On a quiet street in Homer, Alaska, an old phone booth stands stuffed with books—as if waiting for a call from your younger self, the version who swore you’d never grow old, who promised to keep seeking adventure. Follow the path past it and you’ll find one of Alaska’s most unusual bookstores: the Observance of Hermits.
The shop inhabits an old house, its rooms crowded floor to ceiling with volumes. Wandering through them feels less like browsing and more like drifting through the living memory of venerable families—their traumas, triumphs, and forgotten stories stacked side by side.
The selection runs deep: Alaskana, noir mysteries, and international titles. Ask the owner, Yan Kandrar, what you should read, and he’ll likely produce something you didn’t know you were searching for. It could be a first edition of Prisoner’s Base by Rex Stout, starring a reclusive detective who lives surrounded by books and orchids—a fitting mirror of this hidden Homer sanctuary.
