Desierto Books

Cheron Taylor’s path has been, in her words, a lifetime in books. When that path led her from Reno, Nevada, to Tucson 18 years ago, what she’d expected to be a one-year sabbatical turned into a permanent residency. She fell in love, she says, with the vibrant art and music scenes and the profound history embedded in the Sonoran Desert. “When I drove into town and saw this beautiful little dusty basin surrounded by mountain ranges, it just immediately reminded me of home,” she says.

Today, Taylor (pictured) is the owner of Desierto Books, a specialized bookshop she hopes can serve as a literary anchor for the region. “Our shelves are shaped by the history of this part of the state,” she says.

Before opening her storefront about a year ago, Taylor built her own book collection and sold to online customers. Desierto Books, in the MSA Annex on the west side of town, expands on that effort, offering a curated space for new, used and rare titles. Taylor describes the shop, which fits in a rectangular storage container converted into a storefront, as being “rooted in the literary life of the Sonoran Desert.”

The book collection spans art, poetry, regional history, food, architecture and political thought, but it specializes in hard-to-find first editions and other rare books that appeal to collectors and literary enthusiasts. And for book lovers looking to lighten their collection, Desierto Books buys books, too.

Taylor’s obsession began as a child in Reno, where she haunted school libraries before landing a job at Waldenbooks. By 18, she was immersed in the world of used and rare books, and only a year and a half later, she opened her first shop in Reno, Dharma Books — named after Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums. (Similarly, the new shop takes its name from Charles Bowden’s Desierto: Memories of the Future.)

Taylor later spent years working with arts nonprofits in Tucson, but she eventually returned to her deepest passion: “engaging people around the ideas in books.” That includes titles from small presses and writers who might be overlooked by larger retailers. Among the latter are Lydia Otero — whose work explores the history of the Tucson community and the cultures of those who once were excluded from it — and poets such as Russ McSpadden, author of Borderlings, and Erica Prather, whose debut collection, Kneeling at the Juniper, was first carried by Desierto.

It’s a big deal to publish a book, Taylor notes. “Getting your voice on the page and getting your work out there is just one of the most amazing laudable things a person can do for themselves, for their creative life,” she says.

Beyond the shelves, Desierto Books has also become a hub for community engagement. It’s hosted events ranging from “toad talks” with herpetologists to discussions on native pollinators with author Jack Dash. Taylor even integrates the local music scene, hosting events such as an experimental Porter McDonald book reading paired with a performance by local band Freezing Hands. “Overall, I just want it to be a welcoming space for everyone in the community to feel like Desierto Books is theirs — it’s their community space,” she says.

Taylor remains a staunch advocate for the physical book and the brick-and-mortar experience. She sees readers of all ages nurturing their reading lives. For her, the act of reading is a necessary exercise. “The medium is the message,” she says. “You need to sit and absorb a book. And so, that necessarily makes you slow down and practice some thoughtfulness.”

For customers looking for help finding their next book, Taylor approaches recommendations as though she’s planning an itinerary for a friend visiting Tucson. She says she builds stacks of books based on a customer’s specific interests and history, fostering a human connection that a digital platform can’t replicate. She also has a section dedicated to younger readers, offering everything from picture books to young-adult novels.

“Tucson is full of people who are interested in the history of our region,” she says. “If you want to go out into the desert and enjoy it, you’ve got to know something about the landscape, about the ecology, about safety, about history, to really fully appreciate it. So, providing books for people to help them explore the region and all of those realms is an amazing honor for us.”