since I lost a hubcap near the Spoon River while driving to Des Moines, I figured I should buy a copy.
The Spoon River Anthology was in the poetry section, so while I was over there I took a look around and saw a volume of Adrienne Rich’s poetry that was essentially her “greatest hits” from like 1970 to 2012. I remember reading her poems in college and enjoying them. I haven’t read them since, but I decided to go for it!
Can we just talk about how the Staff Picks for kids was actually written by a kid?! Not a parent?!
It seems like one of those things that’s so obvious, yet you never really see folks doing. I thought it was cute!
I love a solid wall of books. The sight never gets old.
I’m always tempted by a good new release table. Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought!
Is there anything better than a big window looking in on an expansive room chock full of books? I don’t think so.
Beaverdale Books is a delight, so if you’re in Des Moines, I hope you’ll stop by!
