“And where did you go to medical school?” It takes chutzpah to stand up to a doctor, especially a psychiatrist, who may interpret pushback as a symptom. Well done, Nan, in life and on the virtual page.
Thanks, Rona. He was a psychiatrist, but more of a technician psychiatrist, but you make a really good point... and there were no 72 hour holds for my response. So, there's that!
Thank you for this essay. I experienced memory loss every time I was given anthesia. After the first , I couldn't remember if I liked crunchy or creamy peanut butter but I definitely had a preference before the first procedure.
Now I don't member a lot of my recent life but I still soldier on!
Working in a book store, l would be smelling books all day. I cannot help but open a book and press it up to my face 😂. I so loved it when you told the doctor you are more ‘expert’ 🙌🏻. My grandmother had ECT for post natal depression, though l don’t know what the effects were with her. Love to you 😊💜
Thanks Simone! Yes! the smell of a new book. Nothing like it. My great aunt and my grandmother both received ECT. But my great aunt was treated in the 40s and 50s, a time when the treatment was much harder on the patients. Thanks for sharing that. xo
Yeah. Geez. I’ll tell you, even though it was hard, and I experienced a lot of memory loss, it also worked. It helped. Cost vs. benefit, I suppose. Thank goodness there are more options than in the 50s. xo
Me too, and as I said in the essay, should it be necessary, that door isn't closed, but I'll do my best to find other solutions before I walk through it again. xo!
Reading this I’m so grateful for this platform and knowing you are sharing deep truths here is a gift that can act as an antidote to my own lifelong battle with complex PTSD and the dark depression. How I enjoy
connecting thru our hearts our words our experiences.
A book I Love is The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver 2009. The way she weaves history and humanity and, well….characters that have hutzpah learning to
put on Big Girl Panties.
And I too worked in book sales mostly in my 30’s so your experience is familiar and quite endearing. All those personalities walking thru the door! The bell would jingle and I immediately smiled. It was hard work but sooooo rewarding. I eventually became a manager at a Half Price Books in Houston and it was a mycelia network of amazing proportion.
Oh Yes! The Poisonwood Bible! Ugh soooo good! I will take it down from the shelf. I can’t remember but I know I loved it ! Seriously, that is true! I too am thanking the aligning stars of soul sisterhood, finding Grace in each other’s words!
And you are one of three people I financially subscribe to because I just don’t want to miss anything you write. Often I binge read which you may find when I do a cluster of likes 😆
Oh, Michelle! What a terrifically kind thing to say. I appreciate that you’re a paid subscriber. That means the world to me. And I want to hear how you feel about The Poisonwood Bible after you’ve read it again. xo
It has been that, still is, though the bumps are few and far between these days. I'm so heartened that you value my words, and that we hold in common some of the aspects that shaped each of our lives. Bookstores are a wonderful meeting place for curious minds and spirits. Humanity can be found on the shelves. It was a great experience being a bookseller. I should re-read The Lacuna. My favorite BK book is The Poisonwood Bible, then Bean Trees, and most recently, Demon Copperhead...and I can tell you a lot about what each of them is about, and I might even know some character names! Grace and Huzzahs back at you, Michelle. So thrilled our paths have crossed here. xo
And bless your friend Janice. Good for you, kissing ECT goodbye. Memory loss can be a bummer. I've got it too, but not from that. Just from being 77! So I play the prescribed games, to try to improve memory about names, etc. I'm sure you've heard of them. And when they fail I say "Fuck it, I'm not 35 anymore!" And then I pray for grace, to accept myself as I am now.
Yup. And good for me for making that decision when I did, but if I needed it again, I can't tell you that I wouldn't opt in. Sometimes, it's the only thing that works for people, and it can absolutely save lives. I do know the games, for sure! xo
Grrrr to the man who minimized your experience and tried to tell you what you REALLY experienced. Honestly?!! Congratulations for standing up for yourself, but it doesn't change the fact that his behavior was unprofessional and unhelpful. I wonder if he would have told a man the same thing.
