When my parents died, my sister and I got out the letters that Dad had written to Mom while he was in Burma during World War II. They had never met at the time they started writing, but wrote back and forth for the last two years of the war.  When… Read full post »

Success in a used bookstore might be said to arrive when the number of books that go out the door surpasses the number that come in. I'm just not sure if that day ever arrives. So I've learned to define it a little differently.

Success is when someone comes in wanting… Read full post »

I have regulars who come into the bookstore. Several are voracious readers, and come in nearly every week to buy multiple books. Others surprise me by showing up with notebooks and detailed lists of specific books, both read and unread that they're looking for, and leave only with books from the… Read full post »

Sometimes I catch a glimpse of the plain brown paper wrapped package and, for a few seconds, get excited thinking I have a newly delivered present. The square shape holds the promise of a set of wine glasses or perhaps a hand made piece of pottery, carefully protected by pieces of… Read full post »

When I walked through the door and sat beside them in a metal chair at the metal table in the room with bars, I became their hope.  I wasn't always what… Read full post »

I grew up in a small central Illinois town "where the highways cross and the porch lights burn all night."  It was our claim to fame--the boast of a town of 3,000, set amid expanses… Read full post »

A few months ago I found myself flying home from Washington D.C. with a cell phone full of baby pictures of my week-old grandson, Flynn, and a brand new title of "Grandmother."  Or maybe Nana, Mimi, Baba, Grams, Gigi, or one of the other non-traditional grandmother names that seem to be pre… Read full post »