This past weekend, my husband and I took a little road trip to Oxford, Mississippi, and Memphis, Tennessee (sort of a practice run for our upcoming honeymoon). We’re both literary geeks, so the most exciting attractions for us in Oxford were its excellent bookstore, Square Books (and its offshoot, Off Square Books), and William Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak.
Browsing the shelves at Square Books
We were both really impressed with Square Books, which had a great ambiance—complete with a little cafe on the upper floor, of course—and a big collection of books by Southern writers, and Mississippi writers in particular. There’s also a small but diverse selection of books in translation by international authors, which I spent a long time browsing. We would have loved to spend all day there, but with limited time, we had to move on to our next destination: Rowan Oak.
The long path to Rowan Oak
Faulkner’s home is a little hard to find, set far back from the road behind a row of trees. It’s been kept up by the University of Mississippi, but it still seems a bit rundown. That’s not necessarily a bad thing—you can really feel the age of the house and the passage of time. I coveted Faulkner’s library, but the most interesting room was his study, with a desk and typewriter that seem so small and rickety to modern eyes.
Faulkner's study: where the magic happened!
Later on our trip, we went to Memphis, where we visited another great bookstore, Burke’s Book Store, and toured Graceland (which is not very similar to Faulkner’s home, in case you were wondering). Now it’s time to start reading up in preparation for our honeymoon!
You know how the saying goes “it’s right in your own backyard” or something to that effect? Your story about the literary trip to Oxford & Memphis really brought reality home to me. I’ve been perusing the ‘Net for info on literary trips available in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales and even in New England without even considering literary journeys closer to my home in Texas! Thank you for reminding me that all around me are trip possibilities. I think I’ll focus on creating my own literary trip taking in the book stores and authors’ homes in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, etc. before I go to Europe.
That’s a great idea, Linda! You’ll have no shortage of writers’ homes, excellent bookstores, and places that inspired great works of literature all around you. I recently traveled to Archer City, Texas, to visit the bookstore that Larry McMurtry owns there, Booked Up. It’s more of an antiquarian bookstore than a regular used bookstore, so it wouldn’t be to everyone’s tastes, but I really enjoyed seeing it, as well as the town that inspired McMurtry’s novel The Last Picture Show.
I hope you have a wonderful trip!
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