Bob Cox passed along This One on a new bookstore in Minneapolis they say is hard to find, and once you get there it\’s almost impossible to buy anything.
The owner retired recently as curator of the University of Minnesota\’s James Ford Bell Library, and these really are her books, which is why selling is tough.
\” \’What shall I do with all my books?\’ was the question; and the answer, \’Read them,\’ sobered the questioner. \’But if you cannot read them, at any rate handle them and, as it were, fondle them. Peer into them. Let them fall open where they will. Read on from the first sentence that arrests the eye. Then turn to another. Make a voyage of discovery, taking soundings of uncharted seas. Set them back on their shelves with your own hands. Arrange them on your own plan, so that if you do not know what is in them, you at least know where they are. If they cannot be your friends, let them at any rate be your acquaintances. If they cannot enter the circle of your life, do not deny them at least a nod of recognition.\”
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