First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #107

It's Tuesday . . . time for . . .

                                                      

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros hosted by Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea, where bloggers post the first paragraph(s) of a book they are currently reading or planning to read sometime soon.

Today I'm featuring the opening from a book I borrowed from the library . . .

 

Goodreads Page

Alone among Others

When I walk into a bookstore, any bookstore, first thing in the morning, I'm flooded with a sense of hushed excitement.  I shouldn't feel this way.  I've spent most of my adult life working in bookstores, either as a bookseller or a publisher's sales rep, and even though I no longer work in the business, as an incurable reader I find myself in a bookstore at least five times a week.  Shouldn't I be blase about it all by now?  In the quiet of such a morning, however, the store's displays stacked squarely and its shelves tidy and promising, I know that this is no mere shop.  When a bookstore opens its doors, the rest of the world enters, too, the day's weather and the day's news, the streams of customers, and of course the boxes of books and the many other worlds they contain--books of facts and truths, books newly written and those first read centuries before, books of great relevance and of absolute banality.  Standing in the middle of this confluence, I can't help but feel the possibility of the universe unfolding a little, once upon a time.

What do you think?  Would you continue reading? 

While the first paragraph is quite lengthy, it's hard not to ramble on about one's love of bookstores.  I find myself nodding along as I turn the pages of this memoir.

First Chapter ~ First Paragraph #107 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com.  This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ encouraged.