What a journey you have gone on with ECT, Nan! Thank you for sharing it with us! 💕
I think he would have told a man the same thing. I think it was a firmly held belief. I didn't get into a philosophical conversation with him about. I actually may have come from a place of caring, in a strange way, and not well-communicated way, but it came across as completely arrogant and know-it-all. He wasn't a bad guy. He just didn't have great skills. Thanks for reading and commenting, Cathy. xo
With profound empathy, I truly don't know what to say about ECT other than I'm grateful it helped and so tremendously sorry for the tradeoff. As I often do, I see myself so clearly in this " I’m more of an experiential reader, deeply involved in a book while I’m in it, but when it’s over, a lot of the story evaporates for me." It happens to me with books, songs, movies, anything. I may absolutely adore a song and know every word, and I can't tell you who sings it. I've never been able to describe why, but this is it. I'm attached to the experience of it; the semantics are unimportant. Thank you for giving me that.
Hey Jess, it's all good, really. It was a time in my life that was very mixed up and I've spent years getting to the bottom of a lot of the reasons that life was so difficult. I wrote this piece because there are many of us who've been through this experience (the treatment because it does work, and the memory consequences) because we need to be "out" about it, or better yet, because I need to be out about it. Mental health issues and histories still carry so much stigma, and until we can discuss some of these secrets or closely held stories without shame, there's still work to be done. And yes, the thing about reading. I always considered it a failing (especially because I have had a very good memory) and I didn't understand it, but yes, I'm in the experience until it's over, fully engaged, and then when the book is over it does go away! I'm the same with music to a degree. Love to you, my friend! xo
Fascinating all around, Nan. From the outside, ECT sounds, frankly, terrifying. I mean, yes, there was Plath, but I didn't realize this was still a common therapy. The added memory component is huge. I know how disorienting that had to have felt, and I'm glad some of it returned -- and glad you have other options now.
I like this description a lot: "I’m more of an experiential reader, deeply involved in a book while I’m in it, but when it’s over, a lot of the story evaporates for me."
Outside of my (long-gone) academic days, when I read for just me, I think I'm a bit like that, too.
Thank you for sharing this story and the wonderful intro with you being "assessed" for the job. That's a great description of that space.
Plath was a very, very long time ago. My great aunt, the one who gave me Harriet the Spy went through years of ECT at a time when it wasn't given to people in a gentle way. Then it sounded terrifying. It's not terrifying now, at least it wasn't for me, and it saved me in many ways. This essay was not intended to scare anyone about the procedure, it's done carefully, and I was under a relatively short-acting anaesthesia, so there was no pain. It's intense, for sure, but a very useful tool, still, and much improved from the days when my aunt went through it. The memory loss component is the side effect that is most troubling, but it is, in fact a temporary thing. I have no evidence that I was permanently damaged by it, it's just a feeling, and I could be mistaken. Some of what I experience these days might just be a normal part of aging, and being distracted by too much input 24/7, and stress, and all the things. I manage very well these days. There are some gaps for me during the years I did these treatments. I would never dissuade someone who was considering it if they'd tried everything else to try ECT. It works. Definitely not a first choice though, and I doubt any doctor would go that route for someone struggling with depression without first trying other things. That bookstore. It was a very special place for me. xo
I know the focus is ECT, but for me, this is the best take away: "“So, in this case, I’m more of an expert than you. Don’t minimize my experience.” We're trained NOT to stand up to medical authority figures, when really, they don't always know. They're making best guesses. I've worked a long time to find a small group of doctors whose diagnoses I trust, and who work *with* me in deciding next steps. Goodonya for standing up for yourself, for deciding what you're willing to sacrifice AND for being flexible enough to say, "that's my decision, for now, I reserve the right to change my mind." Love you. Also, my memory disorder means I can read th same book, see the same movie multiple times and enjoy it each time as if it was new. I also have never felt smart enough to dissect books and movies the way some folks can, but I don't feel less for it. I just don't engage. Why do I love To Kill A Mockingbird? Is it about racism? I suppose so, but I read it because of Scout's relationship with her father. ❤️
Ah, love your comment, Jodi. Yes to advocating for ourselves. I've spent so much time navigating healthcare since my childhood, that I've grown very resistant to going to any doctor, but will if I need to. I sometimes put those appointments off for far too long. And yes, about the books, and yes! about Scout and Atticus. That's the essence of the book for me, too. I remember being in my AP English class, listening to some of my classmates talk about the books we were reading, and I was so impressed AND intimidated. I was much simpler. I either loved the book or didn't care about it so much. But I was afraid to open my mouth for fear of being belittled. It was one of the blocks to me pursuing college. I have good caregivers at the moment. I don't stand for bullshit or patronizers when I get care, and I usually try to find women doctors as much as possible...and sometimes the women are just as disappointing as the men. People in the caregiving trades sometimes lose sight of their compassion, shared humanity, maybe they shut down emotionally because of all the things they see throughout their careers. Don't know. What I do know is that if I don't my mouth and respond in my best interests when the message is wonky or patronizing, no one else will. Love you, pal. xo
I'm the same way about books--I want to be immersed, but am unable to pull back specific small details. I have never been in a book club! Simply not drawn to picking apart novels, or having to read what someone else chooses. I was not an English major, probably for the same reason.
