This is why you will be happy, once we are re-opened, after such a delay.
A bookstore-cafe, after all, is the last place you’d go in a hurry.
Although a bookstore-cafe unlocks the cultural life of the surrounding area, some are so special that they are destinations in their own right. Although we may not yet be comparable to the Montague Bookmill, a 19th century structure in Massachusetts, we have found a marvelous pre-statehood building in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
To paraphrase the review for the Montague: McHuston Booksellers is owned by author Larry J. Hoefling, (Nils Thor Granlund: A Biography; Pittsburg County: A History; Chasing the Frontier, a Social History; What’s in a Name, non-fiction; and other works) whose previous experience has included television, radio, newspaper writing, Irish Pub ownership, and fast food operations. McHuston Booksellers will offer that experienced mixture of literary and culinary experiences, designed to suit the book-lover and Irish cuisine aficionado. Okay, there won’t be lamb on the menu. (That was always pointed out to me by recent returnees from Ireland, who sniffed at my beef-based Irish Stew. My response? This is Oklahoma. We eat beef, not Bambi. OK? Well, anyway… although Bambi was not a sheep, I’m hoping you get the point…)
McHuston Booksellers offers new and used books as well as the occasional poetry readings (it could happen, maybe even immediately, who knows?), a happy staff, acoustic music, and Irish comfort food. And the BA downtown’s anticipated neo-music scene threatens to come alive with posters and handbills! Yet the literary life-center of Broken Arrow cannot extend far beyond McHuston’s, where – amid the coffee, the books and the music — is an understanding of the classic and contemporary written word and the stories that become our lives.
McHuston Booksellers may become the most magical heart of winter. If snowflakes find their way into Oklahoma at some point, that late evening sun will filter into the windows onto McHuston’s wood-style floors. There are corners to be investigated. Grab a coffee or hot chocolate and find a resting spot for yourself. Read, chat, or simply listen to the voices around you; the literary river is running and the pages are turning and downloading all around you.
Come visit us. We are just weeks away from opening.