"As full of spirit as the month of May, and as gorgeous as the sun in Midsummer", said King Henry IV while gazing upon the young royalists in William Shakespeare's play.
Happy Anniversary to Bluestocking Books!
At Bluestocking Books we are certainly feeling full of spirit this May Day as May 1, 2025 marks the 26th year since Kris Nelson purchased this bookstore from Joseph Tabler and renamed the shop Bluestocking Books. The origins of the bookstore location at 3817 Fifth Avenue go back to a time when a Greek immigrant set up shop as Otento books. Mr. Otento started his book business on Robinson Avenue and moved into our current storefront in 1967. The wooden bookshelves were installed by Mr. Otento and his antiques dealing friend and are still holding strong!
Adding to our joy is a story from a visitor to Bluestocking Books a couple of weeks ago. The visitor and her mother shared that when they were vacationing in Costa Rica, they found one of our distinctive blue bookmarks featuring artwork by Richard T. Reyes in a book left by another traveler. They vowed to visit the book shop when they made it to San Diego. They were thrilled to see a stack of the matching bookmarks in the store! We are thrilled to know the bookmarks are making their way around the world. Where have you left or found a Bluestocking Books bookmark? Let us know in the comments.
San Diego Book Crawl Wrap-Up
The three-day San Diego Book Crawl in celebration of the 12th annual Independent Bookstore Day has wrapped! A BIG thank you to all the booklovers who crawled with us and the other 13 bookstores April 26, 27, & 28th. We are already making plans for 2026!
Bluestocking Books delighted in spending some time with children's book author and illustrator Susie Ghahremani while she signed her books to be sold during the Book Crawl. A house favorite is "Rosemary Long Ears". Based on a true tale, Rosemary is a Bassett Hound who manages to attract detritus from the streets to her fur like a magnet as she strolls with her humans.
San Diego Book Crawl 2025 logo creator Kaley McCabe rode on one of the event shuttle buses on Saturday and was kind enough to sign copies of her Nightmare Before Christmas books, "Welcome to Halloween Town" and "The 13 Days of Halloween: Jack's Spooktacular Countdown!" when she arrived at Bluestocking Books.
We also had books on hand from IBD ambassador Dave Eggers, including "Soren's Seventh Song", about a singing young humpback whale, and "Moving the Millers' Minnie Moore Mine Mansion", a true story from the state of Idaho.
Act Now: Library Advocates Are Needed
The City of San Diego 2026 proposed General Fund budget includes more than $8 million in reductions to the budget for The San Diego Public Library. If approved, all San Diego Public Library locations will close on Sundays and Mondays beginning July 1, 2025. You can take action on behalf of the libraries by attending budget hearings, sending an email, and sending a postcard. Find out more about San Diego library budget issues by visiting The Library Foundation.
SDSU Prison Book Project
The SDSU Prison Book Project is working to increase access to information for incarcerated people by fulfilling their book requests. The project collects books through community donations, partnerships with bookstores, and events. Needed are paperback book dictionaries, popular fiction, non-fiction, self-help, craft and how-to. Bluestocking Books stocks new book selections that meet the needs of the project. You may make a purchase at Bluestocking Books and we will include your choices in our donation collection. Visit the bookstore to view the selections and make a purchase. Learn more about the project by visiting https://linktr.ee/sdsuprisonbookproject.
Until next time, remember to stop and smell the May Flowers!
Visit Bluestocking Books
Visit Bluestocking Books in person at 3817 Fifth Avenue in San Diego, California and online at bluestockingbooks.com.
