Severe thunderstorms rolled through Lincoln late Monday night, soaking and destroying hundreds of books kept in the basement of downtown Lincoln’s “A Novel Idea” Bookstore, located in the Parrish Building on 14th and “O” Street.
Store owner Cinnamon Dokken issued a call for help Tuesday morning on social media, announcing “We have water in the bookstore! We need towels and any available volunteers to help move damaged books & clean.”
— and Lincoln’s bookworm and downtown community heeded the call.
“The situation is getting under control,” Dokken told KLIN News, a few hours after putting out the call. “We’ve got a really wonderful crew of people helping us. We’re moving furniture out of the basement. We are mopping up water. We are going through books and taking out ones that can’t be salvaged.”
Heavy rainfall overflowed through the buildings east wall, trickling down into the store’s basement, primarily affecting the nonfiction section and west storage room. Dokken says she’s unsure exactly how many book were lost, but speculates it could be near 1,000.
- The downstairs cove in “A Novel Idea” in which the majority of water seeped through. (Chase Porter, KLIN News)
- Book shelves under the breeze of numerous fans in the bookstore basement, bottom shelves completely cleared. (Chase Porter, KLIN News)
Recent renovation to the foundation of the Parrish Building, which houses dozens of businesses, likely prevented further damage to the bookstore’s neighbors: Tsuru clothing store and Gomez Art Supply.
“I’m glad that the partners approved these repairs,” said Dokken. Back in 2001, the business owners residing in the Parrish Building formed a limited liability company (LLC) and purchased the building from their previous landlord. The collective then turned the previously unoccupied second floor into art gallery space, featuring 41 art studios — which was also sparred from water damage.

“A Novel Idea” Bookstore’s beloved in-store cats enjoy a dry slumber in the storefront’s window — all cats were safe from the flooding. (Chase Porter, KLIN News)
Dokken said she was touched by the outpouring of support, from neighboring businesses and the families of beloved patrons.
“I think that it’s so good for the community to come together around anything, it just helps everyone feel connected and useful, and I think we all need that right now,” Dokken reflected. “It is the silver lining. It can serve a good purpose in that way that we can come together, share a common purpose, and appreciate each other’s work and our shared values in the community.”
Dokken has been with “A Novel Idea” for 33 years. In that time, she’s seen couples fall in love between the aisles of paperbacks, and on Tuesday morning, their children were among the cleanup crew.
Operating a used bookstore is not necessarily the most lucrative career choice in terms of financial gain, but it is very soulful work and very rewarding in that way,” Dokken said with a smile. “We just lean in however we can when we need to. This is small business life.”
Unfortunately, the hundreds of doused books are unlikely to be salvaged, as Dokken says she takes condition of their books very seriously.
While there are some methods to restore water damaged books, such as wrapping them in a cloth and placing them in the freezer, “We don’t want to impose upon our restaurant neighbors to put all of our books in their freezers,” Dokken laughed. “So we’re just going to take the hit and see what we can do to climb back.”
But “A Novel Idea” will climb back quickly, says Dokken.
“We’ll be open tomorrow, at least in our main level. I was out back with a shovel trenching that area to try to divert the water away from the back where we think it’s coming in… But if that works and we remain relatively dry, then that’ll increase our chances of opening up the lower level,” said Dokken. “We’ve been through worse. People coming in, expressing encouragement, shopping for books, buying gift certificates, that kind of support is really helpful.”
“We’re coming together. We’re leaning in.”