A Bookish Farewell...

Yesterday I felt kind of like Kathleen Kelly when she said goodbye to her "Shop Around the Corner" in You've Got Mail.

I bid a fond farewell to the "Bookish" Space (#16) my daughter and I started over a year ago at a local antique mall.

We put everything on sale, and the things that didn't sell were packed up and hauled out (maybe there's an Etsy shop in my future...?)

The reason I moved away from this fun little business venture? There are two (and they don't involve Fox Books!):

1- Energy (my lack of). Our space was literally in a Brick Basement, and it required a lot of effort to get our "stuff" up and down those stairs, changing the look with the seasons. (Because if you're going to have a space at an antique mall, it has to look cute!) It took two of us. My daughter, the creative one behind this little hobby, had to move out of state last summer. She and her husband recently moved back, but she will be otherwise occupied:  Baby Number 2 is due in May (Grand-baby BOY again)!!!!

2- Space. My sunroom at home - where we stored our crafts and "to be sold stuff" - will be out of commission for a while (the room is hopefully going to be renovated or torn down and rebuilt soon).  There will be lots going on at my house!

Want to take a quick look back with me?  Here are some of my favorite photos of our Bookish little space...

We were so proud of these little tags my daughter designed!

My daughter's beautiful book page wreath.

This was a fun and festive spot!

So many fun books - vintage and antique.

Is there anything better than a suitcase full of books??

Got out some cobwebs, for a spooky Bookish look!

Last year's Spring offerings and creations.

Thanks for letting me share these few photos from our past (busy!!) year and two months.  I'm not going to leave you with the image of the bare walls (which I couldn't bear to photograph) in our empty space, so... 

Goodbye, Shop Girl.  For now.  

Hello, Blog Girl.  Welcome back.

The Shop Around the Corner: What was the "Storybook Lady" Reading?

You've Got Mail is one of those cozy movies my daughter and I can watch again and again!  How about you?

For us, the setting (a children's bookshop in New York City) and the music (Nora Ephron's movies always have brilliant soundtracks of oldies and forgotten treasures), play as much of a starring role as the actors.  

And who better to make you feel good than Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks?

When watching the movie, I'd never taken the time to figure out which book Meg Ryan's character, Kathleen Kelly, is reading as the "Storybook Lady".  But this time I quickly paused the dvd to see the book's cover...

And saw the word B-O-Y.  And I listened carefully to the passage she was reading aloud to the children...

I must tell you, therefore, that it was I and I alone who had the idea for the great and daring Mouse Plot. We all have our moments of brilliance and glory, and this was mine.

“Why don't we,” I said, “slip it into one of Mrs. Pratchett’s jars of sweets? Then when she puts her dirty hand in to grab a handful, she'll grab a stinky dead mouse instead.”

The other four stared at me in wonder. Then, as the sheer genius of the plot began to sink in, they all started grinning. They slapped me on the back. They cheered me and danced around the classroom.

“We'll do it today!” they cried. “We’ll do it on the way home! You had the idea, so you can be the one to put the mouse in the jar.”

Boy by Roald Dahl

The passage that we see Kathleen Kelly reading during her book shop's story time to the group of kids is from Boy: Tales of Childhood, an autobiographical children's novel written by Roald Dahl.

Kathleen Kelly's bookstore in the film was based largely on Manhattan's  Books of Wonder.  Meg Ryan worked the counter at Books of Wonder for a day as part of her preparation. Decorative props from the film can still be seen at the store.

The children's book store scenes in the film were actually filmed at Maya Schaper's Cheese and Antique Shop on 103 West 69th Street (which has since closed - life imitating art?). 

Did you know that You've Got Mail (1998) is based on a classic movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan?  The title?  The Shop Around the Corner (1940), of course! (Another film we watch again and again!)

Jame's Stewart's Alfred Kralik and Margaret Sullavan's Klara Novak.

[Source, and more fun You've Got Mail movie trivia here.]