THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994 TAG: 9406230171
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940626 LENGTH: Long
In a tiny front room. A boy, 5 or 6, blond bangs hanging over his forehead, sits crosslegged on the floor. He and his mother are reading aloud.
{REST} ``Isn't that great,'' Buxton Village Books owner Gee Gee Rosell says with a wide smile.
The mother and child continue to read the learn-to-count book about penguins and lions and tigers and bears.
``Come on,'' the mother says. ``We'll get this for you to read this summer.'' The child gets up, the mother pays for the book, and they leave, the peal of the bell on the door following them out.
Up and down the Outer Banks, on sun-baked beaches and in hammocks and chairs under shade trees, folks will follow the lad's example.
Summer, it seems, is the season not just for relaxation but also for reading.
And it is somehow fitting that in the Outer Banks - a region stuffed with stories of spirits and shipwrecks, captains and kings - also is home to a treasure trove of bookstores, large and small.
Like their customers, Outer Banks bookstore owners are smitten by the written word.
``I moved here in 1974,'' says Rosell, who calls herself only ``Gee Gee'' on her business cards. ``I couldn't decide if I wanted to go back and get my master's in forestry or not. I decided to go to work for the National Park Service in one of their bookstores. The park service does a great job with their bookstores. They are very well done. But there wasn't a bookstore here (in Buxton), and 11 years ago, I decided to open this store.''
Rosell's decision to open the store in the tiny community on Hatteras Island attracted some skepticism.
``I was told you had to be a gift store that happened to sell books,'' she says. ``But for me, this has been a labor of love.''
So it is for all of the bookstore managers and owners on the Outer Banks.
At Manteo Booksellers, perhaps the Outer Banks' best-known bookstore manager Steve Brumfield is getting ready for yet another book signing. The store, located in the heart of Manteo's sparkling waterfront district, has become as well known for its series of readings and signings by authors as for its wide selection of books. Sometimes, says Brumfield, it is difficult to attract writers to small towns, but Manteo Booksellers' reputation as a top-flight store has helped.
And the small-town atmosphere has helped develop a large number of readers and writers.
``There are a lot of readers here,'' says Brumfield, ``and the readers generally tend to be people who can handle things on their own. Some people move to this area, and if you have something you can do yourself that interests you, you're OK, but if you come out here expecting to be entertained, you're going to be disappointed. ``
Nevertheless, there is a large selection of books to entertain and enlighten, including numerous publications on the Outer Banks and its history.
``It's not always the things that you'll find at a chain store,'' says Brumfield of the store's selection. ``We want this place to be a store that looks nice and feels comfortable.''
On many nights during the summers, readers get a chance to mingle with writers at bookstores throughout the Banks. At Buxton Books on a Thursday, Gee Gee is preparing strawberries and iced tea for a reading by local poet Johnny Baum. On a recent Saturday, Maurice Duke and Joe Mobley introduced their book on the history of the U.S. Lifesaving Service. The stores provide an ecclectic mix of readers and writers.
``It's varied,'' Brumfield says of the blend. ``That's important to me. It means so much more to have an author tell about his or her work. It adds to the culture of the area. If you have a chance to meet an author, something special happens.''
The abundance of local booksellers also impresses writers. Jan DeBlieu, an author of two books on the Outer Banks and a frequent contributor to magazines, says Manteo Booksellers could ``hold its own with any bookstore in a big city.''
``Steve has a real commitment to literature,'' she says. ``It has a selection of stores three or four times its size.''
For those readers who don't have time to browse, there are other stores that are part of shopping complexes. Publishers' Warehouse carries only books that have been in print for a year or longer, says manager Kim Grissom. ``And we carry books 50 to 90 percent off (the cost of) general retail.''
That's a bonus for readers who want coffee table books, but don't want to pay high prices. The store stocks more than 150,000 titles.
``Ironically, I sell a lot of travel books to people on vacation,'' she says. ``I think people want to plan where they want to go on their next vacation. I also sell a lot of art books, largely because of the lower prices.''
While most of the Outer Banks bookstores carry wide varieties of books, others specialize. Starfire Books carries a selection of books on metaphysics and self-help books. On the other end of the spectrum, Hosanna Books in the Dare Center in Kill Devil Hills carries a variety of Christian books. Island Books in Duck boasts a wide array of children's books, and like Manteo Booksellers, it carries a wide range of jazz and classical compact discs, to provide background music to the written word.
For Civil War buffs, Blue & Gray Books and Prints in Kill Devil Hills stocks books, maps and other memorabilia of the great conflict. Readers can travel as far north as Corolla, and as far south as Ocracoke, and find something worth reading.
Other booksellers up and down the Outer Banks include Back Road Books in Ocracoke, Books N Things in Duck, Nags Head News, North Carolina Books in Kill Devil Hills, Vineyard's Books and Gifts in Corolla, Burnside Books in Manteo, and Water's Edge Books and Gifts in the Outer Banks Mall.
And, despite the rigors of dealing with a seasonal economy, booksellers say there is a benefit that transcends the bottom line.
``I read three or four books at a time,'' says Bill Davis, who along with wife Cathy owns Corolla Book and Card. ``I think what I like is when our customers recommend books to me.''
``This is a very hands-on business,'' says Gee Gee. ``There's a lot of joy to be found in reading books, which is something you have to do to be able to serve your customers.''
And while all the shops are filled with books, each has its own character - and characters. For example, at Manteo Booksellers, the birthday of Herbert Hoover is celebrated.
``Herbert Hoover was a much-maligned guy,'' said Brumfield. ``We don't know if he loved bookstores, but I know he loved poetry. Hoover tried to have Congress choose a national poem.''
And in Buxton, the spirit of BudCat, an orange tabby who roamed the stacks at Buxton Village Books, still lives. BudCat was immortalized in D.C. Poyer's book, ``Bahamas Blue.''
``BudCat died of cardiomyopathy, the same thing that killed (Boston Celtics star) Reggie Lewis,'' says Roselle. ``But BudCat's spirit is here. He'll always be here.''
Along with cats and birthday candles, bookstores provide an unspoken excitement understood only by those who love the written word.
``I guess the most exciting thing to me is to have people who get excited about reading,'' says Brumfield. That, along with the chance to have authors here, and to have readers and writers meet, is fantastic.''
by CNB