Y’all. I’ve been a bit of a wreck lately and part of that is another bout of pernicious anemia (which absolutely sounds like a Lemony Snicket disease) and also some other autoimmune disease (BECAUSE I GUESS I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH?) that I haven’t been able to get tested for because the doctor says I’m too weak to be under anesthesia now, but with added shots and meds I’m actually feeling almost human today (FUCKING WHOOP!) and was just reading the local news when this popped up and I literally cried.
I don’t know how to embed so you have to click on this but just…ow, my heart. I want to hug everyone on the Nowhere team and everyone who has ever loved us. Sometimes you don’t know how much you need some unexpected joy until it shows up.
And on Saturday if you’re near San Antonio you should come to the San Antonio Book Festival because it’s free, it’s fun and it’s amazing. So many of my favorite authors are going to be there doing talks and signings. I’ll be there at 10am interviewing comedian Aida Rodriguez about her incredible book, Legitimate Kid and then I’ll be in the Nowhere tent right afterward.
Come say hi, or just wave from afar if you’re an introvert like me. I’ll be hiding under a table probably.
Your dreams and efforts: How they elevate and transport us! Thanks for you, Jenny! ❤️
This was so amazing!! I wish I lived just a little further South, because I would FREQUENT the Nowhere Bookstore ALL the time!! Alas… I live in El Norte (Montana) but I love this for you guys!! I need to join the Book.Club. All my best to everyone who attends! 🥰
(JOIN US! ~ Jenny)
So fabulous! My heart is so happy for you! Sending you so much love and long distance hugs. Congrats on all the success of Nowhere and on feeling close to human today. That is a victory in itself sometimes I know!
Yay! Wishing you so much luck and happiness and extra spoons just in case 🌻🌈💜
Congratulations on all your success. I have celebrated your strength, candor, humor, family, bookstore, books, and art since forever it seems. Every time I feel the clouds close in on my heart I remember that my brain is a fucking liar, and I thank you for that.
I can sure see why you cried when you saw that because I did, too. I am nowhere near San Antonio, unfortunately, or I would be there despite my discomfort in crowds. Have a fabulous time at your festival! I’m sure it will be a huge success and so much fun!
Love you so much Jennie, and I’m SOOOO PROUD of you…back from our Canyon Lake days to now, you’re still amazing❣️
Congratulations on the bookshop news and sending you so much love for all the rest. 💕
That’s a great piece on your bookshop. Do you offer teleporter services? I really want to visit Nowhere, just not the rest of Texas (no offense).
I wish I was in San Antonio! I’ve been a Jenny fan like forever – I still have the ARC of her very first book from my time working in a bookstore! Have a fabulous time at the festival!!
What a lovely “commercial” for your bookstore. You guys deserve all good things coming your way. Have an awesome time on Saturday. Wish I was closer!!
Applause – for you, Jenny, & for your store & for your clients & for authors of great books to read!
At the Hands Off rally on Saturday there were two women with signs saying the “Even Introverts Say Hands Off”. Best to you.
Awesome promotional video of your store! I’m so glad it’s been successful.
And I’m glad it came to you during the pandemic and continues to give you and us strangelings such joy. I only wish I lived closer and could visit.
If you are ever in CT visit the used books stores BookBarn campuses in Niantic. It’s right up your alley with multiple locations of stores in the town, and cats, dogs, goats, free cookies and tea or coffee, rabbits, guinea pigs, and wonderful book lovers like us.
And they have lovely places to eat in town where you can watch boats going in and out of the harbor on Long Island Sound. When I used to not be allergic to furry animals, it was my idea of heaven.
Autoimmune conditions suck so much out of me, and they’re hard to diagnose. But take heart, you’re not alone.
Hugs!
Wow, you & your bookshop staff are so deserving of the promo! I only wish you weren’t so far from Nova Scotia!
You deserve all the glory. And remember you are loved
What a wonderful video! Congratulations on creating the bookstore of your dreams!
That is so great! I am going to come visit someday from Oklahoma. So happy for you and your store!
Hey I also have pernicious anemia! Getting diagnosed is the hardest part, well getting shots would also be hard if you had trypanophobia I guess. Anyway as soon as you can figure out how often you need b12 and how much it gets better
I’m so happy that I finally got to see the bookstore! I still need to see it in person, of course. That’s the kind of bookstore I’ve always wanted to open. Maybe someday.
O M G,,,,,,,that was wonderful. what a Happy TV spot! cheers
Love, me
I just want you to know, sometimes I think about visiting San Antonio just so I can go to your bookstore. (I’m sure there are other neat things but TX native here; been there, done that, moved to another state some 20 odd years ago.)
Love,
Ellen
I’m nearly in happy tears myself! How lovely, and how amazing that the community gets to be reminded how wonderful your bookstore (and all your work) truly is. I too wish I could drift in and stay (hours and hours). The store, the customers – it all looks just… delicious. You deserve all the kudos for your ideas and hard work, and your team does too – the SA community is lucky indeed. Congratulations Jenny!
I sure wish I could visit your store, Jenny, and see all of the lovely books and employees and customers. Great piece on the news, and I hope you have a blast at the book festival, if you’re able to go. I’m also struggling with some really tough stuff right now, and I know it’s going to get better but just not today. I’m happy that my Covid is gone as of testing yesterday, but I’m still really struggling.
