In 2011, Nashville found itself without a single bookstore of that description in all of Davidson County. The story of how the best-selling novelist Ann Patchett and the former Random House sales rep Karen Hayes met and created Parnassus Books — “We were like newlyweds in an arranged marriage,” according to Ms. Patchett — is now the stuff of legend. Eight years later, the store still hews to Ms. Hayes’s first vision for it.

“Mt. Parnassus in Greek mythology is the home of literature, learning, and music,” she wrote in a mission statement. “We will be Nashville’s Parnassus by providing a refuge for Nashvillians of all ages who share in the love of the written word. We will partner with and support local writers and artists, businesses and institutions. We will strive to bring readers the best books in literature, nonfiction, children’s books, local interest, and the arts in both printed and digital formats. We will provide venues for writers to connect with readers, and readers to connect with books. By doing this we hope to complement and add to the rich cultural character of the Athens of the South.”

Amazon has demonstrated no gift for creating anything like such a store, and that’s in part because independent bookstores don’t operate according to the normal rules of capitalism. They aren’t trying to beat each other. They aren’t even trying to beat Amazon. They’re creating communities — cozy places to beat the heat or come in from the cold. An independent bookstore is a place where someone comes around the register as soon as you walk in the door and says, “You have to read this; it has your name all over it!”

Parnassus hosts some 250 author events a year, and I have always felt incredibly lucky that I get to sit in that store and listen to some of the greatest authors of my age read from their new books. This summer, I felt luckier still when Parnassus hosted the launch event for my own first book. After Ann Patchett introduced me, I walked onto that little stage, looked out at what seemed to be every reader and writer in this town, and cried.

Every store I’ve visited on book tour has its own unique culture, but at every one I have felt at home. All the booksellers felt like old friends, and all their customers, too . In those stores, readers have waited patiently in line for me to sign their books. They have grasped my hands and told me their own stories of love and loss, their own stories of heart-lifting encounters with nature, believing I would understand. I always do. Whether a bookstore is in Tennessee or Pennsylvania, Georgia or New York, Alabama or Illinois, the people I meet there are family.