CRIME MARCHES ON

The following is reprinted from the bookstore's facebook group page, a site bearing the same name as this one, or close to it. Close enough so as to eliminate confusion. Or confusing enough so as to eliminate readers, but who's counting? And now to that reproduced post:

  We reflect upon the old days when customers didn't know our name and called us "Used Books." "I'm goin' to Used Books, honey, and don't come lookin' for me", they would say. The fault lay in our signage, since greatly improved by the addition of a second flag. Another hand painted sign was so well done that it disappeared immediately, stolen by one of our book scouts, we are so certain, but it was never proved. ¶ Also unproven is our strong suspicion that a murderer, fleeing the crime scene just beyond Quake Collectibles, struck a parking meter causing it to loft through the air and into our plate glass window. The meter's post bore a car's paint traces, but the detectives ignored our observation and in fact seemed to lose interest in finding the killer when they concluded it was a gay lovers quarrel that caused the murderer to inflict fifty stab wounds. On the plus side, fag bashing is no longer tolerated in the force, so far as we know. Cops as a group are slow to evolve, for reasons explored in some of the books we have here in the shop, or just stop by for a chat and we'll share our unprejudiced theories on social anthropology and class warfare.

Scribbling Scribes

Illuminating Your Margins

"—a collection of complaints monks scribbled in the pages of illuminated manuscripts."

"Illumination": What a a poetic word for scribbling in the margins! Here at the bookstore, we sell only non-illuminated (not to be mistaken for non-luminous) books. The debate rages as to whether reading a book among a community of previous note-takers is charming or rather odious. Maybe it would be more fun if marginalia worked something like Tom Riddle's diary inThe Chamber of Secrets. Wouldn't you like to have a tete-a-tete with some codgy monk? Something like "Oh stop your bellyaching! It's not like you're dying of the Plague! Oh wait..."