Oh, that was SO FREAKIN’ COOL!!! I wish I was closer, I would be there ALL THE TIME! I’ve gotten so many recommendations from your various book clubs, I just started Water Moon that you recommended. You are awesome!
I’ve been dealing with anemia, although pernicious hasn’t been mentioned. Yet. Passed out on the living room floor went to ER, had a unit of blood, then an iron infusion. Now taking various iron and vitamin supplements. My Ford Fusion hybrid, is named the The Transinfusion, now!
Visiting Nowhere last year was so awesome. I’m so excited to get to visit again at the end of May. Your bookshop is something special and I love that I get to be a part of it with the book clubs and stuff. Thank you, Jenny! You are amazing!
I wish I was close enough to visit this bookstore – and beg for a job there. It sounds like a slice of heaven. 😉
Fun fact- many in my family, including me have pernicious B12 anemia related to the central european gene pool. It’s fun!
Wonder! I’ve always loved the name of your store. If someone asks where you’re headed as you go out the door or calls to check on you, you can say, “NoWhere.” But as you walk in the door of the bookstore the answer becomes, “NowHere.”
Pernicious Anemia sounds like the name of a Terry Pratchett side character, but I suspect is a bit less entertaining. Hope the happy cry helps you feel a bit better, and remember we think you’re pretty darn neat.
Sounds like another t-shirt opportunity. I love the one you did with the negative reviews. Comfort Colors is my go to brand now.
I sooooo want you to pull out a tape measure and mark the exact middle of the store so that if I ever get there, I can stand in the middle of nowhere.
Now I’m happy crying too ❤️
Your bookstore looks amazing! Would love to visit it one day!
I’m so happy for you. This warms my heart knowing how much your generosity and the love of books has left a mark on all of us. I can’t wait to visit someday. I wish you were closer to Pennsylvania.
Thanks for putting a giant smile on my face!
How cool is that? It’s very neat to be able to see the bookstore since I do not get out much! it. Looks like such a fun space.
Squeeeeeeeee! Can we somehow make that newsclip go viral so everyone sees how great Nowhere is?
That is awesome! I’m no where near San Antonio, although coming to Nowhere is on my bucket list. In the mean time, please come to IL or IA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m glad that your doctor is treating your pernicious anemia.
There are a couple of things doctors tend to get mistaken about when it comes B12 deficiency.
1. They tend to think that anemia is the first sign of the deficiency. It is often not the first sign. B12 is so important to the body that it can and does affect more than just the blood. Untreated B12 deficiency can lead to paralysis, blindness, and even death (which is where it got the name ‘pernicious’).
2. Many doctors assume that a once a month injection works equally well for all people. Imagine if you gave a diabetic insulin only once a month and expected them to still have the correct amount for the entire rest of the month. A once a month dose is a bare minimum, but the dosage should be based on the needs of the patient.
Ok, I lied, there’s more than a couple of things to know.
3. Oral B12 is not recommended for pernicious anemia patients, because the protein, called intrinsic factor, which is needed for transporting B12 is too low or absent. Sublingual formulations are absorbable, but often require more frequent administration.
4. There is some debate about forms of B12, with frequent misinformation that one version is superior to another. The reality is that cyanocobalamin is the most readily available and shelf stable option in the US. While it does contain a cyanide molecule, that cyanide remains inert (harmless). The only groups who are advised against taking cyanocobalamin are heavy smokers, people who work in an industry with higher levels of cyanide exposure, and those with a family history of Lebers Optic Disease. The next most common form is hydroxocobalamin (which is also the antidote to cyanide poisoning). Methylcobalamin is the least shelf stable of the three common versions and actually converts to hydroxocobalamin if exposed to the wrong temperature or light conditions. A lot of people tout the idea that methylcobalamin is the superior product because it is identical to what the other cobalamin forms convert to once they are in the body. However, that doesn’t mean that methylcobalamin is absorbed any more easily. In fact it has to go through all of the same conversion steps as the other two. It’s still worth it to try different versions though, because some people do better on one version than another (but no one knows exactly why because research in this area is non-existent).
5. Testing b12 levels after starting injections is sort of pointless. The usual test done is a serum B12 test that cannot differentiate between active and inactive B12 (including analogs that can’t ever function as active B12). An active B12 test does exist, but is not often utilized. Symptoms are often a better guide for treatment.
Thanks for coming to my ted talk, lol.
OOOOH, Love your bookstore. So cool to get to see it virtually. Next time I get to SA, it will be my first stop!
I can tell that my monthly B12 shots are helping because I start to feel really run down the week before, and the shot makes me feel more energetic. I do have an offering for the diagnosis that feels like I should be in a fantasy novel. I get olfactory hallucinations as part of vestibular migraines, and officially it’s called “phantosmia.”
Now you got me wondering whether retiring from my IT job and opening a small book store in some quiet corner of the world might be better for the next chapter in my life.
We live in Dallas but we’ve stopped at Nowhere every time we’ve driven through San Antonio to grab some quick caffeine, books, and fun! We wish SO MUCH we lived closer. It is very much our vibe and my 12 year old daughter would probably live there. You’re doing amazing things!
Oh Jenny…I got chills watching this! I live in the NE but hope that someday I can make it to your magical bookstore!
You are very much loved too, Jenny Lawson.
Good day
I live in north Texas and am finally going to be in San Antonio later this year for a family event. My one request is that we visit Nowhere while we’re there 🙂 I’ve been dying to see it! All the best to you Jenny and all you lovely people!