Chapter 14 Chapter Thirteen Bookstore Owner

It's easy, he thought, Maya, he wanted to say, I've figured it all out. But his brain wouldn't let him talk. If you can't find a word, just borrow it. We read and know we are not alone.We read because we are alone; we read and then we are not alone, we are not alone. My life is in these books, he wants to tell her, read these books and know my heart. We're not exactly long novels. He was almost on the verge of thinking of the metaphor he had been thinking of. We're not exactly short stories.At this moment, his life seemed closest to that. In the end, we are the complete works.

He had read enough to know that not every story in a complete collection was perfect.Some succeeded, some nearly.If you are lucky, there will be a good work.In the end, people remember the great ones anyway, and they don't remember the great ones for long. No, not for long. "Daddy," Maya said. He tried to understand what she was saying.What does it mean when the lips move and there are voices? Luckily she said it again: "Dad." Yes, Dad, I'm Dad, I'm a Dad.Maya's father, Maya's dad.Not simple words, not simple little big words.No simple word, no simple world!he is crying.His heart was so full that he had no words to release it.I know what words are for, he thought.Words make us feel a little less.

"No, Dad, please don't do this. It's okay." She put her arms around him. Reading has become difficult.If he worked hard, he could barely read a short story, but it was impossible to read a long novel.Compared with speaking, writing is easier, but it is not easy to write.He writes a paragraph every day, a paragraph for Maya, not too much, but he can only do so. He wanted to tell her something very important. "Does it hurt?" she asked. No, he thought.The brain doesn't feel pain, so it doesn't hurt.In the end, the brain-failure process was a strangely painless one, and he figured it should be more painful.

"Are you afraid?" she asked. Not afraid to die, he thought, but a little scared of the stage I'm in.Every day, I lose a little.Today I have no words but thoughts, tomorrow I will be a body without thoughts.And so on.But Maya, you're here now, so I'm glad to be here too, even without books and words, even without my brain.How on earth do you say this?Where do we start? Maya stared at him when she too began to cry. "Maya," he said, "only one word is important." He looked at her to see if she understood him.She frowned.He could see that he hadn't made it clear.Damn.Most of what he's said lately has been vague.If he wants others to understand, it is best to limit himself to a one-word answer, but some things cannot be explained in one word.

He will try again, and he will never give up trying. "Maya, we become what we love. Love makes us." Maya is shaking her head. "Dad, I'm sorry, I don't understand." "We're not what we collect, what we get, what we read, as long as we're alive, we're love, the things we love, the people we love. All of that, I think is really going to survive." She's still shaking her head. "I can't understand you, Dad. I wish I could. Do you want me to find Amy? Or maybe you can type it?" He is sweating.Conversation is no longer fun, it used to be easy.Well, he thought.If you must use a word, you must use a word.

"Love?" he asked.He prayed he was right. She frowned, trying to read his expression. "Gloves?" she asked. "Are your hands cold, Papa?" He nodded and she put his hand in hers.His hands were cold, but now they were warm, and he decided that he had come close enough today.Maybe tomorrow, he will know what to say. At the funeral of the bookstore owner, the question on everyone's mind was what would happen to Kojima Bookstore.People have feelings for their bookstores deeper than AJ Fikri thought.Who put A Wrinkle in Time in the hands of your twelve-year-old daughter with clipped nails, who sold you the Let's Go guide to Hawaii, who insisted that your discerning aunt would Like "Cloud Atlas"?These are all important.Also, they love Isle of Books, although they are not always particularly loyal to it, although they sometimes buy e-books, buy books online, and they like to mention the town by saying that Isle of Isle is in the main business district The center is the second or third place you go after getting off the ferry.

At the funeral, they went up to Maya and Amelia and whispered (respectfully, of course) "AJ will never be replaced, but you're going to find someone else to run the bookstore?" Amelia didn't know what to do.She loves Alice Island, and Island Bookstore, but she has no experience running a bookstore.She had been working at a publishing house in this line, and she needed the steady check and health insurance even more now that she was responsible to Maya.She considered keeping the bookstore open and letting someone else open it Monday through Friday, but that wasn't an option.The back and forth traffic is unbearable, and what should really be done is to move off the island altogether.After a week of distress, insomnia, and brooding, she decided to close the bookstore.The bookstore—at least the house and land on which it was built—was worth a lot of money. (Nicole and AJ bought it years ago.) Emilia loves Kojima Books, but she can't open it.For a month or so, she tried to sell the bookstore, but there was no buyer.She put the house on the market.By the end of summer, Kojima Bookstore will be closed.

“The end of an era,” Lambias told Ismay over eggs at a local diner.The news broke his heart, but he was leaving Alice Island soon anyway.He'll be a police officer for twenty-five years by tomorrow spring, and he's already saved so much that he imagines himself buying a boat and living out there in the Florida Keys, like retirement in one of Elmore Leonard's novels. Police like that.He'd been trying to get Ismay to go with him, and he felt he was close to getting her.Lately, she has offered fewer and fewer objections, despite being one of those eccentric New Englanders who love winter.

“I had hoped that they would find someone else to run the bookstore, but the thing is, no matter what, Kojima Books wouldn’t be Kojima Books without AJ, Maya and Amelia,” Lambiase said. "There won't be the same feelings." "Yeah," Ismay replied, "it's uncomfortable. They're probably going to turn it into a 'Forever 21.'" "What is 'Forever 21'?" Ismay laughed at him. "How come you don't know? Isn't it mentioned even once in the YA novels you're always reading?" "Young fiction isn't like that."

