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The Last Bookseller
- A Life in the Rare Book Trade
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 5 hrs and 55 mins
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The Last Bookseller
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Publisher's summary
When Gary Goodman wandered into a run-down, used-book shop that was going out of business in East St. Paul in 1982, he had no idea the visit would change his life. He walked in as a psychiatric counselor and walked out as the store's new owner. In The Last Bookseller, Goodman describes his sometimes desperate, sometimes hilarious career as a used and rare book dealer in Minnesota.
Here we meet the infamous St. Paul Book Bandit, Stephen Blumberg, who stole 24,000 rare books worth more than 50 million dollars; John Jenkins, the Texas rare book dealer who (probably) was murdered while standing in the middle of the Colorado River; and the eccentric Melvin McCosh, who filled his dilapidated mansion with half a million books. In 1990, with a couple of partners, Goodman opened St. Croix Antiquarian Books in Stillwater, one of the Twin Cities region's most venerable bookshops until it closed in 2017.
The internet changed the book business forever, and Goodman details how, after 2000, the internet made stores like his obsolete. In the 1990s, the Twin Cities had nearly 50 secondhand bookshops; today, there are fewer than 10. As both a memoir and a history of booksellers and book scouts, criminals and collectors, The Last Bookseller offers an ultimately poignant account of the used and rare book business during its final Golden Age.
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A good listen.
- By Amazon Customer on 08-30-20
By: Dan Gearino
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The Dinosaur Artist
- Obsession, Betrayal, and the Quest for Earth's Ultimate Trophy
- By: Paige Williams
- Narrated by: Ellen Archer
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 142
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 128
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Story4 out of 5 stars 128
In this 2018 New York Times Notable Book,Paige Williams "does for fossils what Susan Orlean did for orchids" (Book Riot) in her account of one Florida man's attempt to sell a dinosaur skeleton from Mongolia—a story "steeped in natural history, human nature, commerce, crime, science, and politics" (Rebecca Skloot).
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2 out of 5 stars
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More filler than Joan Rivers’ face.
- By Brandi on 03-13-19
By: Paige Williams
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Mint Condition
- How Baseball Cards Became an American Obsession
- By: Dave Jamieson
- Narrated by: Kevin Young
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 166
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 152
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 151
When award-winning journalist Dave Jamieson's parents sold his childhood home a few years ago, he rediscovered a prized boyhood possession: his baseball card collection. Now was the time to cash in on the investments of his youth. But all the card shops had closed, and cards were selling for next to nothing online. What had happened?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Book
- By Peter Lutz on 07-17-16
By: Dave Jamieson
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Provenance
- How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art
- By: Laney Salisbury, Aly Sujo
- Narrated by: Marty Peterson
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 562
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 434
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 432
Here is a tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries - many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today. Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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reads like a thriller
- By Andy on 04-26-10
By: Laney Salisbury, and others
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The Gardner Heist
- The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft
- By: Ulrich Boser
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 116
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4 out of 5 stars 103
After the death of famed art detective Harold Smith, reporter Ulrich Boser decided to take up the case. Exploring Smith's unfinished leads, Boser travels deep into the art underworld and comes across a remarkable cast of characters, including a brilliant rock 'n' roll thief, a gangster who professes his innocence in rhyming verse, and the enigmatic late Boston heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner herself. Boser becomes increasingly obsessed with the case and eventually uncovers startling new evidence about the identities of the thieves.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Loved it!
- By Amanda D. on 05-21-19
By: Ulrich Boser
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The Lost Book of Moses
- The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible
- By: Chanan Tigay
- Narrated by: Chanan Tigay
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 84
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4 out of 5 stars 74
In the summer of 1883, Moses Wilhelm Shapira - archaeological treasure hunter and denizen of Jerusalem's bustling marketplace - arrived unannounced in London claiming to have discovered the world's oldest Bible scroll. When news of the discovery leaked to the excited English press, Shapira became a household name. But before the British Museum could acquire them, Shapira's nemesis, French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau, denounced his find as a fraud.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating!
- By Deborah on 07-27-17
By: Chanan Tigay
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The Lost Gutenberg
- The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey
- By: Margaret Leslie Davis
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
For rare-book collectors, an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible - of which there are fewer than 50 in existence - represents the ultimate prize. Here, Margaret Leslie Davis recounts five centuries in the life of one copy, from its creation by Johannes Gutenberg, through the hands of monks, an earl, the Worcestershire sauce king, and a nuclear physicist to its ultimate resting place, in a steel vault in Tokyo.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Spare me
- By Dr. Small on 05-04-20
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Printer's Error
- Irreverent Stories from Book History
- By: Rebecca Romney, J. P. Romney
- Narrated by: J.P. Romney
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 82
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 72
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 74
Since the Gutenberg Bible first went on sale in 1455, printing has been viewed as one of the highest achievements of human innovation. But the march of progress hasn't been smooth; downright bizarre is more like it. Printer's Error chronicles some of the strangest and most humorous episodes in the history of Western printing. Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible. While the book is regarded as the first printed work in the Western world, Gutenberg's name doesn't appear anywhere on it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Porn for Ye Old Bibliophiles
- By George M. Liveakos on 03-24-17
By: Rebecca Romney, and others
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Strange Stones
- By: Peter Hessler
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 157
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 138
Full of unforgettable figures and an unrelenting spirit of adventure, Strange Stones is a far-ranging, thought-provoking collection of Peter Hessler’s best reportage - a dazzling display of the powerful storytelling, shrewd cultural insight, and warm sense of humor that are the trademarks of his work. Over the last decade, as a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of three books, Peter Hessler has lived in Asia and the United States, writing as both native and knowledgeable outsider in these two very different regions.
