‘The Yellow Lighted Bookshop’ By Lewis Buzbee

What can be more wonderful to a bibliophile than a book about books? Lewis Buzbee’s nonfiction essay on bookshops is a tribute to the love of reading and selling books. Buzbee draws heavily from his decades of experience as an independent bookshop employee and publishing sales representative.

“Books connect us with others, but that connection is created in solitude, one reader in one chair hearing one writer, what John Irving refers to as one genius speaking to another.” — Lewis Buzbee

In The Yellow Lighted Bookshop, Lewis offers readers glimpses of what goes on behind the scenes at bookstores. He educates us on the background and history of the origin of books, publishers, and bookstores. It’s informative, though slightly, at times, text-bookish, but I am not complaining.

One of the several stories and trivia that Lewis sprinkles throughout the book is the one about the publication of the James Joyce masterpiece Ulysses. Banned across countries and publications, it finally found refuge in Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company. This story truly shows the influence booksellers and publishers can have on the current socio-political scene of a country and generation.

“There, face to face, over the elbow polished wood of the counter, bookseller and customer share a silent but telling moment. Travel guides, cookbooks, a book on divorce, one about ailing parents, baby names…..its a little like looking into another person’s heart.” — Lewis Buzbee

What truly made this book an enjoyable read was the way I could relate to the reverence toward books the author has and that I share. There is a lot to this pocketbook-sized ode to books, bookstores, and publishers. A better understanding of the literary world and pleasure in knowing that the world is full of passionate book lovers.

And it increases my resolve to keep reading in an increasingly distracting world.

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