The memory loss stuff? That's hard! I'm sorry that there's a price to pay for something that has helped stave off depression.
It was damn hard. I will do everything I can not to have to go that route ever again. But grateful it was available when I needed the help. I just know better now. xo
Working at a bookstore has always appealed to me but you made me laugh with the stuffed sinuses part of it. I loved this: ‘I just want to live in a temporary world that takes me outside the everydayness of life into a writer’s imagination. Then I move on to the next book. What I’ve integrated from each book lives within me, whether I’m consciously aware of it or not.’ So perfectly said!
Thanks, Amy! Yes, books. I've never been much of a dissecter when it comes to books. I don't think I would have been a successful English major, which is what I was planning on when I entered college...and so I dropped out! Probably not the best, most mature choice, but it all worked out, I suppose. xo
You always prove your resilience, Nan. Not everyone can woo a poet named Janice to lend a helping memory cell. Your writing always gives me a full picture of the you who was there and the you in the present telling the story. Thank you for sharing your ECT experiences, it helps us all to know that scary sounding therapies can provide relief. I'm glad it helped you so much and I'm even more glad you told that medical mansplainer to step off. xoxoxoxo
Yes, the medical mansplainers. They were all men. Not a coincidence, the attitude. Not one of the doctors who treated me with ECT had ever gone through it themselves. And yes, Janice was my pal, was a fierce mama bear and dear friend. It wasn't a hardship for her...we all LOVED selling and talking about books. As time went by and the effects of the treatment mellowed, I was able to show up more completely. I felt very embraced, very supported. Nothing beats the love of friends who become our chosen families. Thanks for reading and commenting, Eileen. xo
I have no doubt that Janice was the coolest. And friend love is the best love ❤️
It does give me questions about people who ask so many questions....at what point do you just hit them in the head with the book and say "perhaps you should wait for the movie?"
Hilarious! No, my favorite (not favorite at all) questions that always yielded eye rolls and laughter mixed with disgust and superiority was when a customer would come to the counter and say "I'm looking for a book. I don't know what the title is, and I'm not sure who wrote it, but I think it has a red cover and it may have been written by a woman." OHMYGOD. I can't tell you how many times that happened, but it was way too many times! xo
Yes. I just commented that none of the docs who administered the treatments had ever experienced it directly. Such experts, such arrogance. My first ECT doc was the kindest. I tracked him down, years later to thank him and tell him I was doing so much better. He was grateful that I let him know. It was a lovely chat. xo
Thanks, Mesa! If you ever get your bookstore going, I can give you 3 or 4 favorite titles (at least). Just joking. I'd be happy to share my experience. Loved selling books. I still hand sell when I'm in other bookstores, engaging with customers who are not mine! I also tidy shelves re-alphabetizing when I find a title out of order and I straighten stacks of new titles on tables, whenever I'm in any bookstore. It's irresistible. Old habits die hard, if they die at all! xo
I love this so much…and share a deep deep love of the written word, bookstores, and getting lost in stories. Here’s to all the amazing bookstores that have delighted my curiosity!!
Thanks, Molly. I love bookstores, too! The store was just the setting, where the deeper story took place. I miss those days sometimes. The collegiality of the other booksellers, and the appreciation of the customers. Book lovers are a special brand of people. I formed friendships working there that have lasted for more than two decades. xo
“And where did you go to medical school?” It takes chutzpah to stand up to a doctor, especially a psychiatrist, who may interpret pushback as a symptom. Well done, Nan, in life and on the virtual page.
Thanks, Rona. He was a psychiatrist, but more of a technician psychiatrist, but you make a really good point... and there were no 72 hour holds for my response. So, there's that!
Hey Nan!
Thank you for this essay. I experienced memory loss every time I was given anthesia. After the first , I couldn't remember if I liked crunchy or creamy peanut butter but I definitely had a preference before the first procedure.
Now I don't member a lot of my recent life but I still soldier on!
I am also 75 and a paid subscriber.
Today i got my money's worth.
Thank you for your truth !
