By Barry Owens
Eighth Day Books, that shop on the corner of Douglas Avenue and Erie Street where the usual bookstore hush is close to reverential, was not quite itself one night last month. The regulars were there, but they had not come to quietly peruse the shelves or discuss books so much as to celebrate the man who had brought them to the neighborhood.
Warren Farha opened the shop in 1988 in Clifton Square, moved it to its current location in 2002, and last month, on October 18, celebrated his 19th year in business—all of it in the College Hill area.
“I didn’t know whether or not I would sell a book when I first opened,” he said. “There was no marketing plan. There was just the books, and that is what brought people—the books. It has created a community of its own that I have very little to do with.”
Among the community to turn out for the anniversary was neighbor Christiane Doom, who owns the shop next door, Hannah Banana. She purchased a handful of books, each of them selected for her by Farha.
“It’s like when you want a great steak and you go to your favorite local restaurant where the server really knows what he is talking about and can help you pair it with a great wine,” she said. “That is kind of how Warren is—he can suggest books to compliment.”
There was Jay Jones, a devoted regular, who said he too trusts Farha.
“He has either read, or has a strong opinion of every book on the shelf,” he said.
And there was Ze Bernardinello.
“There are things on these shelves you won’t find anywhere else in the city, our even the country,” she said. “It’s just an awesome collection.”
“People think it is just a Christian bookstore,” she added, pointing out the philosophy section. “But there is Sartre, and Nietzsche. All the boys are up there.”
Religion, history and literature titles are the shop’s niche, but there are books on the shelf with cross-over appeal. Among the recent arrivals: The Beatles and Philosophy, and a suitable companion; The Love There That’s Sleeping: The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison.
“We’re very much committed to an interdisciplinary approach to truth,” Farha said during an interview later in the month. “We don’t want to be pigeonholed as just a religious bookstore, but we think that religion pervades every discipline.”
The neighborhood is blessed with two independent bookstores (Watermark Books in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center has devotees of its own), but Eighth Day Books is unique in that the selection is so carefully curated.
“It’s a particular sensibility about a community of books, not just about every book that is published,” Farha said.
Still, many of the titles could be found online. Why does he suppose his customers have remained so loyal over the years?
“Because they feel like they are part of the community, that they are not alone. People want to know that they are not alone, that there is something larger than themselves.”
Correction: In the printed version of this story published in The Commoner in November, the name of Christiane Doom, owner of Hannah Banana, is misspelled. It was corrected for the above version.
We regret the error.
