When April, another volunteer, told us about White Pine Books, Tom and I knew we had to go.  She said it was a huge used book store just south of Morristown, Tennessee.  Puzzles, CDs, DVDs, and thousands of books.  Sounds like our kind of place.  We needed to go to Morristown for a few things (the equivalent of the big city around here) and decided to add a stop to this bookstore.

It is easy to find White Pine Books.  There isn’t much else along the White Pine Main Street.  White Pine is a small town that is becoming a bedroom community for Knoxville and Morristown.  The downtown isn’t developed, so the bookstore stands out.  The bookstore moved into the old hardware store building in 2013 after starting as an online business in 1997 with a small storefront.

The parking lot is behind the bookstore and you go in the back.  There is also a front entrance, but it didn’t look as well used.  An employee greeted us as we walked in.  When we explained it was our first visit, she asked if we wanted a tour.  I quickly agreed.  She pointed out fiction, mystery, romance, Amish romance, Christian romance, thriller, young adult, and graphic novels, all in the main section.  DVDs and CDs off to the left.  Non-fiction and puzzles through the doorway.  Ok.  With a rough layout in mind, Tom and I headed off in separate directions.

The mystery section was huge, with books piled from floor to ceiling two deep on the shelves.  I found all my favorite authors and some new ones that looked worth reading.  As I have mentioned before, I love a good series but I have to start with book one.  I could have bought a lot of books if I had my list of books read with me.  Next time.  I found a historical Christian romance which looked intriguing and picked up a couple of mysteries.

Tom spent his time in the non-fiction section.  The history aisle was separate from the rest of the non-fiction and was fun to peruse.  He found a couple of books with enough pictures to keep him interested.  I found a wonderful book on islands which I did not buy but am still thinking about.  I might pick it up next time we go.  Great pictures with a brief description of the island.  Just the kind of book that makes me dream about traveling all over.

The puzzle section was very large with puzzles grouped by number of pieces.  The room that had the puzzles and non-fiction books wasn’t air-conditioned.  After a while I started to get a little dizzy and wobbly.  I thought it might be the heat, but then Tom pointed out the floors were slanting but the shelves were not.  Probably the cause of my vertigo because it went away as soon as I went back to the other room.

White Pine Books has over 350,000 items in 8,000 square feet.  They could easily use more space, but it is fun to dig through piles of books searching for treasure.  Although they have a good online presence, they do not take online or phone orders.  In fact, they do not answer the phone at all.  You have to stop by the store to buy books.  Which is as it should be.  Because books are like Lays potato chips – you can never just buy one!  The bookstore also has a couple of resident cats.

We loved going to White Pine Books and will definitely return.  Probably sooner rather than later.  The books are calling and we must go!