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Lillah Lawson

BookBound: Avid Bookshop

August 15, 2019 Leave a Comment

A beloved local bookstore in Athens, GA

Lillah Lawson, author of Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree

There’s something about Avid Bookshop that makes me think of a charming Britcom. Standing in the quaint, historical building on Athens’ historical Prince Avenue, among rows of artfully placed books, the mid-day sun streaming brightly through the rounded windows, I half expect a blustering, quirky neighbor with a posh-but-flustered lilt to come barreling in, amid a flood of papers and manuscripts, the door slamming a little too hard behind him. He’ll take up residence in one of the corners, at home among the card-stock prints, magnets and coffee, and begin banging on the vintage typewriter, writing a whodunit to rival Agatha Christie, only popping up his head now and again to say something clever and a little biting, followed by a polite, clipped laugh track.

I have no idea where this fantasy comes from. In actuality, Avid Bookshop, located at 493 Prince Avenue, Athens, GA, just down the way from the infamous Daily Co-Op, and right beside historic Fire Hall #2, is as uniquely Southern as it gets. The bookstore, just shy of a decade old, is one of our storied town’s most beloved local businesses. With its loyal fanbase of dedicated readers and patrons, Avid has enjoyed immense success over the years; so much so, they opened a second location in popular Five Points a few years ago to meet customer demand. 

Avid Bookshop opened the Prince Avenue store – its first, original location – in 2011. The business, buoyed by the vision of owner Janet Geddis (and in part, crowdfunded by locals who thirsted for another indie bookstore, after the sad demise of everyone’s favorite newstand, Barnett’s, in 2008), started out small, with just seven shelves. Housed in the former Athens Fire Station, the store and it’s event room next door (tied into the Athens Heritage Foundation) still has the open, airy energy of it’s historical past – the building itself seems to almost beckon, to say, “come in.”  

Fire Hall #2 was built in 1901, and the polished, pleasantly-creaking wood floors and large, open windows tell the tale of a time gone by. According to a smiling employee, “you can almost still smell the firehouse,” which, for me, conjured up the smell of motor oil, rumbling engines, and cigar smoke (that’s just the writer in me projecting; I honestly have no idea what a firehouse smells like). The building was also briefly home to a hair salon, but it wasn’t until Avid moved in that the building once again came into its own. It didn’t take long for Avid Bookshop to take off running; with it’s artistic, creative local flair, emphasis on supporting fellow local businesses, and support of local authors and artists, Avid quickly gained a huge following. With readers and industry professionals alike beginning to sour on huge retail outlets like Amazon and Walmart, Avid easily stepped in to deliver what customers yearned for: a quirky local store with amazing books and engagement with the local scene. While I was there, snapping photos, several customers came in to browse, each of them greeted warmly, most of them greeted by name.

In addition to peddling books – bestsellers, children’s books, local literature and everything in between – Avid sells writing accessories, greeting cards, art, coffee and more. They host a wide variety of events every single week: book signings and launches for local authors (as well as notable celebrity authors such as David Sedaris and Chelsea Clinton, to name a couple); storytime and other child-friendly events (they recently took part in a nationwide Where’s Waldo event); the store also takes part in socially conscious activities, events and movements – they are active in local Pride events, Bookstores Without Borders, and more. I once accompanied my son to a huge Pokemon Go event at Avid; he had a ball searching for illusive Poke-whatevers while I thumbed through a David Bowie-themed coloring book that I’m 100% certain I never would have found at any other bookstore. For that alone, they get an A+ in my book!

Avid Bookshop’s Five Points location

The store’s Five Points location – which, built in the 1920s, enjoys its own historical legacy and clientele – is located at 1662 Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA, right beside Condor Chocolates (do go and have a latte and a cloud boulder after you buy your books). The Five Points store boasts a wider selection of genre-based literature, including larger Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Historical and Romance sections. I was pleased to discover this, as so many indie bookstores (rightly) face criticism for not considering Romance a legitimate genre. There’s also an amazing kids’ section, complete with a huge wooden boat with twinkling electric-blue lights that my son immediately set up as his second home (seriously, I had to force him to leave). It’s a homey space, the sturdy old building clean and every bit as inviting as the signature vintage typewriters that grace both locations. I’m still picturing that silly, charming neighbor pecking away at the keys, writing the Next Great Novel.

Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree by Lillah Lawson, a Regal House Publishing title
to be released September 20, 2019

The employees at Avid – all of them friendly and eager to please – are approachable and knowledgeable. They are always on hand to recommend their favorite novels to you, to participate in the myriad events that Avid hosts, and talk up the great reads that grace their shelves. When I went into Avid last week to take photos for this article, I was greeted with a wide smile. “You wrote Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree! I loved that book!” Reader, I must confess that made my day. Not to sound trite, but the staff at Avid love their store, love their job, love the books, and it shows. Just a cursory glance at their glossy, inviting Instagram page will prove it. It’s a haven, a book-lovers paradise.

