Pine Thoughts: Bookstore is a great story

One of Carlton County's premier used bookstores resides in one of its least populous towns, where roughly 5,000 titles of inventory is more than 10 times the resident population.

"As my son would say, 'We're a hidden gem,'" said Janis Martin, who was working the desk at Twice Told Tales in downtown Mahtowa last week.

Twice Told Tales has been around since 2006, and moved into its charming cottage of a bookstore in the spring of 2023.

A brainchild of Mahtowa Covenant Church's mission and outreach team, the bookstore is run entirely by volunteers. It operates on afternoons Wednesday through Sunday, with some evening hours (see below).

"It's fun to work here and meet people," Martin said.

The bookstore uses donations to populate its well-organized and alphabetized shelves. There is a robust section of biographies and autobiographies, along with everything from children's books to romance novels.

Equal parts fiction and nonfiction, the bookstore features obscure antique books, and there's a chance a person will run across a recent bestseller. Of course, there's an ample supply of horror writer Stephen King's books - a staple of any bookstore.

The novels section, preferred by this writer, was inviting for its depth. And with books costing no more than $3, I was able to walk out with a paper grocery bag's worth of titles for $12. Included in my haul were one baseball book, a biography of Lou Reed, a novel by a new-to-me woman author - because I like to make sure I'm an equal opportunity reader, and not just getting the male perspective - and another book by a Japanese author whom I stumbled upon while searching for another Japanese author, whose titles were not present.

I grabbed a backup copy of "Matterhorn," by Karl Marlantes, because it's a phenomenal Vietnam War novel. I suspect I'll pass this along to someone, because I am moved to share books, and Marlantes' works in particular. I remember when I discovered him. I was really into the war novels of James Jones - "From Here to Eternity" remains my favorite book - and wanted to read more stories like his.

When I pulled "Matterhorn" from a shelf for the first time, I was gripped by a short passage in Chapter 1:

Rain dropped from the lip of his helmet, fell past his eyes, and spattered onto the satiny olive cloth that held the armor plating of his cumbersome new flak jacket. The dark green T-shirt and boxer shorts that his mother had dyed for him just three weeks ago clung to his skin, heavy and clammy beneath his camouflage utility jacket and trousers. He knew there would be leeches clinging to his legs, arms, back, and chest beneath his wet clothes, even though he couldn't feel them now.

That passage, like the best works, seemed to transport me alongside the character. I devoured the book.

Incidentally, I read anything by Marlantes, and his nonfiction book, "What It's Like to Go to War," is among the most insightful books I've read on the human experience. I encourage anyone, military or not, to read it for the enlightened understanding found within its pages. It ought to be required reading for politicians charged with voting to send young folks to war.

Lastly, I got a book by Tom Wolfe, "A Man in Full," because I've always wanted to read the Southern gentleman but never have.

I found Twice Told Tales to be a dangerous place. Not because it features some books which have been banned, like Toni Morrison's spendid tale of Milkman Dead, "Song of Solomon," but because I could walk away with so many books.

Already, books take up ample space in our central Cloquet home. Our collection could use a thinning as it is.

Still, how could a person not feel good about a visit to Twice Told Tales?

"All of our profits go back into the community," Martin said.

Revenues from sales are used for food bag distribution, assistance for financial and medical emergencies, as well as heating and utility assistance, fire recovery relief, and annual school food and backpack programs.

The bookstore even funds an annual 9/11 appreciation evening for first responders and those who have served in the military. (The next one starts at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Mahtowa Pavilion.)

If anybody, author Marlantes, a Marine and Vietnam veteran, would approve of Twice Told Tales and its mission. You should, too, by treating yourself to a visit. You'll most certainly leave with a grocery bag of books.

Summer hours at the store are 2-5 p.m. Wednesday, 1-4, Thursday, 1-7 Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and 2-5 Sunday. A Cloquet native and University of Pittsburgh graduate, Brady Slater is a reporter for the Pine Knot News and has worked professionally in newspapers since 1995.