Mary Cotton and her husband, Jaime Clarke, are living their dream of owning their own bookstore, Newtonville Books, and providing what Mary calls a “happy space” for their many customers. Now celebrating its twenty-fifth year, Newtonville Books began its commercial life in Newtonville Square — the creative vision of its original owner, Tim Huggins — where Mary Cotton was a happy employee, working on her master’s degree in English Literature. She was enchanted with the store’s high ceilings and old-fashioned, private-library feel.
Then one day, in best novelistic tradition, in walked Jaime Clarke, writer and teacher (at UMass), and it was almost instantaneous love, surrounded by the world’s literature. They married and began thinking about buying a book store. In 2007, Tim Huggins decided it was time to move on, and Mary and Jaime moved in — as owners, where Mary reigned happily until 2013, when the landlord decided not to extend their lease. At the same time, the need to relocate prompted a recognition of the store’s opportunity to serve a larger community, with Newton Center as the hub among all of Newton’s villages. And, by fortune’s happy hand, they found their current large storefront space at 10 Langley Road.
Mary is the constant visual presence at Newtonville Books, which is open Monday-Saturday from 10AM to 8PM and Sundays from noon to 6PM. (Jaime handles much of the business aspects.) “I didn’t have a business background,” Mary explained, noting that she is “learning by doing – constantly.” In addition to its eclectic inventory of current fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, special interest, best sellers, and classics, Mary offers cards of every description, novelty socks, t-shirts, toys, calendars, diaries, decorations, pens…. The store is divided by movable book shelves, providing places for browsers, people who want to sample the literary offerings, children who want to look at picture books or the limitless young readers’ options, and a sunny area to consider new books. For Mary, the private-library model remains an essential aspect of the store and she has created that space with careful placement of bookshelves around two inviting armchairs.
When Covid hit, Newtonville Books was forced to close its doors to the public. While the hiatus clearly provoked anxiety, it also gave Mary and Jaime time to “think about new things …that would help promote other businesses.” Their first initiative was offering curbside pick-up to an isolated customer-base badly in need of books and games. They also offered curated gift boxes: Customers would tell Mary about the personal taste of someone on their gift list, and she and her employees would find and fill a gift box for the designated recipient. In fact, gift-curating is popular among the online-book reading folk, too: They bring gift lists for Mary to fill.
Now that Newtonville Books and other stores are open again, Mary is fulfilling her other goal of linking events with local businesses. On Tuesday, March 21, author Alisha Fernandez Miranda appeared at Newtonville Books to sign her new book, My What If Year, and then spoke about the book at the Moldova Restaurant while guests painted wine glasses under the tutelage of the Paint Bar — thereby promoting three Newton businesses. On Wednesday, March 22, Newtonville Books is partnering with West Newton Cinema, where author and director John Sayles will discuss his new novel, Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey, now on sale at the bookstore. And on April 1, Thistle & Leek restaurant will host David and John Moscow, authors of their new cookbook, From Scratch.
Newtonville Books has resumed its schedule of in-store launches and readings of new books as well as its two book clubs: Guna’s Bookclub and the Drop-in Crafters Book Club for people engaged in a range of craft activities. The book clubs offer “ways to come together that people couldn’t do during the pandemic,” Mary said. Last week, author Jonathan Wilson discussed and read from his new novel, The Red Balcony.
At 3PM on April 2, Temple Beth Avodah’s Rabbi, Keith Stern, will read Passover stories to children. The bookstore carries a wide variety of Passover-related books, as well as Easter- and Spring-themed inventory.
Mary believes Newtonville Books thrives because Newton Center attracts walkers. People doing errands stop by to browse, and dogs and their walkers are welcome. Often people waiting to be seated at local restaurants stop by, or come in after dinner. Newtonville Books no longer carries used books, as it did at the Newtonville location, but as an example of her belief that more choice is good for the community, Mary is looking forward to the arrival of the Good Dog, a store that will carry used books, scheduled to open soon nearby at 1187 Center Street.
Check out these upcoming events at Newtonville Books:
- March 22, 6:30PM at West Newton Cinema: Jonathan Sayles signing Jamie MacGillivray: The Renegade’s Journey
- March 26, 2PM: Guna’s Book Club discusses The Great Believers
- March 28, 7PM: Jennifer Rosner (Once We Were Home) and Laura Spence-Ash (Beyond That, the Sea)
- March 29, 5:30PM-7PM: A Crafty Bookgroup
- April 1, 1PM-2:30PM at Thistle & Leek: David and Jon Moscow discuss From Scratch
- April 1, 7PM: Steve Almond (All the Secrets of the World) and Robert Lopez (Dispatches from Puerto Nowhere)
- April 2, 3PM: Rabbi Keith Stern reads in Passover Story Time
- April 3, 7PM: Dr. David Stamps talks about Representation Matters
