Books: A Memoir (by Larry McMurtry)
A few months ago, my husband and I watched the TV series, Fixer Upper: The Hotel, where Chip and Joanna Gaines transformed a building in Waco, Texas into The Hotel 1928. I was pleasantly surprised to watch Chip reveal to Joanna that he purchased Larry McMurtry’s bookstore, Booked Up, in Archer City, Texas in response to her request for a lot of books to fill the shelves of the library in their new boutique hotel. I sat fascinated watching Chip and Joanna scour the enormous store containing 300,000 books that McMurtry had acquired! It was also heartwarming that Chip created a special area in the hotel library to honor McMurtry with his picture and typewriter. You can see pictures of the hotel library on the hotel’s website here. It’s gorgeous!
Just in case you’re curious, below is a trailer for the Fixer Upper: Hotel TV series.
I found an article about Chip’s purchase of Booked Up that you can read here. It contains quality pictures and interesting information about Chip’s connection to Archer City, Texas.
Until now, I’ve only read Lonesome Dove, which is a series I fully intend to finish. I had no idea McMurtry was also an expert book collector and seller until I watched this TV show. I quickly learned he had written a book about his experience collecting books, which is appropriately titled, Books: A Memoir. I was intrigued and began searching for a copy. I purchased the Kindle version of Books. Now that I’ve read his book in which he expressed his opinion on digital and audio reading, I wonder if his mind changed over time.
Books: A Memoir, was first published in 2008. McMurtry opens this memoir sharing about his upbringing, which contained very few books. Archer City, Texas was a cowboy town, so people weren’t interested in reading. He first opened Booked Up in Washington, DC in the 1970s where he and his partner, Khristal Merklin, had a storefront for many years. Booked Up expanded to Houston, Dallas, and Tucson before opening the final storefronts in Archer City, Texas. This memoir contains short, quick chapters of informative and entertaining stories about McMurtry’s experiences buying books. As he explains, he received more pleasure from buying books than selling them.
I enjoyed learning about this aspect of McMurtry’s life. I was captivated and engaged the entire time, even when I had never heard of some of the authors he mentioned. This memoir truly highlights his literary skills and love for reading. He seldom mentions his writing career as he focuses on being a “bookman.” The business of book collecting was fascinating. I’m grateful I learned about Booked Up and this memoir.
McMurtry’s book-collecting partner continues to operate Booked Up strictly online. You can visit her virtual store here.
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