Thank you, Johnny Depp.

I watched The Ninth Gate this weekend mostly because he starred in the movie. And I like mysteries and thrillers.  “A rare book dealer, while seeking out the last two copies of a demon text, gets drawn into a conspiracy with supernatural overtones.” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142688/)

Old books. A cute guy. The Devil. International travel. What’s not to love?

I love books. I’m a true bibliophile. It is somewhat surprising to me how little I read, for as much as I love books. While watching the movie, I wanted to be right beside Corso (Johnny Depp), holding and examining those awesome old books. One of the most AWESOME experiences of my life was seeing a Medieval illuminated manuscript IN PERSON, during an Art History course that I took while I went to college (or, as they say, to university) in Manchester, England; we were on a class field trip to York Minster to look at painted glass, and we got to go into the library, and it was one of the really cool libraries with huge oak tables and floor-to-ceiling bookcases with a ladder along three walls and floor-to-ceiling lead glass windows along the fourth that looked out onto the Yorkshire countryside. The librarian showed us one of their collection.

<sigh> It was awesome.

So, … back to this weekend, … after the movie sparked my sense of exploration and books, I decided it was way past time that I check out the bookstore in downtown Terrell. {Remember that I moved last fall? For a lot of reasons, it feels like we JUST moved last month, instead of last October. It was a tough Winter; my depression cloaked me again.} Terrell is a small Texas town with all the appropriate stereotypes still intact. It’s not a place where an eclectic artist type, such as myself, would – TYPICALLY – find many kindred spirits. You know what I mean?

The store is called Books & Crannies (I know, right?!) and it’s in the location of the old Iris Theatre.

Books & Crannies, located in the historical Iris Theatre, and home of the new Iris Theatre, located inside the bookstore (photo taken from somewhere on the internet – I don’t own this – and I didn’t note where I took it from)

It’s a GREAT store! I came in the back door, from the alley, and right away was met with raw wooden shelves holding beautiful old books. I exhaled. I had found a place for myself here in Terrell. There’s even a little (drama) theatre in the back – appropriately called The Iris Theatre – where a local troop puts on plays three times a year. I cannot remember the name of the current play. It was sold out this past weekend. I’m going to try to go this coming Friday. I’ll let you know.

Anyway…

In addition to old books, they have new books, contemporary stuff. And it’s decorated really well, with neat reading nooks and with movie and writing inspired paraphernalia, like a speaker from an old drive in and an old Royal typewriter. I bought two books: a used copy of one of my all time favorite Anne Rice novels, Exit to Eden, (hardback!) and the first in a series about a cat that’s a detective. Fun! Cat On The Edge, by Shirley Rousseau Murphy, the first Joe Grey Mystery.

Yep. I already finished it.

And I could talk more about the cat detective book or the bookstore or the little theater or the devil book movie, but the real story in all of this is…. I’m inspired again to work on my zines. THANK YOU to my mercurial muse that ignites my sporadically produced zine.