Shelf Life

"I am now an author working in a bookstore," writes Shea of her three years working at Edwards Books in Springfield, Mass. "I am a spy from another land." A reader must decide for himself, but in the end, the frantic life of readings and author tours and explanations seems less appealing than life in this quiet family-run store, where the clerks double as psychotherapists and the friendships made are just as real as the sacred object itself. (Shea notices that people tend to carry books close to their chests, like babies.) In a country of 25,000 bookstores, Shea counts maybe 300 "truly outstanding stores." "Shelf Life" has much the same feel as a browse through a bookstore; the digressions, the snippets of conversation, the lure of new titles and the possibility of something that could change a life.