For The Love Of Literature

Melli Pappas is a passionate advocate for literary accessibility.

A proud mother, grandmother, and owner of The Book Rack in Fort Walton Beach, she’s always loved to read for herself and with her kids.

“Both my parents were huge readers,” Pappas says. “I mean, we just had walls of bookshelves.”

But she wasn’t always on the path to becoming the bookish matriarch that friends, family, and patrons know her to be today. Pappas worked for 20 years as a public health nurse.

“And then both my parents got sick at the same time,” she says. “My mom had Alzheimer’s. So, when my dad died in 2006, I started coming to work with her. It kind of all happened at the same time.”

Mickey Harbeson, Pappas’ mother, first opened The Book Rack in Destin in 1981, moving locations to Fort Walton Beach in 1985, with business partner Helen Wise, a schoolteacher at the time with limited hours to commit to the shop. The Book Rack became a passion and focus for Harbeson.

When she passed in 2008 and Wise approached retirement, Pappas was faced with whether to return to her own industry or carry the torch for her mother. Pappas chose the latter.

“Before I knew it, it’s like 20 years later,” she says.

Amidst growing economic challenges and threats of recession, keeping business bumping has been tough, Pappas admits.

“I mean, it’s tough for any small business, you know, for bookstores as well.”

Photos by Eric P. Mull

Pappas recalls bustling winter seasons when the snowbirds would descend upon their winter condos and file into The Book Rack for their off-season vacation reads. But she says that since the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010, things have changed.

“When that oil spill happened, people were afraid to come back,” she says. “So, they went somewhere else that next year, and then they never came back. That was really the start of a turning point. Then Kindles came along, and eBooks came along.”

And the 2020 pandemic didn’t help matters either. But Pappas and her small team have become resourceful, hosting events and becoming active on social media. Pappas doesn’t identify as tech or internet savvy, but it was a move she knew she had to make to keep business up.

But it all comes back to her love for books and people—a trait most certainly inherited from her mother Harbeson, who they used to jokingly refer to as Dear Abby. Pappas is known to share life advice and chit chat, too, with regulars that date back farther than her tenure.

“Those are the people that you just love,” she says. “I have this couple from Niceville, and she bakes cookies and brings me cookies every time she comes in.”

Pappas personality and The Book Rack’s familiarity keep friendly faces returning.

“I want people to read more,” Pappas says. “And I would like for people to read more physical books. I personally, and not just because I have a bookstore, I just think having the written word on paper is important.”

But Pappas recognizes that book prices are ever increasing. She hopes to make physical books more accessible in terms of cost and other barriers like book bans in public school systems.

“Books are for everybody,” Pappas says. “There are books in here that I would never want to read. Maybe I don’t like the content or it’s not my genre or if I had a young child, I would be like, ‘You’re too young to read that’—but it should be available. I just feel like booksellers and libraries should be the leaders of the voice.”

Photos by Eric P. Mull

Pappas says kids are a captive audience when given the opportunity.

“Some kids might not ever be able to go to the library because they don’t live near the library or their parents work on the weekends or for any number of reasons,” she says. “So, the school library is their only resource.”

For Banned Books Week in October, The Book Rack signed up for a program through Libro that encouraged stores to host read-ins and offered a free audiobook copy of the 2024 novel, Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by banned books advocate and author Kristen Miller. The Book Rack hosted its read-in event on Sunday, October 5 and offered special deals on banned book titles and merchandise throughout the week.

Outside of special occasions, the shop hosts regular events both during and after hours like book signings and the ever-popular Books, Boards & Bubbles nights.

“People want some way to socialize that you don’t have to drive to Destin to do, that you can do in Fort Walton, and that you can relax and not have to go sit at a crowded bar or a noisy bar or in a restaurant where you feel like you only have so much time,” she says.

The Book Rack has also hosted a silent book club, a poetry open mic night, and a scavenger hunt fundraiser for the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) on Independent Bookstore Day, among other events. Pappas wants to try out some bookish craft nights and partner with more charitable organizations for fundraiser events. And her daughter-in-law, Erica Wilson Pappas, plans to host and instruct an in-shop yoga night.

To the community, Pappas says, “Come on in.”