Through Beauty

Today when I was out walking, a stranger with broken in her eyes, came up to me and thanked me for recommending a book to her—Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf. She said it brought her beauty in a hard time. I don’t remember recommending the book to her, but I will remember her … Read more

As If

  Recently, someone asked me why I read fiction. The way he asked it. As if reading fiction was a frivolous thing, even puerile. As if fiction didn’t corroborate, vindicate, heal, illuminate, question, relieve, clarify, shift and rip apart. As if fiction didn’t insist we climb into the membrane of another and examine thoughts, feelings, … Read more

thank you

I’ve been a hot dog vendor, a shoe salesperson, a middle-school teacher, and a catholic school principal, but owning a bookstore has given me moments with the most eclectic tribe of humans of all. There’s the crime scene cleaner who talked to me about the delicate line between detachment and sensitivity while I rang up … Read more