Shakespeare and Co. Booksellers

Josie, the one and only, turned 15 today. She is a remarkable animal.

So, almost 11 years in and I think — I hope — we are staying true to our vision of keeping things very simple. We still keep track of sales by hand, on paper, still have no computerized inventory, no point-of-sale system. No speakers in the ceiling. No logo. (Literally; we have no logo; we have bookmarks — which we love — but they do not feature a logo.) We do not have a counter or a cash register or printed bags or a discount program. We don’t advertise, do not serve coffee. Some stores do these things and have these things, and that’s fine, but we do not. Everything we have goes into the inventory, into keeping it full and interesting. That’s really all we do down here. It isn’t much, I guess, but it is a satisfying thing to be able to do. So we’re just going to keep doing that — keep it simple, keep it personal, and keep it going, if we can, one day after another.

We are thankful for so much support.

Coming soon, a few words about some of our favorite books of 2008.

I’ve dreamed of building an A-frame cabin for my home since I was a little girl. This dream, born in an age of innocence and economic ignorance, but quickly down-sizing to a mere nostalgic concept, led me to pick up a copy of Rob Roy’s Mortgage Free! Innovative Strategies for Debt-Free Home Ownership. This book is similar to Thomas J. Elpel’s Direct Pointing to Real Wealth, so it will be more appealing to people who want to get back to life’s simple pleasures through the art of conservation. Roy offers various benefits to the conserver-lifestyle, including both personal and monetary. In fact, he makes owner-built home ownership by way of conserving appear to be a better long-term investment than even a college education. The best part, however, is that Roy writes from experience, having built two homes himself. (For proof, photos are included.) He also points to websites and to other books that will aid readers on their quest for debt-free home ownership.

With suggestions on conserving money, making smart investments, buying land, and designing and building a shelter, this book is an inspiring introductory guide for anyone dreaming of building a nest of their own, or maybe even a little A-frame cabin.

Mortgage Free! Innovative Strategies for Debt-Free Home Ownership by Rob Roy, (Chelsea Green, $24.95) IN STOCK!

Elaine Scarry, writing in the Boston Review:

… let us suppose what is fair to suppose, that Barack Obama and John McCain continue in good health, are as wedded to the law as they appear, that one of the two is elected fairly and honestly, and that the country begins its mighty pivot back to its gravitational center in the rule of law. It will be almost like a miracle cure, an overnight release from our eight-year-long affliction.

Or will it? What will this shift over to the rule of law mean? It will mean that when we are led by a person who does not believe in the rule of law, we will not as a country follow the rule of law; and when we are led by a person who does believe in the rule of law, we will follow the rule of law. If that is the case, the United States will continue to be what it has been during the last eight years: a country governed by the rule of men (their beliefs, their preferences, their choices), not by the rule of law (where beliefs, preferences, and choices are constrained by invariable and nonnegotiable prohibitions on cruelty and fraud). Just as one might in the past have said, “this president was short whereas the next president was tall” or “this president was isolationist whereas as the next president was internationalist,” so now one might shrug and say, “this president believed it was his prerogative to torture whereas the next president believed it was not.” The incalculable damage left by Bush and Cheney’s day-in-and-day-out contempt for national and international law includes the power to sweep forward in time and trivialize into a matter of personal preference any future president’s adherence to the law. Will we become a country in which the rule of law is just another policy preference? Do we really think that the rule of law is to be left in the hands of our leaders?

– “Presidential Crimes” Sept/Oct 2008