Do you ever find yourself using a word where you totally know the meaning of the word and are using it correctly, but at the same time, you realize you don’t really know what the word means?
Sometimes when you go looking at the history and etymology of the word, you find it’s even more apt and interesting than you realized.
Today’s word is “venerable” as in: The venerable Vroman’s Bookstore of Pasadena, California, a family business for 130 years is currently for sale to an outside buyer.
I have to imagine that I am not the only bookstore tourist out there — someone who makes sure to schedule time for visits to notable bookstores during their travels — and I’m pleased to say that I checked Vroman’s off my list 15 years ago during a visit to Southern California. While it may not be as storied in terms of its history as San Francisco’s City Lights or Paris’ Shakespeare and Company, continuously operating for 130 years makes Vroman’s more than deserving of the word “venerable.”
Now, being a bookstore guy, you will find me hard-pressed to find a store I don’t like, particularly one independently owned and rooted in a neighborhood, but Vroman’s is several cuts above the average bookstore. Uncommonly capacious at over 30,000 square feet (at the flagship location), it’s a store you can spend the day in, wandering around, enjoying the breadth and depth of offerings.
At least that’s what I did when I visited while my traveling companions spent the day at the beach. Fools.
Something “venerable” is old and deserving of respect. It is a recognition of lasting importance and impact. Imagine how many people have intersected with Vroman’s over the years, the number of books bought, the lives changed, the impact on a neighborhood when it has the benefit of an anchor like Vroman’s. It gets a little hard to fathom.
But in my etymological investigations of “venerable,” I found that the word is related not just to things old and respected, but to beauty as well via the Roman goddess Venus (which shares a root). In American culture, we tend to not associate age with beauty, but there is something beautiful about an institution this old, and important enough that its eventual changing of hands has become national news.
Vroman’s is currently owned by Joel Sheldon III, whose great-grandfather was the godson of the store’s originator, Adam Clark Vroman. The store has been run by the Sheldons since 1916. Joel Sheldon III intends to sell to whomever is most committed to maintaining the legacy of the store, rather than necessarily to the highest bidder.
Legacies are nice because you can’t take them away, and Vroman’s has already crossed the threshold of having made an indelible impact, but even better is to choose a future path that is sustainable. So many institutions that seemed venerable turned out to be vulnerable when greed went before mission.
I will admit that as the son of a mother who founded a neighborhood bookstore when I was a year old (The Book Bin in Northbrook), I have a bit of an emotional attachment to long-tenured bookstores and the importance of these stores to the communities in which they reside. I’m grateful that The Book Bin is still going after more than 50 years, and 30 years after my mom sold her stake in the store.
We need these places. We need people like Joel Sheldon III who recognize that cashing in is not the highest calling in American society. I wish him and the future caretakers of Vroman’s all the best for a great future.
John Warner is the author of “Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.”
Twitter @biblioracle
Book recommendations from the Biblioracle
John Warner tells you what to read based on the last five books you’ve read.
1. “The Frozen River” by Ariel Lawhon
2. “First Lie Wins” by Ashley Elston
3. “1,000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused and Productive All Year Round” by Jami Attenberg
4. “The Last Supper Club: A Waiter’s Requiem” by Matthew Batt
5. “The Road to Dalton” by Shannon Bowring
— Tammy G., Glendale, Wisconsin
When I think Wisconsin I think supper club, and seeing this list of books I think that J. Ryan Stradal’s “Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club” is the perfect fit.
1. “Electronic Greyhounds: The Spruance-Class Destroyers” by Michael C. Potter
2. “The Land That Time Forgot” by Edgar Rice Burroughs
3. “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy
4. “The Mysteries” by Bill Watterson
5. “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi
— Gordon H., Elmhurst
Gordon likes his sci-fi with a bit of wit and books that are part of a series, so I’m recommending Douglas Adams’ “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” the first of a trilogy.
1. “Lamb” by Christopher Moore
2. “The Brothers K” by David James Duncan
3. “American Tabloid” by James Ellroy
4. “Congo” by Michael Crichton
5. “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole
— Roger M., Las Cruces, New Mexico
An interesting and varied list. I feel like I want to recommend something with a nice dash of wit: “The Sellout” by Paul Beatty.
Get a reading from the Biblioracle
Send a list of the last five books you’ve read and your hometown to biblioracle@gmail.com.