Under the Sun: Andy Weinberger, bookseller

Under the Sun: Andy Weinberger, bookseller

The proprietor of Reader’s Books talks with The Sun’s Anna Pier about how the shop began, 30 years in the business and his own writing career. 

So, 30 years. How did it all get started? It’s been quite a ride, quite a ride. Lilla and I were always in the writing world. I’ve been writing since I was 12, and Lilla editing, speech writing in Washington, and ghost writing. She helped Ved Mehta write his book on Gandhi’s disciples.

Tell me about meeting Lilla. In the summer of ’72 we were both in Pasadena. We’d always known each other. I had written a fairy tale about elephants, “Drabo the Storyteller.” Lilla said she could take photos at the zoo to illustrate it. We self-published it and sold it at little bookstores. Then we got married and had a house in downtown LA. 

Talk more about you as a writer. My childhood ambitions went from garbage man to doctor –until I realized science wasn’t for me – then to lawyer and, in high school, poet. After Pasadena City College I went to the University of New Mexico which had a big poetry scene. Gary Snyder was there, Allen Ginsberg. But my father was always telling me “You’ll never make a living as a poet.” So I called him up one day to tell him he was right. “I want to do something more commercial,” I said. “I want to be a novelist.” In the 70’s I wrote three or four novels. Lilla was working and I was at home writing and fixing dinner. And we had the two boys. I got many rave rejection notices. For three years I worked on a novel about a working class guy from Altadena who worked at Sears. It went nowhere. Finally I quit writing. It had become a burden. I became a case manager for a mental health organization for deinstitutionalized patients. 

What was next? Various moves and jobs, including teaching ESL in Japan for a year. Fast forward a couple of decades, and we moved to the Berkshires. We thought about a bookstore, but my best friend had one there, and I didn’t want to compete. 

Somewhere in here you’re going to get to Sonoma. My brother had moved to Sonoma in the 70’s, and our parents had come out later, so we visited every winter. Then in the spring of ’91 Lilla was out here and noticed that there was no literary bookstore. She came home, and the next day we put our house on the market. That summer we moved here, and found 127 E. Napa, in the old stone building across the street. Reader’s Books opened in November of ’91.  

What are some highlights over the years? In ’94, we had our Poetry Festival with Bill Moyers. Bantam was publishing his book The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets, and had a contest for the “best promo.” We beat out even the New York Public Library. We closed E. Napa and had poets on soap boxes in the street. We were in the 4th of July parade as Beatniks, wearing sunglasses, berets and flip-flops, and reciting Howl. We had published a book of local poets. We put a poem in each Sonoma Market shopping bag. We got the whole town participating. I think the store has been a gift to Sonoma. The level of enrichment going on. All the great writers we brought here to read from their newest book. Michael Cunningham, Michael Chabon, Deepak Chopra, J.K Rowling, Philip Pullman, many others. And Sonoma’s own Ada Limón, poet, who was also Reader’s Book’s first employee. A local customer once was in the store looking around, and remarked to me, “I don’t think Sonoma deserves a bookstore like this.”

Let’s talk about you as a novelist. You’re about to publish your third mystery novel. In 2015 I moved to LA to join Lilla who, after working for Obama, was directing a foster youth organization. I called the bookstore everyday, but I was at home in our apartment in Park La Brea without much to do. So I started writing the Amos Parisman books. Lilla knew the first one, An Old Man’s Game, before she died, knew what the cover would be like and everything. It was published in 2018, A Reason to Kill in 2020, and Kindness of Strangers comes out this April.

How was the big 30th Anniversary event? It was a huge success. Hundreds of folks trooped through and I got to see old friends I hadn’t seen in ages! 

Do you imagine a 40th anniversary? Dunno. I will be pretty decrepit by then. But I hope to keep writing novels until they carry me out on a board. 

What do you think is the future of printed books? I expect they will continue. The public seems to have a need for that kind of tactile experience. Being a bookseller has afforded me a great life with a bounty of witty friends and colleagues. What more can you ask for?