The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop

This is a delightful memoir of the author's life-long obsession with books as reader, book owner, bookstore clerk and publishers' rep. Like the drunk who cannot pass a bar without going in, Buzbee is irresistibly drawn into every shop, stall or warehouse where books may be found -- a failing with which I empathize, being an unrepentant book addict myself. For instance, some years ago marooned in a Sicilian port town during... Read Full Review

Booklovers, rejoice! Buzbee's latest work is a touching, breathtaking ode to books and bookstores. He writes with a fine, precise hand, waxing lyrical about the sensual pleasures of reading and browsing, treating books and their vendors with profound respect. The first few pages draw you in instantly, as he opens the book with every booklover's favorite pastime: walking into a bookshop. The rest of the book is devoted to... Read Full Review

Reading Lewis Buzbee's The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop was like going home again. Like Buzbee, I grew up in San Jose in the sixties and seventies. His reminiscences of My Weekly Reader and Scholastic Book catalogs brought back forgotten memories. He recalls shopping for books at Valley Fair, Gemco, Rexall, and Little Professor. So do I. He began college at a small Jesuit university nearby. Me too. He applied for a job at The Upstart... Read Full Review

If you love to read this book will make you very happy. This work, part memoir part history, tracks one man's love for books parallel to civilizations development of books. The author recounts the books that moved him, the places that moved him and the people that enriched his life. The reading life is a great life and Buzzbee marvelously weaves together a solid narrative using this theme. This work isn't elitist or... Read Full Review