Writer Ward Just, author of "Echo House," selected Bunch of Grapes as his favorite. "If Bunch of Grapes doesn't have a book they'll order it," he wrote. "And often on the flimsiest description. My memory is not what it used to be and what it used to be was not exactly investment-grade so the clerks are obligated to make huge leaps of the imagination ... with ... alacrity and good cheer."

President Barack Obama (l.) and daughters Sasha and Malia leave the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore
Carolyn Kaster/AP