I try and be frugal when buying books. I look for paperbacks, used copies, and so forth, but every so often (especially when I have a gift card) I do pick up a hardback, and The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading, by James Patterson and Matt Eversmann was impossible to resist! Warning here, it was a one day read! The short entries from folks across the country (including Canada) made it easy to read 'just one more'. I finished just before midnight. You will smile and laugh, shed a few tears, and, most likely, do a lot of nodding when you read something familiar ... like the 'feel' of holding a book, the excitement of a new book by a favorite author, the thrill of recommending a book to someone who then tells you they loved it ... I am calling this a 'smile' of a book. :-) p.s. I remember when department stores had book sections ... do you?

Did you read Shakespeare in school? I did, and often struggled with trying to figure out what was going on. I enjoyed it, most of the time, but having read Shakespeare: the Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench with Brendan O'Hea, wish that it had been available then! Dame Judi has been in a lot of Shakespeare, and she discusses those parts, the director, other actors, costumes and so on with Brendan is this book. It was a fascinating, often humorous read.

Reading Hermit With Dog