a very special caturday post today
i have this theory that truly great used bookstores all run out of space on the shelves, and end up piling books along the floors of every aisle.
i have this second theory that a bookstore cannot be truly great until it has a store cat.
today, i stopped in the Double Read Book Nook in Edson, alberta - on the trans-canada highway - and now have a third theory: that all great bookstore owners know how to write 6502 assembly language.
this bookstore has been around for about 70 years, hidden away in the basement of an old building on the highway through town.
when i last visited three years ago, the store cat - Max - was only 4 months old and a rambunctious nutsy kitty who chased me around the store for half an hour while the bookstore owner kept apologetically whispering "Max! Stop harassing our customers!" 😆
now, Max is a Big Boy™️ and has his own kittyharness. he follows his catdad around the store, begging for treats which he catches with both front paws, and sticks them straight into his mouth before they can hit the floor.
i got to spend an hour talking with max's dad - Bruce - the new owner of the store. it turns out that he learned 6502 assembly on an Apple ][ in high school, and went on to university-level programming on IBM mainframes before switching careers.
if you happen to find yourself driving to Jasper this summer, stop at the Book Nook. at the very least, you'll find a weird old book - and Max adores any attention he can get.
