Bayfield, Wisconsin, has two wonderful bookstores: Honest Dog Books and Apostle Island Booksellers. Last week I wrote about Apostle Island Booksellers. Today, I will write about Honest Dog Books.

Yes, your dog is welcome in the store. And yes, treats will be provided for your dog while you shop for books. Also, you might meet the shop dogs, Elton and Matt — unless they’re at the beach or in the woods. (If I ever come back as a dog, I want my human to be a bookstore owner!)

When you walk into Honest Dog Books, it’s like entering a cozy rustic lodge. Warm wood tones gather you into a big bear hug.

The store is stocked with loads of wonderful books. You will find classics and new releases; local authors from Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota; books on the great outdoors; and books for people of all ages. And yes, books about dogs, fiction and nonfiction.

You can walk in the front door of Honest Dog, buy a book, and walk out the back door into a beautiful courtyard, a wonderful place to sit and read the first chapter of your new book or talk about books with a friend.

If you walk through the courtyard, you will enter a separate space called the Dog House where you can buy rare used books and vinyl records displayed in a small charming building with painted murals of book spines. The book-painted stairs lead back to the courtyard. The books painted on the inside of the garage door decorate the ceiling when the door is open on a nice day. On a cold or rainy day, the painted books become part of the wall.

So, what did I buy at Honest Dog Books? The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. The book has been on my to-be-purchased list for a long time, and it seemed right to buy it at Honest Dog Books.

During COVID, Honest Dog Books hosted author talks via Zoom. At a time when in-person social events were severely limited and businesses were closed, Honest Dog’s Zoom events gave readers and writers a chance to talk to authors. It also gave authors a way to launch their books during the lockdown. I will forever be grateful for the evenings spent meeting writers and listening to them talk about their books. It helped ease the isolation of COVID.

Below are the books that I bought — and loved — from Honest Dog during COVID after meeting the authors on Zoom. They are listed in no particular order.

Fox & I: An Uncommon Friendship by Catherine Raven, a memoir

Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North by Blair Braverman, a memoir

North of the Tension Line by J. F. Riordan, a novel

The Audacity of Goats by J. F. Riordan, a novel

Robert’s Rules by J. F. Riordan, a novel

Icebound: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Andrea Pitzer, nonfiction history

To read a post from February 2021 about my joyful experience of ordering books from Honest Dog during a brutal cold snap in the middle of COVID. Click Here.