Island Books creates a reading oasis on Mercer Island

Veer off the interstate onto Mercer Island, and it's easy to conclude that you've wandered into the placid heart of Northwest Nice. Everything's tidy. Everyone is well-groomed. For an off-islander of modest means, every piece of available real estate seems to have an invisible sign that says, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

Like so many other stereotypes, this one has a little truth and a lot of presumption. No one knows this better than Roger Page, co-owner of Island Books, the best-loved bookstore (and the only bookstore) on the island.

For two decades, Page and his wife and business partner, Nancy Page, have kept Mercer Island in books. In recognition, the two just received the 2010 Mercer Island Rotary Citizen Achievement award for their contribution to the Mercer Island community. The store, one of 34 nominees, was cited for creating an "oasis of reading" — book nights for groups, donations to many causes (especially schools and literacy), book clubs, writing contests and one of the biggest Harry Potter parties west of the Mississippi.

Island Books was founded in 1973 by Lola Deane; Roger Page began working there in the 1980s. Before that, he was a teacher in the preschool unit of a local mental hospital.

Maybe that's where he developed his habit of listening to all kinds of stories. From his first days at the shop, he loved working with books, but he also developed a fascination with the stories of the customers, and how they dovetailed with the stories in the books.

"When you sit in a bookstore, that's what you hear all day long," he says. "The variety you experience is unlike any other place on Earth. You can be talking to a man about trains, and the next second you're talking to a teenager about vampires." Eventually, he and Nancy Page bought the store, and they and their staff of seven booksellers have been talking stories ever since.

Even on a weekday morning, people drift in and out of the store, located in Islandia Shopping Center. A customer reports back to a bookseller on the novel "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave: "It's different, it's harsh, it's good, it's sad," she says earnestly. Others browse the card racks for graduation and Father's Day cards. Oversized wooden shelves are stacked with books of all kinds and topped with antique typewriters. There are comfortable chairs, Oriental rugs, jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux on the sound system and a children's section that occupies a third of the store's 4,000 square feet.

Longtime customer Laurie Raisys says the lure for the store's loyal patrons is personal service that seems more the stuff of movies and television than real life in a big-box age. Roger Page "may not remember your name all the time, but he remembers your face," she says. "He's not just well-versed in reading, he's well-versed in life."

Some customers' preferences suggest a vibrant intellectual life bubbling beneath the island's sleek surface. One recently ordered a complete set of the Oxford Mark Twain, a 29-volume collection of works by the beloved American author with forewords by Kurt Vonnegut, E.L. Doctorow, Ursula Le Guin and Arthur Miller. Another asked for a complete set of the Oxford History of the United States, a landmark series of 13 volumes that includes a couple of Pulitzer winners (Daniel Walker Howe, James McPherson). And a bright teen just bought a graphic-novel version of "The Fixer" by Bernard Malamud.

If this homey, intimate setup sounds like a backdrop for a Hallmark movie, be apprised that the Pages' decision to devote their lives to bookselling (while raising two kids) has not been without white-knuckle moments. Waves of competition, starting with the first Barnes & Noble in Bellevue. Amazon.com. Costco. Electronic readers and iPads.

Still, people keep coming. "I don't know if I have reason to be optimistic or have chosen to be more optimistic, but I am," Page says. "There seems to be plenty of life in the store."

Moreover, Page has a sense of mission about keeping the young reading books. The key is to get them involved for an extended time in a story: "If you can hook someone into that with a shiny lure, like 'The Lightning Thief' or one of the 'Twilight' books ... they'll experience what it's really like to inhabit something, rather than read or look at something on Facebook for 15 seconds and move on. If you can get that, they'll come back to it, again and again."

Mary Ann Gwinn: 206-464-2357 or mgwinn@seattletimes.com.