I’ve been closed a lot these past few months. I hope that is it. But one never knows what life will throw at you so…. I’m not making any guarantees at this point. I can say that it was very touch and go several weeks ago. I took last week off and I’m so glad I did. I know I’m feeling better. Also I’ve realize how broken I’ve been and learning what is priority. Sometimes it just takes being surrounded by family. The ones who know you best. The ones who can find silliness in things that may not be considered silly. Laughing and silliness are two things everyone needs.

Unfortunately, my siblings, for the most part, are not readers. But that didn’t stop me for getting a few pages, even chapters in. I read The Glass Chateau by local author, Stephen Kiernan. And finishing up Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife written by Francesca Wade which is getting me back into everything Stein and Toklas. So much so that I scoured my store and home shelves and grabbed Staying on Alone: Letters of Alice B. Toklas, edited by Edward Burns, and of course, The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book with its infamous recipe. Of course, to reread The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Stein, and others. I tend to do this frequently. To focus on a topic or person and exhaust all books available. A few years ago, it was Hemingway. That led to Martha Gellhorn. Sometime before that it was Moby Dick and all the fiction based on Melville’s novel to included Jay Parini’s The Passages of H.M.: A Novel. That’s why it is so hard for me to recommend books. I know I read differently than most. I don’t tend to read the latest novel unless my daughter shoves it under my nose and says that I HAVE to read this. She’s always right. Hamnet (Maggie O’Farrell) to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer), to The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay), and many more. She makes me look good.

I appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding through these times. It makes me happy to have the customer base I have. It makes me happy to be surrounded by all the books and owning a used bookstore. I am lucky. Thank you!

The only asset that can be kept safe from every threat and made to appreciate in value year after year is the relationship you have with your customers. – Dan S. Kennedy, No B.S. Ruthless Management of People and Profits: No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take-No-Prisoners Guide to Really Getting Rich. (Well, not sure about Rich. How about getting by?)