Sunday, Dec 17, 2023

As we move in to the officially last minute part of the holiday shopping season, lots of people have been asking: "I haven't been here since 2020. What's changed?"

Nothing, but also everything.

The key points to know:

- There may be toy cars on the floor. I do my darndest to keep them picked up, but if you too have had a toddler, you know how far darndest goes. Anyway, surprise! We had a baby. That was the biggest change.

- Parenthood did give us the idea to shelve our toys and games according to recommended age. Ask us where to find a game for ages 8 and up, and you'll find yourself in front of a whole bookcase of options.

- The books you were thinking about before are likely gone. Though we have not yet achieved our usual 25,000-book turnover in this decade, we are constantly replacing books. Sometimes we replace them with similar things, and sometimes, the shelves emptied in one section are coopted by another.

- You'll notice this most in the blue room upstairs, where Classic Christian Theology and African American Studies captured space formerly allotted to, well, White Guys Commenting on Societal Stuff. We weeded a lot of those to make room for more exciting material.

- Next project: Sections of pre-Modern literature organized by period. There's a small Medieval Lit section near Mythology (since about half of it is Arthur right now). Expect this to grow.

- The hardest change: We lost our beloved dilute tortoiseshell cat, Nierme. She had been our hostess for seventeen - yes, seventeen - years. She passed on October 30, while snuggling a dear friend, leaving the role of host to her orange tabby protege, Aeschylus ("Esky"). Please be gentle when inquiring about her - we are still pretty heartbroken - and, if you have favorite snapshots of everyone's favorite sentient cinnamon roll cat, consider sharing them. We'd love to create a little community memorial of pictures.

There are many other, smaller changes, too, and more to come; if you can't find where you left off in your last browse, we're happy to show you what's moved. Mostly, we're glad to see you. It's been much too long since the store felt full of inquisitive minds, piano music, laughter, and impromptu dramatic readings. We missed you. Welcome back.