June 25: A Shoebox for Books

“This is the bookstore of my childhood,” says author Ann Patchett of the shop she co-owns in Nashville, Tennessee.

She feels its size—a “shoebox” compared to the larger booksellers—is more like the way bookstores used to be. “People are really coming all the way back around and saying, ‘I want and miss the little store,’” Patchett believes.

As for the financial investment, the writer sees the venture as a “gift” to her city, a spot that sees itself as the Athens of the South, complete with a full-size replica of the Parthenon.

The store’s name—Parnassus—is the mountain in Greece where music, literature and poetry were born.  “We wanted to be part of that great tradition,” Patchett says.

Doing what we love to do should always measure against our call to love one another.

The second [commandment] is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Mark 12:31)

For love of You, Lord, I offer love to my neighbor.