Annibale wrote:
Jonathan wrote:
Yesterday was hot in St. Louis. Grand Blvd. was noisy and crowded.
I went into Mr. Dunaway's shop and browsed for an hour. It was cool,
quiet and organized. I found two fairly-priced books (obscure and of
interest,
I imagine, only to me). I bought them and spent half the night
reading one of them.
The experience of taking refuge from the clutter of a city into the
repose of a good
bookshop, finding a good book that barely dents the wallet, and
spending the next
few hours captivated by the purchase, is one that our grandchildren
will not enjoy. At least not in my home town of Milwaukee.
It can now be said (with the closing of "Recycled Books" on Prospect
Avenue)
that the Eastside no longer has a used bookstore.

Perhaps I should move my family to St. Louis. It seems
to be more of a book town.

Actually your complaint about Milwaukee is probably true in many larger
cities all over the country. Partly it has to do with the internet, and
partly with the difficulties of having an open shop, anywhere. Although
I would not say that New York was a bad book town, now, I am old enough
to remember 4th avenue at its heyday, and it was a much better book
town then. In that immediate neighborhood, that I know of, Strand is
the only one left.

But new ones have opened--Alabaster and 12th Street Books come to mind.

--
Evelyn C. Leeper
In literature, as in love, we are astonished
by what is chosen by others. --Andre Maurois