A Rainy Day Reading

It was a rainy day, similar to those that one wants to stay home, make a cup of coffee and relax, watching favorite TV program. I decided that it was a day for me when I wanted to do something different. I started going over my homework assignments, and here it was, idea of going to Dutton’s bookstore. The weather was very cold and rainy. It was not a long drive, since I live on Fulton and Oxnard, in a few minutes I was there. I parked my car and went to the bookstore. Same old and my favorite Dutton’s Bookstore.

Every time I go to Dutton’s I discover new things for my self. Every time I look at it differently. More I go more carefully I look around. I see things that are new to me, in reality there are old and they have been there forever, I did not pay enough attention to them last time.


As I walked in to Dutton’s this time, first thing that caught my eye was a book called “Life is a movie”. Isn’t that right? Our whole life is a movie. Then I went to music section, where they had all the music books. That was time when I realized that there was music playing in the bookstore. It matched with the environment perfectly. They had classical music on, which made the environment of the bookstore even more comfortable. This time I looked around and asked my self, “What do I see new this time?” One might think that after visiting the same bookstore too many times, you won’t find anything new. That doesn’t apply to Dutton’s. Each time I go there is something new there.

This time I was amazed by a picture that they had on a wall. I was looking around and something very colorful caught my eye. It was a beautiful picture hanging on the wall, hidden in the back by some boxes where nobody would even think to look for books. I didn’t quiet understand what it was but to me it was an island. It was very different picture, one of those that you have to look at carefully to find a meaning in it. Dutton’s is very unique not only because of the books that they have but because those entire different things that one might see, if they only let their imagination free.

While I was at Dutton’s I didn’t think about time. I did not know how long I have been there. It was one of those cases when you don’t care about time. When I realized that I had never looked at my watch, I started to look for a clock at Dutton’s. I was surprised, it was right in front of me, all that time, but I have never looked at it. Walls of books don’t let you see the clock. You forget about time as soon as you walk in to the bookstore. The time becomes unimportant.

Books in my opinion should be defined as magical instruments. When a person reads a book he or she can experience an enchanting and beautiful ride through a wonderland of dreams. Books help us dreamers keep dreaming, and bookstores are certainly keeping history alive. Some of us collect books; books that we always want to read but never seem to have time for. Every book that we read is a history: of life, of love or of the world that we live in. Every time a person reads a book, he or she creates the environment, the characters and overall the whole world of that story in their mind. Every person’s imagination is unique. While reading the book, we look at the story from different sides; it’s as if we are in the story but invisible.

Dutton’s bookstore has become one of my favorite places. It helps me to bring back memories from my homeland, from Yerevan, and like William Wallis says in his Dutton’s Books poem, “Pile of books and prints are vague mirrors where/ The film of the memory stretched behind you appears”(p 7). Dutton’s is an amazing bookstore, one of those that I have had in my country. I hope that Dutton’s bookstore lives forever and bring joys and happiness to all our lives. I would definitely recommend Dutton’s bookstore to people who haven’t been there yet. They should visit Dutton’s for their own challenge and knowledge.