A familiar scenario from my childhood: My father and I are driving in his truck. I’m six years old, it’s summer break in Southern California, a sunny Saturday morning, and we’re heading to the beach. I’ve eaten two bowls of sugar cereal and I’m spun out, frantic to get in the water. The ocean comes …
Politicians assemble in a congress, athletes join teams, coin collectors meet in clubs, gangsters form syndicates, longshoremen have a union, witches gather in covens, and lawyers unite in partnership. When booksellers get together, they form an “association.” From the Pacific Northwest to New England to the overarching national group, the sellers of books consistently forego …
Every day, my ex-roommate and current best friend Eric—an infatuated collector of everything copasetic and beautiful—used to go to bookstores and record stores looking for rare finds. It used to be like a disease with him. The apartment where we lived in Thousand Oaks, California groaned under the weight of his purchases; its floorboards creaked …