Thank you for reading, Theresa. I'm glad you're soldiering on, and than you for your generosity. I appreciate it so much. xo
Working in a book store, l would be smelling books all day. I cannot help but open a book and press it up to my face 😂. I so loved it when you told the doctor you are more ‘expert’ 🙌🏻. My grandmother had ECT for post natal depression, though l don’t know what the effects were with her. Love to you 😊💜
Thanks Simone! Yes! the smell of a new book. Nothing like it. My great aunt and my grandmother both received ECT. But my great aunt was treated in the 40s and 50s, a time when the treatment was much harder on the patients. Thanks for sharing that. xo
Yes, it was the 1950s for my grandmother too.
Yeah. Geez. I’ll tell you, even though it was hard, and I experienced a lot of memory loss, it also worked. It helped. Cost vs. benefit, I suppose. Thank goodness there are more options than in the 50s. xo
Glad it has benefited you 🧡
Me too, and as I said in the essay, should it be necessary, that door isn't closed, but I'll do my best to find other solutions before I walk through it again. xo!
What a journey! Bumps and forks and heartache….
Again the Great Grace arrives right on time…
Reading this I’m so grateful for this platform and knowing you are sharing deep truths here is a gift that can act as an antidote to my own lifelong battle with complex PTSD and the dark depression. How I enjoy
connecting thru our hearts our words our experiences.
A book I Love is The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver 2009. The way she weaves history and humanity and, well….characters that have hutzpah learning to
put on Big Girl Panties.
And I too worked in book sales mostly in my 30’s so your experience is familiar and quite endearing. All those personalities walking thru the door! The bell would jingle and I immediately smiled. It was hard work but sooooo rewarding. I eventually became a manager at a Half Price Books in Houston and it was a mycelia network of amazing proportion.
Huzzah and Grace Shine upon you, Nan. 📖📓📚📙🫶🏼
Oh Yes! The Poisonwood Bible! Ugh soooo good! I will take it down from the shelf. I can’t remember but I know I loved it ! Seriously, that is true! I too am thanking the aligning stars of soul sisterhood, finding Grace in each other’s words!
And you are one of three people I financially subscribe to because I just don’t want to miss anything you write. Often I binge read which you may find when I do a cluster of likes 😆
Oh, Michelle! What a terrifically kind thing to say. I appreciate that you’re a paid subscriber. That means the world to me. And I want to hear how you feel about The Poisonwood Bible after you’ve read it again. xo
It has been that, still is, though the bumps are few and far between these days. I'm so heartened that you value my words, and that we hold in common some of the aspects that shaped each of our lives. Bookstores are a wonderful meeting place for curious minds and spirits. Humanity can be found on the shelves. It was a great experience being a bookseller. I should re-read The Lacuna. My favorite BK book is The Poisonwood Bible, then Bean Trees, and most recently, Demon Copperhead...and I can tell you a lot about what each of them is about, and I might even know some character names! Grace and Huzzahs back at you, Michelle. So thrilled our paths have crossed here. xo
And bless your friend Janice. Good for you, kissing ECT goodbye. Memory loss can be a bummer. I've got it too, but not from that. Just from being 77! So I play the prescribed games, to try to improve memory about names, etc. I'm sure you've heard of them. And when they fail I say "Fuck it, I'm not 35 anymore!" And then I pray for grace, to accept myself as I am now.
Yup. And good for me for making that decision when I did, but if I needed it again, I can't tell you that I wouldn't opt in. Sometimes, it's the only thing that works for people, and it can absolutely save lives. I do know the games, for sure! xo
And there's Ellen Shapiro! Nice picture. The Golden Notebook was my first go-to in town. And was where I met you. It's a very special place.
I can just hear you asking that doctor if he'd ever had ECT. Love that. Love you.
Love you, too, Nancy. Ellen was unlike anyone. She had a heart of gold inside a somewhat crusty shell. I loved her and I miss her. Gone way too soon.
Yes that crusty shell to protect her heart of gold.
Yes.
Grrrr to the man who minimized your experience and tried to tell you what you REALLY experienced. Honestly?!! Congratulations for standing up for yourself, but it doesn't change the fact that his behavior was unprofessional and unhelpful. I wonder if he would have told a man the same thing.
What a journey you have gone on with ECT, Nan! Thank you for sharing it with us! 💕
I hope he eventually learned those skills. 🤞🤞
I doubt it. It wasn't that long ago, so....
