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Light On Light Through

You'll hear a little of this and lot of that on Light On Light Through - my reviews of great television series and movies, my interviews with authors and creative media people and their interviews of me, my media theory and political commentary, thoughts about my favorite cars and food and space travel, discussions of my music, and a few of my readings from my science fiction stories. In the first years, starting in 2006, I put up a new episode at least once a month.  More recently, it became more or less often than once a month, usually less often.  But in the Summer of 2020, I began getting more in the mood to podcast, and on 17 October 2023, I began publishing a new episode of the podcast every Tuesday at 12:01 pm -- a minute after Noon (New York time).  - Paul Levinson 

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  2. That Special Bookstore

That Special Bookstore

Jul 28, 2007

I guess I do most of my book shopping online these days...

But I was thinking the other day about the best bookstore I have ever been in.... I was reading an old, weathered 1880s copy of Plato's Republic - no, not just for enjoyment (though it is a fascinating book), but I needed it for a section I'm writing in the sequel to The Plot to Save Socrates (ok, that's fun, too). But leafing through that faded book got  me to thinking about where I'd acquired it. That shop was my favorite book store of all time...

Now, there are lots of contenders. Foyle's in London, science fiction and mystery bookstores up and down the Northeast corridor here in the U.S. where I'm most likely to be at large on a weekend ...

But my all-time favorite was a second-hand bookstore located just off the Bowdoin College campus in Maine. My wife and I happened upon it years ago. I have no idea if it's still in business. Probably not.

It wasn't much of a shop, physically. But it had a stock of old and second-hand philosophy and history books to rival the Harvard Library's. Except most of the volumes were not more than a dollar or two, and weren't in the greatest condition. Didn't matter. I don't collect books as art objects. I love them for their words.

We bought so many books in that store - nearly a hundred - that the two store owners started arguing with each other about whether they really wanted to sell us so much of their inventory. One was sure we were just buying up the books to start our own bookstore, even though I assured her (truthfully) that we were not. In the end, we did get the books, with a mix of embarassed smiles and grumbles thrown in at no extra charge.

I still have every one of those books on the shelves of my home library today. Many date from the 1920s and 30s. A few go back as far as the 1870s. Benjamin Jowett's Works of Plato in four volumes were on my knee, or on the floor near my shoe, as I wrote large parts of The Plot to Save Socrates. (Plato's Republic is in those Jowettt volumes.) That was one of the reasons I included Jowett in the book as a character.

In this world, where so much of what we do and keep is digital, I like thinking every once in a while about the magic of that bookstore. I have a pizza place on Allerton Avenue, a deli on White Plains Road, and a shoe repair store on Burke Avenue - all near where I grew up, in the Bronx, all long gone now - that do that for me, too.

But, none, of course, do the same thing as the bookstore near Bowdoin, because I can still hold the books in my hand, smell them, read them, any time I like...

What are the chances that the proprietors of that book shop will be reading this blog post? Next to nil. But on that outside chance - I hope you'll be pleased to know your books are still being given the appreciation they deserve.

You know, my wife and I may indeed open a book store someday - but never to sell those books...

 

Show Archived Comments

alan coover
over fourteen years ago

Hmmm...how I got to this page is not a mystery, but it\\\'s weird. Anyway, I actually came upon it by error, but I did read this entry, and low and behold, I had a response to it. You mention the Benjamin Jewett\\\'s translations of Plato, and Jewett himself. I don\\\'t know if you\\\'re familiar with Tom Stoppard, the playwright. But he wrote a play entitled \\\"The Invention of Love\\\" about the poet A.E. Houseman, and Jewett is a character in it. He is portrayed as a naive (k)numbskull more or less; apparently he was Houseman\\\'s Classic\\\'s teacher, but when Houseman, after doing extensive research on Plato and Attic Life in general, told Jewett that the \\\'love\\\' expressed by men for other men in Greek poetry and other genres was in fact physical, Jewett\\\'s reaction was complete shock and disbelief. In fact, (according to the play), Houseman got so disgusted with academic life at hmmm...OK, it was Cambridge or Oxford...that instead of taking a lecturer position in Classics (for which he was emininently qualified) worked as a clerk for five years, then eventually took a job as a Greek & Latin teacher -- and went on to not only be a Greek & Latin scholar and teacher, but also a well-known poet, the latter is what he is more famous for \\\'To an Athlete Dying Young\\\' etc. In any case, I suppose you can say that Frank Sinatra\\\'s ties with the Mafia have nothing to do with his fine singing, although since translation and interpretation do take a certain amount of judgment, it gives me pause when I think about Jewett. BTW, if you plan to ever open a bookstore, good luck. I grew up in my grandfather\\\'s, and he sold books in seven or eight languages.

William
almost seventeen years ago

I go to Bowdoin College currently and can\\\\\\\'t think of a used bookstore nearby. There\\\\\\\'s Bookland at Cook\\\\\\\'s Corner and Gulf of Maine books on Maine St. down the road from campus, but neither sell used exclusively. It\\\\\\\'s quite possible that it\\\\\\\'s still there since many businesses are tucked into the residential areas, in basements, etc. in the area. Where was it located relative to the Art Museum?