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A small rebellion against glass cabinets

This little shop has introduced me to some very interesting readers. Over the past few weeks I’ve been chatting with a few of you about the kinds of books you’re...

Open wide

I was at the dentist recently, which is not traditionally where one expects to confront questions of punctuation.You’re horizontal. A bright light is interrogating you. A stranger is commenting on...

The cat with a hundred names

Every box of books that comes into this house must pass inspection. It’s not dramatic. It’s hardly noticeable to anyone else. But to me, it feels like a quiet hinge...

Still no great novels about cheese

G. K. Chesterton once mused that “the poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”No odes to brie. No tragic sonnets about cheddar. Literature it seems has its...

When a writer stops writing

Jeffrey Archer announced last week that his next novel, Adam and Eve, will be his last. After fifty years, dozens of books, and hundreds of millions of copies sold, it’s the...

I ran into Odysseus in Checkers the other day...

I ran into Odysseus in Checkers the other day...He was in the olive oil aisle, which felt appropriate. I could see he had been there long enough that the journey...