about us photo by my best friend - Keith Brior | What would you expect of former
independent bookstore owners?
Would their every conversation center on literature?
Would they always be lefties, never far from a New York Times?
Would they be clever, lofty...or just loony?
Sorry, we're just two semi-normal people who did something
(this independent bookstore thing) we love, for years and years
and we would love to do it all over again.
22 Years of Independent Bookselling
We met in a bookstore.
We got married in our own bookstore.
Oh, we are indeed book people and book nerds.
Financially, owning our own independent bookstore was pretty much always tough sledding, but this was the best job we both ever had.
Here's a little about our talents and what we've done. |
We both have long bookselling histories, working in independent bookstores, regional and national chains, before we struck out on our own, to live our fantasy, owning our own bookstore. In 1987, we quit our jobs managing a Waldenbooks in Davis and opened our first store, Mansion Book Merchants at 132 E Street, in Davis. When we moved to our second (much larger) location on G Street, we changed the store's name to The Next Chapter, and that name lasted through two large locations with full coffeehouses in Woodland and until we made the big move up the hill to Placerville and became Raven's Tale. That's our story and we're sticking with it. You can click on the store locations listed below to learn more details of our glorious history. Thanks for your interest. - John & Vicky check out some of the PEOPLE that we hosted in our bookstores Take a Trip Back in History to our bookstores that live on in people's minds and on many a bookshelf near and far.  | We're still around
and let my T-shirt be a your guide...YES, we're still reading
every good book we can lay our hands on.
This photo is not proof that we've been put out to pasture, just that we like walking the trails at Sea Ranch.
True book people are always around books
in one way or another
all their lives.
Piles of books have always surrounded our bed.
Because you never know when you will need a new read.
As we've often said — Thanks for Reading
and we hope to see you in a bookstore again. - John & Vicky |
small sidenote 
more than a big rodent
Groundhog Day is a day of shadows and hopes. It's a special kind of a day. When I was growing up in Vermont, groundhogs/woodchucks were a common sight in the fields and some people thought of themselves as woodchucks - that might tell you a little about the Vermont state of mind. February 2 was still very much winter in Vermont, but the talk about spring or six more weeks of winter ... gave some hope. Could it be that a particular warm spell was the beginning of spring or just a sunny day before more snow and ice came our way? Could our famed mud season be just around the corner? Just how many times can it seem like spring has come...only to vanish in more snow and cold? I still remember getting Groundhog Day off from classes. The official UVM (University of Vermont) reason for closing that day was that it was all about energy-savings during the 1970's energy crisis, but I had high hopes that it was just the beginning of a new groundhog culture. Vicky tells me that I've been deluded about MANY things in life...doesn't seem likely to me. History & Facts
Groundhog Day is a holiday celebrated on February 2 in the United States and Canada. According to folklore, if it is cloudy when a groundhog emerges from its burrow on this day, then spring will come early. If it is sunny, the groundhog will supposedly see its shadow and retreat back into its burrow, and the winter weather will continue for six more weeks.
The celebration, which began as a Pennsylvania German custom in southeastern and central Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries, has its origins in ancient European weather lore, wherein a badger or sacred bear is the prognosticator as opposed to a groundhog. It also bears similarities to the Pagan festival of Imbolc, the seasonal turning point of the Celtic calendar, which is celebrated on February 1 and also involves weather prognostication and to St. Swithun's Day in July.
The largest Groundhog Day celebration is held in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, where crowds as large as 40,000 have gathered to celebrate the holiday since at least 1886. Other celebrations of note in Pennsylvania take place in Quarryville in Lancaster County, the Anthracite Region of Schuylkill County, the Sinnamahoning Valley and Bucks County.
Outside of Pennsylvania, notable celebrations occur in the Frederick and Hagerstown areas of Maryland, Marion, Ohio with Buckeye Chuck, the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Woodstock, Illinois, Lilburn, Georgia, among the Amish populations of over twenty states and at Wiarton, Ontario, and Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, in Canada. The University of Dallas in Irving, Texas, has taken Groundhog Day as its official university holiday and organizes a large-scale celebration every year in honor of the Groundhog.
The 1993 comedy movie Groundhog Day takes place in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on this day (although the majority of the movie was actually filmed in Woodstock, Illinois). The main character (played by Bill Murray) is forced to relive the day over and over again until he can learn to give up his selfishness and become a better person.[104] In popular culture, the phrase "Groundhog Day" has come to represent going through a phenomenon over and over until one spiritually transcends it.
Groundhog Day proponents state that the rodents' forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. A Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years puts the success rate level at 37%. Also, the National Climatic Data Center reportedly has stated that the overall prediction accuracy rate is around 39%.
Feb. 2, 2012
Punxsutawney Phil proclaimed: "As I look at the crowd on Gobbler's Gnob
Many shadows do I see
So six more weeks of winter it must be." Hope you always enjoyed your Groundhog Day any which way you can — it's a fine holiday.  www.groundhog.org
__________  Look, it's Bernie Sanders - the Vermont socialist in the United States Senate. Click on his head to learn more.
__________ Another thing.
Below are the two posters that stayed up the longest in my room as I was growing up in Vermont. The Dylan poster was taken down after I wrote "Dylan is Boss" on it. As we all know, boss didn't remain cool for too long...maybe it retained it's coolness for a few days...at most. Yet, I've grown reattached to boss over the last few year. Whenever I use it, I love to watch the word "relic" display itself on my listener's faces. As for the Raquel Welch poster, it understandably retained its appeal for years, but slowly came apart from being tacked, taped up, and taken down in all those bedrooms, dorm rooms and apartments over the years...simply stunning. - John  
 This is my favorite fountain pen. I use it to write the first drafts of many of the the reviews and other creations of mine that you find all over the website.
It's my red Rembrandt by Visconti.
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