Portland, Oregon
A Portland bookshop for author events, reading groups, and new and used books — with a warm chair for however long the weather lasts.
The Room
Paper Trail Bookshop is a Portland room built for long, wet afternoons: low light, deep chairs, and shelves meant to be wandered rather than searched. The rain isn't an interruption here — it's part of the reading.
Come in for a new release, leave with a used copy you didn't know you needed, and let the weather do what it likes outside.
What has just arrived, kept up front where the cold doesn't reach it.
Secondhand copies with one careful reader behind them, ready for the next.
If it isn't on our shelves, we'll order it in and hold it at the desk for you.
For the readers in your life — and for the ones who are impossible to buy for.
Author Events
Tell us about the book, the kind of evening you have in mind, and roughly when you'd like to read.
We settle on a date, pull the chairs into a circle, and set the evening aside for your reading.
Your reading goes out to the people who come through the shop most often, and to anyone who asks.
You read, we pass the book around, and the rain does the rest of the atmosphere.
You bring the book; we'll bring the lamp, the chairs, and the rain.
Book an eveningBook Clubs
A few chairs pulled together under one lamp, one book at a time, and nobody minding if you arrive with rain in your hair. Groups meet in the back of the shop, and there is always room to pull up another chair.
Groups stay small enough that every voice gets a turn and the conversation stays with the book.
Slow and steady. The group sets the pace, and we keep copies waiting at the desk.
New readers are welcome at any point in the year, whether or not you've finished the chapter.
Come In
Book an author event, join a reading group, or ask us to set a special order aside. The lamp stays on for whoever is still reading.