Tuesday Teaser: A Novel Bookstore

"We have no time to waste on insignificant books, hollow books, books that are here to please.

We have no time for those sloppy, hurried books of the 'Go on, I need it for July, and in September we'll give you a proper launch and sell one hundred thousand copies, it's in the bag' variety.

We want books that are written for those of us who doubt everything, who cry over the least little thing, who are startled by the slightest noise.

We wants books that cost their authors a great deal, books where you can feel the years of work, the backache, the writer's block, the author's panic at the thought that he might be lost; his discouragement, his courage, his anguish, his stubbornness, the risk of failure that he has taken.

We want splendid books, books that immerse us in the splendor of reality and keep us there; books that prove to us that love is at work in the world next to evil, right up against it, at times indistinctly, and that it always will be, just the way that suffering will always ravage hearts.

We want good novels.

We want books that leave nothing out; neither human tragedy nor everyday wonders, books that bring fresh air to our lungs.

And even if there is only one such book per decade, even if there is only one....every ten years, that would be enough. We want nothing else."

~ A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse, Part III, (Chpt 36, pg 279-280)