Northern People: 'Best job I ever had'

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
mdrahos@record-eagle.com

November 30, 2008 12:00 am

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SUTTONS BAY -- Long after all the other shops are shuttered for the night, light bounces off the warm wood floors and cherry cabinets at Brilliant Books and spills from the windows onto Suttons Bay's quaint main street.

Opened in mid-December around the holiday rush, the "little blue bookstore with no shelves" as it was initially dubbed when their delivery was delayed, has quickly become a part of the community's fabric.

The creation of Peter Makin, a stockbroker-turned-marketing specialist-turned bookseller and Colleen Makin, a database developer and fundraising coordinator for Suttons Bay Schools, the independent bookstore specializes in "quality fact and literary fiction for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." There's also an array of quirky greeting cards and specialty gifts including mugs, toys and games.

But for Peter Makin, a recent London transplant and one of 27 recipients of publisher-sponsored scholarships to the American Booksellers Association's Fourth Annual Winter Institute Jan. 29-Feb. 1 in Salt Lake City, the role of a bookstore in a community is more than just selling books.

In July, at the invitation of Traverse City Film Festival founder Michael Moore, Makin set up a temporary display at the City Opera House with books connected to films featured during the 2008 festival. On Sept. 16, he was one of only 52 booksellers in the country to host a live webcast of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Philip Roth being interviewed about his new novel, "Indignation," by author Ben Taylor in New York City.

"Peter is very social, and so interested in connecting the store, and books, to our community: the Film Festival, local authors, events at the Bay Theatre, donating a percentage to our local school," said Newbery Medal-winning author and Suttons Bay resident Lynne Rae Perkins. "And he brings events to us, like the Philip Roth simulcast at the high school. We are really lucky to have him."

Makin answered some Record-Eagle questions by e-mail from behind the counter of his bookstore.

Why did you decide to open a bookshop in a small northern Michigan village?

I found myself living in a small northern Michigan village when I married Colleen, who's lived here for nearly 20 years, and I needed something to do. My previous business experience in marketing recruitment was well suited to the big city -- we had offices in London and Sydney -- but didn't translate directly to northern Michigan. So I knew I had to look for something else to keep me employed. Suttons Bay no longer had a bookstore, and I love books -- so it seemed like a logical choice.

What do you believe the role of a bookstore in a community can and should be?

A bookstore, by its very nature, becomes the hub of the community. People spend a long time browsing in bookstores. We are a marketplace of ideas and so spur conversations and discussions.

Bookstores cater to all sections of the community; young or old, rich or poor, liberal or conservative, religious or atheist.

The one thing all our customers have in common is the desire for intellectual stimulation and knowledge.

Did reading come naturally to you as a child and what were your favorite books growing up?

Very much so -- to the distress of my parents. I was reading the newspaper at a very young age and asking far too many awkward questions.

Later I'd read by flashlight under the covers. My favorite books growing up were encyclopedias.

I devoured the information and loved discovering something new -- which to me at that age was pretty much everything.

What are you currently reading?

A lot of book reviews and publisher's catalogs. As a good friend of mine, who's been in the book business for years, warned me early on: If you want to cure yourself of the habit of reading, open a bookstore. Actually it isn't all quite that bad, but opportunities to read for pleasure are not what they were. Right now I'm reading C.S. Richardson's delightful love story "End of the Alphabet."

What contemporary books do you think are destined to become future "classics"?

That's a tough one. Rather than naming specific books, can I opt for an author? I think Stuart O'Nan is destined for classic status.

His finely tuned studies of the ordinary are quite remarkable. And he refuses to write to a formula. Each of his novels differs in length, approach and subject matter from the one before it.

That may be a reason he isn't as widely read as he might be, but I have faith that future generations will grant him fitting appreciation.

What differences do you find between readers in the UK and readers here?

UK readers have all those extra U's to devour.

What events are up your sleeve for the holidays?

We are looking forward to our one-year anniversary Dec.15.

We're hosting a Secret Santa party. It should be great fun. But then so is this job. Running a bookstore is the best job I ever had.

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