10 Cool Things: South Congress Books

South Congress Books is a new-ish addition to the Austin, Texas, bookstore environment, but the store has quickly developed the reputation for housing, well, some really cool books. Welcome to the neighborhood, SoCo!

1.    South Congress Books has managed to achieve the holy trinity of good bookstores; modern yet with an old school feel, extremely knowledgeable about books, and they are not pretentious douche bags. Amen.

2.    They specialize in rare, out of print, first editions, (some quite affordable), and they carry new books as well.  Basically if you want it they will get it, so don’t cry. Seriously, don’t cry. If you can’t help but cry Sheri will hold you for up to 15 seconds.

3.    South Congress Books is coincidentally located in the hippest place in Austin…on South Congress. Crazy but true.

4.    Co-owner Luke Bilberry (clearly a made up name right?) seems extraordinarily English…yet he is from Texas. It’s weird, and totally worth a visit to the store to see what I mean. Make him hug you. I suspect he may hate it. [Obviously Gianna is writing this.  Liz would never suggest unwelcome hugging.]

5.    You know who is super cool and shops here all the time? Robert Louis Stevenson! Wait, no Robert Plant … almost as cool as Stevenson…but you can’t have it all. [Gianna: Do you know who that is?  Liz:...Some sort of musician guy?]

Sheri and Luke kicking out their
first customer. 

6.    Yes, they have kids books…very cool kids books, which make excellent gifts.

7.    Co-owner Sheri Tornatore is Italian.  You’ll get that vibe right away.  I dare you to steal from her place….I dare you.

Sheri explains how to turn book pages.

8.    Really nice SoCo t-shirts for sale (too bad the print is slightly different on the white than it is on the black…oh well)

9.    Free Chinchilla with every purchase!

10. Two words: Haunted Bathroom