Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe

Malapropās Bookstore/CafĆ© is an independent bookstore founded in Asheville, NC in 1982. We bring books, writers, and readers together in an environment that nurtures community and the joy of reading. We carry a carefully curated selection of books for adults, children, and young adults, as well as a large array of gift items. Our cozy cafĆ© offers tasty treats from local bakeries and coffee roasted locally. Writer Ann Patchett, in an article for the New York Times, said of us: āMalapropās was the heart and soul of Asheville, NC, when Asheville was a sleepy little hippie town, and itās still its heart and soul nowā¦, a position Malapropās maintained by being unabashedly true to itself.ā
A character in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s play āThe Rivalsā (1775), Mrs. Malaprop consistently uses language malapropos, that is, inappropriately. The word malapropos comes from the French phrase mal Ć propos, made up of mal, ābadly,ā Ć , āto,ā and propos, āpurpose, subject,ā and means āinappropriate.ā āThe Rivalsā was a popular play, and Mrs. Malaprop became enshrined as a common noun, first in the form āmalapropā and later as āmalapropism,ā whose usage was first recorded in 1849. āShe’s as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nileā and āHe is the very pineapple of politenessā are two of the absurd pronouncements from Mrs. Malaprop that explain why her name became synonymous with ludicrous misuse of language.