These Precious Days: Essays

possessions stood between me and death. They didn’t protect me from death, but they created a barrier in my understanding, like many layers of bubble wrap,

Did I need an MFA to write a novel? No, I did not. Did I need an MFA to open a bookstore? No again. But I was a solitary kid, and I imagined a solitary life for myself. My MFA showed me the importance of community. We are social creatures. Even the introverted readers, the silent writers, want a place where they feel welcomed and understood. I had

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lots of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and

As every reader knows, the social contract between you and a book you love is not complete until you can hand that book to someone else and say, Here, you’re going to love this.

I was an uncomfortable child, a small adult biding my time.

I’ve always had the impulse to protect myself, but somewhere along the way I got confused about what I needed protection from.

Books were not just my education and my entertainment, they were my partners. They told me what I was capable of. They let me stare a long way down the path of various possibilities so that I could make decisions.

Death always thinks of us eventually. The trick is to find the joy in the interim, and make good use of the days we have.

The trick is in the decision to wake up every morning and meet the world again with love. I have