Sample: Elaine Petrocelli
“Sense of community” may be one of the most overworked expressions in modern life. But when the term is witnessed in its most evident, proactive form, it is a refreshing sight.
That’s the feeling one gets in Elaine Petrocelli’s slice of Marin -- Book Passage in Corte Madera, a center of learning and citizen interaction that just may very well be the pulse beat of The County.
Petrocelli exudes a sense of vibrancy and vitality, twin qualities that stem from a lifelong passion for reading. She reads five books a week, alternating from mystery to non-fiction and fiction, meticulously placing a fresh book in each room of her house at the beginning of the week and finding an aptly sized volume to stash in her purse for cursory reading, as well.
A Marin resident for 36 years, Petrocelli is celebrating her 27th year at the Corte Madera location and is midway through her first year at the store’s new locale in Ferry Plaza along the Embarcadero in San Francisco. This newest addition to San Francisco’s culture is situated at the doorstep of the Golden Gate Ferry Terminal, so Book Passage can now be found at either end of the ferry system’s trans-bay terminals (the Corte Madera store is across the freeway from the Larkspur Landing ferry complex). No doubt Petrocelli will soon be stashing books on the boats.
Her enterprise, which she runs with husband Bill (a Marin attorney turned booksmith), is far more than a storehouse for books. It is an exciting intersection of guest lectures, plentifully attended classes, cafe scholar roundtable sessions, celebrity author series, and a gathering place for friends, book club members and blind dates. Overshadowed to the west under the austere gaze of Mt. Tamalpais -- the county’s ultimate muse -- Book Passage does, indeed, take on the magical aura of an Olympian forum of people, ideas and civic discourse.
When Petrocelli had to take time off from her life’s passion following a heart attack in Year 2000, she accepted her dear friend and San Rafael resident Isabel Allende’s gracious offer to run the day-to-day operations. What other book emporium anywhere can claim an internationally renowned author and activist as its hands-on manager?
The store is sprinkled regularly with visits and readings by local authors such as Margot Patterson Doss, Judith Greber, Orville Schell and Annie Lamott. Some of the more famous authors who have graced the Book Passage property include Amy Tan, Julia Child, Alice Waters, Hillary Clinton and both Al and Tipper Gore.
For inveterate book reader Elaine Petrocelli, this is the zenith of dream jobs. “Every day I wake up,” she proclaims from her modest, overcrowded office, “I simply can’t wait to get here. How else would I have met so many fantastic people -- authors, customers and employees alike? When I was a young teenager growing up in Indiana, I would go to Chicago on the train and hang out in art museums and bookstores like Brentano’s, then lunch in cafes while reading a new purchase. I never told my Mom where I went, but I finally confessed to her when she was 85! But seeing where my adventures would lead me -- to this amazing little place in Corte Madera so many years later -- she wasn’t too upset with me. I think.”
Bill Petrocelli, who gave up law and billing time 13 years ago to book time at Book Passage, is the masterful creator of the company newsletter, which is chock full of upcoming store events, scheduled classes, author snippets and hot books to watch. The energy and enthusiasm both Petrocellis bring to life literally jump off the pages of the newsletter, which looks and reads like a veritable curriculum catalog from a local college.
Elaine Petrocelli laughs aloud at the similarity to an educational institution -- “My kids refer to me as the President of Book Passage University, but the standing joke is that BPU is a short-version Latin phrase meaning ‘We are not accredited.’ “
Speaking of the children, Petrocelli is thrilled that they all turned out to be voracious readers and writers. Grant is in public relations; Nicole is a pharmacist for Genentech; Kathryn is a writer soon to be married; and Michael is a journalism graduate from UC Berkeley currently attending Columbia University.
Elaine and Bill Petrocelli have made an invaluable, indelible and ongoing contribution to the literary, cultural and social life of Marin County, a legacy that simply and ironically cannot be measured by mere words.
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