Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

I spent part of the weekend hauling boxes of books and moving bookcases around, and part of it reading, attempting to finish some, or even one, of the several books I find myself in the middle of. Reading more Patrick Leigh Fermor, still reading Montaigne. Finished a Chatwin book I'd been revisiting, and managed to re-shelve a few random items I'd been idly browsing in. In the to-be-read pile sit Thomas Merton's Seeds of Contemplation (haven't read enough about monks, it seems), The Golden Age by Kenneth Grahame (can't believe I've never read it), with illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard (known best for Pooh), a fat biography of Longfellow and Longfellow's translation of The Divine Comedy, and Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh. There are others. Feeling ambitious.

Weekend news: our team lost the Superbowl. Outplayed. Nothing else to be said, except that I'm feeling sick about it this morning. The heartbreak was assuaged somewhat by the fact that our new cat finally decided we were okay (after two days of apparent uncertainty) and ended up sleeping at the foot of the bed all night long. He's awfully good, that Hodge.

And some news from the bookshop, since in recent posts I seem to have been talking about everything but the bookshop. I've been getting quotes for printing up a bookseller ticket. If I get a die-cut, it's quite expensive. If not, not so much. I'm torn. Although it's a moot point, because of course I want the book-shaped die-cut, and business is too slow right now to warrant the expense. Speaking of expenses, it's February again, and every year at this time I seem to have a crisis of faith about the bookselling business. Can I afford to stay in business? Not really. Shall I continue anyway? This year, for the second year in a row, I just don't know. I've been selling books in one way or another for TWENTY YEARS now, and at this point books are so intertwined with my sense of self that I don't even know what I'd do if I wasn't working with them somehow. What to do. I am so not a quitter - in fact, I usually hang on to everything far too long - so I'll have to think about it for a while. And by then, it should be spring again...