When bookstores die

  For Dutton’s Brentwood:

" ‘Welcome to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, Daniel.... "
" ‘This is a place of mystery, Daniel, a sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens. This place was already ancient when my father brought me here for the first time, many years ago. Perhaps as old as the city itself. Nobody knows for certain how long it has existed, or who created it. I will tell you what my father told me, though. When a library disappears, or a bookshop closes down, when a book is consigned to oblivion, those of us who know this place, its guardians, make sure that it gets here. In this place, books no longer remembered by anyone, books that are lost in time, live forever, waiting for the day when they will reach a new reader’s hands.’ "
                       (from "The Shadow of the Wind: A Novel" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon)

The guardians will be busy after April 30. Best of luck to Doug and his crew.

Nick Owchar

Comments

[Ancient Bear]

Can Bradbury's vision, Fahrenheit 451, be far behind?

[Concerned Reader]

Book Soup is next. They are in trouble.