Valerie Ryan, longtime owner of Cannon Beach Book Company, Cannon Beach, Ore., and a valued and prolific book reviewer for Shelf Awareness, died last Thursday, the Daily Astorian reported. She was 76. Mayor Mike Morgan said Ryan "kept that place going and thriving and employing a lot of people. She's been a big deal." He added that the bookstore has become "an institution that I hope will last for a very long time. It's not every little tourist town that has a wonderful independent bookstore, and we're blessed to have it." He also nicely summed up her personality, calling her "our Elaine Stritch--a brassy, outspoken woman of fierce independence who is also fun, witty, smart and irreplaceable."
Ryan opened the Cannon Beach Book Company in 1980 with business partner John Buckley, to whom she sold it in 1983. After living in Seattle for 12 years, she bought the store back in 1995 and had been the sole owner since. Ryan put the business up for sale earlier this year, and her children are still searching for a buyer.
