in my tape player... Nothing... today it's just the white noise of the fan and Todd's faint clicking on the keyboard.

on the page... Paul Auster's Ghosts

forgive me I do apologize to Howard for using his words without asking... but I do trust that he will be as pleasantly surprised to reread them as I was to receive them.

open for business... Wellesley Booksmith opened yesterday to the welcoming and gracious arms of the community. The store was busier than expected and the job is everything I'd hoped it would be. Just to watch people browsing the shelves and talking to them about books is amazing to me.

pages are a changin'... Todd generously helped me redesign some of my texty graphics and re-whirled my whirlygirl to alleviate the snow-like graininess in her background. He's so easy to distract. Also... I've added a new section for recommendations, sparked by the first "staff pic" review I wrote for the store. If I ever get through T. Laine's monster list of books, there will be others to add.

in my comment field... "We're the best... and neither is civilization" ...quote on the t-shirt of a guy on a scooter stopped at a traffic light in front of Jim about two years ago when he first moved to Taipei

how does it feel? Last night Elizabeth Berg came into the store and after a brief conversation where I stuttered clumsily and she humored me by smiling, I watched her look through the fiction shelves. I couldn't imagine what it must feel like for her to go into a bookstore and stare up at her own books on the shelf.