Op.cit. Books at 124A Bent Street is the primary independent bookstore in Taos. It operates in the historic space that previously housed Moby Dickens Bookshop, in the John Dunn Shops area just north of Taos Plaza. The selection is well-curated with particular depth in regional and Southwestern titles, Native American studies, and New Mexico history. Open daily 10 AM to 5 PM. Phone: 575-751-1999.

John Nichols, author of The Milagro Beanfield War and a longtime Taos resident, is the most famous local literary figure. His work is stocked at op.cit. Books and often available signed. Frank Waters, who wrote The Man Who Killed the Deer and The Book of the Hopi from his Taos base, is another essential regional author. Mabel Dodge Luhan's four-volume Intimate Memories is the primary firsthand account of the early art colony.

The New Mexico history shelf at any good Taos bookstore is worth an hour. The scholarship on Pueblo culture, Spanish Colonial history, and the art colony is substantial and consistently readable.

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