I think he would have told a man the same thing. I think it was a firmly held belief. I didn't get into a philosophical conversation with him about. I actually may have come from a place of caring, in a strange way, and not well-communicated way, but it came across as completely arrogant and know-it-all. He wasn't a bad guy. He just didn't have great skills. Thanks for reading and commenting, Cathy. xo
With profound empathy, I truly don't know what to say about ECT other than I'm grateful it helped and so tremendously sorry for the tradeoff. As I often do, I see myself so clearly in this " I’m more of an experiential reader, deeply involved in a book while I’m in it, but when it’s over, a lot of the story evaporates for me." It happens to me with books, songs, movies, anything. I may absolutely adore a song and know every word, and I can't tell you who sings it. I've never been able to describe why, but this is it. I'm attached to the experience of it; the semantics are unimportant. Thank you for giving me that.
Hey Jess, it's all good, really. It was a time in my life that was very mixed up and I've spent years getting to the bottom of a lot of the reasons that life was so difficult. I wrote this piece because there are many of us who've been through this experience (the treatment because it does work, and the memory consequences) because we need to be "out" about it, or better yet, because I need to be out about it. Mental health issues and histories still carry so much stigma, and until we can discuss some of these secrets or closely held stories without shame, there's still work to be done. And yes, the thing about reading. I always considered it a failing (especially because I have had a very good memory) and I didn't understand it, but yes, I'm in the experience until it's over, fully engaged, and then when the book is over it does go away! I'm the same with music to a degree. Love to you, my friend! xo
Fascinating all around, Nan. From the outside, ECT sounds, frankly, terrifying. I mean, yes, there was Plath, but I didn't realize this was still a common therapy. The added memory component is huge. I know how disorienting that had to have felt, and I'm glad some of it returned -- and glad you have other options now.
I like this description a lot: "I’m more of an experiential reader, deeply involved in a book while I’m in it, but when it’s over, a lot of the story evaporates for me."
Outside of my (long-gone) academic days, when I read for just me, I think I'm a bit like that, too.
Thank you for sharing this story and the wonderful intro with you being "assessed" for the job. That's a great description of that space.
Plath was a very, very long time ago. My great aunt, the one who gave me Harriet the Spy went through years of ECT at a time when it wasn't given to people in a gentle way. Then it sounded terrifying. It's not terrifying now, at least it wasn't for me, and it saved me in many ways. This essay was not intended to scare anyone about the procedure, it's done carefully, and I was under a relatively short-acting anaesthesia, so there was no pain. It's intense, for sure, but a very useful tool, still, and much improved from the days when my aunt went through it. The memory loss component is the side effect that is most troubling, but it is, in fact a temporary thing. I have no evidence that I was permanently damaged by it, it's just a feeling, and I could be mistaken. Some of what I experience these days might just be a normal part of aging, and being distracted by too much input 24/7, and stress, and all the things. I manage very well these days. There are some gaps for me during the years I did these treatments. I would never dissuade someone who was considering it if they'd tried everything else to try ECT. It works. Definitely not a first choice though, and I doubt any doctor would go that route for someone struggling with depression without first trying other things. That bookstore. It was a very special place for me. xo
I know the focus is ECT, but for me, this is the best take away: "“So, in this case, I’m more of an expert than you. Don’t minimize my experience.” We're trained NOT to stand up to medical authority figures, when really, they don't always know. They're making best guesses. I've worked a long time to find a small group of doctors whose diagnoses I trust, and who work *with* me in deciding next steps. Goodonya for standing up for yourself, for deciding what you're willing to sacrifice AND for being flexible enough to say, "that's my decision, for now, I reserve the right to change my mind." Love you. Also, my memory disorder means I can read th same book, see the same movie multiple times and enjoy it each time as if it was new. I also have never felt smart enough to dissect books and movies the way some folks can, but I don't feel less for it. I just don't engage. Why do I love To Kill A Mockingbird? Is it about racism? I suppose so, but I read it because of Scout's relationship with her father. ❤️
Ah, love your comment, Jodi. Yes to advocating for ourselves. I've spent so much time navigating healthcare since my childhood, that I've grown very resistant to going to any doctor, but will if I need to. I sometimes put those appointments off for far too long. And yes, about the books, and yes! about Scout and Atticus. That's the essence of the book for me, too. I remember being in my AP English class, listening to some of my classmates talk about the books we were reading, and I was so impressed AND intimidated. I was much simpler. I either loved the book or didn't care about it so much. But I was afraid to open my mouth for fear of being belittled. It was one of the blocks to me pursuing college. I have good caregivers at the moment. I don't stand for bullshit or patronizers when I get care, and I usually try to find women doctors as much as possible...and sometimes the women are just as disappointing as the men. People in the caregiving trades sometimes lose sight of their compassion, shared humanity, maybe they shut down emotionally because of all the things they see throughout their careers. Don't know. What I do know is that if I don't my mouth and respond in my best interests when the message is wonky or patronizing, no one else will. Love you, pal. xo
I'm the same way about books--I want to be immersed, but am unable to pull back specific small details. I have never been in a book club! Simply not drawn to picking apart novels, or having to read what someone else chooses. I was not an English major, probably for the same reason.
