Inkling Books

Wait . . . One of the houses I lived in as a child is now a bookstore? Books? The universe is telling me something, right? 

You gotta go to this bookstore. A good book is full of character, like this house. What better place to buy a literary gem? 

Walk around and peruse the titles. Sit and have a conversation or read a book or both. Make a new friend. Inklings Books was designed with you, the reader; you, the community, in mind. 

They want you to connect with other people while you’re book shopping.

My old room is a place to peruse select used books and sit and enjoy a coffee while you read.

Our family of seven spent two years (including the historic blizzard-esque winter of 1985) in this little white house with no central heat while my parents built the home they still live in today. ‘Twas a bit cramped. 

My father got up several times a night to make sure my infant sister was warm enough. I woke one morning with my sheets and pillowcase frozen to the wall. 

I loved living there. 

What’s in the name? Inkling Books? 

The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group in the early 20th century at the University of Oxford. Notable members include C.S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Charles Williams. 

They were a community. 

I think they’d appreciate the history of this building that now houses their works, don’t you? 

That’s what this bookstore is about. Perpetuating literary awareness and pursuit within a community. 

I burned my leg on a propane heater in that house. The following summer while our parents were at work I scratched off a mole and my older siblings convinced me I had 30 minutes to live. 

Was a rough half hour for a seven-year-old. 

In the spring and summer evenings when it was quiet and the sun would set I rode my bike around the gas station parking lot. I sat it down at my mother’s beckoning and then laid my head on her swollen belly as she sat back against the house’s wall. I listened to my little sister move around. Felt her kick. 

From the front porch I saw a lot of things happen on 281. Car wrecks. Fires. A real pioneer wagon train recreation. 

I saw some things I shouldn’t have seen, and I won’t say exactly how, only that we lived next to a busy highway and I had an old brother and an older neighbor friend and the three of us were always looking for what people threw out the window. 

That house has been many things over the last 40 years. And before then, too. 

Today it is this fantastic bookstore. 

The kitchen is now a foyer with displays and artwork and a register. Order your coffee or tea. 

Teachers and home educators–go purchase something and get a free drink, offer good until September 3rd. 

Of all the things you can support, a bookstore is one of the greatest. A civilization’s history is recorded in books. Your favorite movies and shows started as writings and novels and stories. 

Go see the folks at Inkling Books at 9640 US-281, Spring Branch, TX 78070, and help a community foster this treasure for years to come. 

Find them online at Inklingbooks.org. 

Support reading.

And maybe, just maybe, they’ll let me sign some of my books there next spring.