Hi Everybody,
I’ve been traveling quite a lot within the last year all throughout my home state of Michigan. As a result, I have a bit of a backlog, but that ends with my 3-part edition of my “Literary Travel” series focusing on the Mitten State. All of the photos used were the ones I took, and they can be seen at the bottom of the page.
Today, I’m going to show you my visits to a library in Lansing area located in the southern central portion of the state and a book and sandwich shop in my hometown on the southeast side.
Back in November 2025, I attended and presented at a day conference at the Library of Michigan – the state library – for my work. I didn’t take many pictures because I was focused on the event. I have a friend who lives in the area, and she wanted me to visit the Bath Township Public Library. When I was done, I drove straight to there.
Now, the name Bath Township won’t be familiar with many of you, but there was a school bombing that occurred in that town in 1927. It killed 38 people, thus making it the deadliest massacre in US history. The 100th anniversary is coming up next year.
The library is unique because it’s located in a strip mall. The population of the town is less than 15,000 people. The library may serve a small amount of residents, but it’s still mighty.
The place was neatly organized. It contained some nice signs to indicate what kind of books are on the shelves. They also had some neat displays like for DVDs about the wild and books celebrating Native American Heritage Month. In addition, they were one of the many libraries selected for a traveling America’s 250th Birthday exhibit.
They had some cool decorations as well. For example, there’s a pole plastered with book covers right across from the circulation desk. One of the staff members created that. They also contained quilts hung at various parts of the library. One of them memoralized the bombing I mentioned earlier.
Because the library was tiny, the children and teen areas were that way too, but they still knew their demographics. The former contained plenty of picture books, easy readers, and juvenile books with a play area and coloring table. It was also pleasing to look at, especially with the painting filled with children reading, playing, and checking out books gracing one of its walls. Moreover, the teen space had books along with a lounging section where they could charge their electronic devices.
Additionally, they offered unique services like a Library of Things and allowing unhoused people to take a pack of items for free. The latter is a neat way to address the homeless issue.
Despite how tiny the Bath Township Public Library was, it was compact and went above and beyond for its patrons. Along with their website, you can check out that library on Facebook.
Flash forward to this year, and one of my other friends wanted to go to a bookstore in Rochester, Michigan called Novel: A Book & Sandwich Shop. For those who don’t know, Rochester is a city 30-35 minutes away from Detroit. I grew up in the neighboring Rochester Hills, where Madonna graduated from high school. I spent much of my childhood and young adult years going through downtown Rochester, so I was familiar with a lot of the shops. Novel recently opened up, and once my friend and I heard about it, we knew that we wanted to go.
We went back in April, and it’s such a cute place. Although it was no bigger than a dining room, the store was decorated with hand-crafted art, an otter painting, back-lit book shelves, and a tree with leaves cut out from book pages at the center display table. Stuffed animals graced the bottom of that table.
Novel had books for both adults and children, and they were organized by genre. The displays changed based on what’s going on at that time. When we were there, they had a Mother’s Day one since that holiday was coming up.
There were also tables and chairs for those who want to chill, read, and eat. All of the decor looked inviting for both adults and children.
The hallway consisted of books picked by the staff. It was in the “If you like this, try this” mode. Even though they have a small workforce, it’s clear that they love to read because how else would they have so many books on those shelves? Those are the best kind of people to work in a book store.
The main reason that we wanted to go was for the sandwiches. Rarely are there bookstores that serve food, and we wanted to try them out. However, there was a catch. You see, we went on a Sunday, and at the time, the kitchen wasn’t open on those days (since then, Novel is closed on Sundays and Mondays with limited kitchen times on the other days). Due to our work schedules, we waited one month before we came back. We went on a Thursday, and I had the Italian sandwich, while my friend had the Turkey Caprese. Those sandwiches were worth the wait.
I know I’m going to take other people to that bookshop in the future because it offered a great variety of books as well as a small, but delicious menu.
And in case you’re wondering, I bought the book Dial A For Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto from there. Along with their website, you can check out Novel: A Book & Sandwich Shop on Facebook and Instagram.
And that concludes the twelfth installment of “Literary Travel!” I hope all of you had a great time on this trip. Next month, I’ll focus on the bookstores and libraries I visited in the Downriver area of Michigan.
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Book Reviews by a Chick Who Reads Everything 