Lopez Bookshop

Welcome to Lopez Bookshop, a full service, independent bookstore founded in 2011. We carry a diverse and eclectic selection of new and used books. All our inventory is chosen with care by our staff, each of whom has a true passion for books and reading.

It is important to us to keep things fresh and respond to the needs of our community, that’s why things look a little different each time we open for the day. Our latest big change is the expansion of our used book selection, which is now considerably larger and more eclectic and has spilled into a new room just outside our main door.

We always love discussing our books or learning about new ones with our customers. It is the continual support and intellectual curiosity of all of you that keeps us going. Please stop by to have a browse or share a conversation with another book lover.

Camilla

In my other lives I am a beekeeper and illustrator. You will find my drawings and creations around the shop, and here in the form of our staff portraits! When I’m not at the bookshop I bicycle around the island looking after my bees and listening to audio books. I love a literary surprise so I’m drawn to the weird and wonderful like Leone Ross’s Popisho, or Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun. Illustrated books for children are one of my favorite inspirations as an illustrator. I’m excited by work that ignites a sense of wonder and possibility. Bold colors and humorous squiggles will always capture my interest but I love the more subdued old classics as well. Barbara Cooney and Jill Barklem will always stand among my favorites and I find something new and lovely even after reading their books a million times!

Elizabeth

Playing music is one of my favorite activities. I love to drive down to the beach around sunset and play guitar among the gentle sounds of waves. It is near the ocean that I am my best self, I could not imagine living somewhere without it. Reading and painting are also two things I enjoy to do by the ocean. Ironically, The Alchemist by Paul Coelho is my most loved and numerously read book, even though it is set in a desert. I am fascinated by biology and specifically plants. I have recently begun to study the ways of plants and trees and nature. A wonderful autobiography from an inspirational geobiologist is Lab Girl by Hope Jahren.

Hilary

Books have always been enormously important to me. As a child, I escaped into and explored whole new worlds. As a student and an adult, I savored the beauty of language and found connection with others, both characters on the page and also those sharing and discussing the pages with me. As a mother, shared stories have always brought our family together – from bedtime stories to dinnertime debates. I believe in the power of words to create empathy and connection, to sustain curiosity and creativity. I think that often, books that harness childrens’ perspectives and speak to people of all ages do this best – Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and Noviolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names are two recent examples. Outside of the bookshop, my passions are spending time with my family, walking in the woods, and trying to find ever-evolving ways to support maternal, child, and family health.

Juniper

I was born and raised in the San Juan Islands and believe in the necessity of story and the magic of tea and the nourishment that can be drawn from both. I believe in my ancestors, in the natural world, in honesty, and in love. Both in and out of the bookshop, I work in the alchemy of creativity, which appears most frequently in the form of fine art, embroidered and historically inspired garments, and the written word. Most of these creative pursuits are done to the backdrop of audiobooks which makes tangible the feeling that my world is woven together by stories. Some of my favorites are, in no particular order, the All Souls Trilogy and Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, and Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series.