‘A legend in the literary world’ keeps S.F.’s City Lights shining

Image by Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

“The benefit of being a bookseller is that writers and people in publishing don’t get the immediate positive feedback we get every day,” he says. “My personal philosophy is, ‘Trust in the reader, trust in the writer.’ ”

#PaulYamazaki #Books #Readers #Writers #Citylights #Publishing #Academia #Literature #Legend #Booksellers #SanFrancisco #Buybooks #Yamazaki

https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/article/paul-yamazaki-city-lights-18501302.php

The joy of discovery

I have always loved book stores. All types. All sizes. All manner of [dis]organization. When I was young, each store represented a hoard of tomes I could not even dream of possessing. How many books would I have bought? …how much money do you have? Literally. The books I did have then became valuable to me. They were precious because I had chosen them for purchase with various allotments I received; Or they were gifted to me making them both surprising and precious. To this day: Mmmmmmmm, bookstores.

Each store has its own way of embracing you, embracing the reader, and creating a sense of the universe expanding. For anybody curious and interested in printed matter, the more bookstores you go into, the more you’ll realize how many different ways there are to be curious. That helps us set a foundation to be more knowledgeable about the world we inhabit. The practical and the sheer joy of it.

~ Paul Yamazaki from, Paul Yamazaki on the Important, Joyous Work of Running an Independent Bookstore

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In more recent years, resources have become available. These days, each time I wander into a bookstore I think: Once—just once—I’m going to clear the rest of my day, and spend it all here in this bookstore, and I’m going to buy every single book that i want. Just to see what that feels like.

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#7ForSunday #Books #PaulYamazaki

Reading the Room: An Interview with Paul Yamazaki
By Seminary Co-Op Bookstore:

"My faith in the reader is profound. Our role is to bring them to a new door, to a new room. We are trying to choose the best of what’s out there. How do we arrive at the best? Reading and conversations with other readers, other booksellers."

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2024/02/20/reading-the-room-an-interview-with-paul-yamazaki/mc_cid=bbe9c07980&mc_eid=2c425e92a4

#Paulyamazaki #Books #Writers #Academia #Citylightsbookstore #Readers #Blackwriters #Art #History #Images #SanFrancisco #Bookstore #theparisreview ❤️