When I got my publishing deal, and I began to think about things like book launches and signings, Avid was my first choice – I knew that my very first signing for my debut novel would have to be here. There simply was no other option. As a life-long Georgian, born and raised just outside of Athens, local culture is hugely important to me, and those reciprocal relationships between local indie businesses and their clientele are the lifeblood of creatives and business owners alike. There’s something about loving your home, sharing that love by supporting its art and the artists behind it, and championing the entrepreneurs that make it possible. In the era of the chain-store, and shopping with a click, it can be hard for local businesses to stay afloat, especially when many of these large retail outlets undercut so extensively. It’s hard out there; and we all know that not everyone can afford to always shop local. But when you can, do. Just that bit of support can make all the difference in helping a local business thrive. Plus, it just makes you feel good.

As I was outside, cursing myself for trying to take a photo of a shopfront in the midday sun (the worst light ever), it occurred to me that my own O.T. Lawrence and Sivvy Hargrove might have passed by this historic shopfront in their old beat-up truck, on their way back to Five Forks, Georgia. It’s the type of building O.T. Lawrence would appreciate – beautiful without being boastful; sturdy and built to last.

Living in Athens means being spoiled for choice when it comes to historical buildings and cool places to visit. From the old Farmer’s Hardware building to the “R.E.M” steeple; from the beloved Georgia Theatre that rose from the ashes to the celebrated Morton Theatre where I once saw Alice Walker speak; from the double-barreled cannon to the Tree that Owns Itself – any tourist would find a lot to marvel over. I humbly suggest popping into Avid Bookshop the next time you’re exploring our town. The books are the main draw, of course, but the atmosphere of the place alone makes it well worth the visit, and the main reason why Avid is named among the “Best of Athens” almost every year. I’ve been a patron of Avid’s for years, and I’m super proud that next month, I’ll not only be a customer, but an author whose book graces their storied shelves.

Check out Avid online to peruse their selection, buy a book, or to find out more about my signing and other local events, at www.avidbookshop.com. You can also find out more about the shop and their upcoming events on Avid’s Facebook Page (Facebook.com/AvidBookshop).


Join Lillah Lawson at Avid Bookshop in Athens, GA, for the launch event of her lush work of historical fiction, Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree, that has been hailed as “a love letter to the resilient people of Georgia.” We encourage you to purchase a copy of the book from Avid Bookshop (help support indie bookstores!) and get it signed by the author!

Lillah Lawson lives in North Georgia—not far from Five Forks—with her husband and son, a silly dog and two slightly evil cats. When she’s not writing, you can find her baking, playing bass, marathoning ’80s sitcoms, or out on her bike. She is currently working on another historical
fiction novel, set in the late 1960s.

Filed Under: Book Bound, Regal House Titles Tagged With: Avid Bookshop, BookBound, Lillah Lawson

Written on the Wind

January 3, 2018 Leave a Comment

mountain view in GeorgiaHalfway to Tallulah Falls, my son spills his entire bottle of Gatorade into his lap. “Um, Mommmmmay?” He says in a tentative, keening voice, emphasis on the last syllable, the way he always does, adding a frantic edge to what is not really an emergency. “I spilled my drink.” I sigh, tilting back my own water bottle and taking an eager gulp. Thankfully I have leather seats, though we didn’t bring any spare pants and I have no idea how he’s going to hike down a mountain with his butt soaked through.

“We’ll figure it out,” I say to my husband, who is in the driver’s seat, and turn up the radio, melting into the sunlight-warmed car, listening to the equally sunny, warm voice of Chris Cornell. I’m happy, because I’ve just signed a contract with Regal House Publishing for my much-beloved-and-agonized-over manuscript, Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree. I haven’t told anyone yet, save for the two people in this car with me, and my friend Alice. We are taking an impromptu drive to the mountains – one of my biggest sources of inspiration, and part of the novel’s locale – to celebrate. We’ve had coffee and breakfast already, and soaked pants or not, we’re going out into the air to watch the last remnants of autumn drift from the trees. The burgundy, green-yellow, and day-glow orange of the leaves cannot wait for us any longer.

The mountains are my happy place. Long before I ever knew I had ancestors who hailed from there, I relished my visits to Helen, to Hiawassee, to Tallulah Gorge, to Mt. Airy. There is a quality to the air, and it’s not just the clean, thin breath of the mountain, the fog that settles over the crisp leaves – it’s the spirit there, the life-force. You can taste it, you can feel it running over your skin, making it cool. The way the light falls on the red earth, the mottled gray-brown trees, the blue of the sky – like the most underrated colors in the Crayola box, they alight my senses and make me breathe in deep. If you listen, you can hear the whispers of the trees.

