books

San Miguel’s Book Lovers — “All I Want For Christmas Is You”

2023, books, Mexico, , , , , View all 16 comments
Catherine and Hope

Aurora Books in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, is six months old next week, and wow, it’s been delightful in ways I never expected. Some people think I’m pursuing my life’s dream. Actually, I never dreamed of being in retail. But I love books and San Miguel needed a place to buy new English language books (like Tunisia and Vietnam!). I hoped opening a bookstore would be a way of serving my new community.

Well! It turns out the community is serving the bookstore. Here are a few of gifts San Miguel has given Aurora Books (with suggested reading 🙂 ):

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Bookstore People

2023, books, Mexico, , , , View all 28 comments
Aurora Books, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

One day last week, a woman came into my bookstore and handed me a copy of Shuggie Bain. I recognized her. A few days before, she was in the store with her daughter and bought the award-winning book about poverty in mid-century Scotland. “I enjoyed this, thank you” she said. “You can sell it used.” She was out the door before I could say anything, but I yelled “Thank you!” as she headed north. Her unceremonious delivery lead me to wonder whether maybe she didn’t like the book. Or maybe she was just in a hurry. In any case, she was kind enough to go out of her way to share an expensive book with another reader.

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10 Delightful Books For Your Compromised Attention Span

2020, art, California, United States, Universe, , , , , , , , , , , , , View all 12 comments

From the Principles of Uncertainty by Maira Kalman.

I see a lot of news articles lately that feature lists of books we could be reading right now. Many feature dystopian novels, heavy classics and slogs through history.  Some are books you think you should have read by now or those that will remind you of your worst fears. The Plague. War and Peace. Steven King. Cormac McCarthy. Thucydides. 

I don’t want to read that stuff right now, and, for many of us, it’s hard to read anything. People talk about feeling too distracted by worries and the barrage of news. We are slowed down by over-eating, the world’s lowered expectations of us, and an unfamiliar kindness toward ourselves.

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