What if there as a warm, welcoming neighbohood bookstore offering a fireside reading lounge, with exceptional coffee and milkshakes and sandwiches, that featured the finest in contemporary and classic literature and downplayed the cheezy, pop-lit, flash-in-the-pan stuff,

and then…

upstairs…

next to the childrens’ reading-and-playing area… there were comfortable reading chairs arranged alongside shelves featuring the works of Thomas Merton, G.K. Chesterton, Henri Nouwen, C.S. Lewis, Phillip Yancey, Eugene Peterson, Donald Miller, Madeleine L’Engle, Dick Staub, Luci Shaw…

It’s not a dream.

It’s called The Next Chapter, and it’s in La Conner, Washington. It’s the model of a perfect neighborhood bookstore. It’s the kind of bookstore I’ve dreamed about. John and Sharon Connell have been quietly offering this wonderful little shop for eight years. Check it out.

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