A READING SUMMER

Hot! Hot! Too hot to walk the shadeless portion of Sea Street in front of Roseledge Books and be tempted to stop in.  But the other day was glorious and the first busy day in the bookstore.

Two groups were repeaters, one of which was a group of one who was a great browser.  One was a group of three who bicycled by and, even if their intent was mostly to catch their breath, they bought great books and vowed to be back.  But the fourth group were newbies who stopped in on the clearly compelling advice of a sailing colleague.  Thank you, thank you, whoever you are (they weren’t sure).  Word-of-mouth or word-of-t-shirt is my favorite lure.  And they chose some of RB’s most special books.

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Edward Hopper-like chairs await you with books for an afternoon read.

For instance, they considered Maine Scenes and Seasons  by Richard Procopio has great photos and text to introduce people from away to the glory that is Maine;

One of each Farley Mowat book on the shelf which on that day were Bay of Spirit and The Serpent’s Coil;

Farm Work, my favorite Jamie Wyeth book/exhibition catalog which has within it his answers to interview questions arranged more like an informal monologue about his work;

Lambs of God by Marele Day, a snotty Vatican novel (always a plus), set on an island in the Hebrides (the watery terrain is almost a cousin), with unusual knitters (an emerging plus); and

The Life and Traditions of the Red Man is Joseph Nicolar’s 19th Century telling of Penobscot tribal ways, unusual and pertinent to those of us living on Penobscot Bay.  Some years ago, RB carried and sold anthropologist Frank Speck’s Penobscot Man, also unusual, pertinent,  published by U of Maine Press and, therefore, expensive.

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A hodge-podge of chairs for readers who visit and watch the harbor's ways.

Today a little cooler, but still no breeze, some bugs and intermittent rain.

I am hopeful, but not foolish.



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