To put the right book in the right hands at the right moment, and to accompany it with beguiling words that reach the interior of a person, often a stranger, is an art. It requires study to keep up to date, sensitivity to what isn't said, a measure of mind-reading, and, like other arts, a bit of flare. The booksellers of Books & Books are artists of the trade. They have passion. They love what they are doing. They love people and words and ideas. Their guiding force, Mitchell Kaplan, is a visionary. He reaches out. He sees what can be done instead of what can't. His generosity of spirit is palpable. Even the physical place is irresistible. Ah, if only every community in the country, every neighborhood, had such a magnetic bookstore, reading would again resume its deserved and vital place as an essential, joyous, mind-expanding activity necessary to a humanitarian civilization.
Sincerely,
Susan Vreeland
(Luncheon of the Boating Party)
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