Lillah Lawson Regal House authorUp the mountain, we stop in the gift shop and buy the kid a pair of leggings and a piece of rock candy in his newest favorite color; cyan. On the way outside, he stops to study a taxidermied fox. We visit the museum exhibit, and I point out the boxcars, the butter churn, the crisp, thin white dresses with their square collars; all relics from a time gone by, with lessons to be gleaned. He nods, but isn’t really paying attention. What use does an eight year old have for sack dresses? He wants to get outside, into the air, to touch the stone and bark, to walk the paths, to hear the delicious crunch of the leaves beneath his feet, and I don’t blame him.

It is a bond we share, this love of the outdoors. Together we have traipsed through forests in Rutledge, swam in the lake beneath Mt. Airy, stood under Ana Ruby Falls, marveled at the ceremonial mounds in Sautee-Nacoochee, collected shells on the beach at Jekyll Island, touched statues in the square in Savannah, bent down to smell mountain herbs in Hiawassee, dipped our feet into the creek, counting turtles basking in the sunlight in Athens, and stood on the banks of the Oconee River in Nicholson, Georgia, fishing with my Papa.

Callum and Georgia MountainsWhen he was two he wandered off while I was putting his carseat in – I turned and he had vanished. Those ten minutes felt like hours, and when we found him, he was wandering out of the woods – the forests in Oconee County are heady and thick with skinny, gray-brown pine trees, tall and imposing, but full of a gentle kind of calm, as though benevolent ghosts might pass their days there in a cocoon of sweet silence – with our little beagle in tow, humming a little tune as his fat, toddler hands grazed each tree, oblivious and full of joy. He is a natural wanderer, my kid – and while it isn’t always ideal, and are sometimes stressful, these wanderings – I always understand them. I always understand him. In so many ways just like me, but in others so wholly different, so pure and clear-eyed and awake. I feel I know him better than I’ve ever known myself. He is a natural wanderer, fluent in the woods, a real-life tree hugger. He has always felt at home there in the silence of the woods, a place where he is heard and understood, nurtured and adored.

It is a gift I passed along to him, the one I’m most grateful for. Just like every other kid his age, he’s more interested in video games, Captain Underpants and YouTube videos than he is anything else, but he’ll stop everything if I say, “Want to go for a hike?”
I make it a point to walk behind him, present and ready should he have need of me, but content to watch his footfalls on the path, clumsy and childlike but full of innocent purpose. He blazes down trails, forgetting us, forgetting all. He has been begging for a compass for years but he doesn’t really want one – he has his own sense of purpose, his own rhythm that he dances to. I think when he’s an adult, he’ll really love Thoreau.

Georgia mountain streamWhen he graduates high school, I plan to take him on a hike through the Appalachian Trail. I haven’t told him yet, but it’s a secret dream. It seems poignant, appropriate. I can picture him, sweaty blonde hair, cheeks flushed with red in the cool air, panting with exertion, a heavy backpack weighing down wide shoulders. Undoubtedly he’ll have spilled his Gatorade on his pants, or tripped and skinned a knee, but there will be joy.

For now, my husband and I follow his lead, his skinny legging-clad legs pumping double time down the small trail, as though we’re late for something important. As it turns out, we are – just as we arrive at the first viewing platform, the people gathered there drift away and we see that the noon day sun has just settled on the trickling water, glinting off the rocks, making them look like diamonds. It is what photographers call perfect light. The water pools, and the cool air hints at what it might feel like to dip your fingers in. We stand there, forgetting to take our photos, content instead to just stand and bear witness. People fall away, and it’s just us there, the rock solid and welcoming beneath our feet, the water below quietly trickling a Hello.

My son takes a mischievous look around, and seeing no people in his vicinity, gives us a sly grin and lies down right on the rock, spreading out his arms and legs, closing his eyes and tilting back his head to the sun. He is making a stone-angel.

I laugh, shake my head, and say, “You’re ridiculous.” It’s true, but its said with the utmost love and respect, because it is a kind of ridiculous I understand, and covet, and miss.
He grins, but doesn’t answer. There’s no needs for words here. They are all unspoken, written on the wind.

Regal House author Lillah LawsonLillah Lawson is the author of the upcoming work of historical fiction Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree. When she isn’t writing, you can find her out traipsing through the forest, cycling, playing bass, or parked in a corner with her nose in a book. She currently resides in North Georgia, where she lives out in the country with her husband, son, her two sardonic cats and a goofy dog.

Filed Under: Regal Authors Tagged With: Georgia, Lillah Lawson, Monarchs Under the Sassafras Tree, Regal House

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