"A clothing chain. We'd be lucky that way, actually. They'll probably turn it into a bank." She sipped her coffee. "Either a grocery store." "Maybe open a Jambo Juice," Lambias said. "I like Jambo Juice." Ismay began to cry. The waiter stopped at this table, and Lambiase signaled to her to clear the plates. "I know how you feel," Lambiase said, "I don't like it either, Issie. You know one thing that's funny? I never read much until I met AJ and started going to Isle Books. As a kid, The teacher thought I was a slow reader, so I never got the hang of it."

"Tell a kid he doesn't like reading, and he'll believe you," says Ismay. "Major Cs in English. After AJ adopted Maya, I wanted an excuse to go into the bookstore to see how they were doing, so I kept reading whatever he gave me, and then I started loving reading." Ismay cried a little harder. "Turned out, I really like bookstores. You know, I know a lot of people from work. A lot of people come to Alice Island, especially in the summer. I've seen people from the film industry come on holiday, I've seen people from the music industry And people in the press. But people in the book business are different, it's a gentleman's and a lady's business." "It's not that exaggerated," said Ismay. "I don't know, Izzy. I'm telling you. Bookstores attract the right people, nice people like AJ and Amelia. I like talking about books with people who like talking about books. I like paper, I like paper I like the feel of the book in the back pocket of my trousers. I also like the smell of a new book.” Ismay kissed him. "You're the funniest cop I've ever met." "I'm worried about what Alice Island would be like without a bookstore." Lambiase finished his coffee while talking. "me too." Lambiase leaned over the table and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey, I have a crazy idea. What if instead of going to Florida, you and I took over that place?" "In this economic climate, that's a really crazy idea," Ismay said. "Yeah," he said, "probably so." The waiter asked if they wanted dessert, and Ismay said she didn't want any, but Lambiase knew she'd always share some of his.He ordered a piece of cherry pie with two forks. "But, you know, what if we did that?" Lambiase continued, "I have savings and a nice retirement soon, and so do you. AJ says people who come in the summer always buy many books." "People who come in the summer now have e-readers," Ismay said. "Indeed." Lambiase said.He decided not to talk about the subject. When they were halfway through the pie, Ismay said, "We could open a coffee corner too, and that might help preserve capital." "Yeah, AJ used to say that all the time." "Also," says Ismay, "we're turning the basement into a place where we can play. That way, events for authors don't have to be right in the middle of the bookstore, and people might even rent the space sometimes to do plays or meeting." "Your theater background will help with that," says Lambiase. "Are you sure you want to take over? We're not particularly young," Ismay said. "Where's the good-bye winter? What about Florida?" "We can move there when we're old. We're not old now," said Lambiaston after a moment. "I've been on Alice Island all my life, and it's the only place I've ever known. It's nice here, and I'm going to Let it go like this. A place without a bookstore isn't a place, Izzy." A few years after selling the bookstore to Ismay and Lambiase, Amelia decided to leave Knightley.Maya will soon be graduating high school, and Amelia is tired of traveling too much.She got a job buying books at a large retailer in Maine.Before she left, Amelia wrote notes for all her high-order customers, as her predecessor, Harvey Rhodes, had done before.She saved Kojima Bookstore for last. "Little Island Bookstore," she writes, "Owners: Ismay Parrish (former schoolteacher) and Nicholas Lambias (former sheriff). Lambias is a terrific Sales, especially in crime fiction and YA fiction. Parrish — who used to run the drama club at her school — can be counted on to host top-notch author events. The bookstore has a coffee corner, a stage, and online sales The bookstore is also doing very well. All of this, building on the foundation laid by AJ Fikry, the former owner whose tastes lean toward literature. The bookstore still has a lot of literary fiction, but they don’t buy or sell. Moving books. I love Island Books with all my heart. I don’t believe in God, I’m not religious, but this bookstore is the closest thing to a church I’ve ever known in my life. It’s a holy place place, with bookstores like this, I feel confident that bookselling will continue to exist for a long time. - Amelia Loman" Embarrassed by the last few sentences, Amelia cut out everything after "They don't buy unsalable books." "...they don't buy unsalable books." Jacob Gardner read the notes written by his predecessor one last time, then turned off his phone screen and stepped off the ferry, taking big, firm steps .Jacob was twenty-seven and had a master's degree in non-fiction writing, which was somewhat useful.He couldn't believe he had found the job.Yes, the salary could be higher, but he loves to read, has always loved to read, and he believes books have saved his life.He even has a quote from CS Lewis tattooed on his wrist.Imagine being the kind of person who talks about literature and gets paid for it.He could do it for free, not that he wanted his publisher to know it.He needed money, Boston was expensive, and he was just doing this day job to support what he was passionate about: writing an oral history of a gay song-and-dance actor.But that doesn't change the fact that Jacob Gardner was definitely a believer, he even walked like he was on a mission and could be mistaken for a missionary.In fact, he was raised a Mormon, but that's another story. Coming to Xiaodao Bookstore was Jacob's first door-to-door sales, and he couldn't wait to rush to the store.He couldn't wait to tell them about the amazing book he had in his Knightley Press tote bag.That bag must have weighed almost fifty pounds, but Jacob kept working out and barely felt it.Knightley's book list this year is particularly weighty, and he's sure his job will be easy.Readers have no choice but to fall in love with these books.The nice woman who had hired him suggested that he start at Kojima Bookstore.The boss is into crime literature, eh?Well, Jacob's favorite on the list is a debut novel about a missing teenage Amish girl.In Jacob's opinion, it's must-read for anyone who really likes crime fiction. As Jacob walked across the threshold of the purple cottage, the wind chimes played a familiar tune, and a hoarse but not unfriendly voice said, "Welcome." Jacob walked through the old aisle and reached out to a middle-aged man on the ladder: "Mr. Lambiase, I have a book here that is really suitable for you!"