On the eve of Reading Rock Books' Grand Opening, I spoke with Laura Hill who is the co-owner of the store. She's in partnership with her sister Amy Jernigan which was unfortunately not present. They have a beautiful book store which is very warm and inviting. The even offer free coffee. Enjoy the interview and go check them out sometime.

Sean: First tell me a little about yourself.

Laura: Well I'm Laura Hill. I worked for two independent book stores in Los Angeles. One was called Duttons Books in North Hollywood. They have been open since 1964. I sadly only got to work there for only a year before the owners decided that they were going to retire and close the store. After that I became a manager at a store called Portrait of a Bookstore in Toluca Lake California. They were really small and had lots of gift items and wonderful books. Their book buyer Lucia Silva is on NPR twice a year. It was just a really wonderful store and a great experience [with a] great staff. So that's my background in books. In terms of who I am, I grew up in this area. Not in Dickson, but I went to Houston County Schools. Same with my sister, we both went to school there. That's me.

S: Kind of a typical question, but who's your favorite author?

L: Lorrie Moore. She has really fantastic short stories. She's actually written two novels,one of which I haven't read yet because she's only gotten five books out. I've read four of them and I want to save one, because I don't know how soon another one will come out (laughs). Her short stories are really stellar. Her two novels, Anagrams and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital, I've read Who Will Run the Frog Hospital. It was really good, but the short stories. . . it's amazing how she can put so much emotion and impact in just a few pages. I love novels and I usually always read fiction but to have that much power in just a few pages. It just blows me away.

S: About the store, what type of books or genres do you carry here?

L: We carry a little bit of everything. We have fiction and literature. Also in fiction we have romance, mysteries, suspense, fantasy and sci-fi. We have a little humor section. In general, non fiction like history and biographies. One of our biggest sections is our children section. We also have travel, sports, crafts, and local interest. When I was looking at the other stores in town, because there's already the Lighthouse which is a Christian book store and Volume One is just down the street and they have a huge Christian fiction section, I chose not to have those because I thought nobody was going to come here for that anyways. So when people come in and ask I just send them down to Volume One because I know they have a great selection down there. So that's pretty much what we have.

S: Obviously you have the competition of Volume One. What market do you think you fill?

L: I guess the market that I would fill is just that we have different stuff than anybody else in town. I try not to overlap with Volume One. So I think with anything whether it's books, movies, or music, different things are going to appeal to different people. I think we're just going to have a different part of the book crowd, part of the book culture.

S: It looks really calm and peaceful here. It's kind of inviting. It has almost a House Blend kind of feel where people can just sit down and read and socialize a bit more. Is that what you are trying to move towards.

L: Yeah, I hope that that is something that happens. In the future we'll hopefully have more books or more seating. We have a little bit of floor space in the open part of the front room that we're not using. I would like it if we could use it for another table. Eventually we want to have WiFi and we have only one table. So I would like it if we could do a little bit more of that.

S: I read in the Herald that you were going to have a book club or two. Can you tell me about that?

L: Right now we are starting out with just one. It's a book club that we are doing with House Blend. It was actually their idea. Jeremy from House Blend came down to me and talked about it. Jeremy and Holly are both so nice. I was really excited to say, “Yes. Absolutely. I would love to.” To have some part of my business associated with theirs which is so beautiful and so nicely done. Basically what we're doing is we're going to pick out a different book each month and we'll meet on the last Tuesday of each month to discuss the book. During the month that that book is chosen, it'll be 15% off here at the store. For the first meeting I'll be leading the discussion. I might for the first two or three, but what we're kind of hoping will happen is as the group gets larger and more sure of itself, different people can start leading the discussion and helping to choose the book.

S: So you haven't had your first meeting yet, but have you had a good response towards the idea?

L: We've had some, with is great for me. I don't know how many people have talked to Jeremy about it at House Blend, but we've had a couple of people buy the book already and express interest.

S: What was the book?

L: It's called Out Stealing Horses. That's the first book we're doing. It's by Per Petterson. I cheated and already picked a book that I've already read and love. So I just have to reread it. It's amazing. It's just a great book.

S: Do you think the overall reading of books has declined?

L: No, I don't! I think that's a common thing that people think. One of the reasons why I think that that's no the case is first you got Harry Potter. Then Stephani Myers is going crazy with everybody buying all her books. Also, even though it's a huge threat to my industry, things like The Kindle that Amazon put out. They wouldn't be doing it if people weren't reading. I think that as more books are being made into movies, that wouldn't be as popular if people weren't being receptive to the book in the first place.

S: That was a different answer than what I was expecting (laughs).

L: Well, I'm young, so I don't know what it was like before. But I see people excited about books. I didn't start working in the book industry until after Harry Potter had happen. Harry Potter is an event (laughs)! The first one is ten years old now. I think that really changed things in a lot of ways. Those kids that first read that, they're in their twenties now. They're changing the market.

S: If you could write a book about Dickson County, what would be a fitting title?

L: I think they already have one. They've got that great slogan that's on the mural down the street, “Our country roads have many tales to tell.” I think that's really a great title for a book. It's true there's so much history here and so many different cultural aspects that are happening here in Dickson County, and always have. That's really a great thing about it.

S: Now you have the website, www.thereadingrock.com. What can people find on there and how often is it updated?

L: I try to update it at least once every two weeks, at least that's what I've been doing so far. On it you will find our book reviews that we try to put up as soon as we finish a book. That's usually when it's the freshest in your mind and you'll have the most to say about it. [You can find] our recommendations from myself and my sister Amy. We have on there a list of the best of the best for us, the books we love the most. [You can find] information about the gift baskets that we do. We have these baskets full of books that we pay one lump price for instead of individually. There are directions, telling how to get here, and a photo gallery. What's up there right now is pictures of us when we were getting the store ready. After we have our grand opening tomorrow, I'll put up pictures of that.