Marc Fitten is out on the road promoting his debut novel, Valeria’s Last Stand, about a love affair in a fictional Hungarian village. To spice up his travels, he’s visiting 100 independent bookstores, and he’s set up a blog detailing what he finds. (So far, he’s been to five stores in two cities — Atlanta and Boston/Cambridge.)

I wish I had a reason to travel and do the same. Alas, I’ll just recommend four stores that I love: New York’s Strand, which isn’t exactly a hidden gem; Larry McMurtry’s Booked Up colossus in Archer City, Texas, about which I might write more at a future date; Loganberry Books in Cleveland, whose “Literary Arts” room alone would be a great store; and Lyrical Ballad in Saratoga Springs, New York, which I once wrote about for Maud Newton.