3 essential Maine bookshops for summer road-trippin’

The essence of any summer is freedom. That perennial sense that every day might last forever, and that any day brings with it new chances for laughter, love, and adventure. And part of this essential summer includes a fair amount of wanderlust, the desire to travel beyond your backyard to see what new adventures and experiences await you.

If you know where to go, you’ll discover that there are hundreds of stories waiting for you. So many books, and all of them longing for you to find them and bring them back home with you, claiming some of their magic as your own.

Here is a handy list of three wonderful used bookshops here in Maine. Follow the link to each article to get a full review – or just skim the list and hit the road right away! Spontaneity is good, especially when there’s a bookshop waiting at the end of the journey.

1.) Open Door Books, Bath: This store has an amazing variety and selection of any type of book you may want. As soon as you walk in, you feel welcome and safe among the books. The owner, John Ring, is happy to chat and to give reading recommendations. You’ll be hungry after all that book-buying, so be sure to stop by Beale Street Barbeque for some tasty fare!  http://twicesoldtales.bangordailynews.com/2015/11/01/home/round-the-corner-there-may-wait-open-door-books-in-bath/ 

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2.) Big Chicken Barn Books & Antiques, Ellsworth: With a 3,000 foot long chicken barn filled with an entire floor of 150,000 books, you really can’t go wrong. It is easy to spend hours here perusing and admiring the vast collection of books, magazines, and antiques. Nearby attractions include Bangor in one direction and Acadia National Park in the other. http://twicesoldtales.bangordailynews.com/2015/10/13/home/for-the-love-of-books/

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3.) Lippincott Books, Hampden: The quintessential used bookshop, sure to ignite your lust for the experience of buying books from a genuine bookseller. Fiction, Maine-related nonfiction, classics, poetry, history, obscure tomes and signed first editions, this place truly has it all. I cannot recommend this shop highly enough. Put quite simply: Go.  http://twicesoldtales.bangordailynews.com/2016/01/31/home/bookish-adventures/paradise-lost-and-found-the-joy-of-lippincott-books/

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Stay tuned to Twice Sold Tales this summer for even more bookshop recommendations. Until then, stay well, travel far, and read happy.

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Shannon Bowring

About Shannon Bowring

I am 26 years old. I was raised up in the County, in the tiny town of Ashland. I attended the University of Maine in Orono and graduated in 2012 with a BA in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing. Reading and writing have always been the greatest loves of my life. I am most at home in the dusty corners of used bookstores, surrounded by forgotten books. One day, inspiration struck when I decided I wanted to combine all my loves – writing, reading, traveling, exploring these beloved shops – to create an outlet in which I can share my bookish adventures with an audience of like-minded readers who could appreciate my love of words and stories.