Dear Fellow Bibliophiles

No, not really -- no one is there this winter. The bookstore is closed.

No, I am not there, in Northport, in my bookstore, pictured above in another year, when I was there. Now, in February of 2022, the Artist and I are still ensconced in our ghost town cabin in southeast Arizona, far from icy roads, snowed-in driveway, and snowy sidewalk to shovel in front of our places of business in the village. We have both spent a lot of winters in Michigan (many of them together), and I loved that exhilarating season -- below, for example, is puppy Sarah in the snow, shortly after we adopted her in January of 2008 -- but we are happy now to take life easier here in the Southwest, with sunshine warming our old bones. 

Sarah, January 2008

As long as I’m somewhere I want to be, though (which excludes places like hospital waiting rooms or expressway traffic jams), one of my aims is to be in that place as fully as possible. To be immersed, attentive, curious. Taking in as much as I can. It is for this reason that much of my reading during Arizona winters focuses on fiction, history, and memoirs set in this part of the country – the American West generally, Arizona and New Mexico more particularly, and especially Cochise County, Arizona. Away from Michigan, I buy books wherever I find them, but bookstores are fewer and farther between out here in the West. Other than one bookstore visit in Phoenix and another recently in Tucson, most of my finds are limited to the outlets available, Friends of the Library bookstores and thrift shops. I am a bookseller, but during the winter I am a bookseller in seasonal retirement, and selling is not foremost in my mind when I look at books. More often I’m thinking, Do I want to read that?

 

This is where I am

But after nearly three decades in the business, bookselling is in my blood, and it was for this reason that I ordered through Netflix (whether in Michigan or Arizona, we still get our movies on DVDs, old fogies that we are) a small film called “The Booksellers.” And as we watched it, I kept thinking of all my fellow bibliophiles – my bookseller colleagues, but others, too – who would be as crazy about this movie as I am. So many thoughts and opinions expressed that we all (booksellers, collectors, biblophiles) share! So many quotable lines and wonderful scenes! Our world!

 

“The Booksellers” is set in New York City. I have been fortunate enough to visit the Strand (only once) and have read about the three sisters who followed their father’s footsteps in the Argosy Bookshop. Most of the shops I've visited over the years selling used books have been elsewhere, however, all across the United States. If you know the used book world, it shouldn't surprise you that there are a few eccentrics featured in this film. Laughing with delight, I exclaimed out loud to the Artist, “These are my people!” 

 

Other than recommending the film to you, my other reason for writing this brief post today is to say that it has renewed my feeling of gratitude for my life's path, leading me into the world of bookselling. Other booksellers, readers, booklovers, customers, and the many wonderful authors I have been honored to meet in my line of work – all have made for a richly rewarding life. There is also the joy of simply spending days in my bookstore, surrounded by books, and never knowing what "new" old books are going to come my way next. 

 

I am a lucky woman. And I will be back in my shop come spring. Hope to see you there!

 

Books Read in 2022 since last I posted titles:

 

11. Jance, J. A. Judgment Call (fiction)

12. Barnard, Mary, trans. Sappho: A New Translation (poetry)

13. Hunger, Christina. How Stella Learned to Talk (nonfiction)

14. Miller, Susan Cummins. Hoodoo (fiction)

15. Teale, Edwin Way. North with the Spring (nonfiction)

16. Baker, Will. Mountain Blood (nonfiction)

17. St. Exupéry, Antoine. The Little Prince (fiction)

18. St. Exupéry, Antoine. Le Petit Prince (fiction)