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Rainy Day Books
Rating Details »
6 reviews for Rainy Day Books
I drive by this place all the time. The allure of the fantastic, simple name and their window display finally brought me in. Boy, am I glad to have found this safe haven for books.
It was so simple. Basic. Good books by good authors. What more of a review do you need?
Well, they also have had some amazing people stop by, including Al Gore, Annie Leibovitz, T. Boone Pickens (that crazy energy guy). Of course, they don't hang out at the tiny store, but at the Unity Temple at the Plaza.
This place feels like a reliable professor who always has the answers to those pressing questions in life...well, at least literature wise...
This is the premier indie bookstore in KC. For a bookstore, it's quite famous. It seems to be the go-to place for the NYT whenever they have a bookstore article. Also, it brings in many authors, including Al Gore.
You can get your books cheaper at Borders with coupons. RDB says their items are expensive because they're indie and you get a better customer service experience. I would sort of agree, although the increase in price seems vaguely cop-outish.
If you want to be on the edge of what's hot in books, then RDB will probably have it. If you want anything old, then go to Spivey's.
They also have a lot of cookbooks and design books.
Seeing current reviews for Rainy Day books got me all sentimental and I had to chime in.
I went to the now-torn-down Olathe location COUNTLESS times during my childhood. It's no wonder I was an English major, considering the tons of times my mom took me to find new books. I discovered lifelong favorite "The Egypt Game" here, which has stuck with me.
The current location has some really cool events (I missed David Sedaris recently. DAMMAT.) and makes me want to support local bookstores as much as possible. What a fitting name too. I la-la-lahve Rainy Day books!
Rainy Day Books has the name going for it - (when I went there today, it was very rainy) - it makes you want to read in bed all day. I needed a gift for a friend, a book apparently out of stock by Pearl S. Buck. I assumed of all the bookstores in the area, RDB's would know what to do - and they did.
While Barnes and Noble told me they would order the book and call me when it came (basically meaning, they would order it later only to find out it was out of stock by the publisher and that more needed to be printed.) Rainy Day, however, called the publisher while I was there and saved me the false hope of waiting around for Barnes and Noble to finally figure out that they couldn't help me!
The guy behind the counter informed me the publisher would let them know when more had been printed so that RDB's could go ahead and purchase some for their store.
Looking around, I noticed nearly everything looked readable to me. The staff smartly displays certain books that attract the eye, enticing you to pick up books you would otherwise never look twice at. Kudos for this. But the overall organization of the bookstore was disappointing. When I asked the man where the books on WWI were, he looked at me like I was crazy (a pet-peeve of mine in the service industry, I detest being looked at like a alien after I ask a damn question!) He pointed me to the general 'history' section and told me they would be somewhere spread out. I never found a WWI book...it was too scattered!
RDBooks is perfect for the following:
1. You don't have a book in mind, but you want to find a good one to read.
2. You DO have a book in mind and if they do not have it in stock, you'll order it through them.
3. You have children you want to find those classic children's books for, the ones you read as a kid.
4. You want to meet authors....
I love Rainy Day Books because it has connections to a greater literary world beyond KC. They sell tickets to these special book signing events - one of which I think I might surprise my mom with tickets to (the Ina Garten package, $35 for a ticket and her cookbook - not a bad deal!)
They also have book clubs and you can tell the people who work there LOVE books, almost in that snobbish sort of way, like they want to say, "We KNOW we're better read than you, yes," when they're showing you a book. After spending a few hours at The Strand in New York (the largest used book store in the US - it also employs the most notoriously rude, hyper-intellectuals on the East Coast) I'm a little sensitive to curt bookworms who would rather finish blogging than help you find a book they assume you wouldn't understand anyways.
But that's my irritation from The Strand carrying over - RDBook's really isn't that bad, I just tasted a little hint of that same spice.
Ever since the show Ellen, I wanted to run my own bookstore. Then I discovered that due to Barnes and noble, Borders etc, a greater business risk there is not. Rainy Day books has an established following and is a great little local bookstore.
I first heard about RDB when they were sponsoring a talk by my favorite author John Irving. Ever since then I have made an effort to support their great commitment to Kansas City's literary community and progress.
You can purchase packages to these author events that include tickets to the event and the writer's book.
I receive a newsletter update via email, and was thrilled to see that Nicholas Sparks will be here on October 8th. The hallowed author of the romantic favorite the Notebook, Sparks has a new movie coming out and his stop in KC is a tribute to Rainy Day Books legitimacy and importance in our community.
I love books, very rarely do I buy them but when I do, locally, I always try Rainy Day books first. If they don't have it, they will order it for you, which is what happened to me last time I got a book here.
The shop itself is small but they do have a lot to offer, liked signed copies of books from their Author Events, and a good quite yet dark place to read.