The memory loss stuff? That's hard! I'm sorry that there's a price to pay for something that has helped stave off depression.
It was damn hard. I will do everything I can not to have to go that route ever again. But grateful it was available when I needed the help. I just know better now. xo
Working at a bookstore has always appealed to me but you made me laugh with the stuffed sinuses part of it. I loved this: ‘I just want to live in a temporary world that takes me outside the everydayness of life into a writer’s imagination. Then I move on to the next book. What I’ve integrated from each book lives within me, whether I’m consciously aware of it or not.’ So perfectly said!
Thanks, Amy! Yes, books. I've never been much of a dissecter when it comes to books. I don't think I would have been a successful English major, which is what I was planning on when I entered college...and so I dropped out! Probably not the best, most mature choice, but it all worked out, I suppose. xo
You always prove your resilience, Nan. Not everyone can woo a poet named Janice to lend a helping memory cell. Your writing always gives me a full picture of the you who was there and the you in the present telling the story. Thank you for sharing your ECT experiences, it helps us all to know that scary sounding therapies can provide relief. I'm glad it helped you so much and I'm even more glad you told that medical mansplainer to step off. xoxoxoxo
Yes, the medical mansplainers. They were all men. Not a coincidence, the attitude. Not one of the doctors who treated me with ECT had ever gone through it themselves. And yes, Janice was my pal, was a fierce mama bear and dear friend. It wasn't a hardship for her...we all LOVED selling and talking about books. As time went by and the effects of the treatment mellowed, I was able to show up more completely. I felt very embraced, very supported. Nothing beats the love of friends who become our chosen families. Thanks for reading and commenting, Eileen. xo
I have no doubt that Janice was the coolest. And friend love is the best love ❤️
It does give me questions about people who ask so many questions....at what point do you just hit them in the head with the book and say "perhaps you should wait for the movie?"
Hilarious! No, my favorite (not favorite at all) questions that always yielded eye rolls and laughter mixed with disgust and superiority was when a customer would come to the counter and say "I'm looking for a book. I don't know what the title is, and I'm not sure who wrote it, but I think it has a red cover and it may have been written by a woman." OHMYGOD. I can't tell you how many times that happened, but it was way too many times! xo
“So, in this case, I’m more of an expert than you. Don’t minimize my experience.” Perfect!
Yes. I just commented that none of the docs who administered the treatments had ever experienced it directly. Such experts, such arrogance. My first ECT doc was the kindest. I tracked him down, years later to thank him and tell him I was doing so much better. He was grateful that I let him know. It was a lovely chat. xo
I love learning more about your life and the history of what makes you - you.
I currently have a concussion so my memory is shit at the moment. It’s endlessly frustrating.
If I ever get my bookstore going, I’m gonna pick your brain! 😍😍😍
Big big love to you, Nan🩵🩵
Thanks, Mesa! If you ever get your bookstore going, I can give you 3 or 4 favorite titles (at least). Just joking. I'd be happy to share my experience. Loved selling books. I still hand sell when I'm in other bookstores, engaging with customers who are not mine! I also tidy shelves re-alphabetizing when I find a title out of order and I straighten stacks of new titles on tables, whenever I'm in any bookstore. It's irresistible. Old habits die hard, if they die at all! xo
I love this so much…and share a deep deep love of the written word, bookstores, and getting lost in stories. Here’s to all the amazing bookstores that have delighted my curiosity!!
Thanks, Molly. I love bookstores, too! The store was just the setting, where the deeper story took place. I miss those days sometimes. The collegiality of the other booksellers, and the appreciation of the customers. Book lovers are a special brand of people. I formed friendships working there that have lasted for more than two decades. xo