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4 out of 5 stars
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funny, entertaining
- By Katherine on 08-02-13
By: Peter Hessler
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Supreme City
- How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America
- By: Donald L. Miller
- Narrated by: Frangione Jim
- Length: 29 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 90
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 85
In four words - "the capital of everything" - Duke Ellington captured Manhattan during one of the most exciting and celebrated eras in our history: The Jazz Age. Radio, tabloid newspapers, and movies with sound appeared. The silver screen took over Times Square as Broadway became America's movie mecca. Tremendous new skyscrapers were built in Midtown in one of the greatest building booms in history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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the background to the NYC we now live in
- By Marcie on 03-05-15
By: Donald L. Miller
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Maphead
- Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks
- By: Ken Jennings
- Narrated by: Kirby Heyborne
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 229
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 191
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Story4 out of 5 stars 191
It comes as no surprise that, as a kid, Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings slept with a bulky Hammond world atlas by his pillow every night. Maphead recounts his lifelong love affair with geography and explores why maps have always been so fascinating to him and to fellow enthusiasts everywhere.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A Romp through Maps
- By Lynn on 01-27-12
By: Ken Jennings
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Wear Your Dreams
- My Life in Tattoos
- By: Ed Hardy, Joel Selvin
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 104
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 90
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Story5 out of 5 stars 91
In Wear Your Dreams, Ed Hardy recounts his genesis as a tattoo artist and leader in the movement to recognize tattooing as a valid and rich art form, through to the ultimate transformation of his career into a multibillion dollar branding empire. This book explains how this Godfather of Tattoos fomented the explosion of tattoo art and how his influence can be witnessed on everyone, from countless celebs to ink-adorned rockers to butterfly-branded, stroller-pushing moms.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Read
- By JP Beyler on 02-15-18
By: Ed Hardy, and others
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The Billionaire's Vinegar
- The Mystery of the World's Most Expensive Bottle of Wine
- By: Benjamin Wallace
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 577
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 465
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 464
It was the most expensive bottle of wine ever sold. In 1985, at a heated auction by Christie’s of London, a 1787 bottle of Château Lafite Bordeaux - one of a cache of bottles unearthed in a bricked-up Paris cellar and supposedly owned by Thomas Jefferson - went for $156,000 to a member of the Forbes family. The discoverer of the bottle was pop-band manager turned wine collector Hardy Rodenstock, who had a knack for finding extremely old and exquisite wines. But rumors about the bottle soon arose.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Not just for enophiles
- By Julie W. Capell on 06-03-09
By: Benjamin Wallace
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Hershey
- Milton S. Hershey's Extraordinary Life of Wealth, Empire, and Utopian Dreams
- By: Michael D'Antonio
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 79
In this compelling biography, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael D'Antonio gives us the real-life rags-to-riches story of Milton S. Hershey, a largely uneducated businessman whose idealistic sense of purpose created an immense financial empire, a town, and a legacy that lasts to this day.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Benchmark for Chartiable, Rich Men
- By Boyd Tschaggeny on 01-30-19
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Empty Mansions
- The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune
- By: Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell Jr.
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,430
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,235
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,238
When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly 60 years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the 19th century with a 21st-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating, But Know This...
- By Karen K on 04-08-15
By: Bill Dedman, and others
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LEGO
- A Love Story
- By: Jonathan Bender
- Narrated by: Jeremy Gage
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4 out of 5 stars 109
There are 62 LEGO bricks for every person in the world, and at age 30, Jonathan Bender realized that he didn't have a single one of them. While reconsidering his childhood dream of becoming a master model builder for The LEGO Group, he discovers the men and women who are skewing the averages with collections of hundreds of thousands of LEGO bricks. What is it about the ubiquitous, brightly colored toys that makes them so hard for everyone to put down?
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5 out of 5 stars
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Be careful if you already like Lego
- By Matthew Center on 03-14-11
By: Jonathan Bender
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The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 931
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 798
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Story4 out of 5 stars 804
In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
What listeners say about The Last Bookseller
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jewels
- 03-02-22
For the love of books
Absolutely loved this book even though losing booksellers saddens me. So much information on books and book sellers. Thank you Gary, I actually bought an autographed copy of "My Kingdom of Books" first edition. Needless to say it was bought online. Very interesting journey through books.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Toni Bowes
- 04-12-22
Love the Story of the Booksellers Life
I sell also. Have since 2000. So found your story pre-internet interesting. Post internet is the only book selling world I know. I did find one error......those of us who own weiner dogs......they are our 'kids'. :-)
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