by Bart King for www.orgeonlive.com, Jan. 13, 2018 The boy was nose-deep in a book about a narwhal, and he wasn’t about to hand it over. “You need to put that on the counter so I can buy it, Jack,” said his mother. Jack’s knuckles whitened as he shot us a distrustful look. “But …
Every leap year, Neil Gaiman’s clever note about taking writers out to dinner on February 29th circulates, and every leap year, writers rejoice. And a few of them actually get a decent meal, too. But what about booksellers? Extra Leap Year Day is already taken, and it’s sorta awkward if we try to muscle in …
Sometimes, when you go to light a firework, the fuse sparks up and disappears into the tube, and then you wait . . . and wait . . . and wait, and just when you think you’ve got a dud, a tiny thread of smoke drifts out of the top. Everyone starts to find an …
The dog days are here, that time of year when the hours dilate and each shift behind the bookstore counter seems to extend beyond the clock’s capacity to measure. At Island Books, this happens in August, a month when we slow things down by cutting back on special events and giving the staff a chance …
