Readers Readers

Everywhere

Hello Substack friends,

This week, on my way to the Sun Valley Writers Conference, I had a three hour layover in Salt Lake City, so I stopped in a restaurant scoring a half circle booth and ordered the burrata and a lemonade.

A second waitress ran to my table and said, “I saw your jacket and t-shirt and immediately wanted to talk to you.” I looked over at my black jean jacket I’d taken off and placed beside me. Taylor Swift’s album names had been written on book spines forming a stack of books. And the t-shirt I was sporting was the new bookshop in Mar Vista called, “Good Girl Books.”

“You obviously like books.” She continued as I read her name tag, Kat.

“I do. What do you like to read?” I asked

“Comedy. Dark Comedies”

I smiled and pulled out Simon Rich’s book “Hits and Misses”. He’s one of the speakers I want to see at the conference.

Kat showed off her tattoo.

“Stunning” I said as I ran my fingers down her forearm examining each book.

Then Kat shared her library had closed.

‘“Library closed?” I wanted to know more.

Turns out when customers leave their books in the restaurant, Kat and my waitress Rachel store them on a shelf in the restaurant, allowing each other to borrow the books, both being voracious readers. Unfortunately, the health inspector had be there the previous week and told them that was a no-no so Kat’s personal lending library closed shop.

But that’s not going to stop either of them from reading.

Books are magical. They bring people together.

“When a clerical mishap threatens to invalidate Lisa Cheek’s wedding in the year before she turns 50, she finds herself frantically reviewing her relationship history for clues. It makes for a funny and heart-warming ride through her past, with scenes that so many women-of-a-certain age will relate to.”
–Sari Botton, author of And You May Find Yourself...Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo, and the editor of Oldster Magazine

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