Have a question?
“Ex Libris”: Why This Matters Bookplates and their Meaning Curating one’s library is an ongoing process. Personal collections are living, breathing entities. If you are an active reader, staying current on your shelves, organizing them by alphabet or subject or how you see fit, giving books away to make way for new ones, and/or creating […]
The Scent of New Books Many people stop in and ask if we can take their old books. We wish we could (we don’t) and we are absolutely sure that someone else will enjoy them. Then there are others who don’t want to buy new books. They have enough books. They have no space for
What makes a new book so special? Read More »
T.S. Eliot for VDay I’m not exactly sure why without fail Elvis Costello’s “My Comic Valentine” pops into my head every February. Humming Richard Rodgers’ lyrics, believing in Costello’s rendition (though Chet Baker and Stan Getz works too) makes me happy, even as the years slip into decades. I hope that you too, dear Reader,
In short, I was afraid: Ode to J. Alfred Prufrock Read More »
Kingston, Rhode Island Train Station: A Good Place for Embarking Somewhere along the line I stopped writing down my resolutions. Perhaps life got too busy trying to keep them. Every New Year’s Eve, attempts at change would be written in my journal. Somewhere in June, I would flip back its pages and try and
Making Resolutions 2021 Read More »
This Advent This is my second December as a retailer and it can not be more different than 2019. Last year, Lauren Classey organized an amazing Fifth Annual Charlestown Holiday Ramble. We had a lively time wrapping books as gifts; watching the original Grinch try and steal Christmas, and eating chili outdoors around a
How Does Joy Arrive? Read More »
I get your drift, Joe. I have lived with your drift for years. I am saddled with your drift. -Franklin W. Dixon It was an unusually hot day at the beach. The young boy, no more than ten years old, was clearly in code red. One hour more in the blazing sun and he would
Franklin Dixon’s Hardy Boys: Now and Then Read More »
Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is! The Diary of Anne Frank The library closed at 2 p.m. on Sundays. Displaced patrons ambled over to
A Young Woman’s Diary By Any Other Name Read More »
In early December the bookstore already glowed in the splendor and scent of Christmas. The town’s holiday ramblers streamed in at four o’clock and received their purchases wrapped with snow-ball ribbon, nautical twine or thick red grosgrain…
A Gift – The Thoughtful Gift this December Read More »